Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with planning

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Brandon1600 — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:00:24 -0800

Well I quit my job Friday after I did something embarrassing and foolish. Now what? This is going to be long:

I had a job as an electronics technician for this little outfit that operated out of a warehouse. It was a temp job that was going to end in a month anyway but the pay was fifteen bucks an hour and it had medical benefits, too. I was usually the last person to leave, so it was my responsibility to lock up the office and such. I came in Friday and apparently I had forgotten to lock the warehouse/garage doors. They are not linked to the security system, so a person can set the alarm and walk out while the doors remain unlocked. I was in a hurry Thursday night to meet a friend, and I neglected to check to see if the doors were locked. The following morning I was greeted by a coworker who said "I came in this morning and the lights were on and the doors were unlocked. I don't have a problem with the lights. The doors I do." Then he walks off. I checked my company email and saw a six post thread concerning why the doors were unlocked and what my take on it was. As I was reading this, another coworker whom I thought I had good rapport with, came into the warehouse and rolled her eyes at me and walked away. That weirded me out tremendously. So I repacked my lunch I brought for the day, laid my company ID and cellphone on my desk, and walked out. I have blocked all calls and emails from all related parties. I feel that if I had stayed they probably would not have fired me, but I would have been the butt of numerous jokes and ridicule because I would be "that guy" and have to walk around with my tale between my legs. That's really what I feel like right now.The biggest thing I have lost here is a good reference on my resume. My supervisor was a cool guy, but I could never look him in the face now.

I am going back to school at the end of January. My GI bill has paid for it and what amounts to a little over half of what I was earning at my former job for living expenses so I think I can survive but I am also paying about $200 a month in debt on maxed out credit cards and $100 a month to the IRS since I goofed my taxes. I am nowhere near paying these off.

Finally, the questions:

1. Do any of you have any experience in dealing with the military VA? I was going through treatment for ADD/Depression a little while back and now is a good time to really commit to that and see it through. I had heard you cannot apply for help unless what you are applying for is related to your service, which this is not.

2. Should I stop paying my debts to save money? The payments are just enough to stop them from calling me and to pay the interest, so I am not really paying them off. None of the cards are over $2500, if that is relevant.

3. If I were to apply for another job, how do I list my former job on my resume? If I were to leave it off it would create a ten month gap in my work history. If I leave it on, how to I explain my departure? I really don't feel I have the right to list my supervisor as a reference after the way I left.

WHEW! I think I got it all out. Thanks for reading and just chip in where you can.

Am I crazy to offer a gift of financial planning services to my cousins?

RecalcitrantYouth — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:10:13 -0800

My Aunt, Uncle and cousins have never been good with money, and have also never had well paying jobs. My Uncle has just inherited a (low) six-figure sum. Do I try to help them out by offering to build a financial plan for them? I'm a well-off thirty-something professional, with some accounting and finance training. My Aunt and Uncle are in their fifties, and the cousins are in their twenties and still living at home. From what I can tell, they have lived paycheque to paycheque for years. They own a home rather than renting, but that is mainly because of an earlier inheritance (and the home is not paid off). Without help, I fear that they will fritter away this latest windfall, and there's no more inheritance money to come.

They live about two hours away from me, so most of the planning work (other than an initial consultation) would be by phone or email.

I'd like to help them out, but I'm afraid it's just a recipe for unhappiness and family strife. Has anyone tried this before? Did it work out well or poorly? Any other ideas for ways to help?

Where can I learn about accounting and small business administration?

Tarumba — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:12:15 -0800

Where can I learn about accounting and small business administration? My husband and I own a small record label. In the last couple of years, it began picking up, and at the moment we find ourselves working with at least 5 bands at a time. Anyway, things are paid for, records designed and printed, artists fees met, and revenue is received, all in an incredibly disorderly manner. We tried to keep track of things but we have come to the realization the we haven't a clue about how to do it. a friend even told us that it was very silly of us not to keep track of our business expenses for tax purposes, and also said we should be paying ourselves wages. Is this true?

Can you help me find a place were I can learn how to manage a small business, that isn't necessarily college? I am thinking something on the lines of accounting/business administration would help, but i definitely don't want a degree, since I may soon start graduate school, and my husband is currently enrolled.

How can I plan and execute complex tasks in a job where I am frequently interrupted?

yath — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:32:39 -0800

How can I plan and execute complex tasks in a job where I am frequently interrupted? My job entails both complex, long-term tasks and plenty of urgent interruptions. I find it difficult to plan and execute the more complex tasks, for various reasons. I've always been poor at planning ahead. Also, the fact that I can and will be frequently interrupted makes it that much harder to handle the larger tasks.

I quickly get bored with writing out plans, listing intermediate goals and needs, and the like. But all too often, my poor foresight comes back to bite me due to something I forgot to consider or some important step that I skipped.

