Post #500: 2008 is over, 2009 begins...

After much ado, thought, and planning, here is the big post #500.  I'm going to be all over the place with this one, recapping what happened in 2008, and talking about some things coming up in 2009.  Without any more preface, let's talk about:

2008

Top events in 2008

10. Saw The Offspring in concert.  My favorite band for the last 10 years held a free concert sponsored by T-Mobile in Uptown Charlotte.  I am usually not one to go to or even like live concerts; they're typically too loud, or I don't like fighting the crowds, but this outdoor concert just off the train line was awesome!  I didn't realize how many of their songs I knew by heart.

9. Moved into my own apartment.  I got my own place in southwest Charlotte, not too far from work, not too far from cheap gas in South Carolina, and fairly close to a nature preserve that has been the subject of much of my photography, which I'll mention later.

8. Broke into (and out of) management.  Professionally, this was a big one, as I had never been in an official supervisor capacity before.  Suddenly having 70 to 80 people under my direct management was an incredible experience that required me to learn quickly, and assess how I communicate with different types of people and adapt quickly to various situations.  I left on a high note, though; after months of being on call nonstop, my decision to leave management wasn't because I didn't like it, or was unsuccessful, but because I was able to turn something I love into something I do professionally.

7. Movies, movies, movies!  2008 was a great year for movies; my top 3 are easily Iron Man, Wall-E, and The Dark Knight, although there are several others that are notable.  Tropic Thunder, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Hellboy II, Quantum of Solace, Be Kind Rewind, Wanted, and You Don't Mess with the Zohan round out my top 10.  I know some of them are quirky and a bit low-brow, but no one ever accused me of being a Cannes movie critic, I just know what I like. 

6. Spent two weeks in California.  I had never been further west than Oklahoma until this year, and the opportunity came with my new job to spend two weeks in Silicon Valley for training.  After everything I had ever seen, read, or heard about California, from what I have seen, I only want to spend more time there.  San Francisco is an incredible city, and being at the center of America's technology sector was like a dream.  I have photos that I still have not sorted through, and the people I met were all intelligent, relaxed, and good-natured.  If I spend too much time out there, I may end up being a west coast guy after all.

5. Read a lot of good books.  I haven't even counted, but this year I read more sci-fi than ever, focusing on Robert Heinlein, Cory Doctorow, William Gibson, and other cyber age fiction authors.  Their writing inspires me to think, to re-imagine the world we live in, and look at it with optimism and hope, although many of the stories show a future with neither.  I just found out that Gibson grew up in a small town only 30 miles from my hometown, and that his frustration living in an area stuck in the past motivated him to write about the future.  I can understand that concept completely, and it is most likely why his writing has appealed to me so much.

4. Discovered the joy of photography.  I had a camera before, but this year I bought a Camera, and worked damn hard to learn how to use it.  Through the lens, I have discovered a creative side of me that I did not know was there, and have found it to be an expressive release.  After California, I have backed off a bit, but come spring you can bet there will be many more photos to come.

3. Turned a hobby (technology) into a profession.  When I bought my first computer in 2002, just after I graduated the police academy, I had no idea that in just a few years, I would be making a living repairing them.  Ironically, it was a hard drive failure in 2003 that started me on the path to learn more about computers, how they work, and how to use them better, that eventually brought me to work part time as a specialist and now full time as a technician.  When I have a computer in front of me, I can almost feel how the electricity is running through it, how the hard drive is spinning, and how the bits of data are running in and out of memory.  I am far from knowing everything there is to know, but I feel comfortable with them, coming a long way from that one and only call to a tech support center in fall of 2003 that frustrated me enough to learn how to do it myself.  Being able to get paid for that is awesome, and one of the best things of 2008.

2. Built new friendships and strengthened relationships with my family.  Through work and around Charlotte, I have been fortunate enough to meet many interesting people and build friendships I hope will develop further in 2009.  Holly and I have been dating over a year now, as well, and we have a relationship that I value greatly.  Living less than a mile from my aunt has also enabled me to be there for her when she and her husband went through a challenging time with a death in their family, and the trust I have built with them is irreplaceable to me.  Seeing my mother and father recently become dog owners is warming to me, because I think the addition of Dash to our family will help them to be more complete in their own lives.  Overall, I relish the people around me, and take joy in their happiness and success.  I haven't always been this close to others, and I am working constantly to keep up socially, but I have learned the value in doing so.

1. Watched the sun set on the Pacific (and photographed it).  Ever since I have watched the sun rise on the Atlantic, I have wanted to watch the sun set on the Pacific Ocean.  You could call it one of my life goals; something I had to do before I died.  While in California, I took a rental car on my own out to Half Moon Bay Beach on a perfect afternoon, and watched the sun set on the beach.  Those hours spent are among the most peaceful and happy of my life, and to take it a step further, they are all recorded through photo and video.  When the sun set too low to take any more photos, I hopped back in the rental car, kicked the moon roof back, and took a leisurely drive down Highway 1, the Pacific Coast highway, for the rest of the time the sun was setting.  Overall, it was the perfect afternoon, and among the best days of my life, making it number one on this list from 2008. 

