Goals for 2008

Yes, it is the 21st of January and I'm posting a 'goals for the year post' which one might usually expect on the 1st; I'm at the tail end of my 'catching up on things', so, well, meh.   I only published 58 blog posts in 2007, 46 of those prior to July 2007.  In contrast, I published 92 blog posts in 2006.  What happened?  My son was born in July 2007. As you can see, that knocked me for a loop, community participation-wise. 

I think it's fair to say that my wife and I, even now, at the six month mark, are still adjusting to what I call "the new normal".  That said, I would like to think that I have a decent handle on things (home/work/community) and have a somewhat-workable balance in place (one that is ever-changing and seeking improvement).  Even though I have not been blogging much during the latter half of 2007, I've been working on some things that I'll be publishing soon-ish. 

Improve my health 
If there ever were reasons to maintain my overall health, being around to watch my son grow up and grow old with my wife are pretty good ones in my book.  Not your standard weight loss goal, this encompasses more in my book:

• Achieve a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 24.9 or less (I'm currently at 29.8, which puts me 0.2 away from "Obese"). Wow, Nino's a fat ***, isn't he? Well, those of you who know me know that that's not quite the case. To put things into perspective, I'm 6'4" (1.93m) and weight 245lbs (111kg).  I clearly (IMO) do not appear nearly obese, but it's not all muscle, either. To achieve my target BMI, I will need to finish the year near the 202lb (91.6kg) mark.   Lose 40+ pounds in the next 11 1/2 months, that's going to take some work and some discipline.
• Improve my cardiovascular conditioning.  This will mandate a minimum 30 minutes of walking every day (and I need to get anaerobic workouts in, too). But, that's not enough.  Nope. I've somehow got it in my head to complete a 5k race this year. Once I get past this respiratory infection that's been dogging me since before Christmas, I'm going to start the C25K program.
• Build my core and improve my posture.  One helps the other, 'nuff said.
• Get a minimum of six hours sleep every night, preferably eight hours.  Lack of sleep, alone, has contributed to more of my health problems than anything else. 
• Lower my cholesterol to a healthy level.  This one largely speaks to dietary changes (can't do much about the genetic contribution here).  On the topic of diet (not dieting, in the bastardized American way), I'm looking at some software for my Windows Mobile device (you knew WM was going to get a mention here, didn't you?) over at Handango to help track this.  Any suggestions?

Simplify
A fad?  Perhaps for some. This is essentially a continuation of the prioritization that began when my son was born last year. A great many things became incredibly less important once he arrived.  To that end:

• Reduce my online presence. I started this one last week when I deleted my Twitter account.  Next up is probably MySpace and Facebook, perhaps LinkedIn, too.  And then there are the six (6!) personal email addresses.  Oh, and then there is the three hundred forty-six (yes, 346!) items in my blogroll.  WTF?!? 
• Reduce my home IT demands.  Rather, become less of my own IT department. Seven servers (P+V) and two clients (my desktop and Shannon's new laptop [used my EB's for this]). This is just getting crazy to manage.  Steve had the same thought back in '06.  I'm not sure what my approach will be, but it will likely be a longer-term plan given that I just built a new desktop last year (not to mention my 2x20", 1x24" monitor setup on this machine), and I need to sit down and sort out what my goals are (i.e. what do I want/need here and what I do not need / can outsource).
• Purge the house of stuff we don't use.  This one is a bit of a given. Toss it, sell it, give it, recycle it.  However it's done, stuff's going to go.  (not to mention we're considering moving within the next year, so the less stuff to move, the better).  Although, this is going to be tough given all the baby stuff that seems to keep appearing.  I need to work on convincing family and friends not to buy stuff (other than clothes or giving money) for the baby.

Community Involvement

• Re-engage with the online mobile community.  Like blogging, my involvement with the online mobile community (primarily newsgroups and forums) declined quite in the latter half of last year, for similar reasons.    I've already started this one; need to keep it up, although I think that concentrating in one area will be key.
• Make it to more CINNUG meetings.  Despite being part of CINNUG leadership, it has been really difficult to get to meetings.  Either I was on the road or had baby issues.
• Regular blogging and writing.  Not only will this help me contribute to the community, but more 'practice' writing can only be helpful.  On that note, I would like to get published this year - hoping to start with a periodical.

Improve personal/professional balance.  This is a tough one.  I've often found these goals to be conflicting, and I'm stubborn enough that I don't want to sacrifice either one.  Last year, while I traveling five days (+, sometimes) a week to western Maryland, I was really enjoying the project because of its intense technical challenges, despite the constant (and often heavy) overtime; however, my home life suffered. (Similar story the year before when I was working in NJ/DC).  That's the challenge with consulting, though. In the late winter / early spring of 2007, I needed to find a local project where I could be home at night as my wife was have a rather difficult time with the pregnancy, and, of course, my son would be arriving not long in the future.  I found one (and many thanks to Tom, Doug, and Isaac for their help), but, to be honest, it is a less-than-optimal role.  But I knew that going in, so that's ok. 

The question now is, do I stay there for another year? Or, do I head back on the road?  Do I re-locate to a different geography (i.e. larger metro area outside of Heartland district) with my current employer, or do I find a new employer in a new geography?  I'm working with my manager to see if we can address some of this. Let's face it, Heartland district (which we define as OH, KY, MI) is a tough market, and there's not much going on in Cincinnati, particularly for what I want to do.  In sum, how do I reconcile achieving professional success and advancement and having a good family life?  Is that possible in the consulting world?  (I've spent most of my career in consulting, and I haven't seen it yet)

It's going to be a busy year, but one in which I hope to be healthier and happier, and have achieved a greater sense of balance in my life.