Resolutions 2021

Speak at a conference again. I miss conferences…I miss climbing the wall at Vandy, or playing Developers Against Humanity until 1am, or sitting at the hotel bar chatting with other speakers and attendees. I also miss the thrill of public speaking, even if I have to change my talks or write new ones to be online I’m going to submit and speak at a conference this year. I’ve already submitted to a few conferences that have opened their CFP (Call For Proposals).

Start writing my story. I’ve kind of already gotten started if you count the poem I wrote for the creative group I’m in or the talk on dealing with depression I wrote. What I mean here is that I’m going to start writing a book. I’m not sure if it will be “based on a true story” or an autobiography yet.

Take on more of a leadership role at work. Because of COVID I ended up becoming one of the team leads on the tech team at church. I’m in charge of cameras, radios, social media during live streams, and misc. At work, while still in the advanced (senior) developer role, I’ve taken the lead on a couple projects. This year I plan to thrive in these roles and take on more leadership responsibilities with the long term goal of getting promoted to a lead position.

Join the praise/worship team at church. This is still a driving goal of mine. I’ve improved on my guitar skills, focusing my efforts on rhythm guitar instead of just learning riffs and licks. I’ve got the two try out songs down and play along with the recordings of the praise team. In my lessons my instructor has started work on site reading where he’ll have a song either tabbed out or the chords and have me play the whole thing from site.

New equipment to improve my home office set up. For my birthday Will gave me a quad monitor setup. I need a new desk and the chair I’m using is at least a decade old if not more. I’m planing to periodically purchase new office furniture and equipment throughout the year so that I’ll have a solid setup by the end of 2021.

I’m going to stop drinking alcohol in 2021. I spent the first half of my life so far not drinking and the second half doing so. I don’t have any problem with drinking, I’m just going to give not drinking a try again. I want to see how it affects my IBS and my mood over the course of the year. Also, it’s a bit of a gimme here because the praise/worship team at church has a leadership honor code that involves not drinking. It’s completely voluntary but required to be in a leadership role at church.

Build another product, either a book or a course. I’ve not decided yet and getting some things in place with the podcast and related stuff (such as the email list) has to happen first. I’ll be self-publishing anything else I do.

Do more extensive tech-adjacent writing. I got presented with an interesting opportunity last week and I think I could get more.

Rework my home office to be more comfortable and usable. It’s good now, but I need to quit being cheap and spend a little more money really making it and the old recording room more usable. I need a new chair as well – the current one was an inexpensive one I picked up on sale and isn’t doing too well after a couple years. This probably also means getting a decent gaming system, and a mac for recording, along with getting some more electrical drops and better lighting in the room.

Eat better – my diet has been kinda crap since COVID started. I gained a little bit of weight earlier in the year, but dropping back on the soda straightened that out. But I still get fast food way more often than I did a year ago. Part of that is because my daughter is in the house, and it complicates lunch and limits my options (due to having to feed her as well).

Digital reorganization. Web hosting goes to Amazon, domains move off godaddy, consolidating email accounts, getting financial stuff managed a little better, and consolidating password storage. During my time stuck at home, I identified a bunch of stuff that probably needs to be organized better and there’s a laundry list of stuff that would make me more efficient if I had it fixed.

Greatly increase my non-formal exposure to Russian language. I’m practicing a ton during the week, but it’s almost all exercises and stuff from books. I want to start getting into maybe watching some shows, reading fiction, etc., since my vocabulary is at a point where that is realistic.

Break even, not have to pay for the podcast or Dev Launchpad out of pocket. Our current output is around $500 per month, most of which is podcast editing. We plan to get to a point with sponsorships and Patreon donations to be able to cover this every month.

Rebuild DevLaunchpad. There is a lot more potential there than what we’ve done with it and now that Will has gotten a couple books out, we have some ideas that will really help that thing be more useful to the community (and he has time to work on these).

Get into coaching other developers. This is something that both Will and BJ are passionate about. We are mentors and run a meetup group designed to help developers in their careers.

Will is a Type 1 or the Reformer.

Ones are highly ethical with a strong sense or right and wrong. They tend to be well-organized and maintain high personal standards but can become critical to the point of perfectionism if unhealthy. Their basic fear is being corrupt or evil. They desire to be good, have integrity and balance. Healthy ones take on some of the positive traits of the seven (the enthusiast) such as spontaneity and joyfulness. Unhealthy ones under stress can become moody and irrational taking on the negative aspects of the four (the individualist).

Beej is a Type 2, the Lover or the Helper.

Twos are friendly, empathetic, warm-hearted, and self-sacrificing. They are driven to be close to people, but may end up becoming people pleasers just to feel wanted or needed abandoning their own needs. Their basic fear is not having any friends or being unworthy of love. They desire to be loved and appreciated for what they do as well as to be able to express their feelings for others. Healthy twos take on the positive aspects of the four (the individualist) such as self-nurturing and emotionally aware. Stressed or unhealthy twos can become aggressive or dominating, taking on the negative characteristics of the eight (the challenger).