2008 Wrap-up and 2009 Goals

2008 is over. What happened? The year began in a deep freeze with the most snow Iowa had seen in a long time. Spring brought an end to the low temps and heavy snows only to bring one of the worst floods in history to Iowa. In June I picked up and moved myself all the way to Seattle, Washington and started a new job focusing on Microsoft Exchange server systems.

Throughout 2008 I aquired a few cool new toys. I finished building a new AR-15 rifle, built a few new computers/servers, bought a Playstation 3, a 42″ HDTV, and a new 2008 Ford Escape Ltd.

I’ve been reviewing a list of goals for 2009 in my head and I’ll record them here for reference:

1) Get healthier. Need to quit smoking and I need to eat better. In the last six months I’ve packed on some extra pounds and I’m not really cool with that. I guess this means its time to break that out still brand new Cannondale mountain bike.

2) Get smart. I’ve wanted to read more for a while now and I just havent ever done it. I would like to set a goal of reading ten books this year. Ten might not seem like a big number to some people but its a hell of a lot more than I read normally.

3) Blog it. I should try to blog more this year but I swear I will only blog if it seems somewhat interesting. I may use my blog as a book journal as I have been told that can help keep one interested in the books he/she is reading.

4) Political action. The last year and a half was full of campaigning and was busy and annoying and everything in between. Now that the election cycle is over and my “side” lost its time to help the team get back to power and in the GOP’s case… back to principles. I’m going to try to get involved in a few different organizations and projects mainly focusing on bringing tech to the RNC.

5) Great outdoors. I’m in the great Nortwest and am surrounded by lots of great wilderness. I plan to go hiking at least three times this year. These hiking trips should consist mainly of day hikes but it could be interesting to do an overnight. I also want to go camping at least three times and would like to go snow camping sometime so that might be the first trip.

6) Auditory excellence. I need to make sure to get to at least six live music events this year. I thought it might be interesting to add the stipulation that one of the concerts should be country music and one should be some sort of mainstream Top 40 show. The rest can be metal!

7) Revive the e53 Shootout and BBQ Supafest.

Go on a vacation.

These are all things that I would like to do. They are goals not resolutions. If they dont all get done its not a failure its just a goal that wasnt reached and I will try next year.

That is all.