Discussing things with co-workers and bosses helps somewhat, but there is no one nearby who works on the same things that I do. The people I work with are nice enough to listen to each others' jargon every once in a while, understanding perhaps half of what is said while nodding and saying "awww" at the appropriate times. This is better than nothing but I really need to handle big jobs more independently.

I will almost always be the only person involved - in all phases of any task: planning, execution, followup.

I don't have trouble doing things. I find it pretty easy to dive into whatever needs doing, even if it's unpleasant, such as dealing with irate customers or exposing my mistakes to the people I work with.

What really long lists can I put my name on now to thank myself later?

2legit2quit — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:31:24 -0800

Long Term Planning: I just submitted my name to the Packer season ticket waiting list, which is supposed to be 30 years long. I don't even live in Wisconsin, but life could take me anywhere in 30 years, and I like the feeling of knowing it might be an option one day. Are there any other lists or similar things I should do now? Please no general health or exercising advice.

Give me an AskMe career shakedown!

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:49:18 -0800

CareerFilter! Help me to "diagnose" why I'm so tired of my career and which directions will lead to more satisfaction in future! Patient history, current symptoms and potential therapies under the fold (neatly organised but very long!!!). The how and the why:
====================

After a very confusing life I have finally reached a point where I feel quite secure and can see myself moving steadily along through life, work, and relationships.

However, right at this point I've realised that I'm very dissatisfied with what I actually acheived (apart from the basic stability and predictability).

I previously asked about this here:

http://ask.metafilter.com/130330/How-to-prioritise-many-urgent-important-issues

...but I felt wanted some more specific feedback and so if I give some more specific outline one or two posters might be able to diagnose my situation more clearly than I can and suggest constructive approaches! Hence:

The (shorter!) lifestory:
=========================

1.

My family moved around a lot when I was young - we lived in 3 different (non-English-speaking) countries before I started primary school (that's elementary for US people!). I think this made me feel pretty much an outsider; my folks raised me to be very academic and bookish and this helped contribute to my different-ness through adolescence. I've always had very few friends. Even so I did extremely well in secondary (high) school and had heaps of interests (music, literature, computers). I think I lacked confidence (maybe because my dad pushed me a lot to pass exams, his sole definition of success!) to actually do anything methodically for myself so none of them lead to concrete results that are with me today :(

2.

At my top-league university I still did very well academically, but became increasingly "worn out" and a bit depressed / low self-esteeming until by the end of it I was pretty much burnt out (at 22!).

3.

After graduating I went through the motions of trying to get a job but I'd only had very basic retail experience in my summers, and basically bailed out even of the interviews I did get. Classic depressed self-sabotaging.

So unable to stay in the big city any longer I returned to my folks' place in their Medium Town. I no longer fit into (to cut a complex, painful story short!) had no career plan, and became steadily more depressed. I moved out into awful shared housing, did grindingly menial work, lost it, moved to my parents again, and got more basic office admin work (repeat cycle a few times!).

4.

Finally a friend helped me get a basic job in a school in the Big City, depression faded with my folks' faces. I had a few girlfriends who helped me get more confidence and crucial presentation skills. After, say, the 3rd painful breakup, I got an lirbary job (fast-paced Pharmaceutical info centre), did OK, so committed to that 100% - I did another year as a "graduate trainee" in a (more relxed) Department, then took a Masters in library/info management (US: MLIS).

5.

Sadly I chose to do the Masters back in Medium Town at my folks' to save money (I could have got another job and done it part time, but... confidence!). Another year of depression, and counselling this time. So I passed the Masters of course, worked in unqualified roles at the uni library and eventually moved out.

Point 6. is basically now, as in my earlier post. I have a "senior assistant" level job , basically entry-level qualified academic librarian. I earn slightly more than £20k pa, which in UK terms is somewhat below average, and just enough to live on in Big City, but not luxury. I rent a tiny room on the and have to take long train rides to see my friends.

The education:
==============

As I said I got top marks in everything academic. 9 A grades at GCSE and 4 A's at A-Level (that's the final high school exams). I specialised in Maths, Physics and German, plus 1/2 Further Maths because I tried (and failed) to get into Oxford to do Physics with Philosophy.

My real love at school was languages. My big regret has been not to just study German and French then modern languages at uni, because it would have been pure pleasure and I would have aced it!

Instead, trusting my dad's vague ideas of untold millions as a nuclear scientist I took 4-years of undergrad Physics (with a side of German as a concession) including a year in Germany doing Masters level research. I emphasise that this "vague idea" was the closest I every was to any plan! Due to being very capable but barely enthusiastic I got 2:2 (just under the 2:1 cut off that UK employers use to skim off the top grads).

I thought about being a teacher (I still enjoy teaching per se) and got accepted on a good course to teach Physics but lost my nerve at the last second. Hence the brief work at a school to prepare.

While between library jobs did the ECDL which shows I'm competent in MS Office, Internet & file management.

