Planning Fetish?

[Katsmeow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KingB Hmmm. Lunch with the cute girl on the next cubicle?

He's retired. Actually he says and I believe him that 90% of it is Starbucks or other occasional Cokes or snacks when out and about.

[Ronstar]

It doesn't surprise me that an accounting couple is spreadsheet crazy. I hope its ok, because I whip up spreadsheets for almost everything.

[Aiming_4_55]

I enjoy traveling and part of the joy is researching/planning it for me.

Since you are now retired, I assume you have the extra time to track all those things in detail. I view that as an inexpensive hobby during retirement

As long as you enjoy it and it floats your boat, go for it!

As for fetishes, spice it up some

[FreeAtLast]

I found that spreadsheets were really good for middle school science projects. You can use the huge fonts and colors and print the text, cut to size and just glue stick them to the poster board.

Very easy to edit and see how it looks and lay it all out before gluing it.
When it does not quite fit or the poster board not full enough, no problem. Just increase/decrease the font size and reprint.

[Dreamer]

I have never made a spreadsheet in my entire life. Wouldn't know how to do it. It sounds like I am missing out. I wish that my DH would enjoy keeping track of expenses. I decided this year that I was going to track our expenses and I am really proud that it is almost the middle of March and I am still tracking. I use a pen and paper. I have to get with the times.

[Danmar]

Sounds like there are others like us out there. Meow- most of my planning is future or financial oriented. Don't worry much about "old stuff" like pictures or e-mails. Maybe I should.

[chinaco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danmar My DW and I are were both accountants when we worked. She was a project manager and I a senior bank exec. Planning was a cornerstone of our working lives.... .

Fetish or compulsion?

DW doesn't... but I do.

[Meadbh]

Accountant's come on line: "Want to come up and see my spreadsheets sometime?"

[Tigger]

It's when people stop making plans that I start to worry about them.

[Lsbcal]

We should start an ER spreadsheet thread.

One can never get enough Excel . A fragment of a recent market timing graph:

[Tigger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lsbcal We should start an ER spreadsheet thread. One can never get enough Excel . A fragment of a recent market timing graph:

Oooh. Very sexy. I'm all for an "Excel Fetish" thread.

[mickeyd]

When I was gainfully employed I was planner all the way. I guess I got it from my time in the military when, often, time is limited and duties many. I carried this over to civilian j*bs and it served me very well for the decades of w*rk.

Now that I am retired, I avoid planning like the plague. I think I enjoy the excitement of not knowing what is next.

When DW and I were talking about our upcoming cruise thru the Panama Canal I just told her that I'd fund the trip if she would do all of the rest. She is still in a plan-plan-plan mode, so it's all planned, I guess.

Anyway, we fly out to San Diego at 10AM on Friday, that's all I need to know.

[Katsmeow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danmar Sounds like there are others like us out there. Meow- most of my planning is future or financial oriented. Don't worry much about "old stuff" like pictures or e-mails. Maybe I should.

Well, the emails take almost no time to maintain. Basically it just requires not deleting them. I don't need to go back to them often but sometimes I'm asked something or have to provide documentation of something and the email is where it is or that is the easy way to find it. Saves a lot of time.

On the pictures, I guess that is past oriented. I do enjoy looking at them. I have my wallpaper on my computer set to periodically switch to a random photo. We've ended up having a lot of discussions about past trips or events or people when someone comes in my study as a picture changes. The main thing I've done though is send them all off to be scanned in so I don't have to deal with paper.

[simple girl]

Love this thread...I admit...I am a planning addict! Just a bit OCD - in all the right ways.

[sheehs1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danmar Our friends think we are nuts but we both love this stuff. What do you guys think? Maybe too much? But can't imagine doing it otherwise.

Danmar...sounds like you are a "data" and a "detail" person. So am I to a certain extent..so I can understand. Still...you have way more data than I do!

[Walt34]

DW is the "spreadsheet keeper" on budgetary matters, and I'm glad she does it. She keeps Excel spreadsheets for that, for itineraries, for calories, for... well, just about everything.

Being a longtime sufferer of CRS disease (Can't Remember "Stuff") this way I can go look up what I gotta remember not to forget. Or something like that.

[DFA]

I LOVE EXCEL; I am in spreadsheet heaven everyday working my ER plan!!

[Danmar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheehs1 Danmar...sounds like you are a "data" and a "detail" person. So am I to a certain extent..so I can understand. Still...you have way more data than I do!

After working on my spreadsheets, I love doing our taxes on Turbotax.

[Danmar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katsmeow Well, the emails take almost no time to maintain. Basically it just requires not deleting them. I don't need to go back to them often but sometimes I'm asked something or have to provide documentation of something and the email is where it is or that is the easy way to find it. Saves a lot of time. On the pictures, I guess that is past oriented. I do enjoy looking at them. I have my wallpaper on my computer set to periodically switch to a random photo. We've ended up having a lot of discussions about past trips or events or people when someone comes in my study as a picture changes. The main thing I've done though is send them all off to be scanned in so I don't have to deal with paper.

DW looks after our photo archives. We usually make albums by downloading to Kodak,etc. Leave these lying around and do enjoy looking at the various trips we have taken.

[Zero]

I had a boss at MegaCorp who was a runner. He ran at lunch and at precisely 11:15 each day he would call the Hawthorne airport and get the temperature, smog index, cloud ceiling, barometric pressure, etc. He would enter the data in an engineering notebook with date, time. He would then weigh his kit (running shoes, shorts, teeshirt and socks), enter that. He would check his BP, pulse, weigh himself, and make notes of his mental and physical well being and enter that. He had gadgets strapped to him everywhere for taking data along the way.

He would stand still waiting for precisely, PRECISELY, 12:00, and he'd flick that watch and off he went. Not jogging but at a full-speed miler's pace. Same course everyday, rain or shine. Along the run, he would not speak, nor look side to side.

At the end of the run, document everything you can imagine. If a fly had annoyed him while running, bingo, into the notes.

He did similar things with food consumption (precise times, precise portions, calories, etc).

He even had notes on the location of every one of his possession. "Watch = bedside table, black marble dish"

Never had children. I guess that would have interferred. And his wife had numerous boyfriends (not sure he kept statistics on that).

All in all, one of the happiest people I have ever known.

I think it truly is "whatever floats your boat".