2008 in review
This last year was a great year for me. It was a year of growth and maturing,
and virtually everything came out for the better.
I have a wonderful job, a cat, a very nice apartment in a great city, and I'm
virtually out of debt and life is looking very good. My goal of positioning
myself for the second half of my life (beginning when I turn 50) is well on it's
way.
I am thoroughly enjoying every aspect of my life. My job is challenging and
stressful, and to relax I spend quite a bit of time involved in other activities
including photographing, producing and photographing bellydance shows, visiting
renaissance (and other) faires, traveling and working on my many web sites. I
also have been writing and doing more graphics.
My goal of expanding into many creative areas is moving along very well. I've
purchased (and have been learning) several graphics products including Poser,
Bryce, Carrara, Hexagon, OnFocus, Portrait Studio, Adobe CS3 (the whole suite),
Corel Paint Shop Pro and others. I've also been learning more about photography
now that I am using my DSLR, and I've been experimenting with different styles
and lighting techniques.
I did less nature traveling than in previous years, concentrating more on my
photography and faires. This coming year, I want to increase my travels to
several national parks that I've wanted to see for some time.
My carpal tunnel syndrome, which was acting up big time in 2007, is
completely gone. I've been having more difficulty with my back this year, but
now that I'm going to the gym four times a week and doing various other
therapies, it's doing better and better.
I've been having many successes in the area of bellydance. I've been
photographing like crazy and have attended over 100 shows this year. However, in
order to maintain my sleep and work ethics, I've had to limit, except in special
circumstances, my visits to shows to Friday and Saturday evenings.
One interesting phenomenon that's happened this year is my relatives on the
"Lowe" side of the family found my genealogy web sites and have been contacting
me with additional information about my family.
I have made a point of following the guidelines given in
The Way to Happiness and that
has led to tremendous improvements (over the past few years) in the quality of
my life, my outlook on events and other people and the way life effects me.
Goals Met in 2008
- I am almost complete with my long struggle to get out of debt. Plans are
now to have everything (except for my student loan) paid off by February 2009.
- I have lost weight, although not as much as I had hoped.
- I have completely upgraded virtually all of my web sites (almost 100 of
them) to XHTML Strict, CSS 2.0 standards. Most of the pages validate, although
some had to be validated in XHTML transitional for verious reasons.
- I purchased a new, extremely fast computer system. I wasn't going to make
this purchase, since my old computer was not even two years old, but upon
reflection I realized that I spend three to four hours every day in front of
that screen, and any speed improvements would allow me to get more done.
- I put on my Birthday halfa, now a yearly tradition, and it was just as
good, if not better, than last year.
- I produced half a dozen Bellydance Kaleidoscope showcases.
- I took over exotic Blend for production in 2009.
- I took almost 35,000 pictures at Southern Faire this year, and split them
into sub-albums by topic (by popular request).
- My renaissance faire site exceeded 400,000 pictures (300,000 Renaissance
faire and 100,000 bellydance photos)
- I visited over two dozen other faires throughout the country, including the
Wisconsin (Bristol), Ohio, Colorado and Arizona faires.
- I completed my CIW certification, a goal for the last six years.
- I renewed all my domains for the maximum period of time.
- I finally got my passport.
- I went on a Bellydance Cruise.
- I succeeded in getting a nearly perfect physical for the entire year. My
diabetes is fully under control and there are no other health issues (besides
sciatica).
- I have successfully and dramatically changed my diet to one that is far
more healthy.
- I am now going to the gym four to five times a week.
- I completed scanning all my negatives and photos (through a service), which
has been a goal for at least eight years.
- All my data is now backed up locally to another computer and over the
internet.
Goals for 2009
- To completely finish getting out of debt, including my student loan.
- To lose 36 pounds (3 pounds per month).
- To visit several scenic areas, including:
- Bryce Canyon, Zion, Canyonlands, Corel Reef and Arches national parks.
- Carlsbad caverns
- the Grand Canyon caverns
- The Grand Canyon (again)
- Devils Post pile, petrified forest and Lava Flow national park
- To produce ten Bellydance
Kaleidoscope showcases.
- To produce half a dozen Exotic Blend showcases.
- To photograph the entire run of Southern faire, and exceed 50,000 pictures
taken in one season.
- To visit as many California, Arizona and Nevada faires as possible.
- To visit a few big out-of-state faires, including Wisconsin, Colorado and
Arizona.
- To finish the next goal in my religion.
- To exceed 600,000 pictures on my Renaissance faire/bellydance site
- Get a perfect physical each quarter for the year.
- Keep my diabetes fully under control.
- Put on the biggest and most spectacular birthday celebration yet.
- To upgrade my A+, Network+ and Inet+ exams
- To complete Security+
- To complete CISSP
- Learn the Poser product and use it to produce an online graphics novel
- To throw the biggest birthday party for myself yet
- In 2009, I am pursuing several avenues of writing:
- I resolve to keep a daily blog starting on January 1st, 2009, and combine
that with a photo a day (taken by myself).
- I will write six or more publish-on-demand books and publish them
- I will write and sell twelve or more articles
- I will work through my web sites and update my older articles, especially the computer related subjects.
- Finish Fantasy novel "The 8th jewel"
- Finish Science Fiction Novel
- Finish Historical romance novel "A Love for the Ages"
- Start historical novel "Roman Betrayal"
- Replace all third-party graphics on my web sites with my own creations
- Some other goals for 2009 include:
- Finish and update stamp collection
- Build small rock and mineral collection of places I've been
- Organize personal collections
- Grow a series of plants from seed/bulb to death
- Photograph a lightening storm
- Completely run through Super Metroids and Zelda (Nintendo 64) and Medievil.
- Plant a seed, a bulb and other things and watch them from "birth" to death.
- Visit Nova Scotia and Wisconsin to see the Lowe and Crowe sides of the
family
