My mornings recently have been a lot busier than usual, because I’m preparing to launch a new design for my main business, Music Teacher’s Helper. I’m really excited about it because it will make the program look much more updated and clean. We’ve also simplified the interface so it should be much easier to use, [...]
Continue reading...27 December 2009
I like to read books that inspire me to be a better person and help me understand life from a different perspective. And although I haven’t spent a lot of time reading this year, the books I have read have made a profound difference in my life and perspective. Lately, I’ve tried to read more, and [...]
Continue reading...24 December 2009
Tonight, Marie gave the family prayer, and in that sweet voice of hers, expressed her concern for Santa's welfare. I wish we would have recorded it. But I've tried to reconstruct it from memory, below. It went something like this. Dear Heavenly Father, We're thankful for this good day. Please help us have the Spirit to be with us. Please bless Santa to be safe when he comes to give us presents. Help him be safe when he [...]
Continue reading...17 December 2009
We at the Pearce household definitely prefer warm weather. Temperatures here in Salt Lake City lately have been between 20-40 degrees Fahrenheit. Emily does everything she can to get out of wearing a coat, even in below freezing temperatures. Our skin gets dry and cracked, and in this season it seems that sicknesses abound. Still, it’s [...]
Continue reading...6 December 2009
Because of our move abroad, this week will be my last week singing with the Oratorio Society of Utah, a 94-year-old choral organization that performs Handel’s Messiah every year, as well as other choral masterworks. I have been an assistant director of this choir since 2004, during which time we have sung Handel’s “Messiah”, Haydn’s “Creation”, [...]
Continue reading...21 November 2009
The past couple weeks, I've found myself with quite a bit of extra time on my hands. Somehow, I've usually been able to finish up work-related tasks in under an hour a day, and less than that on tracking finances or doing household tasks. Now that we don't have a house or so much "stuff" to worry about, I'm magically finding myself left with lots of time to fill! This is a good problem to have, I think. As much as I've heard how it's good advice to have "down time" to just relax and do nothing, I still find that a challenge. I try to play pool, or sit around and relax, which is nice here and there. But sooner or later, I feel like I've just got to be up and doing something "productive". I continue to make lists of things I want to accomplish during the day, or the week, and work to accomplish them, but the lists are less stringent than they use to be. I only list a few tasks, and I try to make them things that are truly important to me - not just mundane stuff that needs to be done anyway. This week, my list has included things like "Play Mario Kart with my kids", "Study Spanish", and "Make videos of our Panama trip". But the two things I've probably spent the most time on the past few weeks have been composing music, and typing my old journals.
Continue reading...8 November 2009
I wanted to post an update about our progress toward a “Location Independent” lifestyle. We finished selling our house (well, we close next week), and we got rid of almost all our possessions. I can’t say we got rid of everything, because we did keep enough to fill a 10×10 storage unit, although most of it [...]
Continue reading...21 October 2009
Well, we sold our house, and are now in the process of selling almost everything we own. We made a huge list in Google Docs of all our stuff with prices, and posted it on Craigslist, KSL, Facebook, and other sites, and have had a pretty decent response. It feels wonderful to be freeing ourselves [...]
Continue reading...7 August 2009
I’ve had a few people ask about how things are going with our decision to stay home, rather than take our road trip. I have to say, they are going quite well! I have been working a lot more the past week or so on my business, because it’s the busy season right now for music [...]
Continue reading...26 July 2009
For the last several weeks, we have been thinking about taking a 2-3 week road trip across Idaho, Oregon, down the California coast, and back through Nevada. We wanted to get up where it’s a little cooler during the hot Utah August, give our new car some exercise, and spend time together seeing some new [...]
Continue reading...
24 February 2010
5 Comments