Sometimes, I’m so jealous of Garfield’s life. This guy just sleeps all day and then wakes up and pounds lasagna.

And when I mention that I want to read more in 2014, I mean that I want to read material on a variety of topics. When I was younger I would read both fiction and non-fiction books just for fun. In the last year, I’ve primarily read non-fiction books for different professional development classes that I’ve been enrolled in. And I coupled those scholarly assignments with additional reading from a variety of blogs, which I think you’ve noticed in my randomly-updated Start the Weekend Right Series. All of the links that I post in the Start the Weekend Right updates come from blogs that I have in my Feedly RSS reader. Feedly has an option where you can bookmark an update from a website for future reading and, increasingly, I’ve been bookmarking articles that deal with sleep.

After reading many of those articles, I think that another one of my not-quite-a-resolutions for 2014 is to learn to be a better sleeper. I’m hesitant to write that my sleeping patterns are horrible, but I am writing this entry at 3:00am on an early Monday morning (I’m off from work this week, so being up this late doesn’t mess up my overall schedule).

Much like other areas of our lives where we know we need to improve, I know that there are certain things that I can do immediately to improve my sleep. For example, I know that if I adjust and recalibrate my diet, then there will be a direct impact on the amount of sleep that I get each night and, more importantly, on the amount of quality sleep that I get each night. Further, I know that if I work out more often during the day (especially in the morning), then my ability to fall asleep at a more decent hour will be improved. As it stands now, I typically sleep between 5 and 6 hours each night. On top of that, I wake up several times each night for different reasons from tossing and turning to going to the bathroom to getting some water to drink. The Harvard Business Review recently published an article about how some men announce how little sleep they get in act of hyper masculinity. I’m not walking down that path by a long shot – I genuinely want more and better sleep.

In 2014, I want to learn more about the causes of my sleep deprivations. The Week suggests that one of the major causes of getting less sleep is that we are exposed to too much light during the evening hours. In my case, this is definitely a problem as I park myself in front of my laptop for a few hours each night to do work to meet different deadlines. The folks over at Inc.com suggest that getting into a regular routine can help a person sleep better. For the last two months or so I’ve gotten into a routine of washing my hands before I go to sleep. This may not sound like a big deal (or it may sound like something that a person should already be doing), but elevating this action to a daily routine has helped me make the mind-body connection that it’s time to lay down and get some rest.

Getting poor sleep certainly is not a good thing for my health, either. As they recently wrote about in The Saturday Evening Post, there are real connections between a lack of quality sleep and an inability to shake off Type 2 Diabetes (which I’ve had for almost 5 years). The Post writes that an optimal amount of sleep to fight off diabetes is between 7 and 9 hours each night – I’m not even close!

There are other parts of the sleep puzzle that I’m looking forward to learning more about in 2014. For example, what affect does one’s circadian rhythm have on their sleep quality? Why is it that I often find myself wanting to doze off behind the wheel both on my way to work and on my way home from work, but not while I’m actually at the office? Does it matter if I hibernate on the weekends to make up for lost sleeping hours during the week? And just what is the real connection between not sleeping enough and gaining weight?

What I’d really like from all of this reading and learning is to be a better sleeper twelve months from now than I am today. Achieving that not-quite-a-resolution would be something worth truly celebrating.

Taking a quick inventory of some major events that took place during my 2013

Without further adieu, here is a brief review of my 2013.

And there’s a brief review of my 2013. I stopped making resolutions a few years ago because I realized that they’re all eerily similar to one another. Thus I don’t have much to write about what I want to accomplish in 2014. Among my own personal goals are the same old, same old including greater financial stability, becoming healthier, continuing to improve professionally, etc. I guess one item that I really want to focus on in 2014 is reading more. I’ve noticed that over the last 5+ years I haven’t been reading as much as I used to read. One of the greatest ways to differentiate yourself from the pack at work and in life is to read more; and as a guy who was an English major in college (i.e. I like to read and write), I should be reading a lot more than I do right now. I expect that this particular goal will obviously be helped by the fact that I just signed up for a library card (and Lord knows what type of stories I’ll have from visiting the local library).

That’s it, folks. I hope you each have a prosperous and rewarding 2014!

The first and most exhausting issue (and the focus of this entry) that presented itself last month was grading my students’ research papers. Holy cow. What a mess some of these things were to read (if you can call trudging through these papers “reading”). I’ve been teaching a course at the local college for the last three years. This Thursday will be the beginning of my fourth year teaching at the college and each year the writing gets worse and worse. First, I thought it was bad when one of my students spelled “before” as “b4” (yes, someone actually did that). Then, I thought it was bad when my students submitted works cited pages on opinion papers! But 2009 was a banner year for outstanding displays of ridiculousness.

