Dave Ramsey's Goal Tracking Software

At the first of the year, Dave Ramsey's My Total Money Makeover launched a new feature for tracking your yealy goals.

The software allows you to quickly create effective goals by showing you the make up of a good written goal. With each goal you create, you can categorize by various core values, set email reminders, due dates, and manage your progress.

The tool even features some helpful graphs to give you a bird's eye view of how you are performing with your goals. The current version is nothing short of a fancy to-do list, but it's the foundation to some big improvements coming soon.

You can try it out for free when you sign up for a free trial.

Light Blue Reign

North Carolina basketball isn't looking so hot for the 2009-2010 season, but my latest read allowed me to visit the glory days of Carolina basketball.

Art Chansky does a great job recounting the history of the three coaches (and more) who have shaped the UNC program in his book, Light Blue Reign: How a City Slicker, a Quiet Kansan, and a Mountain Man Built College Basketball's Longest-Lasting Dynasty.

From Frank McGuire, to Dean Smith, to Roy Williams, the history of the teams and the transitions in the program were fascinating. Chansky also does a good job of giving background on the Southern Conference which preceded the ACC and the Big Four (Wake Forest, Duke, UNC, and N.C. State). He did a good job of connecting the stories and time lines to make me feel like I had been watching UNC ball since the 1957 team went undefeated (I can barely remember Jordan from '82).

If you're a UNC fan or even a Big Four fan, you'll enjoy this book. If you are a South Carolina fan...maybe not so much.

Leaving the Hood

I am fascinated by the way life is lived in the "hood". Inner city life amazes me.

Image via Wikipedia

Because I have never fully experienced life that way, I can't understand why people choose to stay in rough neighborhood.
When I see documentaries on gang life, they always discuss the reasons kids don't leave. They don't have a job, they don't have an education, they're loyal to others, etc... I keep thinking, if only they knew what opportunities were out there if they would just leave everything and move on. Life could be so much greater.

Then again, I suppose God could ask the same questions when it comes to each of us not letting go of earthly things.