2012

2012 is nearly upon us and I find myself wondering what new years resolutions I might settle on. I tend to do things with vigor- basically totally OCD- or...not at all. I'm quite binary like that, I suppose. It's all or nothing and I know real quick if its not gonna light my fire for more than a moment. Here are a few things that do:

Billiards - I've loved the game in different ways for more than 20 years now. As a kid, I just loved to play. I had no understanding of fundamentals or theory-- nada- I just played and had fun. As an adult, I still love the game and have been playing regularly for years but am now on the verge of competing more, at higher levels and with a new focus.

IT - After an 18 year career in Information Technology and many, many interesting and challenging roles, I cannot imagine a career in any other space. I have seen the industry evolve so much in such a short amount of time that I truly believe there is no more potent skill-set than a combination of technology expertise and a deep knowledge of the business you are supporting.

Education- I am largely self-taught and consider myself a lifelong student. I've even spent 10 years on the other side of the classroom, too. From 2000 until my recent hiatus, I was adjunct faculty at Portland Community College where I taught technology courses such as the Microsoft MCSE tracks and the CompTIA A+ and Network+ certification tracks. I am always learning and always in the pursuit of knowledge.

Marriage- My marriage is the most important part of my life and Matt is the most important person in my life. To me, marriage is the backbone of all the other things I do and love and provides a lot of the courage and inspiration that drives me forward. Life is busy, work is busy, the weeks fly by and turn into years and sometimes your marriage wears the battle scars of all of these seemingly ancillary things. It is my goal to have the best marriage I can and to be the best wife and human I can be. It is always a work- and important work- in progress.

Healthy living- The underpinning of all of the above is mental, physical and emotional well being. I try to find this balance through exercise, healthy foods & home cooked meals and mentally enjoyable things such as: billiards, gardening, long walks, music and funny movies or books.

I will be ruminating on these topics and hopefully settling on some meaningful personal goals for 2012. Thoughts so far include:

• What do I want to achieve personally professionally?
• What are the stress points or negatives in my life that I need to reduce?
• As a woman in her mid-thirties, what are my health goals? Should I be losing weight (my BMI is in the high range), getting more or less exercise (is 45 minutes of cardio 5 times a week what I need?), drinking less, or eating less (or different kinds of) meat?
• What kinds of ways can I volunteer and help my community? One of the areas I am exploring is conducting free technology and business classes for men and women in the local area Portland shelters. Years ago, I did work for the homeless "transition projects" and that was when the idea first sparked: surely I could do more than just serve food...

More to come-- perhaps my next post will be on Jan 1, 2012 where I'll unveil my 2012 Aspirations.