by Joe Hearn | Mar 8, 2015 | Hobbies, Pursuits
Note: This post is part of a weekend series I’m doing throughout 2015 that is focused on fun things to do (or learn) during retirement (i.e. bucket list items). I hope you enjoy them and use them as inspiration for your own adventures. Congrats to Dennis from our email subscribers who was the winner of this week’s giveaway. There’s an iTunes gift card on the way to your inbox Dennis. Feel free to use it toward the purchase of the time lapsing app discussed below.Have you ever watched one those cool time lapse videos and asked yourself “I wonder how they did that?” Me too. So I added “learn to time lapse” to my bucket list. Time lapse is one of those things that has become infinitely more approachable with the advent of apps and the smart phone. Making a time lapse used to involve complicated and expensive equipment (which you can definitely still use if you want to make super high quality videos), but now just about anyone can make a cool time lapse video with equipment they already have in their pocket. Here’s an easy guide on how to make time lapse videos with your smart phone.
What is time lapse?
Before jumping in, let’s explain what time lapse is. Many people incorrectly assume that time lapse is just shooting a video and then speeding it up. In actuality, time lapse is a series of still photos that are strung together and played back to create a moving sequence. What makes it interesting is that the rate at which the photos are played back is faster than the rate at which they were captured. This allows you to see movement that your eye wouldn’t normally pick up on. For example, you could take a picture of clouds every 10 seconds and then play those pictures back at 30 frames per second and you’d see the clouds rapidly changing and moving across the sky.
What equipment do you need?
For beginners, all you should need is your smart phone, a tripod and an app to help you sequence and render the photos. The app I use is Lapse It, which is available for both iPhone and Android. (Note: Some smart phones like the iPhone have a time lapse setting, but it doesn’t allow you to control any of the settings, so I prefer to use the app). If you already have a tripod, you’ll need an adapter that will hold your smart phone.
Step 1: Compose the photo
One of the key benefits of time lapse is movement, so when composing your shot, you want to look for things with some sort of movement (e.g. clouds, sunrise, tides, traffic, etc.). Your camera needs to be still while taking the photos, so find an interesting scene, set your camera up on the tripod and you’re ready to go. Note: Try to set up your camera where people won’t be walking in front of it (unless people are the subject of your time lapse).
Step 2: Adjust the settings
Once you’re camera is set up, you’ll need to set the frame rate. That is the number of seconds (or minutes) between each photo. Lapse It allows you to easily adjust the frame rate based on what you’re trying to capture. If something is moving relatively quickly, you can set your frame to capture a photo every few seconds. If it’s moving more slowly (sunrise for example), you can set your frame rate to capture a photo every 10-15 seconds.
Step 3: Take the photos
Once you’ve chosen your subject, set up your camera and adjusted the settings, just hit the “capture” button to start taking photos. At this point you can sit back and relax, because it can take a bit to get enough photos for the video. For example, if you plan on playing photos back at 30 frames per second and you want a 30 second video, then you need 900 photos. If you’re taking a picture of clouds every 10 seconds and you want to take 900 photos, then you need to take photos for 2.5 hours.
Step 4: Render the images
Once you’ve taken all the photos you need, just hit “stop” and Lapse It will automatically bring up the settings for rendering the final images. This is where you can choose the playback speed, add music or filters, trim the video, etc. Each time you adjust a setting, you can play back the sequence to see what your final video will look like. When you have it like you want it, just hit “render” and Lapse It will complete the project. Once it’s done you can save the video to your camera roll or share it to social media like Instagram or Facebook.
The final product
What does the final product look like? I was in Belize a few weeks ago and took a quick time lapse of the sunrise. I’ll put it below, but if you’re reading this post in your email, you may need to visit Intentional Retirement to actually watch the playback. I’m still learning the ropes myself, so this isn’t the best quality in the world, but you get the idea. Now you can give it a try yourself.
by Joe Hearn | Feb 8, 2015 | Hobbies, Pursuits
Note: This is part of a weekend bucket list series I’m doing throughout 2015 that is focused on fun things to do during retirement (i.e. bucket list items). I hope you enjoy them and use them as inspiration for your own adventures. I’m also doing a giveaway in conjunction with the series that you can read more about below.
