I was tagged by Sarah Dutkiewicz in her blog post Coding Geekette’s Goals for 2009. So here we go, my goals are [in no particular order]:
Become a better blogger
I tend to let my blog go by the wayside when I get caught up in preparing for presentations, events, work and life in general. During this time I have some great technical conversations that make me take a mental note “Hey! I need to blog about this” … then I don’t get around to it, and I forget about what it was that I wanted to blog about in the first place. I’m going to start carrying around a small notebook to write down these topics so that I won’t forget anymore. Maybe when I step up the quantity and quality of posts that I deliver that I can take an honorary position on someone’s blog roll 😉
Become a better friend
I am very lucky to be part of the developer community coined “the tribe”. There is a lot of great people that I have gotten to know over the last couple years, and friendships with these people mean a great deal to me. Last year I found myself always in such a rush to get home after an event, and I realize now that it’s ok to slow down for a bit, kick back and enjoy the friendships that I’ve made, I don’t get to see these people very often [in person anyways], and there’s nothing wrong with an evening out with friends. [picture courtesy of @sadukie]
Grow as a mentor
It’s no mystery that in my workplace I mentor many people. This is something that I really enjoy, so it only makes sense to mentor more people. I want people in the developer community to know that if they need help getting started in a technology or surrounding a topic they don’t quite understand, or just want to talk tech, that they can contact me and I’ll help them [and if I don’t know the topic at hand, I’m more than willing to learn it together and try pulling in other mentors].
Have more fun giving presentations
I have always had a certain level of fun giving presentations, but having just finished up with MDC, I have established a new presentation style. I don’t want my mind to stress about forgetting to discuss a small portion of a topic [this usually happens as I’m presenting]. Instead, just learn the content inside and out, form some type of structure, and just do it 🙂 I didn’t realize how much fun giving a presentation could be, and now I can’t wait to present again.
Go more places with the family
I think it’s important that my kids have more experiences outside the home. I plan to make more trips to the zoo, take them to COSI (even I’ve never been there before), get back to the Newport aquarium, and I’ll also be pulling up the activity calendars of the local parks and library.
Lose weight
Now for the stereotypical annual goal, this year I’d like to try and lose some of my additional weight. Some people complain that they look at their high school pictures and how slim they were. I unfortunately only have to go as far as my passport picture to see the difference. Yep, in the last 4 years, I had my third child and that dreaded yo-yo got stuck at the top and won’t come back down, and I need to lose 40 lbs [this will get me back to where I was prior to expecting my last baby]. To do this, my worst offender is going out for lunch all the time, it’s a form of stress relief for me, but it is working completely against me. I’ve had some good success going to the gym, and I need to make myself accountable to make this an on-going habit. I also am missing playing hockey with a vengeance, I missed out on this session, mainly due to a hectic schedule early this year, but I plan on registering next session in the women’s league in Newark and getting back involved with the wonderful people at the BTNHL. If you let me play hockey on your team, I promise I will not to break my ankle again ;) [in the picture is myself with my brother taken at a family game]
Learn, learn, learn, then when I’m done ? learn some more
This is an easy goal for me. I love to learn new things, whether they be about technology, history, crafts, baking, etc. So I’m making a goal to keep this up too 🙂 This year I’d like to start learning two new programming languages, and try to unravel the mystery of all the *DD that everyone talks about, and hopefully find a hybrid kind of methodology that fits me.
Now I get to play tag! I’m going to use the “j” theme that I’ve been enjoying so much since MDC (btw… it’s not jQuery, it’s jCarey).