The library Masters thesis was actually enjoyable (I liked being a humanities researcher with great(er) techie understanding) but the actual library content was mostly a grind. I got an award for top thesis of the year (it was on the cross-over of Web 2 and library instruction!).

The current crisis!
===================

While studying for my Masters last year I sent out CVs for some obvious Physics-grad jobs (IT mainly) and was terrified to get immediate interview offers. The whole assessment centre thing, and getting back to programming after 5 years of basic admin and library stuff scared me and I put them off then turned them down.

My current job wasn't too hard to get and I have put 100% into it, but it's not an inspiring environment, has become boring v. quickly (it's cataloguing!) and I don't see any great promotion prospects soon.

Now I'm back on my own 2 feet, I keep meeting people who are say, 25 and ready to buy a house and I realise I could have just got some sort of financial job out of uni and been in that position by now. Makes me want to weep. I would love nothing more than to settle down in my own place, start a family...

Possible options?
============

1. Just continue with the library thing, get another professional qualification (CILIP for UK lib types) and take it easy - after all I just recovered from all that emotional pain.

2. Go for the IT / graduate training route - it'll pay more immediately, be challenging and build my confidence.

3. Go into accountancy / finance (as a careers advisor recently reccomended) - I'll have to start low again but eventual earnings will be big and it's transferable.

4. Can anyone suggest any ways to go from here? This is my main question! To me all the options look pretty sub-optimal and difficult but am I missing something? Are there any good directions I can go even though I've based my career more or less around survival???

Is it too late to go into a more lucrative career? What are the cost/benefits in terms of money?

Has anyone out there had a similar experience (I find it a bit doubtful) and could they share it?

Critical Thinker

jasondigitized — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:11:47 -0800

What are some tools and techniques I can use to become a better critical thinker? I asked my friend the other day what he got out of his tier-1 education and he said it taught him how to 'think through problems'. What exactly did his professors teach him about critical thinking? If I memorize the logical fallacies or make a pro's and con's list will I be a better thinker? Is 'going with your gut' an approved tactic in this pursuit? What things do you do to think through a problem and come up with rock solid plans, decisions, and recommendations?

Teach em how to fish and they'll give us better cities, or something

stormygrey — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:34:01 -0800

Calling all planners, public admin. types, adult education gurus and other smarty pants: I need to develop a training program or at least a strategy for developing a training program for further planning on the local level, put the hard parts. Our office is charged with further the planning efforts of local (state and county) governments. We laid out the elements needed to successfully developing and implementing a comprehensive plan and then audited it to analyze our gaps. Then we looked at other agencies and they have similar gaps.

How can we train people in the areas of administrative capacity and what we are generally calling "community will" (political will, advocacy, etc.)?

Like, how to read a site plan submitted by developers, how should staff and appointed/elected officals communicate effectively, can a circuit rider type planner work, how would you develop a program like that, how do you do code enforcement with out a dedicated staff member. For the last one, its things like making politically difficult decsions, gaining consensus, or just plain how to implement your plan (what ever that may mean).

I know I am putting a lot of info out there, I don't want to box in the answers here. So have you attended or created training on items similar to these? Are you aware of awesome (perferably free) web based training/podcasts that touch on these issues. Feel free to throw in any new ideas that you see staff or officials messing up all the time. Thank you!

A splinter for my mind's eye

a non e mouse — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:29:27 -0800

Looking for some architecture/3D modelling tools to help visualise a home/internal renovation. I'm finding it increasingly difficult to imagine all the variables, functions and flows for designing our new kitchen - ideally something that is free (or at least cheap), but as featured as possible for a reasonably adept graphics oriented person to use.

Advice for lost youngsters?

aesacus — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:30:46 -0800

Ideas for a young couple in a crux to figure out their future? We both attended a small, super expensive liberal arts school that we both became dissatisfied with. I completed the first year, then withdrew, but she re-enrolled this year and then quickly decided she wants to withdraw now. Now we're stuck trying to figure out what we can do next. Neither of us want to go back to our parents' houses or hometowns. She wants to take a break from school. I want to transfer as soon as possible and keep going to school, though it's not a big deal if I have to take a break or go part-time for a short while.

Our biggest priority is to move somewhere appealing and financially establish ourselves. Last summer, we lived together and planned to find full time jobs, but we only managed to find sparse temporary work through the college. Demoralized, we thought it would be extremely hard to just move somewhere and assume we'll find jobs immediately. We would prefer to arrange something beforehand. We've been applying to jobs off the Caretaker's Gazette, we're looking into work that provides room and board, like “wwoofing,” and I've been working hard to learn Ruby and some other programming languages to gain a job skill.

So, does anybody have any ideas for opportunities we could pursue? Should we just load everything up in the car and venture blindly out into the world? Should I just pick a university to go to and treat all our money concerns as secondary?

