Just a really short post - the first one for 2011. Obviously, I look forward to an incredible 2011. It's also a nice time to reflect on 2010 and how much I have in my life right now. 2010 really wasn't that significant of a year for me personally. It was more of just a continuation of a lot of different things - basically just trying to grind through in a lot of different ways.
But having kids, watching them grow a little older, having a wife whose perfect for me, living during a really incredibly time in this planet earth - where despite the challenges, we have so many opportunities.
My wife and I discovered this cafe today after we dropped our kids off at my parents house and searched for a place where we could sit down and set some 2011 goals. Let me just tell you what a cool place this was, and in the heart of Mesa. You know Mesa has a pretty good downtown that could be pretty great and there are some real treasures hidden in there. We'll definitely be going back here - highly recommended.
But, I am excited for the new year. My wife and I set some exciting goals, so I'm expecting this will be a year where we can really accomplish some things, and grow, and hopefully really ship something important.
But mostly, I'm just really grateful for my time on this planet earth and the relationships I've been able to make, and most of all the family I've been so lucky to have in my life.
Happy New Year everyone!
Showing posts with label Happy New Year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Happy New Year. Show all posts
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Friday, January 1, 2010
What I got for Christmas/New Years Resolution, 2010 edition
I just got through reading my 2009 resolution post here, and I decided to do it again.
What I got for Christmas:
My best gift: GPS receiver. Not a phone that I have to pay $30/month extra to browse the internet on (on top of the money I pay for voice, on top of the money I pay for high speed internet at home). I mean how much money do I have to pay to ensure 100% access to the internet. Already I have something like 85-90% access. But, having navigational ability is a huge benefit, and having a device dedicated to that has been really fun. I've been navigating my way all over town whether I already know where I'm going or not. Thank you Sara for thinking of me.
Other gifts I enjoyed: A book, an i-tunes gift certificate, and lots and lots of time with family. What better?
This time my wife didn't get anything that I would personally enjoy. I've given up my desire (at least for now) of giving her electronic toys that she never uses. That iPod touch I gave her last year, well, its basically mine, since she rarely uses and I've found all sorts of fun uses - eReader (I have the Kindle for iPod app and can now read while being near a fussy baby at night; waiting for an appointment; etc); blog reader; facebook; pandora; access to work e-mail at home; calendar and to-do's which can be accessed off-line and sync'd later.
So, yes, I love Christmas. I love getting gifts I may not have thought of myself or at least letting someone else go through the hassle of buying it for me. And, of course, splurging on my kids, and having a little time off. What can I say?
And I love the New Years, the fresh start. 2009 is now history, today is the first day of the new year. I give myself a 50% completion of my resolutions from last year. I think I got them about half right, which isn't so bad I say.
So for 2010:
1) An extra focus along with my wife to record every last blood sugar measurement, the basal rates, the bolusing, the food. Of courses, we may not be 100%. This is an incredibly difficult thing to do, but I want to be much better. Our daughter was too high, too often in 2009, and as she grows and as her body changes, we may need to make insulin adjustments, but we need to have a really good understanding of what's happening. And this takes extra careful recording. We did an Ok job of this in 2009, and highs and lows are just part of the diabetes game until technology improves or a cure is found. But, maybe in 2010, we can find ways to make this easier (I got my iPod touch tracking program geared up and ready to go).
2) I want to write an iPod app for my touch? Not sure about this, but I think I want to try.
3) I want to get my blog converted over to wordpress - to make it more customizable. I don't really feel the need to make my blog all nice and pretty. Its more about content for me than presentation. And I also really love things to be as minimal as possible (I much, much, much prefer google to yahoo - can you guess why?), but I want to see what wordpress can do from a customization point of view - I have my reasons.
4) I made this goal last year and failed miserably, but I want to try again. I want to have something to bring to our next year's talent show. This year we didn't have one. Next year we will and I want to have something prepared for it.
5) More money saved, more money spent on my house. In 2009, I focused a lot on savings for most of the year, but some of that got sabotoged because I also wanted to make home improvements (which we did). So, I want to continue it in 2010, maybe focused a little more on spending on the house, a little less on saving. But I didn't quite reach my savings goals, so I want to at least make up for that in 2010.
6) Better diet/better exercise. I experimented a lot with schedule in 2009. More experimentation is on the way. Maybe there's a way for my wife and I to go to the gym together (using the at-gym day care), we'll see.