I had students copy and paste directly from Wikipedia when they are submitting opinion papers. I will repeat that – and expand – for your delight. I assign a two page opinion paper to my students and ask for their feedback on certain issues. This paper is worth 5 points on their final grade. And some students used this as an opportunity to go to Wikipedia, copy and paste an entire entry on a topic, and submit that entry as their opinion. Are you serious?! Has the age of the internet and social media destroyed the minds of America’s youth to the point where they can’t form a fucking opinion?! Good grief!

But that was a two page opinion paper. What exhausted me last month was reviewing and grading an 8 to 10 page research paper where the quality of writing was generally less than high school level and the overall grammar, spelling, and flow of the papers was just as bad. Granted, of the papers that I read there were definitely two or three home runs and another three or four that were at least written at a college level. But the rest of them… to say that I was disappointed would not be doing justice to the life-sucking exhaustion that I felt reading through these papers. And the less-than-college-quality of the work spread across a variety of issues besides spelling, grammar, and flow. One student – in a research paper – wrote that members of a certain religion (of which I am a member) and white people are generally not offended or annoyed by the Nazi party.

Go back and read that last sentence again. Yes, that’s right. A college student suggested that one specific religion and people of a certain skin tone would actually condone the Nazi party. Absolutely outrageous.

Almost none of the students knew what it meant to properly cite their sources and even more had no idea what MLA or APA format meant. It was an exhausting exercise reading their papers – absolutely exhausting.

But I can’t say that these students haven’t made an impact on me. No, in fact they’ve pushed me to the point where I’m strongly considering reducing the amount of written pages that my students have to hand in each semester. Not to worry, though. I plan on replacing those written pages with presentations – another skill that students sorely lack these days.

Who said being an adjunct professor was easy?

Health. The biggest health issue that I have to tackle in 2010 is getting firm control over my Type 2 Diabetes. In reality, I think that the cocktail of oral medications that I’ve been taking since my August 2009 diagnosis has the situation under control, but I want to begin reducing the amount of medications that I’m taking sooner rather than later. To do that, I really only have one choice – lose a bunch of weight.

In 2010, I have a broad goal to lose some weight. I’m not talking about a gigantic weight loss where I’m losing over 100 pounds in a few months – I’ve done that before when I was a graduate student and it’s not feasible to accomplish that type of goal when I have a great deal of real world responsibilities to attend to these days. However, I’d like to lose between 5 and 7 pounds per month for the next year. I’m starting out 2010 weighing in at 340 pounds, so if I was to lose an average of 6 pounds each month, I could start 2011 weighing in at 268 pounds. Even if I was able to lose just 60 pounds in the next year, I’d be pleased. All I know is that with the onset of Type 2 Diabetes, the need to lose weight becomes very real.

Finances. Some of you might sense the gravity of my health in the words that I used above. Well, to me, it is equally important that I payoff a tremendous amount of my student loan debt in 2010. In total, I’m starting 2010 with $96,680 in student loan debt. That $96 thousand breaks down as $55,129 owed to the United States Department of Education and $41,551 owed to the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (NJHESAA). Yes, I know that owing $96 thousand is disgusting for a guy in his late 20’s, but if you can believe it I actually started repaying my student loans in June 2006 when the total amount that I owed was $120,720. Pretty gross, right?

Some people get busy starting their lives after they graduate college or graduate school. Not me. I graduated from graduate school and started getting busy repaying my student loans. And I’ve actually been pretty successful. I’ve repaid $24,040 in principal since I began repaying these student loans. I don’t have an exact breakout of how much interest I’ve paid since June 2006, but I intend to get that number once I finally pay these damn things off.

But I digress…

In November 2009, I created a financial plan that allows me to make large payments towards the NJHESAA student loan. If I can stick to this plan, I’ll end 2010 owing about $19,000 on the NJHESAA loan. That figure doesn’t account for interest to be paid in the coming year, but it also doesn’t account for any payments over and above the ones I have laid out in my plan. Oh, and to get a head start on the 2010 goals, I began my plan for repaying this loan in early December 2009 and even devoted a large portion of my December 31, 2009 paycheck towards maintaining the head start that I have on my 2010 goal.