What have I spent my life on?

Big Fat Tycoon — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:15:53 -0800

How do I apply to Master's programs when I don't have either real academic credentials or a particularly distinguished career reputation? I'm interested in applying to Master's programs in three related areas: Planning, Architecture and Landscape Architecture, all at UBC in Vancouver. Here's the problem: I have a bachelor's degree in Computer Science that I completed in 1999, and almost no experience in any of the aforementioned areas except at a layman's level. Even worse, in my current "career" in software (first as a developer, now as technical support), I've had far from an illustrious career -- it's not a solid ten years of experience I have, with the concomitant excellent professional references that might subsitute for a lack of academic ones.

So... how do I get those "three letters of reference" that seem so important, and the related exposure I need? I have my own vague ideas -- mostly in the area of volunteering and making an impression there -- but I'm interested in what other people have to say. Also, is it a crazy idea to contemplate applying for next year's admission (Sept. 2010)? Given that the application deadlines are around December 1st this year, I'm thinking it might be a pipe dream.

How to prioritise many urgent / important issues?

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:38:05 -0800

Help me prioritise my career / accomodation / other goals - they all appear to be short term! [ideally UK MeFi people]. Anon because contains detailed career / personal issues. I have recently started a new job (senior but low-ranking librarian) in a London (UK) university.

This is a big improvement over last year, when (to cut it short) I suffered from a stress-related problem while studying a Masters degree. In short a lot of things hit me at once, study, work, family problems, relationship breakdown...!

I'm now feeling much better and coping with life. Despite this, six months into the job I feel in a rut, as I live in lodgings in an expensive town and can't find a good priced longer-term place to stay. Going back to my family is not an option (it was a large cause of stress last year) and I can't stay with friends.

If I could get a higher salaried job, that would be great, but I doubt it would be at my current institution. Plus, given the effects that stress had on me last year, I am keen to avoid more upheavals and jobs that involve a lot of pressure.

I've started doing a further professional qualification but am now looking at postponing it so I don't get stressed out again! PLus I'm very doubtful library work will satisfy me long-term.

I'm highly educated (undergrad degree in Physics, Masters in library/information management, multilingual though not qualified in languages) but have been *very* unadventurous in my career so far, partly because I followed (what I now see as) bad advice and took "safe" scientific qualifications rather than languages which are my passion, and have lacked self-confidence.

Unfortunately I don't have any savings and I'm not earning much at all, just enough to live on, really. With my driving lessons I am making a yearly loss...!

I'd really like some help to see what would be a good area to prioritise more, or even really some suggestions to help me think outside the corner which I feel I've painted myself into!

Reevaluating the big life plan...

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:18:40 -0800

Late 20's life planning, do I plan for the family I may never have or do I live my life as if I'll be single forever, unless I just happen to meet someone at which point i reevaluate? I'm going to try really hard and not make this an omg I'm 27 and going to die alone post.

Basically, I'm in my late 20's and very single. While I date fairly frequently I can honestly say I've only met a couple men in my entire life I could see marrying. The last guy I met who I had serious feelings about didn't feel the same way about me, as have more or less all the others. This year has brought a flood of engagements and I find myself with fewer and fewer single friends, but really nothing changes for me. I'm largely ok with this, but I see the day coming very soon where most of my friends will be married with kids and well, I won't be.

There are lots of really interesting opportunities out there to live abroad, go into the foreign service etc. I think this would be very interesting, but I've already lived abroad several times and it isn't something I have to do again. This life style would also involve a lot of moving around every couple of years and not laying down roots anywhere, which isn’t ideal for meeting someone or raising a family. Going abroad would also be a serious cut in income, which would be alright if I was single and had no dependants.

I really like the idea of settling down in the next 5 years and having kids, I've always really wanted children, but I honestly don't know if that is going to happen. Basically, I don't want to sit and build a career and save money primarily so I can buy a house and have kids one day if I'm going to wake up in 10 years and be exactly where I am now, but probably unable to have children. Up until this point in my life I've made most of my decisions under the premise that I wanted a stable job and money so I could have a family. Now I'm well on my way to that goal, but I have absolutely no real prospects at this time and it has been years since I've met anyone I could really see myself with. Is it better to go with plan B (travelling, adventure, less security) which I know I can make happen, rather than hope Plan A works out (meet someone, fall in love, have a kid before I'm too old)?

My friends tell me I could still meet someone in time to have kids etc, and they are absolutely right and this certainly isn't a question about giving up all hope or to stop dating. I just really don't like the idea of planning and saving and forgoing other opportunities for a husband/partner that may never enter into my life.

I should also add that I don't think I would want to be a single mom. While it isn't entirely out of the question, I was raised by a single mom and I don't think it's really the life I would want.

So boiling that down to an actual question, what's the better bet for a single 27 year old female? Do you plan for the life you want or for the life you know you can make reality?

