One of the things I really wanted to accomplish with taking time off from work was figuring out what I should be doing for a career. I had been passionate about writing software, but that changed and I don't feel I can do that anymore.

I thought having a lot of free time and space would help me get clear about what I really wanted, but that didn't quite happen. I did spend a lot of time thinking about my career and how I became unsatisfied with it and I noticed things about my experience that I missed before. I noticed mistakes that I had made, how I could have handled things differently and the ways in which my work situation was less than ideal. But, none of that helped me to figure out what I needed to be doing instead.

Then I remembered this book I had bought four years ago (but never read) called Is Your Genius at Work: Four Key Questions to Ask Before Your Next Career Move by Dick Richards.

I read a few chapters in the book, which talked about how everyone has a "genius" that is unique to them and how knowing your genius allows you to find a career that is the most fulfilling and productive for you. (Though, I don't think "genius" is the best word for this. I think "life purpose" would be more accurate.) One example in the book was of this guy named Dave who discovered that he was constantly straightening up things that were in disorder. He learned that he needed to be in a job where he was bringing order and tidying things up in order to be happy.

I tried one of the exercises in the back of the book meant to help you uncover your genius. In this exercise, you are asked to list as many words that end with "ing" that describe activities you enjoy. After you are done, you pick the word that best fits you, the one that best triggers an emotional response.

I spent a lot of time thinking of words that described what I had enjoyed. I came up with words like "helping", "teaching", "presenting", "solving", "learning", "creating" and "fixing" but none of them seemed to fit. None of them seemed accurate. I recalled a number of specific events from my past where I felt most fulfilled, situations where I had done something meaningful and unique, things that were uniquely me, things that I contributed where no one else could have or would have contributed those things.

And then I found it, and it made a great deal of sense. I knew I had found the right word because it explained the hidden motivation behind much of the accomplishments and activities that I valued. It explained who I was and what I was about. It also explained why certain things angered me so much.

The word was: "empowering"

It is the reason why I wrote computer software (and the reason I wrote it the way I did): I wanted to give computer users (and other software developers) the power to do more.

It is the reason I liked teaching: I wanted to give my students the power that knowledge would give them.

It is the reason I write about money and investing so often: I want other people to do as well with money as I do so others can have the power and freedom that I enjoy.

It is the reason I write about self-help books: I want to help people get past the issues they may have so they can be more successful and have more fulfilling lives.

It is the reason I talk about the Playstation 3 (and other technology) so much: I want others to be able to take advantage of the features that I've been using.

It was the reason I got so annoyed when I found out a woman I know couldn't pump her own gasoline: I wanted her to be able to pump her own gas so she wouldn't be chained to full-service gas stations.

It was the reason I wrote so much about my fuel economy: I wanted others to know what I had accomplished so that they would know that it was possible for them to accomplish the same.

It is the reason I drive dangerously fast on the highway in snowy conditions: I wanted everyone in the right lane to know that you don't need 4WD or an SUV to get through the snow (that and I'm super impatient).

I still don't know exactly what I am going to do next, but I know that it must be a means of empowering people or else it would be unfulfilling.

Once again, Pixar delivers the goods.

If there is one thing I've learned about saving for retirement it's that I'm not real great at getting a good return on my money.

The first IRA I had was with a local bank. The annual rate of return on the account was somewhere around 1%, which is a complete joke if you have any intention of actually retiring. My goal was to start an IRA that had no annual fee and build up that account until I had enough money in it to avoid the fees on the better retirement accounts.

But, I never did the math. I never considered the fact that it would be worth paying an annual fee on an IRA if the returns on the IRA more than covered the fee. So, instead, I basically made nothing on my IRA for the first year or two that I had it.

I had read a few of the Motley Fool books on investing. They were strong advocates of Index Funds (vs. Managed Funds) and they recommend Vanguard's funds specifically. So, when I had enough money between my IRA and the 401(k) that I wanted to rollover, I started an account with Vanguard and put everything into a "set it and forget it" retirement fund called "Target Retirement 2045".

For a few years, up until late last year, I threw money at this fund without realizing that I was getting a lower return than I should have. I blindly trusted that Vanguard knew what they were doing and that the fund I picked would grow appropriately.

