Other

This is the new feed:

http://dotnetworkaholic.com/feed/

The transition was fairly painless. The DasBlog posts imported to WordPress directly from the RSS feed, but all the comments were lost. This may be a future possibility so I zipped up a working copy of DasBlog. Moving my eight Blogger posts to Wordpress was easy with the correct plugin for ‘new’ Blogger (i.e. not the default Blogger plugin). First impressions are that Wordpress is very easy to use, has plenty of features and lots of community support.

It is the time of year again, and since Lariam has almost totally gone my life will return even closer to normal this year.

Professional Highlights of 2006

• Lariam is barely holding me back now. About one day a month I still take a sick day, but such days are now fairly bearable. At this rate I expect zero sick days by 2008 (seven years since taking two pills!)
• Returned to an Architect role again and for the first time in years

Personal Highlights of 2006

• Almost have one rental house self sufficient. It should require little maintenance and pay for itself in 15->20 years
• Polished DIY skills. Now able to effectively manage contractors
• Track day at Road Atlanta
• Gotten a handle on Retirement

2006 was really a major regrouping after Lariam and the start of crunching numbers for retirement planning, so what about 2007:

Professional Goals for 2007

• Really make a difference at work instead of just nudging people in better directions
• Give at least two high-visibility presentations
• Re-read and fully digest classic foundation of Software-Development books such as Code Complete. Aim to be an world-class expert in directing software development teams
• At least skim-read 7 Habits and Getting Things Done etc

Personal Goals for 2007

• More retirement planning
• At least one weekend at Road Atlanta and all Solo2 schools
• At least a half-marathon, try for six minute mile or full marathon
• Unless technology takes over again, attempt to buy at least one more rental property and use >90% contractors to upgrade where necessary

Surely no-one but me is interested, but what happened to last year’s goals?

Professional Goals for 2006

• Start picking up the pace work-wise (Lariam willing)
  • YES! Now I am probably at 30% of my pre-Lairam work pace, which is not bad at all
• Continuous improvement of speaking skills especially for Code Camps – rival Mark Dunn before 2007!!
  • Somewhat. The skills getting close to Mark Dunn et-al, but not quite
• Find more time to help with requests for Podcasts, book writing, company foundation etc
  • No, I changed focus to locking down retirement goals instead
• Ensure everything I do for the .Net community is of the highest possible quality
  • YES!
• Read/ skim-read all the well known management/ personal success books (cringe)
  • Somewhat

Personal Goals for 2006

• Do not annoy anyone if Lariam hits again
  • YES! There were only two bad sessions last year, and I was even polite to the incompetent clowns who fired me to protect their jobs
• Live modestly, including driving a used car which gets good mpg
  • YES and no. In the USA new cars can be as cheap as used cars to run – I tried to buy a used Miata more than once, but used prices were just too high
• Do at least one auto-cross every month
  • Somewhat, I did every school possible including one at Road Atlanta
• Find time to achieve a 6 minute mile
  • No, but kept residual fitness
• Move to a more central part of Atlanta
  • Somewhat, my wife and I now how very short commutes and are with walking distance of a great pub

Paul Wilson tagged me – thanks Paul! Thanks for all the traffic you send my way too. Hopefully this list is not too boring:

How many spots can you spot?

• Fast automobiles are my only vice, I shun status symbols and live frugally in a small suburban ranch
• Before hitting 40 I will run a full marathon and break a 6 minute mile
• With luck I will semi-retire into an AI related PhD at about age 45, then teach Computer Science until my gray matter expires. Twice before I have been a gnat’s whisker from applying for a PhD, but working in the USA was more appealing – oh yes, and I like shiny new BMWs too much
• There is only one naturally spotted domestic cat, the Egyptian Mau. My wife owns one and walks him on a leash! She also owns Ocicat which are bred to be spotted
• About ten years ago a system admin Nazi (is there any other kind?) raked me over hot coals for forwarding an amusing ‘Chain letter’ – hence I am not tagging anyone else