How to Write a Business Plan

KokuRyu — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:59:32 -0800

I'm looking for some freely available online business plan templates for a quasi-client who wants to start a training business catering to IT project management in government. I've Googled around for business plan templates, but are there any ones that you particularly like or think are effective?

It would be great if the business plan example or template (or free, online how-to guide) is technical enough so that it can be applied to an entrepreneur wanting to start a consulting business (see above at the start of my question for a synopsis) to government's IT project managers.

In other words, my quasi-client may be turned off by business plans for flower shops and restaurants and dog walking services.

Thanks for your help!

If you were travelling the world, what geek tools (software & Hardware) would you take to help on your trip?

thelost — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:21:02 -0800

If you were travelling the world, what geek tools (software & Hardware) would you take to help on your trip? My housemate and his soon-to-be wife are going travelling after they get married next year. He's too busy to post this himself, so I thought I'd help out.

The trip is currently in its embryonic stages, so will be liable to many changes. They will start in the UK and make their way east, using the rail systems to head through central Europe, eastern Europe, Russia, china and beyond.

As a card carrying geek my housemate is after technical solutions to help make the journey go smoothly. He is also after any advice hardy seasoned travellers can give in regards to travelling in general.

He has decided to get a netbook for travelling. If there are good websites that help travellers plan and execute their journeys please mention them. More importantly please mention any good software for route planning/itineraries etc. My first thought for route planning was google earth but it won’t necessarily cache everything you need for offline use, so that’s not an option.

Any and all advice is welcome.

Pausing my life for a year

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:39:40 -0800

I'm a twenty-something American guy who has been considering an extended trip to Australia, ever since I visited for a few weeks in 2008. Last night I decided to be bold and finally applied for a Work and Holiday Visa (Subclass 462). I woke up and found the visa approval email in my inbox. Talk about fast! Excellent... so now what? How do I pause my established life and go on an adventure? How do I let people know, especially at work? I have a fair amount of stuff tying me down at home, but I think I need to leave in a few months or it's never going to happen. I didn't go backpacking after college, opting to enter the work force. I always said that I'd make some money, and THEN travel... the former has happened, but all of my adventures have been short trips after big projects at work. The student loans are finally paid off, so I figure I have no excuse not to go on a 6-12 month adventure. Plus the USD is doing better against the AUD than it was last year when I visited, which may help me at the start of my trip.

I expect that the adventure may involve a few months of backpacking around, and a few months of living and working white-collar job(s) in either Sydney or Melbourne. There are plenty of resources for how to survive once you embark on your adventure, how to plan your stay, etc., but I'm not finding much on how to line things up before then. Dealing with all of the logistics is a bit overwhelming!

---

Job: I have a nice job, but obviously I'd need to leave it in some capacity. I could quit on good terms, or perhaps stay on as a part-time remote consultant (small software company). I have plenty of vested stock options, and plenty that haven't vested yet. I also have a fairly absurd quantity of paid vacation in the bank. I could start using that to go on vacations, or cash it out when I leave. I'm also wondering about how much notice I should give regarding my plans. (This is the main reason this is Anonymous. Some people at work read MeFi, and may not like to hear that I'm planning to go. Yes, this is far from foolproof, but I'll deal with it...)

Timing: I have twelve months from now to show up in the country. I'd like to spend a bit more time at my job saving up money, and I have committed to visiting family in the midwest this coming Christmas. So I'm looking at January as my earliest visa start date. I have an important family wedding here in the states in Fall 2010 that I'd want to attend, perhaps leaving Australia for good at that point, or using it as a holiday from my holiday. Should I buy my flight sooner or later? Buying it would probably light a fire under me in terms of making sure the trip actually happens!

Breaking my lease: I'm currently in the process of finding a new apartment at home. All of the places I'm looking want me to sign a 1 year lease. Obviously, I'd need to leave the country before then. Should I be disclosing this ahead of time, even though it may hurt my ability to find a place? My neighborhood is popular, so finding someone to sublet or take over the lease may be reasonable.

Stuff: I have a lot of money invested in material possessions, but I don't need to sell stuff to be able to afford this trip. Obviously I'm only going to be able to take the essentials with me. No car, no furniture, no art, no entertainment center, no multi-computer multi-monitor setup. If I'm planning on coming back, should I just get a storage unit? Find friends to babysit the nicer stuff while I'm gone? Sell the stuff that I don't have a strong attachment to?

---

Advice, anecdotes, warnings, links, etc. appreciated. Feel free to write me at: adventure.in.australia@gmail.com

After years of frustration, help me find the planner I really want.

skypieces — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:22:25 -0800

Daily Planner Question: need a two-page-per-day, "classic" (5 1/2 x 8 1/2) size. Have used DayTimer and Franklin (Covey) alternately for years. Standard packages from both either have extraneous materials that I don't need renewed each year or force me to order a base package that is insufficient and supplement it with specific things a la carte, driving up the price. Details inside. Suggestions? (Note: this is not so much about exploring different formats for better organization. I know what I want. Just need help actually finding it. Print-your-own materials are not feasible for me.)

