La Bene Vita

Wednesday

Work on music instruction books for fifteen minutes per day.
Goal met. I filled out my guitar instruction book outline.

Launch one new Potbelly song per week.
Goal met.

Write one new original song per month.
Goal met. "Longing"  [13+] to be recorded soon.

Post at WordPress at least once per week.
Pending.

Write one Textbroker article per week.
Goal met.

Submit one short story/article per month.
Pending.

Work for fifteen minutes on "Poor Witch"  [E] every day.
Fail.

Complete and edit "Poor Witch"  [E] by 6/30/09.
Fail.

Read a book in print for fifteen minutes every day.
Goal met. I took a break from my current Elizabeth Peters novel, Silhouette in Scarlet, to read a book I was assigned for a technical writing class at work. The book is called, The Elements of Technical Writing by Gary Blake and Robert W. Bly. It's a lot of common sense, but still good to think about and focus on. Here is an excerpt:

The primary goal of any technical communication is to transmit technical information accurately. In this regard, technical writing differs from popular nonfiction, in which the writing is meant to entertain, or from advertising copywriting, which is intended to sell...If (technical writers) have to, they will sacrifice style, grace, and technique for clarity, precision, and organization.

Another excerpt:

Many technical professionals, businesspeople, and scientists have been trained to think that long, jargon-filled reports are more substantial and important than simple, concise writing. They are wrong...The First Amendment to the United States Constitution contains 45 words, Newton's first law of motion contains 29, and E=mc^2 has only five (six in my rendering) characters.

YES! This is so true. In business, I have heard and seen managers use words like "utilize" (i.e., "USE") and "incentivize" (i.e., "INCITE") in the same paragraph with a misused "it's." We're making baby formula, people. Get over yourselves. And learn your it's from your its! Honestly.

Resign from Abbott by 12/1/09.
In progress. On a related note, I finally paid bills, cleaned the house, mowed the lawn, and caught up on some general chores this past weekend. I've been slipping.

Reach 140.0 lbs by 8/21/2009.
Weight: 147.8

Meals:
7:30am FiberOne cereal (2) with milk (1) and coffee (1)
10:00am Banana (2)
1:45pm Skinny roast beef sandwich (7)
3:00pm 17-oz peppermint patty (1.5)
4:30pm Chai (1)
5:30pm NutriGrain bar (2.5)
9:15pm Chai (1)
10:45pm Half a hamburger (3) and peas (1)