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2010 – A New Year, Some New Goals

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Like most people, I assume, every new year I come up with a set of goals that I would like to accomplish during the upcoming year.  But I never seem to write them down, so I always forget what my plan was by the time February rolls around.  So starting this year, I am going to make a list of the primary things that I want to achieve in 2010.

Geek-related

  • Blog more!  I tend to blog when I learn something new and I have not written a post recently (which I guess means that I have not learned anything).  I have been busy working on finishing my basement for the past few months, but that is no excuse.
  • Deep dive into compiler and language principles.  I have always had an interest in writing a compiler/language and would like to focus on that in the coming year.   I don’t think that there is any better way to become a better developer than to understand the concepts and ideas that define the basis for our work.
  • Deep dive into concurrent programming.  This and the language/compiler topic above should keep me plenty busy during the year.  This goal involves a lot of subtopics: parallel computing, functional programming, scalability, concurrency, etc.  I would just like to get a better grasp of these concepts and how they can help me to write better code.

Personal

  • Ride in RAGBRAI in July.  My father-in-law has done this event for 10 years now, and since I have gotten into cycling recently, I figure I should join him in the fun.  It is an annual event in which you ride across the state of Iowa.
  • Play in some competitive golf events.  I currently plan to participate in some of the state golf association tournaments in 2010 and would like to actually do well in these events.  This is going to require a lot of practice and play in the next few months to prepare.

Now this gives me a place throughout the year to look at the goals I have laid out for myself.  These items should keep me quite busy for a while and I will write some posts as I work to accomplish these goals.  I might even add to this list if I think of some more things.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 09, 2010
    Blogging can be really addictive, lol. Making a habit to blog daily can not only be fun but its kind of therapeutic. Good luck on your NY goals.  

  • Anonymous
    January 10, 2010
    Writing and checking the list does not work for me. What I do though is list down all i want for the year on the last page of a diary or planner. Then the few pages before that is where I will write down all that I have accomplished or lost like: (a) bought new pair of shoes (b) laptop (c) met this person (d) tried rock climbing for the first time etc (e) ___ died etc Towards the end of the year I will check these pages and match them with the last page and that's when I find out if I reached my goal for the year without even trying. Most of the time, the more you follow it the more it is not accomplished since some, or most people, will say they can try the following year anyway. And there are 365 days in a year, I find it hard to remember things if I look back a day's note at a time. I leave those pages in the planner for everyday routine or meeting schedules etc Am I making sense here? hehe

  • Anonymous
    January 30, 2010
    Can't wait for the weather to get nice so we can hit the links.