It wasn't until last year when I was invited to a free lunch with a financial advisor that I realized how badly I was doing. I did some research and compared the performance of his fund recommendations to the performance of my Vanguard fund and the difference was a little shocking. It made me upset when I thought about all of the potential gains that I had lost over the past few years. So, I started an account with this financial advisor and my IRA has been doing well while the Vanguard fund I had has continued to underperform.

I recently met with my financial advisor to begin the process of rolling over the 401(k) I had with my most recent employer. I had been fairly content with this 401(k) and felt like it had a good selection of funds, but I wasn't comfortable with leaving my money in an account that my former employer had control over. I didn't trust them to keep the funds I liked and I was very uncomfortable with them having any power over my account at all. I wanted to sever my ties with them completely.

Today, I was looking at the performance of my 401(k) and comparing the returns I was getting there to the returns I was getting with my IRA. It turned out that I was doing not such a great job with my 401(k). The returns I was getting were less than what I was getting on my IRA and I was doing worse than the returns on the "set it and forget it funds" offered by T. Rowe Price. I was so worried about which funds to pick and how much to allocate into each fund and it turned out to be a waste. I could have just put everything into one of the T. Rowe Price funds and I would have done better. (Though, to give myself some credit, I did at least select the top performing funds offered by the 401(k) plan.)

So, all of this makes me feel better about having a financial advisor. After having failed a few times at trying to manage my retirement assets well, I at least know that it is something I'm not an expert at and I'm better off getting some advice.

I was watching a "making of"-type "featurette" from Mad Men and it had the Executive Producer talking about a rule he makes all the writers follow. The rule was that everything they write has to be based in truth, which basically means that whatever happens to the characters on the show must have been like something that happened to, or in the lives of, the people doing the writing.

I think that is a brilliant rule and I believe it to be one of the reasons why the show is so great. I've seen a number of shows where something ridiculous happens, maybe a character behaves in a way that just doesn't make sense, and it ruins the whole show.

Local video stores are finished.

NetFlix is cheap and its "Watch Instantly" section is awesome. There is very little reason to rent movies from the video store now that you can get any DVD or Blu-ray that you want in the mail and even less reason to rent now that you can watch movies on demand over the Internet essentially for free.

I've watched two movies on demand through NetFlix so far and it was great. The movies were never interrupted by buffering issues, like Hulu and YouTube can sometimes have, and the video quality was about the same as a DVD.

Though, I did have to work around some technical issues with "Fullscreen Mode" on the "Watch Instantly" movies. Unlike Hulu, which will make itself fullscreen in any monitor connected to your computer, NetFlix (at least on MacOS X 10.6) always makes itself fullscreen on the primary monitor and none of the other monitors are blacked out.

This was pretty irritating as I wanted to watch movies on my HDTV screen rather than on my laptop screen. Thankfully, I figured out how to make my HDTV the primary monitor and I changed the wallpaper on my laptop to black, which effectively caused everything to be blacked out. Though, I didn't realize that I would need to disable my screensaver and power saving features; I was annoyed that the player didn't take care of that for me.

After I got the technical issues squared away, it worked out to be a great way to watch movies. Though, I'm looking forward to the availability of PS3 support so I can play the movies through my PS3 rather than having to hook my laptop up to my HDTV.

My first attempts at learning how to play the acoustic guitar reminded me of how uncomfortable I am with being bad at anything. I tend to avoid doing things that I'm terrible at, and as a result, I don't get any better at those things.

I don't have a big ambition to play the guitar well; I mainly want a hobby in which success is beneficial and a hobby which is different from my other hobbies.

A benefit I hope to get is to increase my tolerance for frustration and to be more comfortable with having a lack of ability in any area.

I also really want to be able to play this song:

I saw Where the Wild Things Are yesterday. I didn't know what to expect when I saw it and I was surprised by what it was. It could be called a children's movie, but I don't think the movie really is for children.

To me, the movie was about emotions. It was about having all of these emotions and desires and how difficult and messy that can be.

What really struck a chord with me was how Max (the main character) was completely living in his imagination and being completely uninhibited, in spite of the forces that were trying to suppress his nature.

It got me thinking about how society shapes us, and what we lose in the process.

I was feeling scattered yesterday, I was having trouble getting focused and I was feeling uneasy. I decided to put on this DVD I have and practice some Tai Chi.

I was surprised at how much better it made me feel. I felt relaxed, I was focused and I had more energy. I had forgotten how helpful Tai Chi could be.

Utilization - Welcoming everything that happens and seeing it as just part of the toolbox that you have to create the reality that you want to create.