A reflection on my 2009 goals
Last year my goals were very much focused on things that I wanted to buy. Strangely enough I have not really achieved any of the goals that I talked about and looking back now they seem strangely irrelevant. For example I just do not seem to care that I will be the last Web Designer on earth to own and iPhone. So quickly moving on…
Writing
Writing on this website pretty much dried up in mid 2009, partly though being pretty busy and partly through lack of inspiration. However, I have quite a few ideas ready for the beginning of this year and am having to restrain myself from doing nothing but write. So lets see if I can do at least one post a month for a whole year. But secretly, I am hoping to write one a week!
Also I have recently become interested in the technical and sociological aspects of IT security. So I am planning to write about my opinions on the problems and solutions in these areas.
Design
I have not had much design work come my way recently and I am starting to feel a little rusty! However, I want to push myself more to find time to work on small experimental projects exploring the latest in HTML5, CSS3 & AJAX. I plan to cut the time spent working on these by cutting a few corners. The idea is that these projects will be experimental and inspirational not that they will supported in IE6.
Inspiration
I need to keep a better design inspiration log. Most good designers have been keeping these for years and in a way I have too. But where as mine has been a list of bookmarks in Firefox, others keep flickr sets that include screenshots of websites and photos of every day things. The problem with my current list of bookmarks is that they quickly go out of date, websites often change and sometimes for the worse not better, occasionally I find a bookmarked site that no longer exists! Another problem I currently have is that that I am limited to recording only online design, by keeping a flickr set I hope to include more photographs.
Photography
Speaking of flickr, I began the new year by restarting my Project 365. For those that do not know this is a very popular project for photographers that has one basic requirement, you take a single photograph a day for a year. Some people choose to make these self-portraits which can provide an interesting record of one’s self. Since I really want to try to push my photography skills this year I have decided not to include that restriction, instead I will take my camera everywhere I go and take as many photos as I can, at the end choosing my favourite of the day. A couple of years ago I made a failed attempt at this kind of project, so I am well aware of how hard it is taking the time to complete it. But I also discovered how much it made me look at the world around me and encouraged me to explore parts of my neighbourhood I had never seen. This project will require me to buy a new bag of some sort, that will hold my camera a spare lens as well as the general rubbish I take everywhere with me. Oh dear, it looks like I will be getting a man-bag! How very 2008.
Programming
I have spent a lot of time programming in 2009 – mostly in Java and PHP. Quite a lot of these have either been projects that I cannot talk about or projects that have not yet seen the light of day. I hope to launch a web app later this year, regarding a problem that has been bugging me for ages and will require a lot of research and planning before I am able to begin any actual coding. This will of course remain a top-secret-need-to-know-basis project for the time being. Lets hope I have something to talk about later on in the year.
Listening to Music
I have been listening to a lot of music over the last few months and in reflection my music tastes have not changed much from previous years. In no particular order here are some of my favourites:
- Ben Harper & Relentless7 – White Lies for Dark Times
- Rodrigo Y Gabriela – Rodrigo Y Gabriela
- Eels – Hombre Lobo
- Radiohead – In Rainbows
- Killers – Day & Age
- Silversun Pickups – Swoon
- Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
One thing that has really bugged me though is the release of iTunes 9. I really liked version 8 and have not found the time to research any potential fixes.
Playing Music
Since my band has recently spread itself from one end of England to the other, we are taking a bit of a break for the moment. But I really want to find some time to record enough songs of my own to release something of note. I have some ideas already, I just need time.
GTD
The ultimate productivity solution for any disorganised person. Although I have been practicing Paul Allen’s Getting Things Done for a while now, I want to make a real commitment to keeping this up for a whole year. Seriously though, if you find work busy or hectic (that is most of us, right?) and have not heard of GTD, please do yourself a favour and check it out.