One of the goals on my bucket list is to read 500 books between ages 40 and 50. Is reading on your bucket list? If not, it should be. Why is regular reading so important? How will you benefit from reading more? How can you make it through dozens of books in the typical year? What have I read so far on my way to 500 books in 10 years? Read on to find out. 🙂
Why You Should Read More
It keeps your mind sharp. Recent studies show that engaging your brain keeps it sharp, improves your vocabulary, improves your memory, helps improve your reasoning ability and might even help delay the symptoms or onset of dementia.
It inspires you to do interesting things. We all want to live full and interesting lives. Reading gives you ideas of things to do and then inspires you to do them. It’s difficult to read A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, without being inspired to get up off the couch and plan your own hike. If you read My Life in France by Julia Child, you’ll probably want to sign up for cooking classes or maybe even plan a trip to Paris. Reading is a great way to get ideas and inspiration for your bucket list.
It gives you ideas for self-improvement. Getting Things Done helped me to bring some sanity to my To-Do list. The Power of Habit helped me to understand how I can get rid of bad habits and create good ones. On Writing helped me to improve my writing. Books can help make a better you. As Socrates once said: “Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.”
It’s fun and a low cost form of entertainment. I spend most Saturday mornings on the couch with a cup of coffee and whatever book I happen to be reading. Not only is it enjoyable and relaxing, but it’s cheap entertainment (I get most of what I read from either the library or Amazon).
So in summary, reading gives you a better vocabulary. It makes you smarter and more interesting. It helps keep your mind sharp and improves your memory. It makes you a better conversationalist. It inspires you to do fun and interesting things. It’s great entertainment. That’s not a bad list of benefits.
How to Read More
Life is busy, so if you want to read more, you need to make it a priority. That said, here are a few tricks that helped me read more than 50 books last year.
Listen to audio books. I drive about 25 minutes to work every day (and 25 minutes home) and spend additional time driving to and from appointments. On average, I probably spend about 90 minutes in the car each day. Rather than listening to the radio, I listen to books. My local library has an App that allows me to download audio books for free, so I always have something to listen to. A little less than half of my reading list last year was audio books.
Speed-reading. I used to be a painfully slow reader, so a while back I did a learning challenge on speed-reading. Read through the article for ways to test and improve your reading speed.
Always take your book with you. I got this tip from Stephen King in his book On Writing. Everywhere I go I either have a book or my iPod with me. You’d be amazed at how much time you spend in waiting rooms, in line or otherwise standing around doing nothing. Take your book along and make use of the time.
Read stuff that you enjoy. If you want to read War and Peace, more power to you, but don’t feel pressure to read things just because they’re classics. Read what you enjoy. If you look through my list below you’ll see Steinbeck and Dickens, but you’ll also see about a half-dozen Jack Reacher novels, which are the literary equivalent of junk food. Who cares? I like them. I took a detective fiction class in college and since then I’ve always appreciated the genre. Read what you enjoy and you’ll read more.
Bucket List Books: What I’ve Read the Last Two Years
Below is a list of what I read during the first 2 years of my 10-year goal. I put Amazon links to each book in case you’d like to learn more about a particular book and possibly add it to your own reading list.