7) Better time management at work. My colleague and I have already planned to help each other on this front, tweaking and planning to make it work in a sustainable way.
8) And much more game playing with my kids (and more time playing chess on the iPod). Wonderful thing to do for a variety of reasons.
We'll see how I do!
In the meantime, I hope you had a Happy Holidays and a very nice 2010.
What I got for Christmas:
My best gift: GPS receiver. Not a phone that I have to pay $30/month extra to browse the internet on (on top of the money I pay for voice, on top of the money I pay for high speed internet at home). I mean how much money do I have to pay to ensure 100% access to the internet. Already I have something like 85-90% access. But, having navigational ability is a huge benefit, and having a device dedicated to that has been really fun. I've been navigating my way all over town whether I already know where I'm going or not. Thank you Sara for thinking of me.
Other gifts I enjoyed: A book, an i-tunes gift certificate, and lots and lots of time with family. What better?
This time my wife didn't get anything that I would personally enjoy. I've given up my desire (at least for now) of giving her electronic toys that she never uses. That iPod touch I gave her last year, well, its basically mine, since she rarely uses and I've found all sorts of fun uses - eReader (I have the Kindle for iPod app and can now read while being near a fussy baby at night; waiting for an appointment; etc); blog reader; facebook; pandora; access to work e-mail at home; calendar and to-do's which can be accessed off-line and sync'd later.
So, yes, I love Christmas. I love getting gifts I may not have thought of myself or at least letting someone else go through the hassle of buying it for me. And, of course, splurging on my kids, and having a little time off. What can I say?
And I love the New Years, the fresh start. 2009 is now history, today is the first day of the new year. I give myself a 50% completion of my resolutions from last year. I think I got them about half right, which isn't so bad I say.
So for 2010:
1) An extra focus along with my wife to record every last blood sugar measurement, the basal rates, the bolusing, the food. Of courses, we may not be 100%. This is an incredibly difficult thing to do, but I want to be much better. Our daughter was too high, too often in 2009, and as she grows and as her body changes, we may need to make insulin adjustments, but we need to have a really good understanding of what's happening. And this takes extra careful recording. We did an Ok job of this in 2009, and highs and lows are just part of the diabetes game until technology improves or a cure is found. But, maybe in 2010, we can find ways to make this easier (I got my iPod touch tracking program geared up and ready to go).
2) I want to write an iPod app for my touch? Not sure about this, but I think I want to try.
3) I want to get my blog converted over to wordpress - to make it more customizable. I don't really feel the need to make my blog all nice and pretty. Its more about content for me than presentation. And I also really love things to be as minimal as possible (I much, much, much prefer google to yahoo - can you guess why?), but I want to see what wordpress can do from a customization point of view - I have my reasons.
4) I made this goal last year and failed miserably, but I want to try again. I want to have something to bring to our next year's talent show. This year we didn't have one. Next year we will and I want to have something prepared for it.
5) More money saved, more money spent on my house. In 2009, I focused a lot on savings for most of the year, but some of that got sabotoged because I also wanted to make home improvements (which we did). So, I want to continue it in 2010, maybe focused a little more on spending on the house, a little less on saving. But I didn't quite reach my savings goals, so I want to at least make up for that in 2010.
6) Better diet/better exercise. I experimented a lot with schedule in 2009. More experimentation is on the way. Maybe there's a way for my wife and I to go to the gym together (using the at-gym day care), we'll see.
7) Better time management at work. My colleague and I have already planned to help each other on this front, tweaking and planning to make it work in a sustainable way.
8) And much more game playing with my kids (and more time playing chess on the iPod). Wonderful thing to do for a variety of reasons.
We'll see how I do!
In the meantime, I hope you had a Happy Holidays and a very nice 2010.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
What I got for Christmas/New Years Resolution
I've been consumed by consumer confidence, the economy, and how our purchasing effects the overall economy lately, and Christmas is the peak consumerism, all of this is on my mind.
But I love how the holiday's are laid out to tell you the truth. The year ends with a bang as we celebrate and remember God's gift to mankind by giving gifts to each other. And this rush to shop for one another puts a lot of people to work. People work all year with the Christmas season in mind. People should save all year, to then plunge without guilt to the shopping malls with wads of cash in their pocket to buy gifts for one another. Instead, we tend to come into the Christmas season a little short and plan on paying off our shopping the next year.
