It feels very good to have a plan
Boy, how lame is that. Accountants are supposed to like planning, not wild and crazy software developers. :) Be that as it may, much of my life this month has been about getting plans in motion, and not just waiting for things to work out, which leaves one feeling like something has been accomplished, which in turn leaves one feeling nice.
Plan: RRSP. Since my last entry I've gotten my RRSP set up and even pre-contributed for the year. Went over my portfolio ideas with Bruce (Amy's accountant brother) and after some back and forth, we agreed that the plan was basically sound. It's ridiculous to me to think that I am doing this sort of thing -- this grown-up, sensible thing -- but if it makes sense and I understand what's involved, sitting on my ass seems rather pointless, so there ya go. Obviously I will eventually want a non-sheltered investment account as well, RRSPs are not all they're cracked up to be and capital gains law is awfully pretty right now. Still. Having done it gives me a sense of calm at having planned for the future. I seem to enjoy that.
Plan: Work. Working in my department means things are subject to change with little notice and, over the past week, things have changed (with predictably little notice). My whole department's work has been shelved and we have re-assigned to a bunch of new work. This is life in an R&D department. What makes it interesting though is that there's a new guy calling the shots for a while (i.e. the guy above my manager's manager) who is making a lot of waves, nuking people, and so on. We had all sort of collectively made up our minds to hate him last week, on account of how he was booting people that shouldn't have been booted, and generally making a mess. This week though, we've gotten a chance to see the plan behind it and I gotta say, I think he made some bad calls, and he could still change my mind back again, but right now, he has me sort of impressed. You know why? This guy is the first guy I've seen for a while that has a really clear plan. He *will* ship this product. All the managers in my area (and their managers) are really great people, very friendly and easy going. This guy is not, BUT, this guy *will* ship the product. One of his first lines of introduction in our first big meeting yesterday was "I'm a product guy. Either help me ship the product, or get the fuck out of my way." Yeehaw. Point is, we have a plan - we know what needs to get done. I don't know if I can express how good that feels for a developer. The worst situation I have faced when working is the time when I'm idle. I experiment with the code, yes; I try new features, sure; I play around and have a lot of fun, but I feel listless, wasteful. Now I've got something to work towards, which makes me happy.
Plan: House. House! We know our rent is insane, we've known it for quite some time, thank you very much. We've also known that buying is better in almost every way. What's different is that now it's time. Now is when we have to start planning if we want to have a decent downpayment on a decent house by the time our lease is up for renewal next year. And that means hella planning. Planning to amass a larger sum than I have ever had to amass. I went through entire years of university on less money than we will hand over in one week sometime early-mid 2003. But now we've worked it out, we've got a downpayment plan. We've been talking to mortgage brokers, and we know our range, and how to knock 1 or 1.5% off what the banks want for mortgage rates. Crap, we know about current mortgage rates! We've even got backup plans if legal fees or mortgage insurance or moving costs should overflow. Having a plan that will, probably more than any single decision I make in life, secure my future -- well hell, that just makes me ecstatic. Large blocks of questions marks are starting to fade when I think about the future now. Goodness it feels good to get things done.
So, I'm going through a phase where I am boring and adult right now. My humblest apologies to whomever may be reading. If it helps me look a little more irrational and irresponsible (though I don't consider it either of those things) I am going to Casino Rama with the boys this weekend to spend lots of money playing poker. :)