Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

Howdy to all,

It’s been a while since I’ve cleaned up the cobwebs here, but this week I should have enough posts to keep the blog lubed up for weeks.

Summer has finally hit Boise, which means just about every attractive girl is riding a bike through town. Virtual kryptonite for any reasonable man, let alone one that pretty much lives and dies by two wheels. If it was up to me I’d just rework all the good looking Greenbelt traffic to my living room, sip on iced coffee and talk shop with all the aspiring water-coloristas of the North End. Live the Titanic fourth-class ticket dream.

But. All great things come to an end and so will this Summer. Hopefully a little planing and a little work will pay dividends down the road. So, ahem, starting Today tonight I’m going to be a little bit more accountable to the projects I have going on with a little help from you guys. I’ll be updating the blog every day through July 4th by 9 a.m. to make sure I don’t weasel out of ‘em.

The Projects

Hola is Spanish for howdy

1. Become conversationally fluent at Spanish

Last year I headed down south (not to the Land of the Pines) and had the epic South American trip every 2o-something dreams of. But, because my Spanish was nearly non-existent it really hindered my ability to meet natives that weren’t involved in the international community or spoke English.

So since I’ve gotten back I’ve kinda vowed to be fluent before heading south again. I’ve bought books and books, listened to audio tapes, pestered the girls at the language department and read countless blogs.

Still, I’m not where I want to be and need to do a better job of making sure I study everyday so I don’t lose words and structures that I’ve spent time studying. Studying everyday will make sure my Spanish prowess is always going uphill instead of a one step forward, one step back type deal.

So I’m going to make sure I study a little bit everyday. I’m going to study seven minutes everyday.

If I don't learn Spanish, this guy fails.

Seven minutes you say?

My goal here isn’t to try and rack up hours and hours of study time, but to re-create the habit of spending time in the language every day. Usually I’m not going to study for just seven minutes. If I do though, it’s a-OK.

It’s kinda like how the hardest step of getting yourself to go running is to pull out the running shoes – the most difficult part of learning another language is just breaking through your native language bubble. Most the time once I’m studying Spanish I actually enjoy it and can get lost in it for an hour or more.

Additionally, I want to set the bar so low that even if I come home from a long night of dancing and drinking Coke I can stumble to my Spanish grammar book or load up Senor Thomas and figure out how to conjugate the future tense of “drink more water” or the resoluteness of “never again.”

The goal: Make sure my Spanish is getting better everyday

The how: Get in the language for at least seven minutes everyday

2. Finish my goofy Tetris Book

You might be surprised to find out the list of gigs for the ex university newspaper news editor is pretty short. Actually, I’ve compiled the list of potential work here:

1. Cover junior high women’s basketball games for a hyper-local newspaper in North Dakota

2. Sell your soul and do public relations

3. Write books about ’80s video games.

I have a pretty short attention span and mostly hate winter so I’m picking numero….. tres.

I came to this decision because even though I like boxing groceries and frying chickens as much as the next guy, if I’m going to woo any Portena’s I’m going to need a job with a little more kick. Writer it is.

Because of the power of the Internet, Amazon and e-readers, basically anyone with a keyboard (or a library card!) can become a writer these days. Really. If you want to write a book on how to grow a great lemon tree or a gripping romance novel set in Garden City, Amazon is there, ready to publish whatever you send ‘em.

Right now I’ve compiled a chunk of tactics, strategies and blocks that I’ve typed into chapters in nearly every coffee shop, sidewalk and chair in Boise and now have the strenuous task of editing it down to something people will buy for $.99 and then be able to zip onto Facebook Tetris or TetrisFriends.com and kick a bunch of a.

Maybe at a later date I can go into detail on why even at a dollar I could make some money from this book, but for now just know that there aren’t any Tetris guides on Amazon and there are a lot of guys nerdier than me.

The goal: Have the first, possibly mediocre (or worse) draft edited, exported and ready for upload July 4th.

The how: Edit and revise for at least 7 minutes everyday before Uncle Sam lights the first sparkler.

How I need your help

While I would love to be the self-motivated student body president that runs a marathon before dawn, then helps foreign kids learn English after school, I am more like everyone else: Motivated sometimes, not motivated other times.

But. I’d like to be able to be a bit more consistent with my two most important things right now. So, every morning by 9 a.m. exactamente I should have a new post up. If I don’t, I need a big collective cup of water in the face. If you’ve got my phone number, shoot me a text. If we’re Facebook friends, leave me a big “WT*???” wall comment that I’ll have to clear off before my mom sees it. If you’re my roommate, tell me it’s time to set the dark chocolate down and get back to work.

That’s it. I know everyones busy but it’d mean a whole lot.

af

Bonus: Cute chickens.