But its all a great time because if its done right, we get gifts we would never or could never buy for ourselves. How boring would life be if every possession we owned was purchased by ourself for ourself. My life, for one, would be less full. So yes, I love getting gifts for Christmas. And I love giving gifts for Christmas. And this Christmas was extra nice.
Here's what I got:
1) Clothes. I have an interesting relationship with clothes. Growing up, money was scarce, but I had to fit in with my peers, so I made deep sacrifices in quantity for quality. I would literally get by the year with two pair of pants, and rotate them each day, and my mom was forced to wash them every single day. And how did I get those pants? Well, my birthday is in August, just as the school year begins, and my Grandma would always give me a wad of cash as a gift. So, that money was used, every year (with some help with my parents) and clothes for the school year. And that kind of upbringing just sticks. I have a really hard time buying clothes for the year, so my wife supplements my wardrobe with Christmas presents. But she buys me clothes I would never pick out myself (for good or bad), but this year, I sincerely enjoy the clothes she bought for me. So, yes, my life is richer.
2) Scriptures, a scripture case large enough to carry more than just scriptures, and a journal. I really want to have a little personal time each and every day where I can study the scriptures. I really want to finish the Old Testament, the lone book of Scripture I have yet to read. And I want to write down notes in my journal. And I want all of this to be together in one place. I have started doing this, and I crave the experience. Its hard to do every day because there are so many ways I get diverted, but I feel that 2009 is the year to be doing this. So, I'm excited for this gift.
3) "The Audacity of Hope" by Barack Obama. I've started reading this book and it is really good. Reminds me of all the reasons I was blown over with excitement about Obama the president. He's started the book with the bitter partisanship of our politics, our obsession over wedge issues, and our failure to concede that the other side my have a point. He talks about how his mother was a early 1960's liberal, and how because of the way he was raised, he basically sidestepped all of the divisive Vietnam era toxins that have poisoned our politics ever since. Good to read a book written by our current president, good to have a president that writes.
4) A gift certificate to Barnes and Noble. I plan on buying this Algorithms computer science book, and I plan on beefing up my data structure and algorithm design skills in my spare time... I learned about trees, and lists, and hashes, and graphs, and other sorts of data structures, but I rarely use them at work, but when I interview, questions on these things get asked, so I want to find some proficiency. And if I'm proficient, I might find more uses for them in my every day work, and the code I write will be better.
Gifts that my wife got (that I enjoy):
1) The iPod touch. I have seriously enjoyed this gift more than she has, but it is so much better as an iPod than mine. Its interface is so much better, it has features mine doesn't. And we have been using it to track our daughter's diabetes. I hope my wife finds uses for it, but I'm really excited to have it in our lives.
2) Two ColdPlay albums. My wife really wanted a ColdPlay album, and she received two. I've listened to them as well, and I'm not a huge fan, but I am a fan. I love music, and I love new music.
The holiday season is even better because Christmas, my most favorite time of the year is followed closely with the beginning of the new year, a time to make goals, a time for hope for a better world. I have some great hopes for 2009.
This year I hope to:
1) Read scriptures/write in my journal most every day.
2) Pray for specific people in my life most every day.
3) Make specific home improvements, spend $6000 on those repairs, making my house at least $6000 better to live in.
4) Save additional dollars in my "I can take more risks in my career because I can live for a period of time without a job" fund. Yes, at some point it would be nice to take a risk and work for a startup, my own or another, but I need two things to happen. I need universal (or close to it) access to health care (come on Obama I'm counting on you), and I need more money in the bank.
5) Attend the temple once/month. Yes, we have a newborn, so yes this would count as at least doubling my temple attendance.
6) Have a significant something to contribute to next year's talent show. Not sure yet what that will be. I would like it to be something computer science related - a website? - a game? We'll see.
7) Gain some proficiency in Haskell (a functional computer language).
8) Make specific and more significant contributions to my wife's home schooling (not sure in what way yet).
Yes, I tend to get overly ambitious with my goals, but I feel these are achievable. The key is that I need to finish my complete abandonment of sports to free up time. And also place a bit more limits on my politicizing. We'll see.
But I do have a lot of excitement for the new year.
I hope your holidays were as good as mine.
But I love how the holiday's are laid out to tell you the truth. The year ends with a bang as we celebrate and remember God's gift to mankind by giving gifts to each other. And this rush to shop for one another puts a lot of people to work. People work all year with the Christmas season in mind. People should save all year, to then plunge without guilt to the shopping malls with wads of cash in their pocket to buy gifts for one another. Instead, we tend to come into the Christmas season a little short and plan on paying off our shopping the next year.