The NJHESAA loan is in my crosshairs…

Professional Achievement. After paying so much to get my current Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees (see above), I decided to put my plans to get a Doctorate on hold until a later time. However, I want to mentally stay in “game shape” so that when I decide to get a Doctorate I am prepared for the rigors of doctoral study from the first class through the final thesis defense. In order to keep myself thinking as an advanced degree student might think, I enrolled in a Graduate Certificate program at the local college where I teach. Why enroll in this college? That’s easy – I get to take the courses for free! Again, see above if you want to know why this might be appealing to me…

I also wrote out an entire list of goals for 2010 for my small website company – Usable Web Solutions, LLC. And as far as being an adjunct professor in the coming year, I hope to continually improve upon the classes that I teach via integrating relevant student feedback into the design of these courses and continuing to refine my course materials (PowerPoint presentations, handouts, and YouTube videos) to better teach my students.

The Overarching Goal: The Idea of Fitness
I specifically chose to write “the idea of fitness” because I want to break everyone’s idea that being “fit” only applies to one’s health. I think that the goals listed above make it very clear that I am striving towards achieving a greater level of efficiency and achievement in these three areas of my life. By doing so, I will have to train myself in certain skills and unlearn some existing habits. The end result of these efforts will be that I am in a better position come 2011 than I am at the beginning of 2010; essentially, I will be more physically, economically, and professional “fit.” And that’s why I chose “the idea of fitness” as the overarching goal for 2010 – because if I can make great strides towards achieving and hopefully achieve the three broader goals that I have listed above, then I’ll be a more “fit” person for the efforts.

We’ll be sure to check back in 2011 to see how far along I’ve come on meeting these goals! I’ve got a good feeling about 2010…

Happy New Year!

Second, most of the people in Times Square seem to be tourists. This prompted one of my roommates and I to comment that all of the real New Yorkers are probably watching (and laughing) from the comfort of a local bar or their own homes! But thank God for those tourists bringing their economic power to the City. Tourists help keep local economies afloat and all local people thank tourists for their purchases!

Finally, I included “prosperous” in the title of this post because I really do hope that 2010 and the entire coming decade is a prosperous one for all of my family members, friends, and readers of this blog. The last decade saw too many people lose a lot of money in a variety of markets. First the technology and “.com” bubble burst and then the housing bubble exploded a few years later. In the past few years the stock market went on a slide, though it seems to be recovering. There are many people out there – myself included – who managed to make the best of these situations and actually wound up in a much better financial position than before these crises! But there are far too many people who are suffering economically, physically, and mentally so I hope that the wealth of prosperity and happiness (and so much more) come to more people in the next ten years.

As for the rest of today – sit back, relax, and enjoy the day off!

Personally, the biggest event for me in the last decade was my Father’s passing. I suppose that anyone who has lost a parent would understand how that’s a huge event in a person’s life. So in terms of what the biggest event of the last ten years was for me – it was definitely losing my Dad to Alzheimer’s and lung cancer.

However, let’s try to think happy thoughts as this year and this decade come to a close. Some big, happy events for me in the last ten years include being the first in my family to graduate from college and then the first in my family to graduate from Graduate School. Those two days were pretty great (although the undergraduate graduation ceremony itself wasn’t really that great since it was a downpour and they messed up the reserved parking for my family). I was also pretty excited to be my buddy’s best man at his wedding this past summer – so that ranks up there somewhere in the Top 10 moments of the last decade for me.

I’d also put the announcement that my older brother was engaged as well as my younger brother’s graduation from high school on that list (those events are always fun). I was also glad to be hired by the current company that I work for as well as the local college to do some teaching. I’ll be beginning the New Year teaching an online course at a second college, but I was hired by that college a few months ago so it still counts as an event for this decade.

The last decade also introduced me to the realities of trying to be healthy in a fast-paced professional world. I went from weighing some 385 pounds when I graduated college in 2003 to weighing 260 pounds by the summer of 2005 – that’s a 125 pound weight loss. I worked out and ate less (I didn’t really “diet” – I just controlled my portions) for about a year starting in March 2004 and ending with my gall bladder being removed in June 2005. My doctor told me that my gall bladder was creating huge gallstones because I lost too much weight too fast. You just can’t win, right? Since the summer of 2005, I’ve gained back about 80 pounds. I attribute that weight gain to getting hired full time in the summer of 2006 in a location that was an hour’s drive from my house. In other words, the two hours that I used to spend in the gym each day I now spend in the car…sitting…doing nothing. Not good. Plus, two or three nights during the week I wind up at the local college either taking a class or teaching a class. In the coming decade (really in the coming year), I have to figure out how to spend more time in the gym.