2013 (Age 40)
- Wool, Hugh Howey
- Do The Work, Steven Pressfield
- The Art of Non-Conformity, Chris Guillebeau
- Boomerang, Michael Lewis
- Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption, Laura Hillenbrand
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity, David Allen
- Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before, Tony Horwitz
- The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
- The Big Short, Michael Lewis
- The Glass Castle: A Memoir, Jeannette Walls
- My Life in France, Julia Child
- A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
- The Four Hour Workweek, Timothy Ferriss
- The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, John Boyne
- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King
- Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls, David Sedaris
- The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern, Victor David Hansen
- World War Z, Max Brooks
- Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors, Piers Paul Read
- Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, Michael Pollan
- Grand Ambition, G. Bruce Knecht
- Child of God, Cormack McCarthy
- Everyman, Phillip Roth
- Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, Anthony Bordain
- Tuesdays With Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man and Life’s Greatest Lesson, Mitch Albom
- No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Missions That Killed Osama Bin Laden, Mark Owen
2014 (Age 41)
- Jack London: An American Life, Earle Labor
- The Graveyard Book, Niel Gaiman
- Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel, Rolf Potts
- The Call of the Wild, Jack London
- Walden, Henry David Thoreau
- Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War, Nathaniel Philbrick
- The Sea Wolf, Jack London
- Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe
- Open: An Autobiography, Andre Agassi
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, F. Scott Fitzgerald
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne
- My First Summer in the Sierra, John Muir
- Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
- East of Eden, John Steinbeck
- The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
- Start Something that Matters, Blake Mycoskie
- David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
- Einstein: His Life and Universe, Walter Isaacson
- Roughing It, Mark Twain
- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, James Thurber
- The Martian, Andy Weir
- Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson
- The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman
- Escape From Davao: The Forgotten Story of the Most Daring Prison Break of the Pacific War, John Lukacs
- White Fang, Jack London
- Moby Dick, Herman Melville
- Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, Walter Isaacson
- John Barleycorn, Jack London
- A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin
- Travels With Charley: In Search of America, John Steinbeck
- The Search for God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer that Changed the World, Stephen Mansfield
- The House of the Scorpion, Nancy Farmer
- A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering American on the Appalachian Trail, Bill Bryson
- Moneyball, Michael Lewis
- A Clash of Kings, George R. R. Martin
- Wooden On Leadership, John Wooden
- The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life, Chris Guillebeau
- The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair, Joel Dicker
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lax, Rebecca Skloot
- The Icarus Deception, Seth Godin
- 61 Hours, Lee Child
- 12 Years A Slave, Solomon Northup
- Worth Dying For, Lee Child
- A Wanted Man, Lee Child
- Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl
- Never Go Back, Lee Child
- The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
- River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, Candice Millard
- We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance, David Howarth
- A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking
- The Shawshank Redemption, Stephen King
- Lawerence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle Ease, Scott Anderson
- Sailing Alone Around the World, Joshua Slocum
- One Man’s Wilderness: An Alaska Odyssey, Sam Keith and Richard Proenneke
Giveaway: One of my favorite books last year was Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum. In the 1890s, he became the first person to sail alone around the world and then he wrote a book about it. He’s actually a really good writer, so in addition to being a great adventure tale, it’s a story well told. This week’s giveaway winner is a subscriber from our email updates list (congrats Karl!) so I’m sending him a copy of the book. Tune into future posts for more giveaways.
Note: Since I have my own books for sale on Amazon, I am a part of their Amazon Affiliate program. The links above are affiliate links, which simply means that if you buy a book after clicking one of the links, Amazon (at no additional cost to you) will pay me a small commission that I use to help cover the costs of this site. That’s not why I recommend the books, of course, but I wanted to be sure to make you aware of it.
by Joe Hearn | Jun 12, 2013 | Hobbies, Lifestyle Design, Pursuits
Before today’s post, 2 quick reminders:
1) Later on this morning we’re having a free Teleseminar on the ins and outs of long-term care insurance. My guest will be one of the foremost experts on LTC in the country. You’re all invited. Find call in details here.
2) If you missed Friday’s post, I just released a new eBook called A Brief Guide to Retirement Bliss. You can download a free PDF here. You can download the Kindle version here.
And now on to today’s post.
As many of you know, one of the tenets of our philosophy here at IR is that life is much more interesting if you’re always learning to do new things. Toward that end, I do periodic learning challenges and then write about them here at the site.
We’re in the process of taking our daughter to all 50 states (33 to go!) and we plan on doing some camping when we make it to places like Wyoming, Montana and Utah. To make sure we’re ready, I signed up for a six week class on camping and backpacking at the local university.
The course covered things like how to pack and dress, how to cook in the backcountry, using a map and compass, backcountry first aid, trip planning and leave no trace camping.
After finishing the class, I wanted to test out my newly acquired skills, so I bought/borrowed/rented some gear and we planned a three day camping and backpacking trip to Kansas (aka state # 18). I’ll let you know how the test run goes.
Interested in doing a similar challenge?
If camping sounds like something that might interest you, here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Sign up for classes at your local university or outdoor store
- Subscribe to Backpacker magazine. I’m not super outdoorsy, but this magazine is awesome. Lots of “how to” and inspiration.
