That's a Wrap
Last day of the year. Must be time for a looking back/looking forward post.
Photography
2008
The major theme of the year has been photography. I started in 2007, but I feel that 2008 was the year I improved past being just a guy with a camera to a real photographer. I shot my first wedding, got my first real photo job, got published in a national magazine and started a daily photo blog. I've acquired the equipment to shoot just about anything I'd like.
2009
I would like to continue improving my skills and building my own brand of photography. I want to shoot at least two weddings this year (hopefully paid), and start selling prints of my artistic work. I would also like to continue shooting fashion and see if I can get myself published again.
Personal Projects
2008
The center of my personal projects in 2008 was the eBay Toolbar. I started it at Stanford for a d.school class and then let languish for almost a full year before reviving it. Though the core functionality has not really changed, the internals have been completely refactored to make it comply with Mozilla's quality standards and make it easier to maintain. I tried getting it added to addons.mozilla.org, but it's still an "experimental" plug-in. Maybe I need more reviews (hint, hint) to get it promoted.
I also participated, with Benjamin, in the DjangoDash, which our "Mercurial-based Code Review" tool won. Hopefully, you should be hearing more about that in the coming months.
2009
UPDATE: Sent an email to the editors this morning, now it is approved! Guess I should have made some noise earlier. (link)
Priority #2 #1 is to release a second project that I've been working on for a while. The back end is pretty much complete, it's the front end that needs a lot of work. I hope to be announcing this by Easter.
I would also like to spend more time on open source projects. I released the iTunes to Rhythmbox script in 2007; since then a few bugs have been reported that I never fixed because I'm back on Windows. Now that I have the new computer, I might make the laptop dual-boot with Ubuntu again and get that fixed.
Work
2008
I'm still working on Copilot, which I am still enjoying. We started off the year by (finally) releasing free weekends. Over the summer, the four of us on Copilot (plus an intern) got turfed to a temporary office in the new building to make space for the summer interns. Joel gave us some rope and we used the time to help find and define Copilot's identity as the company within a company. That helped us shift our workflow and get Copilot OneClick out the door. Now we're back with the rest of the company and working hard to get another product out.
2009
We have a few ideas for Copilot that need to be implemented. We'll do a pretty big refactoring to make maintenance easier and offer new products. After that, it's unclear what we'll be working on. We have a few ideas in the pipeline, some based on Copilot, some not, and we very well might end up working on both.
Social
2008
This year I've found myself becoming more introverted, I think largely as a consequence of living in New York. More and more, I'm finding large groups to be overwhelming; I'd much rather small gatherings of people. As a result, I've not been going out as much to see what this city has to offer.
2009
One of my big goals is to get out more. It'll require that I work on finding a balance between soothing my introvertedness and having my day consist of more than my apartment and work. There are photography exhibits I want to see, restaurants I want to try, and parts of New York that I still haven't been to.
Exercise
2008
I was not as active as I would have liked this year, but I did not do badly either. For a period, Iris and I were going to the gym together at least once a week. I also joined two soccer teams, one indoor, one outdoor. I'd forgotten how much fun I have playing soccer.
2009
I would like to get back into endurance sports and complete at least one long distance race, preferably a triathlon. Really that means I just need to find one online, sign up, and train. I'll post back when I do that.
Finances
2008
Like everyone, my 401k is hurting, but I've been able to save some money and start investing it as well. I'm hoping that in a few years, the stock prices we see now will be looking like good deals.
2009
More of the same, hopefully. I'd like to find a way to spend less on rent each month and I would like future photography purchases to be funded by photography-generated income, but everything else is pretty good right now.
Travel
2008
This year I went to Florida with Iris, Italy with my family and Iris, Boston and Waterloo for work, and back home a couple of times.
2009
I want to do more skiing this year, which plans are in the works for. I'd also like to do another big trip this summer, maybe Asia or Oceania. I need to figure out a way to make travel photography pay for travel...
That's about it; at least what I'll write about here. It's been a good year, even despite the recent meltdown, and I think 2009 will also be a good year. Happy New Year!
blog comments powered by Disqus