Mom, I’m glad you followed the link I sent you in your Yahoo e-mail. When I choked on pizza a few weeks ago, I realized life is too short and I should share with you this part of mine. I had been hesitant to tell you about this blog for so long, because I put the name Lazy in the title. Hesitant isn’t the right word… let’s go with scared terrified. I don’t mean lazy in the traditional sense though. It’s computer science term for being efficient. I started this blog with the intention of documenting my quest to retire when my wife retires at age 44 – just a short 10 years away. I didn’t see working two jobs as an answer and my current job just didn’t put me on that path.
The other reason I picked now to tell you is just that the timing seemed right. I know it’s not your birthday or Christmas, but that’s difficult to hit since there’s a only a three day span between the two. The timing isn’t completely random. I just passed the one million visitor threshold. That makes me want to go back to 10th grade and ask Ms. Paige how she likes them apples.
You know those times when I say that I have contracting jobs lined up? Well with the exception of the one that I’ve been on for the last 6 months, this is my “contracting job.” I know I went to a good school for computer science – you might be thinking that I’m wasting my degree with this. I use my computer skills almost every day – it’s just behind the scenes. And as far as earning an income, this job pays better than you might think. I’m not exactly going to retire a multi-millionaire tomorrow, but the freedom to work when and where I want to is very handy. I’m really going to enjoy it when I’m in Aruba next week. Beyond all that, it just makes me feel good to help people. While you can browse through more than years of archives, I suggest you start with my page on tips to save money.
Oh, and can you avoid telling my brother about this site? For a long time, I wanted to give him advice, but didn’t really know how to do it. You can’t really call someone up and say “be careful how you spend your money.” I would think that I’d need to walk a mile in his shoes, before that. Plus with the two kids, I think he’s gotten much better. He’s at the point where he doesn’t need my advice.
I know I don’t call you as often as I should. For those times when I’m not on the end of the phone, you can read what I’m up to here. Oh and please don’t be afraid to leave comments on all of my articles.
Love,
Your Son
“Oh, and can you avoid telling my brother about this site? For a long time, I wanted to give him advice, but didn’t really know how to do it. You can’t really call someone up and say ‘be careful how you spend your money.'”
I have the exact opposite issue. Co-workers appoach me for investment advice. While I have a solid understanding of fundamentals, I really don’t want to tell them how to invest, because everyone’s situation (and tolerance for risk is different). I’m alwayss willing to explain how certain things work, though.
Just yesterday, I was asked to explain the date targeted 401(k) funds that my employer began offering about a year ago. They were stunned to learn that we could shift 401(k) assets into the date targeted funds with just a few clicks of the mouse.
Oh, and Hi, Lazy Mom :)
Hi, Lazy Man’s mom!
My mom has known about my blog for years, but refuses to read it because I once wrote something negative about her and she’s scared I will do it again. (Even though I haven’t.)
-Erica
Love this post!
Welcome Lazy Man’s Mom. I hope you do spend a good amount of time reading your son’s articles and the comments left by his readers. From what I have seen here, looks like Mama did very well raising this one. You should both be proud!
BTW, LM, I have a few old teachers I’d like to show my work to and say “how do you like them apples”, myself.
Well done!
i havent told my mom about my blog and i think that i will wait until it is well established. congrats for the achievement of the million and i hope that you get more millions. the post was also very creative.
so you told your mom but not your brother?
I’ve told my mom about my blog, but I’m certain that she has no clue what I mean :) She’s in her 70s and is an active emailer, but hasn’t jumped onto that newfangled “web” thing quite yet :)
I did print out all of my short stories for her and put them into a binder. She’ll probably like some of them … and probably wonder where she went wrong with some of them (the ones that show the warped, twisted side of my mind)
Hilarious – I told my family about the blog a while back. Most of them don`t bother reading it…. :)
Hello Lazy Man’s mother! I’ve “known” Lazy for several years now, at least as well as you can know someone over the web, and I think you did a good job raising him, he’s a nice guy.
Sometimes I forget that my mom, mother in law, and some of my friends read my site and am surprised when they bring up something I wrote about weeks or months ago. See Lazy, now you have to watch what you write :)
You did good, “Lazy Mom” (it’s too easy, but it’s not very nice, is it?). Lazy’s Mom. There we go.
And congrats on keeping a secret, Lazy. I kept mine secret for…maybe 3 or 4 months. Then I had to stop my mom from sending it out in the Christmas cards, lol.
Funny article, nice to delve into the psychology of a blogger.
I told my mom a while ago about my blog, and she’s my biggest marketer.
She actually created business cards without telling me and hands them out to whomever will have them.
She spams her friends about my articles and is constantly making suggestions for my blog as well as complaints for that matter.
I understand your embarrassment to some extent, as it seems like anytime you tell anybody that you work on the Internet, they immediately associate you with porn, so I end up explaining what I actually do a lot at family gatherings.
I tried explaining to my dad once, but he didn’t even know what Google was, so I gave up on that one.
Really great article, amusing perspective on the art of blogging.
For a while, I didn’t tell my family about Consumerism Commentary. Then one day, I got a call from my mom. She asked, “Are you Flexo?” Apparently she was searching for something online, came across Consumerism Commentary, and immediately recognized my writing.
This is very nice. I came across this when researching your site. Thanks for sharing my friend. :) Okay, I will admit I was spying on your metrics and got here by accident. lol