Finally, like the rest of America I would suggest that September 11th was a major turning point in all of our lives. It made us realize that there is real evil in this world and that those evil people don’t like the idea of America so they choose to attack that idea as it is manifested each and every day – in other words, they choose to attack innocent people.

Let’s hope for greater prosperity in 2010 and for the whole upcoming decade!

Merry Christmas!

I’ll be spending the day with my family up at my Mom’s house, but I’ll be back in Tinton Falls by tonight. Remember to check back at JerseySmarts.com throughout the coming week as I have a great deal of content that will be uploaded between now and New Year’s Day.

Until then, though, enjoy the rest of the day and have a very Merry Christmas! And in case you didn’t get a chance to read them, be sure to check out some of the poems posted at JerseySmarts.com over the last few weeks: Here Comes Santa on Christmas Eve | It’s Christmas Time in New Jersey | The Real Meaning of Christmas

It’s Christmas time in New Jersey

“It’s Christmas time in New jersey, come see and hear,
all the sights, sounds and the glow and sparkle of lights so pretty,
that comprise the heartbeat, rhythm and sparkle of our great,
big wonderful welcoming state and cities.

It’s Christmas time in New Jersey our cities, towns and villages,
are now all adorned in their most glorious dress,
as church elders prepare the baby Jesus creche.

Christmas trees on town halls, stores, homes, lawns and malls are all shining bright.
Gaily decorated in colored bells, tinsel, garlands, angels and lights, that glow and sparkle day and night,
boy oh boy what a magnificent and inspirational sight.

As Santa Clause makes out his Christmas list, making sure no girl or boys requested
toy will be forgot or missed. as Santa Claus extends his warm and welcoming Christmas greeting to everyone throughout our great state.

” Merry,Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to one and all.”
For, it’s Christmas time in New jersey.”

Copyright Joseph P. Martino – Poet, Writer
Millburn, NJ 07041

I think that for the first time in a long time, I’m not really “into it” yet. For me, I think there are three specific reasons why I’m not so much into the spirit yet this year. First, the weather! Maybe it’s because I’m thinking back 20+ years, but I always remembered December through March as being a vicious time of the year with respect to snowfall. Nowadays, though, if we get two major storms and a few flurries in between, that’s a lot. I think that there’s something about the snow and watching a snowstorm that makes this time of the year special. When it’s t-shirt and shorts weather, though, it’s pretty tough to get into the spirit of the season.

Second, the stores aren’t doing it for me this year. If I recall correctly, last year I would walk into the Wal-Mart and the Target and even the Monmouth Mall and everything was draped with “Merry Christmas” signs or “Happy Holidays” banners and you’d see Christmas trees set up around the store, etc. It was a very festive scene! However, this year the local stores seemed to have toned it down a bit which might be a result of cost cutting measures, who knows. I always think that the Christmas season, though way too commercialized these days, is always augmented in a positive way when commercial outlets dress themselves up in the season. On a related note, the Christmas music on Sirius XM’s channels has been so-so at best this year. They’re mixing in a lot of different stuff and I believe that the diversity in generations of musicians takes away from the overall impact.

And finally, I’ve been really busy over the last three months so I admit that I haven’t really had a chance to stop and think about presents or decorating or attending any Christmas parties, etc. Of my three reasons, this is the only one that I think I have an ability to change, but I really don’t think a change on my part is necessary since in about a week’s time all of the things that are taking up most of my free time will be over (teaching and taking a course).

Maybe next week it’ll be a little colder, the stores will put out more of their Christmas decorations, and I’ll have more free time to take it all in. Until then, though, the days seem to keep on flying by just like any other time of the year!

First, like everyone I hope for health, happiness, safety, etc. Blah blah blah – we all get this resolution. So everyone out there be careful and safe and so on and so on…

Financially, I’m in a good spot. A few years ago I tightened my financial belt and it paid off. I’m close to breaking beneath $100,000 in total student loan debt, I have no credit card debt, I have a sufficient safety reserve, and I have a diversified investment portfolio including an ING savings account, CDs, stocks, and my 401k. For someone my age, that’s pretty good. This year, though, I’d like to double my safety reserve since the economy doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better any time soon. I’m also staying in the market.

Honestly, that’s about it for the resolutions. I’m going to go to the doctor this year and get a full physical and I really need to get my eyes checked again because I think I need a new set of lenses. Other than that, I think I’m doing well!

Good luck to all of you in meeting your New Year’s Resolutions!