- Get some gear. REI is a great place start. I bought their Half Dome 4 tent a few weeks ago when it was on sale. If you want to take a few trips before investing in gear, you can probably find a place to rent most of what you need. Again, the local university where I live has an Outdoor Venture Center that rents gear to students, but they also make it available to the general public. Ask around for something similar in your area.
- Plan a trip! The point of these learning challenges is to take what we learn and put it into practice by doing fun and interesting things. Once you learn some camping and backpacking basics, plan a trip and get out there and enjoy the outdoors. A good place to start would be one of the 59 National Parks in the U.S. Visit http://www.nps.gov/ to learn more.
- While we’re on the topic of National Parks, watch The National Parks: America’s Best Idea by Ken Burns. We just finished watching the entire series with our daughter. It’s available for “instant streaming” on Netflix.
What’s next?
I enjoy photography and I’m always looking to sharpen my skills in that area. A friend of mine recently introduced me to someone who is an expert in time-lapse photography. I asked him if he’d teach me how to do it and he graciously agreed. I’ll update you next month to let you know how it goes. By the way, if you’re not familiar with time-lapse, here’s a great example of it on vimeo.
Have a great week.
~ Joe
by Joe Hearn | Apr 30, 2013 | Hobbies, Learning Challenge, Lifestyle Design
Speed Reading Update
The most recent skill I’ve been working to add to my “Lifestyle Résumé” is speed reading. Last month I tested my reading and comprehension and then studied ways to improve both. Over the last several weeks, I took what I learned and put it into practice as I worked through my reading list.
In addition to things like newspapers and magazines, I read five books this past month. They are:
- The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau
- Boomerang by Michael Lewis
- Wool by Hugh Howey
- Do the Work by Steven Pressfield
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
I timed myself using Toggl so I could see if my speed per page was gradually improving and then re-tested my speed and comprehension at Reading Soft. When I started the challenge, my speed was 213 words per minute with 82 percent comprehension. When I re-tested, my speed had improved to 378 words per minute and my comprehension held steady at 80 percent. I didn’t quite hit my goal of doubling my speed, but all in all I was pleased with the outcome. It was a fairly easy skill to acquire and it will make a big impact in my daily life going forward.
What’s next?
As most of you know, my wife and I are trying to get our daughter to all 50 states before she graduates from high school (only 33 to go!). States like Montana and Wyoming are known for their National Parks and beautiful outdoors and it seems that the best way to see them is by hiking, exploring and camping under the big night sky.
There’s only one problem. I have no camping skills. Rather than see our vacation turn into a scene straight out of Lord of the Flies, I signed up for a six week backpacking and camping basics class at the Outdoor Venture Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The course covers things like how to pack and dress, how to cook in the backcountry, using a map and compass, backcountry first aid, trip planning and leave no trace camping.
I’ll update you once I finish the class. In the meantime, is there anything that you’ve been wanting to learn how to do? Why wait? There are tons of benefits to being a lifelong learner and teaching yourself a new skill is easier than ever in our modern world of videos, apps, books and online courses. Feel free to follow along with one of my challenges or do something totally on your own. Either way, by being intentional about learning you’ll end up with more things to do and more people to do them with.
Have a great week!
Joe
by Joe Hearn | Sep 18, 2012 | Happiness, Hobbies, Pursuits, Retirement
When I was in college, I rented my body to science so I could have enough money to buy groceries. There was a medical testing facility not far from my apartment and they would pay you around $500 to check in on Friday, check out on Sunday and allow them to test some new wonder drug on you in the interim. I didn’t have much in those years (as you’ve probably already deduced), but I was happy.
After graduating, I was able to leverage my finance degree into a career that no longer required me to spend my weekends subjecting myself to Hunter S. Thompson style pharmacological testing. I got married and moved into a nicer apartment. We eventually moved into a house and continued down the path of pursuing the “American Dream.”
Given that little bit of information, you’d think I would be happier now than I was 20 years ago, but that’s not really the case. I’m happy for sure, but my level of happiness doesn’t seem to have grown in tandem with my standard of living. I was happy then and I’m happy now.
Behavioral psychologists refer to this phenomenon as the hedonic (or happiness) treadmill. It is our tendency to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite changes to our standard of living. Basically, our expectations rise in tandem with our income. The more we have, the more we think we need.