Format: 2 page per day

Size: 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" ("half-page")

Monthly tabbed dividers must be two-page (one-page is too tiny to write in)

Do not need more contact pages (have many left over from previous years of ordering)

Do not need more "goal setting" and "mission writing" materials; no more pages of hotel and rental car numbers, mileage/expense forms, etc. Have plenty left over from past years if I want them.

Do not need another binder. My real leather binder is still in great shape after 10+ years.

Only need one year of filler with two-page monthly dividers. My layout is:

Right-handed

Prefer a long "to do" column on the left page

Prefer an "appointment" column on the left page

Prefer a "phone numbers" section for calls to be made each day

Prefer another "expense" or such section each day (I personally use this to list additional items I need to bring with me each day, a "don't forget this" list)

The right-hand page is usually exclusively "diary". I would entertain the notion of moving some of the smaller sections I want to that side. I don't usually use even half of the diary side, and when I would, I have supplementary lined pages I can insert for special needs.

The products I have used include DayTimer's Reference edition and also Covey's Leadership edition.

The Covey does not include the phone number and expense ("don't forget this") sections, But, two-page monthly tabs are stock for this edition. Trouble is, it includes all the crap I don't need (about a fourth of the package)

Daytimer has a good layout, but the monthly tabs are one-page only and I have to order the two-page separately. Plus, it too includes a bunch of extraneous stuff.

Every year I tell myself that there must be something out there that has just what I want, but I don't find it in time to order. I hereby beseech the Hive Mind for suggestions to settle this conundrum once and for all.

How much India in 1 week?

forallmankind — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 02:39:31 -0800

Travelling in India; I'm in Bangalore for a 2 week business trip, on Friday I have 1 week vacation. Part of me would like to see what I can during that time, but I'm also realizing (a) I've become a lazy traveller used to car rentals & Expedia, (b) getting to places here can take a long time. I'm becoming disenchanted because the do-able-ness of planning travel to multiple locations in such a short time seems hard, and I also have relatively heavy luggage & then there's also heat/ rain issues at this time of the year. Am I overthinking a plate of beans? All the places that look worth a trip seem difficult to plan when time is tight. I can fly to Delhi easy enough, but then what - day trips to Agra & Jaipur? I mean I could be in Delhi Friday, Agra Saturday, and then...? (I should add that metropolises don't rock my boat). And is it too hot for the Taj? What if I want to go to Varanasi or Amritsar or Udaipur Or Jaisalmer or even Darjeeling? I mean, I went to Mysore yesterday and that took 3hrs! I know, I should focus, right? Well, I guess I don't exactly know what I'm focussing on. But any information pertaining to a do-able, plannable(ish) 1 week trip would be awesome.

What should my meeting planner wife do for a new career?

UMDirector — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:37:49 -0800

My wife is a meeting planner, but is getting sick of it, what other careers can she pursue with those skills? My wife is a meeting planner, not a party planner, but a 8,000 people in a convention center, meeting planner. However she is growing tired of this industry. Trying to figure out what else she can do with her life.

She is:

* The most organized person I know. I mean scary organized. She can take any chaos and make and organized system out of it. This includes not just people, but seeing how systems should work.

* Has lots of business experience. She almost literally grew up in an office.

Her undergrad is in sociology, but she has done nothing with it.

So far we have thought about starting her own organizing business or perhaps going into organizational development.

So I guess the question is what can a professional who is very very organized do as a career?

I should also note: this can be a long term thing. For example build to something over two years...but full time school is probably out of the question.

Trying to wrangle a creative business into a business plan is tons more difficult than I expected

divabat — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:09:10 -0800

How am I supposed to make financial projections for a business plan when I don't even know how much money I'd earn in a month? I'm in the process of starting up a small creative business aimed at providing services for creative productions & producers - anything from selling merchandise to stage managing to backup singing. From my experience, such people (basically anyone willing to do random grunt work that's necessary for a production to run) are quite in demand and it's something I enjoy doing anyway, so it's a viable idea. It's also going to be the brand/structure for my own performance/creative work.

I've already done a couple of gigs and am getting my name out there in the communities I want to work with. There are some grants and funding I'd like to explore, and they all require a business plan. However, I'm stuck at the financials section of the plan, because I don't know how to project my yearly cashflow or turnover.

The nature of my business means that my income is likely irregular, especially during the first year while I build my reputation. My potential income all depends on the people I work for, my level of experience, their budget, how friendly they are to me, whether they'd give me money or something in-kind, or so on. People tend to be really secretive about this as well.

I have an idea of a base hourly rate, based on previous work, but there's no telling how many of those hours I can fulfill. There's also the option of paid by commission, flat rates, retainers...so many variables!

