Saturday, October 18, 2008

Read Them All

Most people like magazines, right? They are thin, portable and the text comes in easily digestible chunks (aka articles). I am apparently a big fan as I am currently subscribed to ten, yes ten, magazines.

Now it started rather simply, I would get Car & Driver or MotorTrend for a year or two and then stop after I found I wasn't reading them. Once I got into the IT field however, I felt compelled (and still do) to subscribe to magazines that help me stay current, learn new trends and teach me solutions I can pass on to my customers. Sounds innocent enough, but I can't read them all. Most sit unread until a year goes by and they are recycled. I imagine I could just put the recycle bin under the mailbox saving myself a year of guilt.

I originally only subscribed to Windows IT Pro (Windows NT Magazine at the time), but as time passed it seemed that I should get whatever free magazines I could; too much knowledge can't be detrimental, right?

So now it seems to have spiraled out of control and I have periodicals showing up every few days. The list I've created below shows what I'm paying and how I wound up with some of them. If only I could ingest ten magazines a month, I would be extremely knowledgeable and would be able to command a higher consulting rate. But alas, I seem to have more time for PGR4 and GH3 than to feed my brain.

As I sit here typing, surrounded by three stacks of unread/partially read magazines, I've come to the conclusion (okay, I came to this before writing) that I will do my best to read through one a day. If I don't, I will recycle one of the oldest periodicals chosen from the pile. Hopefully I will stick to it and it will be the start of a very useful habit. And I better get started, mail is delivered again on Monday...

TechNet (free)

Redmond (free) (was Microsoft Certified Professional)

Windows IT Pro ($29, was WindowsNT and Windows.Net)

Redmond Channel Partner (free)

PC Magazine (used frequent flyer miles)

Via (comes with California's AAA membership)

Grassroots Motorsports (comes with NASA Racing membership)

Money ($10)

Reader's Digest (gift from mom)

National Geographic (gift from in-laws)

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