Because we want to be happy, we (somewhat predictably) deal with the hedonic treadmill by constantly upgrading our “stuff.” We buy the new iPhone, television or car and it makes us happier for awhile, but we eventually get used to those things so we upgrade to the next gadget or gizmo. The more we have, the tougher it is to move the needle on our happiness meter. We run faster and faster without really getting anywhere.
Is there a way to get off the treadmill and actually derive some lasting happiness from the resources that we’ve been blessed with? Yes, according to behavioral finance expert Dan Ariely. “The best way to maximize happiness is to spend money on things you won’t get used to,” he says. Here are three examples:
Travel: I’ve written before that it’s better to spend your retirement dollars on experiences instead of assets. After learning about the hedonic treadmill, I understand why. We quickly get used to stuff, but the happiness that comes from experiences sticks with us long after the stuff has gone to the Goodwill. Travel is a great example of a purchase that has a longer happiness shelf life. As Ariely says: “If you’re deciding between a sofa and a vacation, go for the vacation. You’ll quickly get used to the sofa, but the vacation will bring long-lasting memories.”
Learning: Another way to spend your money on things that result in longer-term happiness is to invest in learning. For example, signing up for tennis lessons or learning to play an instrument will likely yield more lasting happiness than if you spent those same dollars on a new flat-screen T.V. Learning something new will keep you challenged and will give you a sense of accomplishment. It will also give you a skill that will stick with you. If you’ve been around here for awhile, you know that we’re big on learning here at Intentional Retirement. Follow along with our learning challenges or start one of your own to boost your happiness quotient.
Relationships: One of the side effects of a stuff heavy life is less time for your spouse, kids, grandkids and friends. How so? Everything we own requires some of our time and money. Columnist Ellen Goodman described it this way: “Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job that you need so you can pay for the clothes, car and the house that you leave empty all day in order to afford to live in it.”
Rather than being a slave to your stuff, focus your time and resources on building relationships instead. Go on regular dates with your spouse. Take the grandkids fishing. Go on a guy’s (or girl’s) trip with your friends. Those things cost money, but they will pay dividends for years to come.
How about you? Are you stuck on the hedonic treadmill? If so, think about how you can start spending your money in ways that will actually bring more lasting happiness.
Joe
Note: See Part 1 of the Happiness Series here.
by Joe Hearn | Aug 2, 2012 | Hobbies, Pursuits, Retirement
One of the most important jobs at any museum is the Chief Curator. It’s his or her job to use a discerning eye and a deep understanding of the museum’s mission to select works that are appropriate for the collection. That is why you will see paintings by Pollock and Picasso at the Museum of Modern Art, but you won’t find any by Rembrandt. It is why you will see the Wright brothers’ plane at the Air and Space Museum instead of at the Museum of Natural History.
In a similar way, you’re the Chief Curator of your life. There are so many things that you could be doing; so many people you could be spending time with; so many things you could buy. It is all too easy to flood your life with stuff, people and activities.
The challenge is to be purposeful with what you allow in. To select things that fit well and to cull those that don’t. To choose the right friends and the ideal activities that fit perfectly with who you are and what you want out of life.
It’s easy to get lazy and start letting things in by default. We hang out with people because they’re somewhere in our orbit of friends, not because we feel drawn to them. We say ‘yes’ and become obligated just because someone asks, not because we feel compelled to do whatever it happens to be. Before we know it, our “collection” is a cluttered hodge podge of the weird, unrelated and uninteresting.
You can do better. Select your activities purposefully. Choose your friends wisely. Most importantly, don’t overstuff your life by saying “yes” to everything. Show me someone with a remarkable life and I’ll show you someone who is a tough curator.
Writer Nora Ephron understood this idea. She died recently, but I remember an interview she gave in her later years where she talked about awakening to the realization that her time was limited. She wanted to be discerning with what she did, even to the point of what restaurants she would go to. She said:
“Is this meal I’m having something I really want to have? If someone says to me, let’s go somewhere and it’s not good, I say ‘Let’s not.’ Because I have a finite number of meals ahead of me and they are all going to be good.”
The lesson? Choose everything—friends, hobbies, work, philanthropy, clothes, vacations, meals, gadgets, books, etc.—with a discerning eye. Your life will be defined by what you allow in and what you keep out.
