The weather is still great. There have been plenty of sunny and warm days since the kids started back in school. However, it gets cooler much faster in the evening. We can turn off the AC and save money, but it is not cold enough to turn on the heating. We can wear a fleece or blanket if we get chilly.

Late summer and early fall are my favorite months, as you can enjoy many more evenings around the fire pit. I use any excuse to start the fire pit and spend many hours talking, listening to music, or letting Audible read you a book.

I enjoy getting the fire pit hot enough to cook food over the fire while I want an adult beverage, such as a two— to three-finger bourbon. Cooking outside involves music and relaxation while the food cooks. Grilling meat over the fire delivers incredible results!

Sitting by the fire can also be a therapeutic or mental healing experience, especially after a stressful day or week. You slump back in the chair, look at the flames dance, ponder the day’s events, and devise a plan to address what caused the hectic or chaotic days.

I’ve developed many excellent solutions, plans, and ideas while sitting around the fire to tackle home DIY projects or challenging work activities.

Sometimes, burning wood and cardboard can be satisfying to watch, and you forget the frustrating moments you encountered during the day. Put on some music; before you know it, the stress is gone.

I do NOT encourage arsonists! You can burn shit in the fire pit safely. There is no need to burn anything anywhere else! Stay safe when dealing with fire.

Meal and Budget Planning

Meal and budget planning are similar processes, just with different dollar amounts. You attempt to plan out what activities (or meals) you want to execute during the period and then calculate a budget.

Meal planning is a short-term exercise, as you often plan for the coming week, although some grocery items can last longer in the pantry. When preparing the meals, you must factor in what items you have in the pantry, what meals you want, and what you need to buy to create them. It’s a planning process.

Planning budgets and projects at work is unlike meal planning, except you do not deal with cooking meals or food shopping.

You attempt to plan out your projects and initiatives for the coming financial year, allowing the organization to include this in the overall financial planning.

A budget refers to an estimation of expenses (or revenue) for a future period of time.

An estiamte is rough calculation needed to deliver a solution or project.

Depending on the economy’s health, some budgets will not grow due to limited funds or market growth. In contrast, other times will allow significant investments to encourage and attract customers and deliver improved solutions to increase efficiencies.

At work, our financial year runs from January to December. This means we must have our budgets ready for review by early October to get approval from our CFO, CEO, and the board.

My budget planning starts in August, although I meet with my peers and other internal stakeholders at least monthly throughout the year, which helps me understand their technology needs and incorporate this into the IT budget.

As such, you need to work with the leadership and internal stakeholders to understand their needs while assessing which technologies are end-of-life, require critical updates, or require other justifications.

The justifications will help you prioritize your future investments and allow you to adjust budget requests if you have to cut your budget request.

Depending on the economy, you may be asked to reduce your budget, so your prioritization is handy. It also shows the senior leadership and board that you are fiscally responsible and have mature processes to accommodate and support the organization.

Operational Expenses

When looking at my budget requests, I always prioritize my operational expenses (OPEX) based on three categories (see below). You must understand the impact of not investing in an operational expense, as it may impact your operational and business services.

In my case, the prioritization only applies to operational (annual) expenses we incur to run the IT platforms and services, such as hardware/software support, data connectivity, telecoms charges, maintenance expenses, and business applications.

• Must-haves—are classified as keeping the light on operating essential capabilities such as telephones, critical applications, services, data lines, end-of-life minor equipment, etc.
• Should-haves—are classified as services that allow us to monitor systems, outsourced services, or service subscriptions, such as Marketing or claims processing.
• Nice-to-haves—are classified as goods or services that will allow you to replace/upgrade computers, convenient and complimentary application cloud services, etc.

I interrogate my IT management team on each line item, asking them to justify the investment and challenge the annual cost. I aim to run a lean operational expense and adjust or reduce the yearly cost where possible.

In today’s IT landscape, operational expenses often increase as we move to cloud services with a higher running cost. However, you also eliminate significant hardware investments with annual upgrades, service calls, etc.

When I joined my current organization as CTO (CIO), I introduced a “cloud first” approach, meaning that applications, hardware, and services will move to the cloud where possible and if it is financially responsible.

Before you invest in cloud services, you must evaluate the services you consume to justify the increase in operational costs. Perhaps the application or service you currently have on-premises is not utilized enough to justify a move to the cloud or to keep active.