But its all a great time because if its done right, we get gifts we would never or could never buy for ourselves. How boring would life be if every possession we owned was purchased by ourself for ourself. My life, for one, would be less full. So yes, I love getting gifts for Christmas. And I love giving gifts for Christmas. And this Christmas was extra nice.
Here's what I got:
1) Clothes. I have an interesting relationship with clothes. Growing up, money was scarce, but I had to fit in with my peers, so I made deep sacrifices in quantity for quality. I would literally get by the year with two pair of pants, and rotate them each day, and my mom was forced to wash them every single day. And how did I get those pants? Well, my birthday is in August, just as the school year begins, and my Grandma would always give me a wad of cash as a gift. So, that money was used, every year (with some help with my parents) and clothes for the school year. And that kind of upbringing just sticks. I have a really hard time buying clothes for the year, so my wife supplements my wardrobe with Christmas presents. But she buys me clothes I would never pick out myself (for good or bad), but this year, I sincerely enjoy the clothes she bought for me. So, yes, my life is richer.
2) Scriptures, a scripture case large enough to carry more than just scriptures, and a journal. I really want to have a little personal time each and every day where I can study the scriptures. I really want to finish the Old Testament, the lone book of Scripture I have yet to read. And I want to write down notes in my journal. And I want all of this to be together in one place. I have started doing this, and I crave the experience. Its hard to do every day because there are so many ways I get diverted, but I feel that 2009 is the year to be doing this. So, I'm excited for this gift.
3) "The Audacity of Hope" by Barack Obama. I've started reading this book and it is really good. Reminds me of all the reasons I was blown over with excitement about Obama the president. He's started the book with the bitter partisanship of our politics, our obsession over wedge issues, and our failure to concede that the other side my have a point. He talks about how his mother was a early 1960's liberal, and how because of the way he was raised, he basically sidestepped all of the divisive Vietnam era toxins that have poisoned our politics ever since. Good to read a book written by our current president, good to have a president that writes.
4) A gift certificate to Barnes and Noble. I plan on buying this Algorithms computer science book, and I plan on beefing up my data structure and algorithm design skills in my spare time... I learned about trees, and lists, and hashes, and graphs, and other sorts of data structures, but I rarely use them at work, but when I interview, questions on these things get asked, so I want to find some proficiency. And if I'm proficient, I might find more uses for them in my every day work, and the code I write will be better.
Gifts that my wife got (that I enjoy):
1) The iPod touch. I have seriously enjoyed this gift more than she has, but it is so much better as an iPod than mine. Its interface is so much better, it has features mine doesn't. And we have been using it to track our daughter's diabetes. I hope my wife finds uses for it, but I'm really excited to have it in our lives.
2) Two ColdPlay albums. My wife really wanted a ColdPlay album, and she received two. I've listened to them as well, and I'm not a huge fan, but I am a fan. I love music, and I love new music.
The holiday season is even better because Christmas, my most favorite time of the year is followed closely with the beginning of the new year, a time to make goals, a time for hope for a better world. I have some great hopes for 2009.
This year I hope to:
1) Read scriptures/write in my journal most every day.
2) Pray for specific people in my life most every day.
3) Make specific home improvements, spend $6000 on those repairs, making my house at least $6000 better to live in.
4) Save additional dollars in my "I can take more risks in my career because I can live for a period of time without a job" fund. Yes, at some point it would be nice to take a risk and work for a startup, my own or another, but I need two things to happen. I need universal (or close to it) access to health care (come on Obama I'm counting on you), and I need more money in the bank.
5) Attend the temple once/month. Yes, we have a newborn, so yes this would count as at least doubling my temple attendance.
6) Have a significant something to contribute to next year's talent show. Not sure yet what that will be. I would like it to be something computer science related - a website? - a game? We'll see.
7) Gain some proficiency in Haskell (a functional computer language).
8) Make specific and more significant contributions to my wife's home schooling (not sure in what way yet).
Yes, I tend to get overly ambitious with my goals, but I feel these are achievable. The key is that I need to finish my complete abandonment of sports to free up time. And also place a bit more limits on my politicizing. We'll see.
But I do have a lot of excitement for the new year.
I hope your holidays were as good as mine.
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