Statistics.

Statistics have always been an interest of mine. Maybe not to the degree that I wanted to do math for a living, but when you tie it in to my line of work, you get information graphics. There are so many ways to illustrate any and all types of information. They range from something as simple as a bar graph comparing the number of apples to the number of oranges at the store, to a virtual community representing the "Village of 100 People" statistical breakdown. Statistics themselves don't do it for most people, but when displayed properly through design, the numbers are then given a greater sense of meaning.

One of my favorite groups that creates info graphics is GOOD magazine. I browse around image banks on the internet quite often and whenever I run across a graphical chart that catches my eye, more often than note it came from a GOOD magazine spread. They bring to light a variety of social issues by using information graphics that are otherwise lost in the myriad of numbers that most people don't grasp. One of my favorite graphics they put out was a timeline representation of the all-important first 100 days in office of our last 12 presidents. They say that time frame is a good indication of how the rest of the president's tenure in office will turn out. Factors included in the timeline are major events, what they inherited when coming into office, and popular vote. (Source: http://awesome.goodmagazine.com)

Another chart that I've stumbled across that's amazing when considering the sheer scale of it is Chris Harrison's "Visualizing the Bible." His graph links all the textual cross references found within the Bible, more than 63,000 of them. It wasn't really built to be a functional chart, but the visual impact that it brings is immense. The bar chart along the bottom represents each chapter in the Bible, and the two different tones divide each book. The distance between the two chapters referenced were color coded, giving the chart a rainbow-like effect. This project was quite the undertaking, but the results are beautiful. (Source: http://www.chrisharrison.net)

Really the thing that got me to write this post is the annual reports that Nicholas Felton designs. The twist is, they're not annual reports for some national company. They're annual reports about himself. He painstakingly logs many details about himself throughout the year: the number of miles he's walked, the number of restaurants he's been to, etc. And he's been doing this for a couple years. I decided that I wanted to try this too. Yeah, it may be a lot of trouble, but it'll be a learning experience too. I'm sure I'll find out new things about my habits and personal traits, especially when putting it on a one-year scale. To keep me to it along the way, I'll probably post a spread of a few items each month before compiling a large one at the end of the year. We'll see how it goes, right?

Hello again.

It's been awhile. I apologize for the absence.

Welp, it's another new year. Almost a new decade too. Have the come up with a name for this last one yet? We had the 80s, the 90s, and then the 2000s? Do we call the next one the 10s?

Anyway, as with 91% of the US population, I've come up with a list of resolutions for the new year. One of them happens to be blogging, which is why I'm suddenly back on the web. Onward with the list:

-Start blogging again. I think I'm going to give myself a fresh start on this. I'm not sure if I want to keep using blogspot because anything with "blogspot.com" in the URL is blocked at work, yet I can still access and use my blogging account at blogger.com because it doesn't share the same domain name. Bizarre, I know. Anyway, I'm debating either this or Wordpress. I'll keep you posted with what's to come.

-Get out of credit card debt. I had to charge a lot to my credit card back during Christmas of '06 because I didn't have any money to give gifts with. Two years later, it's still there. I've made a plan to pay X amount of money from my paycheck every Friday to get out of the red and put it into effect on the 2nd. At this rate, I'll be done by March 14.

-Start saving money. As well as paying off my credit card, I want to be saving money regularly. I have had a savings account set up for a long time, but the money in there slowly depleted throughout college. I did the math, and I've 12% of my income is a reasonable starting point. I think I may also make a large deposit at the end of every month so I don't have an excess amount sitting in my checking.

-Work out regularly again. This is probably the most generic bullet point on everybody's resolution list. It's something I really need to get back into too. Living in Irving by myself, I do a lot of sitting around. When I get home from work, I turn on the tv and watch Wheel of Fortune while I cook dinner, then usually watch whatever Netflix sent me or play video games of some sort. Not a very good habit at all, but that's what I do when I'm bored. And I'm bored a lot. Well to get on track with my resolution, I signed up to be able to swim at the North Lake College natatorium. Their campus is right across the street from my work place, and their membership is very affordable for me ($45 for 9 months as opposed to $45 per month at LA Fitness or 24 Hour Fitness.) I'll be going in every morning to get in a mile-long swim before work. Hopefully soon it'll be refreshing and not tired for the rest of my day.

-Meet new people. I haven't really figured out how to do this one yet. I've lived many places throughout my life, but I've always had to go to school then. That's really how I met people. But now, I'm in the adult working world, so I don't have this common factor that made it easy to get to know people. Everyone I work with is at least a decade older than me, so that one can be crossed off the list. Anyway, I need to get this one figured out before all my current friends move away.

That about sums them up. Hopefully I'll stick to them. And hopefully you stick to yours too.