Things in Life that Don't Really Matter

This week I was in charge of the opening reflective question for our leadership group at work.  I spent the weekend in search of something meaningful and more in-depth than a simple, "What was the most exciting part of your weekend?"  Yeah....I am not sure I will be allowed to ask the opening question on a Monday morning again!!  In my search, I came across an article by All Pro Dad entitled, "10 Things in Life That Don't Really Matter."  The author talked about different things in life that we often give undue importance to in our lives that when we step back and reflect on them, don't really matter in the grand scheme of things.  This sent my mind into reflective mode of what have I given credence to in my life that needed to go down a few rungs in the ladder of importance.

For those of you that don't know me well, I am a bit of a planner.....I can already hear my wife chuckling.  Yes I am that person who lays out their clothes a week in advance of a trip to make sure we don't forget anything.  My wife on the other hand, packs 30 minutes before we leave!!!  Talk about two different perspectives!! Haha!  Sarah always challenges that I can't relax or sit still and simply enjoy things because I am always trying to get ahead of the game and get things done.  My weekends were spent worrying about the laundry or getting the yard mowed just to make sure they were done and check them off the list.  My weekends were driven on what we needed to get done and then and only then could I begin to enjoy each day. However, with the help of my wife that has begun to change with the arrival of my two beautiful daughters.

 

 



I truly believe that values are not truly values until they have been tested.  Myself personally always prided my life on being family first and being there for my girls.  That was tested when it came time on weekends to complete the tasks of the day and get things prepared as my mind had been conditioned to do for so long, or truly spend the time with my girls.  Now I find myself not worrying so much about the yard or the laundry as Sarah and I divide and conquer the tasks together.  We also focus on completing these things as much as we can when the girls are napping.  We try more and more to worry about the precious time we have with the girls more so than how the house looks or what we have ready to go for the week.  It has given us many more experiences such as walks like these:

This has been no small step for me personally as a person who drives to themselves accomplish things to step back and truly relax.  I can't thank my wife enough for being patient with me and encouraging me along the way.  Weekends are much more enjoyable and our times together much more special.  So if you drive by the house and the yard is a little long or the leaves aren't picked up this fall, it is because I am spending as much time with my girls as I can even if it means things aren't as complete as they have been in the past.

I continue to challenge myself to reflect on what truly matters and what does not in my life.  My legacy in life won't be what I have accomplished or how much I have made, it will hopefully be the relationships I have built with my daughters and my wife with an abundance of memories to show for it.  So today reflect on what matters and more importantly what doesn't matter in your life and how you can shed that from your day and create a more meaningful life with your family.

Cutting the Cord

Yes we did it! We finally cut the cable cord a few months ago and have been loving it ever since!

 

 

Sarah and I had been talking on and on for the past year or so about cutting the cord and ditching our cable service.  At the time, we had been using AT&T Uverse for quite a few years and really had no complaints on the service other than the price.  When you added up the cost of our internet and TV service, we were paying roughly $150 a month for the two.  That adds up to an annual cost of $1800 or $18,000 over 10 years for simple internet and TV services.  Yeah let that sink in for just a minute! The crazy part of all this is the fact that we really don't watch that much TV.  In fact, we spend most of our TV watching using Neftlix to watch some of their great shows like House of Cards or Friends.

 

 

What was stopping us from ditching cable?

 

Well the main reason we never could ditch cable rested solely with me!  Guys, you will understand this point......I couldn't give up my ESPN!!!!  As crazy as it sounds, that is simply where the debate stopped every time we had this discussion.  While I may not watch a lot of TV during the week, I am a huge college football fan and the thought of not being able to watch games on ESPN in the fall always prevented me from taking the plunge.  College football is the one sport where I don't care who is playing, I am always interested in watching the games.  I knew I would not enjoy Saturdays in the fall as much without having this option to watch games on ESPN.  So inevibitaly every time we discussed cutting cable, we would never take the next step due to this reason.

 

 

Along comes Sling TV!!!