Capital Expenses

Over the years, we have been fortunate to have the CEO and board backing to improve the overall technology stack, modernize network infrastructure, upgrade or replace applications, retire and replace aging (insecure) end-user devices, upgrade telecommunications platform, install dedicated and redundant data connectivity lines, and move administrative capabilities to the cloud.

Furthermore, and more importantly, we have deployed industry-leading cybersecurity capabilities to secure our information and safeguard operations while improving our patients’ safety.

All CAPEX investments support the organization’s strategic goals and enable us to help the organization grow and become a healthcare center of choice for staff and patients.

I treat capital investment on a case-by-case basis, meaning we carefully assess the project or investment against the economic climate and appetite. We only place CAPEX requests if necessary to grow or support the business.

When we start planning, I gather all my notes from stakeholder meetings and drag my management team into a focused budget meeting to review what we might need to invest next year.

I expect my management team to come prepared. My philosophy is that If we do not discuss or add investments to our budget request, then it will not happen.

I challenge every request to ensure that we deliver solutions or services that support the business and the economic climate, ensuring we do not just request it because it’s cool.

Year after year, my CAPEX budget has reduced as we have been able to invest in great technologies in recent years, which means we have less to replace or deploy. However, this will change once some services go to end-of-life.

Reducing the CAPEX also allows me to pressure my team to optimize how we use our existing technologies. Sometimes, you invest in technology to address a specific need, but you might only use 70-80% of its capabilities.

I ask my management to explore optimizing the use of said technologies, including staff training/development and the possibility of retiring other technologies.

As an IT leader, I am responsible for spending and planning activities financially and ethically. It is a critical part of most organizations today, so we must act responsibly and not squander money on unnecessary technologies or services.

Week Thirty-seven Meals

While discussing planning, it is time to switch to meal prepping, which, at times, is a lot simpler than budget planning. You still have stakeholders to consult or consider (family), but as you are cooking, you are more in control and can make the final decision.

During meal planning, assess what you have in your pantry and fridge/freezer to incorporate into your meals and reduce waste.

For example, if I used carrots and celery for soup last week and still have some vegetables left, I will consider making a stew to utilize them.

I also assess the family budget, making sure we do not splash out on unnecessary ingredients. Money is tight these months, considering we are a one-income family. As such, we do not make dishes with lobster, prime rib, or other exotic ingredients.

However, I still try to source healthier ingredients and support local farms, and eggs are expensive these days. Grocery bills have increased gradually in the past 2-3 years, for whatever reason, so we need to spend money wisely.

We live and eat within our means, and so should you!

School Lunches

Our daughter is still “enjoying” free school lunches. I think she’s too embarrassed to admit that she craves homemade lunches, especially as she’s complaining about shitty pizza and limited alternatives.

But, this week, she will enjoy at least two homemade lunches: Caesar salad and fresh pizza.

My son will enjoy a variety of sandwiches. We had some Ciabattas in the freezer, so I defrosted them and created several delicious combinations.

Dinner Time

We’ve had a few weeks and months with higher-than-expected expenses, so I’ve decided to clear out our meals from previous weeks and months in the freezer.

While it might sound boring and cheating on the meal plan, it is also good to clear out the freezer sometimes. I recommend keeping meals in the freezer for a maximum of three months.

I take the meals out of the freezer in the morning before I leave for work so they can defrost slowly in the sink. Then we heat them in the microwave or stove. We might boil rice or pasta as a side.

Meal Plan

	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Ciabatta with pesto and mozzarella	Spicy Thai red curry soup with egg noodles
Tuesday	Italian-sub (turkey, ham, salami, red onions, and cheese)	One Pot Creole Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp Gumbo
Wednesday	Turkey and spinach sandwich with balsamic oil	Beef stew with garlic pasta
Thursday	Caesar salad with grilled chicken	One Pot Creole Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp Gumbo
Friday	Homemade pizza	Homemade pizza while daddy is attending Megadeth concert

Have a fantastic week, my friends. I hope you enjoy these meal plans. It is much easier to make food in advance, although you must invest several hours preparing meals during the weekend.

Meal Prep Party Pictures

Here are a few mood pictures from the previous week since I did not prepare dishes this week.

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