Comments on: My Five Year Goals

By: Kai

Kai — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 06:13:55 +0000

@Ryan (#33)
That’s a fair description. I consider an environmentalist to be someone who considers it valuable, and examines their impact, and tries to make some beneficial actions. It’s not really possible to be perfect on this stuff, so I don’t think you have to be extreme to consider yourself on the same side.

By: Steffie

Steffie — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:14:20 +0000

Cleveland has plans to lay off 650 teachers and school personnel this summer, I don’t think there is any profession that is an absolute lock on a job anywhere now. Even our neighboring ‘country’ school systems are hurting for tax money etc. You could move your dream of rural living to a different country, giving your children an experience of a lifetime, exposing them to a different culture etc.

By: J

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 17:55:16 +0000

Oh, and sixth is that your next door neighbor can sell their land to a developer …. who puts in a neighborhood development full of people who want to “move to the country” :)

By: J

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 17:34:56 +0000

I will join with the others who advise caution with the construction of Hamm Ranch in the rolling Iowa countryside. My in-laws live in a rural setting that in many ways matches what others have said — it’s within 45 minutes of a decent sized city, they have acreage and they can do things like garden. The houses are spread out pretty far from each other and there are many aspects of it that meet the “rustic country ideal”. There are, however, downsides to the reality of this ideal.

First is the “right to farm” law. Note that I’m not saying that the law is a bad thing — but people move out to the country and find out that farmers will do things like run equipment at all hours, much of it noisy and powered by diesel. You have no recourse to make them change their habits. I’m 100% fine with it, too — someone’s gotta make the food we eat.

Second is the lack of zoning. You might invest a lot in your property and it’s upkeep. Your neighbor might decide to live in an abandoned school bus. Or open a business. Or a pig farm, with attached manure pool.

Third is the commuting. Getting anywhere takes 30 minutes each way for many things. There are some that are close, but there are some things that Just Take Forever to get to and back from.

Fourth are well water and septic systems. When the water table gets drawn down, well, you’ve got no water. No water means no toilets, no shower, no drinking. Not to mention that septic systems can be giant holes into which money can be put. Sure you may not have a water bill or a sewer bill, but you may have to still pay, all the same. And with five (or more) people pulling off the well, water conservation will be key.

Fifth is the availability of technology and telecommunications. Since you are inherently tied to the information superhighway, know what kind of high speed connection exists. My in-laws were literally years behind the suburbs in terms of first the availability and now the speed of connection that can be purchased. The telcos don’t get the same ROI in rural areas, so they spend more in the suburbs and the rural areas always lag.

By: Jayne

Jayne — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 11:33:01 +0000

I love reading your goals and they are very inspirational to me!
I have to agree with many others, Trent, about your mistaken feeling that your wife, as a teacher, could find a job just about anywhere! I am a National Board Certified teacher with a master’s degree, licensed in 2 areas, 15 years of experience with 15 years of excellent evaluations and I would NEVER assume that I could find a job anywhere these days! I am grateful to have the great job that I do have, with no plans to move or leave it, but I also know that it is tenuous these days. If I keep my current, tenured job I’ll be lucky!! You might want to re-think that part of your moving plan!

By: Jaime @ Eventual Millionaire

Jaime @ Eventual Millionaire — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 00:02:01 +0000

I love hearing other people’s goals. It is so cool to hear what is important to others.

I also like looking back to see what progress I made from 5 years previous. So much change can happen in 5 years!

Five years ago I was in a job I hated working 60 hours a week, and had no children.

Now I have the best job ever, two adorable children, and we are living in the perfect house on 5 acres.

I’m so excited for the next 5 years.

It sounds like Trent is too! It makes me think, what will happen to the Simple Dollar though?

By: kristine

kristine — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 23:52:52 +0000

Wow- I share 4 of your 5 major goals. Except it will be “done raising children” rather than done having them.

By: okbeagleowner

okbeagleowner — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 22:23:27 +0000

I created a spreadsheet with a row containing my age and spread the years across the columns. I added rows for my children and parents’s ages. I also put in a row for a future generation of grandchildren.

On another row I tracked retirement assets.

This simple spreadsheet helps me put in perspective how precious time is relative to spending time with my loved ones and the reason I work and save.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 19:57:11 +0000

@ 15, Kai:

I don’t consider myself an environmentalist mainly because I just don’t think I’m very “green”.

I’d like to do what I can to not hurt the environment, but it seems that every option has a tradeoff.

Mainly, I just asked to speak from another point of view.

I don’t know what the answers are…

By: Pat

Pat — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 19:46:32 +0000

I agree with #7 & #8. We moved to the country 22 years ago to escape the loud suburban lifestyle. While we love having the open space around us it has filled in quite a bit in the 22 years we have been here. We are the last of large property owners in our area. The ‘new’ people who have moved into our rural area have brought their town-living ideas with them and imposed them on others. They, unfortunately, have also brought all their noisy, garbage-throwing friends with them. They throw loud parties that last way too long for those of us who are quiet people wanting to enjoy the quiet that should be country life. And commuting is a constant when living in the country. You have to drive everywhere. I long for being able to walk to the neighborhood store when I run out of milk as I did growing up in a small town. Yes, my children have had fun living in the country but their friends aren’t here. They live in the small town that is 10 miles away. My kids have to ride the bus (one hour each way) and hate it. You need to REALLY think about what your life would be like living in the country. If you just want more green space perhaps there is a home near a park or something that would better suit you.

