Yesterday I Gave Myself and Early Christmas Present...Oh, And Here's Some Penguins

First, the penguins.  We went to the Bellagio today because I had heard that their new Christmas display was up and this always makes a nice, free photo op.

And my Christmas present....  These past few days, as I have been lamenting how far behind I am this holiday season (like I haven't even STARTED Christmas shopping yet!), I was thinking about how I can simplify my life even more so that in 2012, I will have time to work on some big projects I have been thinking about doing.  Then it hit me that at this time, when I have absolutely nothing pressing to do since I currently don't need to work (and if we can stay super frugal I can continue this way until something I just can't resist comes along), I need to stop doing "day filler" stuff and actually focus on things with some long term benefits (I should have these things together in list form by tomorrow).
The first thing I did was make me a new website which you can find here, then I decided to stop "blogging for dollars" so to speak and focus more on freelance writing to bring in a bit of funds on the side.  At first, since I love to write, I thought that setting up some "niche" blogs would be a good way to earn some Adsense revenue but it really isn't and keeping up seven blogs takes A LOT of time.  So as you can see, down in the right corner of this page, I am signing off from all of the newer blogs I have started and will only have three to update each day--this one (which is my most personal blog), another blog which I am just putting together that I will use as a "grab bag" for business and tech and travel stuff (less personal; the one I direct my friends, family, and clients to), and a third blog which I ghost write (a long story).
I feel more relaxed already!