I asked a well-known accountant in the arts industry this question and he gave me this reply:

I tend to not worry too much about income projections, well not upfront anyway, because, as you say, you have bugger-all idea of how much you’ll make. Instead, I concentrate on getting the costs identified and quantified as well as you can, and even that’s a bit more guessing than anything else. Once I’ve established how much the business is likely to cost on a day-to-day basis, then that tells you how much income you need to cover costs. Add to that your cost of day-to-day living. That tells you how much money you need to be getting to live on and run the business, in total. Subtract from that how much you get, say, from part time wages, and the balance becomes the business income you need to get by one. That’s the starting point and if you think you can make more than that, then that’s the figure you use. Don’t get too hung up on income from a budgeting perspective though; generally you’ll hustle enough to get by on!

I do have an estimated budget of my costs, as well as calculations of how much I'd need from my jobs (not just this one, but regular jobs as well) to get by. However, it still doesn't help my business plan - I'm not sure I can replace the Financial Projections section with "My accountant told me not to bother"!

How do you plan for irregularity in business, particularly a creative one? What do you do when you can't predict exactly how much you'll earn, but you have a pretty good idea why that's the case and how you'll price yourself?

Also, are there any examples of creative and unusual business plans? I know of the Right Brain Business Plan but that's about it really.

Help plan my trip to Italy

Rustbeard — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:57:03 -0800

Help with planing my trip to italy So I am taking this scuba diving and GIS class in Crotone, Italy at the end of July and beginning of August and I want to do some traveling around afterwards, but not quite sure what to do. I got recommendations for seeing Pompeii and the aquarium in Genoa. I aslo really want to go to Greece. I am not sure how to plan this trip, I've only been oversees a few times but always when someone else plans the trip. Hardest part is trying to figure out the flight back especially if I am going to different countries. Any tips, recommendations, or links would be greatly appreciated.

How do we plan a high school reunion without having to put large amounts of our own money into the budget?

bristolcat — Tue, 12 May 2009 08:34:40 -0800

How do we plan a high school reunion without having to put large amounts of our own money into the budget? A classmate and myself recently agreed to plan our 10-year high school reunion. It seemed like a good idea at the time. We're both enthusiastic and have lots of good ideas, but our plans stalled out when it hit us that this isn't the kind of event that has a budget that we can just draw from.

There is no money, no alumni foundation to support us and the school can't offer anything except use of the gym. Neither of us feel comfortable fronting large amounts of money, but we don't exactly know what kind of plans can be made without dropping large deposits ahead of time. What to do?

A few reunion details:
-We live in a small city in a rural area. There is not a lot to choose from as far as dining and recreation options. Our ideal event weekend would include a Friday night adults-only "social hour" event with party food, adult beverages, a presentation and mingling. For Saturday, we would book a city park, provide lunch and have activities for both kids and adults.
-Our class is very small. We graduated with approximately 34 people, and after counting who all would probably arrive as couples and singles, we estimate about 60 people attending.
-This will be a late summer event, so we need to make solid plans as soon as possible.
-When we checked with classes that graduated a few years prior to us, we learned that none of them had actually had reunions, so no help there.

My co-planner is very budget-minded, good with money and has lots of great ideas on how we can make this event as reasonably-priced as possible. The park would be free and we found ways to ensure that the Saturday lunch would cost very little. It's the more formal event on Friday night that is problematic, as well as some of the side items that will cost money - invitations, programs, decorations, etc.

So, have you ever planned a high school reunion? How did you do it? Should we just suck it up, eat the deposits and costs ahead of time and then sell tickets as early as is reasonable? Is it reasonable to ask banquet halls or party rooms about having our attendees pay at the door?

I can't help but think that we're not the only people who have been caught in this situation before, so hopefully AskMe can come to our aid! Any tips on how we can best do this would be very helpful, as well as any reunion planning tips you might have. Thanks in advance!

I'm not trapped. How do I persuade myself of this?

Anonymous — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:09:35 -0800

I am pretty miserable and aware my lifestyle needs to change. I think I have a good sense of what is causing this, and I can list for you the things I want more of in my life but cannot get over some sort of bizarre mental blocks about loosening up and the feeling that if I do it will ruin my and my husband’s lives. How can I cure my addiction to stability and what concrete things do you think I should do to get out of this rut? I am a 32 year old woman, married and living in a large city. I’ve always been what my family calls “a worrier” but my general satisfaction with my life and general energy seem to have spiraled down in the last three to four years and I have an inexplicable constant sense of impending doom following me around. More than one person has seen this in me – I subscribe to “fake it til you make it” and outwardly am quite upbeat - but when you’re told by surprised acquaintances (in the nicest and most tactful of ways) that you’ve put on weight, look tired all the time, are getting snappy and cynical, etc you know it’s not just you.

