Reading List and other errata

In case anyone was interested to know what I'm reading these days. You'll notice many O books on the list (see key below for explanation). With my focused personality, I take a topical approach to reading. Lately, I'm on a Management/Leadership bent for my Professional Development, a Financial/Investing bent for leisure reading mainly since I'm all out of Tom Clancy novels (I've read the entire series), and a prayer bent for my Personal/Spiritual needs. The book list changes over time - I add and delete from it. I'll post updates to it along with comments here on the blog on particular segments of a book that stand out to me.

One thing I'll say is that the book Total Leadership has great promise and is one of the reasons I've structured my reading list in this manner. It says that it will take 4 months to complete, and I think I'll post my comments/journal entries as I move through the book here on this blog as well. I'm also keeping a copy of the notes in Microsoft's One Note 2007 on my laptop. Let me tell you - I LOVE THAT TOOL!! What a great way to organize random bits of information - it even indexes the words contained in pictures. I highly recommend it along with the Business Contact Manager (BCM) for any working professional out there. These are two tools I cannot function without! The main thing I love about the Business Contact Manager is that it AUTOMATICALLY tracks my contacts emails, appointments, notes, phone logs, etc. So I can look at a contact and instantly see a history of my emails, appointments, etc with that client. It also interfaces with Office so other Office files can be linked to the contact in BCM as well.

So I'd love to hear your comments about my reading list - make recommendations if you like or comment on one's you've already read or are reading. Stay tuned - I may even start an investing club soon based on the Rich Dad, Poor Dad materials I'm reading. I intend to make more use of this blog as time allows. As long as it's useful and fun, I'll keep posting. Who knows - maybe someone other than my family will read it regularly one day!

X = Read it
O = Own it, in process of reading it
* = Need to get it still

Personal/Spiritual
* The Power of a Praying Husband by Stormie Omartian

Management/Business
X Now, Discover your strengths
X First, break all the rules
X 12: The elements of great managing
X Good to Great
X Blink
O The Tipping Point
* Coach by Art Williams
* Nobody Wants a boss, everybody wants a coach by Art Williams
X What got you here, won't get you there by Marshall Goldsmith
O Total Leadership by Stewart Friedman
* Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner
* As a Man Thinketh by James Allen


Financial
* Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey
* The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
* "The Starter Special" with Budgeting tools by Dave Ramsey
* Thou Shall Prosper by Rabbi Daniel Lapin
O Kiplinger's Estate Planning
O AARP Crash Course on Estate Planning
O One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch
* Chaos - Making a New Science by James Gleick
* Creating Wealth by Robert Allen
* E-myth by Michael Gerber
* Incorporate and Grow Rich by C.W. Allen (Sage Publishing)
* Investment Biker by Jim Rogers
* Market Wizards by Jack Schwager
* Over the Top by Zig Ziglar
* The New Positioning by Jack Trout
* The WSJ Guide to Understanding Money & Investing by Morris and Seigel
O The Warren Buffet Way by Robert Hagstrom
* Trading for a Living by Dr. Alexander Elder
O Trump: The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump
* Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins
* Unlimited Wealth by Paul Pilzer
* Think and Grow Rich
* The Richest Man in Babylon
* The 16% Solution by Joel S. Moskowitz
* Make Money in Real Estate Tax Liens by Chantal Howell Carey


RDPD Books
X Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
O Rich Dad's Guide to Investing by Robert Kiyosaki
O Cash Flow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki
O Increase your Financial IQ by Robert Kiyosaki
O Own your own Corporation by Robert Kiyosaki
O The Advanced Guide to Real Estate Investing
O The ABC's of Real Estate Investing
O The ABC's of Building a Business Team that Wins
O Real Estate Advantages

Building Wealth

It's been awhile since I've updated or posted to this blog, but I'm hoping this can be a journal of sorts for things that I find interesting or that I'm learning.

I just got back from vacation and had a chance to read several good books. The biggest winner is "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. This book has really changed the way Melinda and I will be investing and has prompted me to purchase several more of his books as well as other related Investment books. We also just purchased two magazine subscriptions - The WSJ's Smart Money and Kiplinger's. In addition, my company has a subscription to The Wall Street Journal which is providing an invaluable learning experience to an amateur investor such as myself.

So I recommend checking out "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and also taking a look at the website http://www.richdad.com/ which has a lot of valuable resources on the topics of wealth and investing.

One last comment - check out My Website for pictures of the family. Also, my wife and I are Facebook members, so look us up and send us a friend invite!

Web Picture Album

I have posted an album for Alayna here: http://picasaweb.google.com/rto107/Alayna

5 More Pictures

Go here to see the pictures.

Changes in the Works

There are a few changes going on right now in the Ohlson's lives. Alayna is sleeping through the night - Melinda is trying to keep up with a baby who demands an ever increasing amount of attention - and Ryan is changing jobs. Due to my job change, the video files that I have saved and some of the pictures as well - will be broken until I find a new place that will host them for me. This process may take some time, but I am hoping to come up with a solution that will be easier for me to publish pictures and videos so you all will see more frequent updates to the website. Thanks for your patience!!

More Photos

Click for the slideshow - (7 pictures)

Photos on Kodak

I am going to use Kodak's photo sharing service to update you all with Alayna pictures. Here is your first album (5 pictures)