Goals.

So here it is the second day of 2011 and I’m starting to realize that there’s whole New Year thing going on. It’s sort of odd on how this realization seems to happen around the same time every year. I’ll have to make a note to look into that.

In the past I have made a thousand and one resolutions in some sort of life revolution and of the thousand or so thoughts crammed onto a list in a year, maybe one or two stick. This year I have written down a list of goals instead of resolutions and even though they’re kind of the same thing I’m finding it easier to be goal oriented instead of having some sort of revolution about resolutions. Most of my goals are personal goals that I don’t intend on sharing on this public blog but some of the things I’m doing are kind of geeky and some are downright foolish and somewhat wish-oriented.

1. I’m reaching out to more people around me instead of being a surly hermit. I’m not going to friend you on Facebook and the like unless I actually have met you or have the intention of our paths crossing some time this year, but nevertheless I’m not going to be the loner standing in the corner. You know the guy in the corner, the one that looks like he could go postal even though he looks like a bald Richie Cunningham.

2. I am organizing my life a bit better so I can concentrate on being creative or actually focus on whatever task I am working on instead of trying to remember everything that I aneed to remember. This involves the use of sync’d up software called “OmniFocus“, which is based on the “Getting Things Done” methodology by David Allen, which is discussed here. I despise written “to-do” lists and have always tried to find ways to maintain these things in an electronic method; OmniFocus works well for me. There are other software packages that do this but so far I’m loving OmniFocus. I am lucky that I have a husbear that gave me the budget to embark on this little project. (I made a note to thank him before 03 Jan 11).

3. It’s probably evident that I’ve started blogging in the long-form “traditional” way again, like I used to do with more regularity. I’m going to continue to do that, because sometimes life is too fantastic, intriguing or just damn good to share in 140 characters or less.

4. I noticed that my tendency to take random photos fell back when I moved from the iPhone to the Droid back in April ’10. Over the past week or so I have made a concerted effort to take more photos using the Droid and about one third of the time there was angst when the camera app wanted to be forced to quit or the picture wouldn’t save. I love the openness of the Android platform but I just want the damn thing to work and quite frankly I miss the “fit and finish” of the iPhone. While I can’t move back to AT&T for at least a year and I am quite pleased with Verizon’s service, I am really hoping that Apple releases a Verizon iPhone sometime soon so I can make the switch back to Apple. If it doesn’t happen (and the rumors are wrong), I am seriously considering buying an iPod Touch and using that as my phone in conjunction with my Skype number and the Verizon MiFi hotspot I always carry around with me.

5. I want to experience a hurricane sometime in 2011. And a tornado. I’m talking having to run to the basement and being scared out of my wits. I don’t want to die or anything, I want to live.

I am very happy with where I am in my life and I think by setting goals (including the majority not listed here), 2011 is going to be a fantastic year. I am a very lucky man to have found the sweet spot of what I’ll freely admit is the beginning of my middle-aged years.  I couldn’t do it without the husbear and family and friends I have. I’m looking forward to many paths crossing and personally growing in 2011.

Thanks for coming along for the ride.