The short version = Lack of energy/enthusiasm and this constant, panicky feeling that I am trapped and that Bad Things will happen if I change it up have robbed me of my ability to plan a way out of my career and to visualize getting from A to B (the lifestyle I want). I'm genuinely at year 3 or 4 of being paralyzed here. Have you been here? Do you have any suggestions at all?

The long version =

* I feel “owned” by my house, which is in a neighbourhood we love and has many features we enjoy, but requires a fair amount of work and I’m pretty sure we overpaid for it. To be clear, we didn’t buy a massive place and we’re not in a negative equity situation though.
* I feel constantly stressed about money. We have the six months expenses in an emergency fund, live pretty frugally, have no debt but the mortgage and are saving well. But we are quite behind in retirement investments and I always feel that we don’t have enough of a cushion, that disaster is potentially right around the corner.
* I feel pretty down about living so far from my family and home culture. I’m an emigrant and moving home isn’t really an option (it would be culture shock to my husband and probably me at this point, and my native country is not doing well in this economy) but dealing with American vacation times which allow me a couple of weeks at home every year is not enough for me.
* I feel a lot of strain over being the breadwinner in the family. Five years ago we both made more or less the same money. Now I’m out-earning him by over 2 to 1 and have a far more stable and job/career. They value me here and it is a good career in many ways, but I downright hate many aspects of it and am well aware that my misery at the office is carrying over to many/most of the other things that I mention here. I can’t imagine doing this – or even staying in my general “field” – for the next 30 years. But I feel trapped, that I can’t quit because husband could lose his job in a heartbeat, and regardless can’t carry us on his quite-low-for-where-we-live salary.
* I’ve put on a fair amount of weight in the last three or four years, and despite dragging myself to the gym three or four times a week am not shifting it. (I’m not a newbie gymgoer, I know how to powerlift, about the value of intervals and circuits, quite enjoy longer runs, etc). I know some of this is just my getting older, and some is lack of energy, but looking at myself in the mirror is making me sad.
* My social life has disappeared to just about nothing, through a combination of living in a place we have no roots, constant tiredness, unhappiness with my increased weight, and the hours required by my day job.
* My hobbies have disappeared. This actually dates back to my leaving college, but I read a lot, screw around online a lot, and work out and beyond that there isn’t much, which makes me sad.
* And lastly, our weekends are a mess – we are exhausted and either sleep late or crash out early, a lot of the weekend is lost to grocery shopping/bills/chores and touching base with our multitude of family members abroad, and I’m low energy. Hitting the gym for an hour is not helping enormously. However I do feel a lot of stress lifting from me by virtue of not being near work.

Thanks for reading through that if you did. Here’s what I want: More free time – to allow me to have a pet, to allow me spend more time in my home country, to be able to devote consistent and regularly schedule time to my fitness, to relax more. Work that doesn’t cause me to be miserable. More time outdoors. To be fit again. The ability to jump into pastimes I’m interested in – I’d love to learn some racquet sports for example, to draw again, and would like to join a walking club.

Writings about pairs of adjacent neighborhoods?

mirepoix — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:49:38 -0800

Urban Planning/Theory Filter: I am looking for writings, preferably available online, about the relationships of adjacent neighborhoods over time. I'm interested in the symbiotic (or antagonistic, or whatever) relationships of adjoining neighborhoods, especially when change is added to the mix.

I've heard about "triage" in a planning/policy context, where cities decide to leave certain under-served communities for dead and save others that are closer geographically to more affluent or gentrified parts of town -- those "up and coming" "frontier" neighborhoods that the creative class has probably staked some claim in already.

Also interested in case studies about how certain areas deal successfully with integrating the needs and resources of nearby communities into their Specific Plans.

So, stuff like that, or articles about more organic relationships between neighborhoods... not really looking for personal anecdotes as much as help finding academic literature or good journalism. Thanks!

Urban Planning Remixed

lunalaguna — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:44:42 -0800

Experimental and radical urban planning: Where are the interesting multidisciplinary graduate programs in the U.S.? I'm interested in a lot of things, but one subject that's held my interest for a long time is urban planning and design. I'm ready for a career change and want to pursue a master's degree in urban planning.

However, based on my experience working for government agencies and my participation in citizen planning initiatives, I'm pretty sure I'd go crazy actually practicing urban planning. I'm looking for master's programs that provide a strong foundation of urban planning and design theory so I can eventually work in research or policy analysis.

More importantly, I'm looking for programs that are potentially interdisciplinary, that might let me take classes in history and science, and that give me the option of pursuing a self-defined specialization.

I'm influenced by the work of artists Christian Nold and Andrea Zittel. I'm most interested in psychogeography and transit, the sociology of mega-events like the Olympics, and the kind of work the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture and SENSEable City Laboratory at MIT are doing.

Any thoughts? School recommendations? Professors to contact?