 

This past January I kept hearing about a new TV service called Sling TV that was being launched by DISH Network.  Sling would be along the lines of Apple TV providing a steaming TV service as an alternative to regular cable at a cost of only $20 a month.  The most attractive part of Sling was that it was going to include both ESPN and ESPN2 as a part of the package!!!  I began investigating to find that Sling would include these channels as part of a 12 channel lineup that also includes the likes of TNT, TBS, AMC, and HGTV to name a few.  This had me really excited and thinking it had to be to good to be true. 

 

How does it work???

 

Sling works through your internet connects and can be run on a computer or tablet, but most users would want to run it through a streaming device of some kind.  Sling works with Amazon Fire, Roku, or Xbox.  We chose to purchase a Roku after a test run on our computer to see if we liked Sling to begin with at the start.  Sling then works as an App on your Roku device that you select and then choose the channel to stream for your watching pleasure.  The Roku can work through a wired connection with your Ethernet or a wireless connection to a remote location in your home.

 

Pros

• The Channels-great selection of major networks for only 12 channels
• Cost-Can't beat only $20 a month for cable
• Ability to add other service like Hulu, Netflix, etc...through the Roku
• Easy to set up and use immediately

Cons

• Limited channel selection-No NFL Network, Big Ten, etc...
• No local channels-we purchased a HD antenna for our main TV in the house
• Wireless streaming can be spotty depending on placement in your house
• Initial purchases of Roku for each TV, antenna

Overall Review

 

If you are looking to finally cut the cord, this is definitely the way to go.  You get a good selection of channels and most importantly for guys access to ESPN and ESPN2.  We have been using the service since February and have loved the service and do not miss cable or the bill at all!!  All told Sarah and I spent roughly $180 in start up costs to get Sling running in our house for a Roku for each of the three TVs and the HD antenna.  We also switched our internet over to Comcast as they had the better price for a higher streaming internet speed However, our monthly costs for TV and internet are now $80 after taxes vs. the $150 we were paying before.  This saves us $70 a month which equates to a savings of $840 a year.  If we took that money and invested it at a 7% earnings rate, we will have a little over $12,000 in ten years!  I can definitely do without a few cable changes for those kind of savings!

As The World Turns-Just so Happens It is Really Fast

1000 Miles Per Hour-That is how fast the world actually spins on its axis.  It was also the title of my mother's favorite soap opera show when I was a child.  Finally, it is also about how fast I feel these past few months have gone since my last post.  I hate that it has been that long as I really enjoy writing this blog for as much as I hope it helps others out there, it has been very beneficial for both myself and my family.

What Have We Been Up To Lately?
Well since my last post we welcomed two beautiful girls into our lives on April 24th.  Liliana Margaret and Madelyn Rose were brought into this world by their beautiful mother about 15 minutes apart.  They have been a complete blessing to our lives and we constantly amazed at how lucky we are to have these little blessings.  Thus these girls are also the reason I have not been able to write as much as I would have love to recently.  I would love to attempt to write about their daily lives and progress, but you would be much better reading Sarah's blog about our girls to find out about that.  You can find her blog at http://sarahhession6.blogspot.com/ for all the latest updates on our girls.  Let's just say from my standpoint we have been really busy!! My hope is to have new blogs in the near future reflecting on the first few months of our lives with the girls from a dad's point of view and their are too many experiences to sum up in this one blog.

New Career Opportunity
Shortly between bringing Maddie (Madelyn) home from the NICU and traveling back and forth to see Lily (Liliana), I received a call from my superintendent asking to meet with me one day while I was home with the girls.  I was caught a little off guard by the request and I think Sarah's comment was, "You aren't going to get fired are you?"  Well no I didn't get fired, in fact I was offered a new exciting opportunity to become the next Director of Finance of the school corporation.  This was a position I had always dreamed of moving into one day, I just never thought it would happen this soon.  After some discussion between Sarah and I over the new expectations and job requirements, I accepted the position and moved into the role on July 1st.  It has been a crazy transition, but one that I have enjoyed and look forward to continuing.

What's Next?
My hope is to pick back up with my writing and sharing of being a dad of multiples and the challenges that it brings.  We knew we would go through some stressful times, but to be honest in many ways what we thought would be our biggest challenges have not been as much and others have been much more challenging than we ever could have thought.  However, it is through these ups and downs that I hope to share what we have learned and continue to learn as we walk through this path of life.