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 17:25:08 +0000

I’m with Kim, teaching jobs are scarece as hen’s teeth. Competition for these well paying, benefit laden jobs is fierce in this economy. Trent, you ought to make a few inquiries before you assume that your wife can get a job “anywhere.” She’s lucky to have a job where you live. This remark sounds about as well researched as your “I’m going to plant a maple tree sapling and harvest gallons of pancake syrup.” project. Some times it’s better to research first and write second.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:37:27 +0000

Trent, would you consider posting a chapter or parts of Rings of Saturn on your website? I would love to read some of your fiction, as I’m sure many of your other followers would.

By: Kim

Kim — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:32:09 +0000

Wow, As a teacher myself, I wish I could count on finding a job easily anwhere! Turn on your TV Trent! Schools everywhere are making massive teacher cuts. Schools are laying off teachers, not hiring them. I’ve been teaching for 28 years and I’ve never seen it like this. Maybe things are much better in Iowa than I thought.

By: boboli

boboli — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:18:31 +0000

I’m not sure I agree with the living in the country is wasteful argument. I spent my first 18 years living in the country, pretty much twenty miles from anywhere. We spent more time in our cars and used more gas, but probably drove less than most people who live in cities. On the weekends and days off we often didn’t drive anywhere at all. Since it was so far to go for errands and such we didn’t go somewhere to just go, which a lot of us city dwellers do now.

Most people who live in the country actually maintain a lot of wildnerness and green space, with the majority of the space being wild. I would put good money down that most country dwellers use less fertilizer and lawn chemicals and grow more of their own food than city folk.

By: Geoff Hart

Geoff Hart — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 12:31:25 +0000

In terms of writing, one thing I’m finding very effective is doing some of my own literary criticism to see whether it helps me better understand the writing process of other authors and thereby improve my own fiction.

Since you noted that you’re thinking of writing SF/F, you might be interested in some of my reviews, which are entirely of genre science fiction and fantasy:
http://www.geoff-hart.com/fiction/reviews/index.htm
They’re most worth reading if you’ve read the stories, but there’s a bit about the process of writing you might find useful even if you haven’t read the stories.

I find that the process of thinking through how another author is working (without dissecting the stories to the point where they lose all their entertainment value) is very helpful for understanding the flaws in my own fiction. It also makes me think much harder about the stories I want to tell and how I want to tell them. I’m hoping that the results will improve my own fiction enough to make it worth submitting to the big markets at some point. But if not, it’s still making my writing a much more satisfying process.

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 11:45:50 +0000

Trent, the goals looks good, but they look rather you centered. Two of the five are just about your career. Does your wife have an profession or personal goals as well. It would be interesting to see if you each wrote down 5 goals separately and then compared, and came up with together goals.

By: ChrisB

ChrisB — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 03:45:03 +0000

Trent, I ask this question only because you’ve mentioned your religious persuasion on occasion…

What role does prayer play in your discernment of your goals? Just curious if and how you incorporate that dimension into your planning.

By: lurker carl

lurker carl — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 02:21:00 +0000

Rosa Rugosa, 30 year goals aren’t high on my radar either. Most readers here are closer in age to my grandchildren than they are to me.

By: Kai

Kai — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 01:40:00 +0000

I am with Ryan (#13)
The way I look at the morality of such things is ‘Would it be beneficial or detrimental if everyone else did it too?’ or sometimes ‘Would it be possible to sustain everyone doing this?’
When it comes to living on large plots of land that are not being put to good use, I say no. Or massive homes in the city, or city-edge acreages or towns in the middle of the mountains or many other unsustainably impactive settings.
If you’re going to live out on a large plot of land, you need to be doing something with it. If you become self-sustaining, grow your own food, and make very rare trips away by car, then I think you can justify it. If you want to just live somewhere with a lot of open space around you to look at, I understand the desire, but I don’t think it is necessarily a good thing for the earth.
I am an environmentalist. Not a crazed one, but one who thinks it is good to look at the impact of decisions and desires. Ryan, are you just then speaking from another possible point of view? Or are you just not willing to admit to being an environmentalist, despite your concerns? :D

I know that Trent has not asked for my opinion on his choices, and I am not trying to speak directly against him in any way here. That’s not what I would have brought up, and it’s really not why he’s sharing this stuff. So I mean this to be simply a theoretical discussion in response to Ryan’s question.

By: rosa rugosa

rosa rugosa — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 01:33:02 +0000

@10 Lurker Carl – yeah, if you’re young enough. In 30 years, I plan to be dead :)