2010 New Years Resolutions

Here are my resolutions for the new year. All of them are related to my profession and working towards the life I want to live. I don’t have a five year plan, but consider this a down payment on one.

1. Blog at least once a week.

I’ve publicly committed to this goal on the Project 52 website because, really, without the threat of public humiliation this goal stands no chance of success.

2. Clean up this damned site.

I’m a professional web designer for crying out loud and I’d really prefer it if my blog reflected that fact. This will have to be an ongoing project though because, between the day job, wife, son, commuting, chores, dogs, and regular day-to-day stuff, I’ll only have a few hours a week to devote to all the various things on this list.

3. Try to make those blog posts useful.

Hey look! I updated widget x in the sidebar! Yeah, crap posts like that have to go. Or, at the very least, they need to be relegated to a few lines each and not counted towards my project 52 goal.

4. Sell stock images and website themes.

At the tender age of 36 I’m thoroughly tired of the rate race. I wants me a lifestyle business. Seriously. The plan is to sell stock images through iStockPhoto and stock themes through ThemeForest. I’m not going to be quitting my day job anytime soon but I’ve set some modest goals.

5. Become better at project management.

This is kind of a big deal. I suck at project management and there is no way I’ll keep my resolutions if I don’t get better at it. I need to manage projects better at Spiceworks so I can carve out the personal time for my projects and I need to manage my projects better in order to complete them with how little time I’ll have. Plus, I’d like to occasionally see my family.

6. Manage my personal projects like my job projects.

This goes hand-in-hand with the above goal. While I’m on the subject, I’ve been using Things to manage projects at work but now that I’m going to be managing another web designer and working as part of a team on many other projects, I need something a bit more robust. Any suggestions?

7. Start writing short stories or even a novel.

I’m going to let you in on a secret: I’ve always wanted to be a writer. It’s the one thing I’ve been too afraid to even attempt. In no small part because of my complete lack of knowledge regarding things like grammar and sentence structure.

This goal is very personal. So personal in fact that I don’t care if anybody else ever sees it. I just need to write it, whatever it is.

So that’s it. Seven goals for 2010 and all of them about moving my life forward. Frankly it’s felt pretty stagnant for a few years now. How about you? What are your goals for 2010?

Heartache and an Egg Sandwich

On the weekend I take one morning, usually Saturday, to go and work on my personal stuff at my second office (Barnes & Noble). This morning Ashton grabbed my arm and started crying ‘No daddy. Don’t go. Stay.’

He wouldn’t let go of my arm and he seemed to be in a near panic that I would leave him. It was heartbreaking.

Then Karina sat an egg sandwich in front of him and suddenly I didn’t even exist. I sat there for a minute waiting for him to set down his sandwich and latch on to me again but I got nothing. I tentatively said goodbye to him and, without looking up from his sandwich, got a dismissive wave in return.

4th of July

We had a lot of fun. Went to a friends house so the kids could drive their little cars around and play in the kiddie pool while we drank and relaxed. Then we drove over to Fort Hood so Ash could play in the helicopters and tanks in the 110 degree heat. Not long for those temperatures, we hiked back to the bus to get back to the car to drive back to Pflugerville to relax and watch the fireworks from our house.

Ash had a blast trying to make the tanks do something when we were at the base. He flipped every switch, pulled every knob, pushed every button. I hope they check those things thoroughly before doing anything with them.

We took pictures »

Fireworks were from the house behind ours. We’re outside of city limits and every street in our neighborhood competes for the biggest display. Going outside on New Years Eve or the 4th of July is like walking into the middle of a giant, hour-long explosion.

Karina took some shots that look like stylized palm trees which I think are cool.

Hope everybody had a great 4th!

Found: Chocolate Lab

Monday I came home to find a chocolate lab wandering the street with no tags. He was a friendly guy. Followed me to my house and, when I opened the door, walked right in and made himself at home. Barked all night long.

Found: Chocolate Lab

I snapped a few pics of him to put up a few “found” flyers around the neighborhood. My wife laughed at me for my flyer (see pic). Couldn’t help myself and it only took 10 minutes. When I went to put the flyers up after work today we found a missing flyer for the dog. Turned out to belong to neighbors down the street that we’ve met a few times (they’re daughter is crazy about Ashton). Happy ending.

P.S. I’m loving Alexandra Black. It’s like a chunky Garamond. /fontnerd