2009 Goals

Evening everyone. First, let me explain that I feel asleep earlier than usual, and that I'm having trouble going back to sleep for a few reasons. One, I'm restless because I'm kind of excited that Michelle and I are about to try to get our house sold so we can get our new house built in Chesapeake. The realtor is coming tomorrow to get the preliminary paperwork started and to take pictures and so forth. Also, there's a Woot-Off going on over at Woot.com. I can never sleep when there's a woot off happening! :) Anyway, I've been meaning to write this blog for awhile and I figured that I'd go ahead while I'm up and thinking about it. I kind of made a resolution this year. Normally I'm not given to resolutions, at least not New Year's resolutions. I usually make one when I think of one, or I put it off until I'm really ready for it. You know how it is. :) But this year I decided to make it a big year for improvement. You'll notice that over on the side of my blog I have a 2009 Goal section now. This is where I'll maintain a "percent to completion" progress indicator for each of my 2009 Goals. What they amount to is a set of skills that I want to learn the basics of, as well as things I want to finish in 2009. Yes it's mid February, but I've already been at work researching and so forth, so I'm on my way! :) The list isn't complete. I'll probably add to it. But the starting ones are there. Let's take a quick tour shall we? 1. Basic Orienteering - I'd like to be able to find my way in the woods or anywhere for that matter without the aid of a GPS. In other words, I'd like to be able to navigate with a map and compass. I love the outdoors, and this, I think, would be one of the best ways to prevent the outdoors from killing me someday. :) 2. Merrick: First Draft - Merrick, as most of you may know, is the novel I've been working on. My goal is simply to finish the first draft of the book in 2009. I am one quarter, or perhaps a third of the way finished with this already and so I have the percentage set at 25 to begin. 3. Firearm Certification - I was reading a list of "Things I learned from action movies..." and one of them was that anyone can automatically pick up any weapon without training and use it with the ease of a practiced marksman. Well, my goal is to be able to pick up a handgun and actually know what I'm doing with it. Not that I want to carry one with me, but I think it might be handy to know something about it beyond which end to point at the target. So what I intend to do for this one is go down to the police department at some point, and enroll in a handgun certification course. 4. Basic Wilderness Survival - This kind of follows with the orienteering. I guess orienteering is a part of basic wilderness survival, but I decided to list them separately, just because the navigation is usable even when I'm not surviving in the wilderness. :) By basic wilderness survival I mean I want to have a good idea of how to conduct myself if lost in a hostile environment. I've done quite a bit of reading on the subject already. For example, I already know that the first priorities are shelter and water, followed by food, etc.. but to solidify things, I want to take some kind of basic training for this as well. I think what it'll ultimately take for me to achieve 100% in this one is to actually go out and survive for a night in the woods. (The upcoming Appalachian Trail hike doesn't exactly count, but it'll help the progress bar a good deal.) 5. Basic Japanese - I plan someday to go to Japan. Michelle and I are kind of Japanophiles. We like the food, we're fascinated by the culture, and we really like their horror movies. :) Anyway, I want to pick up enough Japanese to be able to travel there. There are a few audio courses that I'm looking into. At some point I'll pick one up and get started! 6. Basic Python - I have felt the need for some time to learn a programming language. Python by a lot of accounts is a good language to get into as a beginner. I already have my book for this one and I've started reading the introduction. I haven't gotten into really learning the language yet, but soon this one will be underway. Alright, I'll probably add more as the year goes on, and I'll certainly have some blogs along the way pertaining to specific goals and accomplishments. As it stands right now, It's starting to get pretty late, so I think I'll go and at least TRY to get to sleep. I'll keep you posted! Thanks for reading! :) -J