2009

The year ahead:

After such a great year in 2008, how do I follow this up in 2009?  I have some ideas for improvement:

1.  Lose weight.  Toward the end of 2008, I got sick, and even had to go to the hospital for a mild complication with my heart.  I am still seeing a cardiologist, and we are going through a holter monitor, stress testing, and all of that good stuff, but all roads lead to one thing, I have to drop weight.  I am already off to a good start from the last three weeks.  I am exercising regularly, eating right, and have adjusted to a new diet and healthier eating habits.  Mentally, I am back into a weight-loss mode, and I am beginning to feel better again.  However, I have a long way to go.  My weight has topped anything I had ever peaked at before, and I have made a solid promise to myself to never be near to what I am right now again when I get it off.  Because the severity of my weight gain has been so much, I have equated it to death.  If I stay at my current weight, I will die.  In that spirit, as a sort of motivation to get it down, I thought about the most fun thing that I have always wanted to do, but have not done because of money, weight, or fear, because, if I stay at this weight and I die, I might as well die having fun if I lose it, right?  Anyway, the idea is this, if I get below 220, I'm buying a motorcycle.  I haven't decided what kind, but I have always wanted to ride a motorcycle, and this is an opportunity to fulfill two life dreams at once; to get back in shape, and to have a motorcycle.  I will be writing more about this later, and may possibly have a website detailing the idea, talking about my actual weight loss process, but for now, you get the drift.

2.  Learn as much as possible and gain experience at my job.  This would seem like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised at how many people just go through their work lives and get complacent, reaching a level of competence and never pursuing more.  I want this to be my career, what I'm doing now and beyond, whoever I work for and wherever it will lead.  To do that, I am going to have to build upon the knowledge I already have and work even harder to take it to the next level, to be prepared down the road when I want to do something more.  I don't think I will immediately pursue any more certifications aside from the ones I have already earned, because it would be spending money for nothing in my current position, but I am thinking about dabbling in a bit of programming and network systems architecture and management.  I know that web development is also the wave of the future, so I would be amiss if I did not consider learning more about that.  I have a friend pursuing his degree with online courses, and I have thought about taking a couple of online courses just to learn more in my current role.

3.  Enjoy 2009 even more than 2008.  I want to start enjoying each year better than the last, which I know is a tall order in the journey of life, but I do know that last year was better than the year before, and I want to keep the trend going.  I can achieve this in large part by completing the first two goals of this year, but there are a couple more things I can do.  I want to continue to build friendships and enjoy my family.  I am considering adding a dog or cat to my own household. Finally, I want to continue enjoying my hobbies, photography, movies, and reading, which have consistently provided me with entertainment and satisfaction. 

I'm still trying to figure out why I look so pissed in this picture...

Summation

Putting it all together, I have had a great 2008, and I am looking forward to seeing how 2009 comes together.  I have a lot of great things happening, and plan to keep the ball rolling into the new year.  Now that I am past this post, I am going to keep adding some additional content, links, and new photos/videos of what life brings.  Thanks for reading, commenting, and being a part of my life.

The key to happiness...

I was leaving a gas station/convenience store this afternoon heading back into the office, when I saw a man that looked like the happiest person in the world. He was early to mid-40's, dressed business casual, like most people that work in offices in the area, and carrying in his arms a rather large case of domestic light beer. Perhaps a bit of a presumption on my part, or maybe the way he was holding the beer, led me to think that it was the beer leading to the large smile on his face.

That idea actually made me a bit envious; this man had found his happiness, and it really takes nothing more than going down to the local convenience store and picking up a large pack of the cheapest swill most people will tolerate. I have known people like that, who find their own brand of heaven on earth just by having the occasional afternoon drink. I am not talking about the alcoholics, although that is certainly a hazardous path where this could lead. I am talking about the average person that at the end of a long day wants nothing more than to sit at home and have a cold one, that goes out on weekends to the local dive and sits among others with the same intentions. Yeah, I'm a bit jealous that people find happiness in that.

Granted, it's not like I haven't tried. I have had my own experimentations with alcohol over the years. There was a time after college you could have found me at my neighbor's house every day drinking something, but that was more about boredom and having nothing else to do at the time. I never needed to drink, and once I got a job, I had no problems carrying on without a daily imbibement. Over the years, I've been to bars, cookouts, social functions, and other social activities where the consumption of alcohol is a high note on the agenda, and I still can't get into it as much as the people around me. As recently as last year, an ex-girlfriend during a particularly nasty break up accused me of being a borderline alcoholic because I had built up a rather well stocked liquor cabinet in the apartment. Ironically, the reason it was well stocked was because I had not been drinking it. In my own desperation there, I had tried to find a measure of happiness by being the sort of person that comes in at night, has a couple of drinks, and goes to bed. It didn't work.

Happiness for me is more complicated. I have to resolve the ideas and desires in my mind, along with the quirks and needs of my heart. Alcohol and drugs do not do this for me. It would be a great world if it did, but it only prolongs the realities I eventually must face.

What is happiness for me? Above all, I have found that I enjoy the calm moments in life the best. The quiet times when I am left to my own thoughts, where I am free to chase down new ideas. It is not always easy to engineer all of these moments into life. Typically, the demands of the day take precedence over the freedom to pursue intellectual and creative passions. It doesn't always become the perfect time by opening up the next can. So, to those that can find their own happiness so easily, I am utterly in awe.