Year in Review

So, with all that has happened this year, its probably appropriate that during the break I make some entries to record what has happend. :) I really need to find a way to record events as they happen, since right now I'm only remembering the year as a really long blur of events.

Work:
Work has been going very well. I'm a project manager at Boeing, as many know, in IT, and its great work. Web stuff...agile....web 2.0. Good stuff. I feel that i'm adding a lot of value and that I would be difficult to replace, which is a nice feeling. I'm considering an MBA, which would I think increase my value. Paid overtime, some good people, great benes...its nice. The corporate slowness though seems to irritate me. I wish they could be faster. I worry sometimes about my employer's future, or at least IT's future, if we don't get faster.

Family:
2007 is the first full year we spend in our new house. Its a very special home, with wood everywhere. Summer was fine...not too many kids. Life seems so busy now...swimming lessons, homeschooling, everything is up and running and we're not sure where any of it is going, but we're taking the steps we think are best.

B1's, ShortStuff, art is advancing at a good clip. She's got a terrific teacher here who is guiding her well. I'm admitedly confused about how hard to pressure her. Is art like piano and math and other things that you press and press to really distinguish yourself? I think so....so I press. With the world is flat sort of thing, we need to have our little girl well adhead when the time comes for competition. I'll take the action to get her into some competitions this year, and expand her influences, try to work out some sort of career path....at 11 its a bit early...or is it?

B2's, TopGun, doing great...he's got some terrific wits about him. He's smart, logical, with a wonderfully excessive personality. He pushes you...right to the edge. He'll challenge you. He's monster into football. And I can no longer consistently defeat him at Madden...and he's 8. Yikes.

R, Beethoven, is the cutest thing in the world. I mean, funny affectionate, friendly, sensitive, listens to us....he's gold. He's 100% potty trained, before 3. We went to the Messaiah today and he loved it....as we all did. Prior to that we took them to the Nutcracker. My oh my, he never wanted to stop listening to the Transiberian version of that song. Then we went and did our "family shop" were we buy for each other. Went to the to Northgate. It was terrific.

My NY family is doing well. We still all miss eachother very much. Talk of them flyin' out here next year. That'd be really nice. That crazy thing with my sisters kid almost drowning...I mean yikes. I'm sure I'd be a basket case if that happened to mine. I may have had a heart attack and dropped dead right there.




Finances:
A constant worry with me, I worry that we've got too little saved at my age, etc. We'll try to reduce spending next year, keep a good ground game, and take a few passes deep. I'm going work on not worrying so much about this. If I enjoy my job, and prepare for it, I won't really want to retire anyway, just work less. So really, according to microtrends, I should be thinking more about family now, while they're young, and worry about work into the later years. This also could allieveitate the social secuirty crunch that's been hanging over our heads.

Creative:
I'm still writing a book...this time I think its a good one. Of course I'm sure the idea is taken, but I want to tell it and even with the same elements I'm sure mine will be different from others. I don't have the process down to write, but the story keeps playing and advancing inside my head in my subconsious. Ideas formulate, and I write them down. There is a creative thing coming up in April....i think Ill go.

With a potential for an MBA thing next year and if I work on this bbook of mine, plus my crazy job, I'm thinking I'm probably going write even less next year.

Yikes!

-- Joe