It’s not a resolution, It’s WordPress 2.0
I don’t make New Years Resolutions. The fact that my site looks different as of the first of the year is related more to a software update than real effort on my part. I upgraded the software, it hosed how I used to do things, so I pulled an off-the-shelf theme out of the box, and here we are.
Michigan Football Sucked
I’m sure glad this football season is over (for Michigan at least). I’m hopeful for next year – I think we’ve got a B+/A- quarterback, a B grade running back situation and a B- grade at receiver. Definitely some room for improvement.
We couldn’t even win the Alamo Bowl against an unranked Nebraska team. Granted, the officiating was horrid, but we shouldn’t have given up an 11 point lead in the 4th. I’m still of the mind we need a new head coach, from outside of the organization. Not that I’d press for Steve Mariucci there, either though.
At least Alabama was fun to watch this year (and Auburn tanked against Wisconsin).
Things I Want To Learn/Do This Year
.NET, finally. I said I was putting it off until 2.0 came out. Now it’s out. Or will be soon… I don’t keep up. But it’s time to put development in ASP 3.0 to rest and get caught up with the world, now that Microsoft has supposedly worked out the .NET bugs that bothered me most (like valid html code, etc).
Better hunting. I let 2 bucks go this past trip, 1 because I was waiting on the bigger one I heard, and the bigger one, because I wasn’t ready to shoot him fast enough. At least I brought home a .308 out of the trip. I’m looking forward to shooting it again. Still tempted to want to try bowhunting… just out of time and money for it right now.
Better project management. I’m tired of the last 10% of a project taking 90% of my effort. I’m tired of testing being squeezed out by finishing the features that were added in late. I’m tired of being frantic and stressed. I’m especially tired of taking out my frustrations with these things on my family. I need to get it into my head that the answer is not padding my hours to compensate for the things I don’t forsee, but to run the project in cycles that include testing along the way, dry-run launches to find configuration bugs ahead of time, and the option of incorporating unforseen, required features in, in revisions. At least I stepped fully into version control, at long last. I won’t live without it again.
Better church attendence. Last year was pretty dismal in that department. The devil works pretty hard against me on Sunday mornings. Wednesday nights don’t even compete… I really was frequently just too busy with work during the week to make it home early enough for that. But the reward I reap in spiritual growth and a better relationship with my wife & kids that least the whole week, just from going to church Sunday mornings is well worth it. I just need to remember that when it’s time to get up.
Things I Don’t Want To Do This Year
Sometimes it’s easier to figure out the things I want to avoid, than the things I want to do.
I want to avoid not having my upstairs bathroom’s shower not working all year.
I want to avoid going so long between visits with my friends.
I want to avoid having three cars, now that we bought a van and still haven’t gotten rid of my wife’s 89 Buick Century. Anyone want a car? Dirt cheap?
I want to avoid tree services that don’t show up when promised. Or do show up when asked not to.