Tag: newyears

New years resolutions 2014

Can’t remember what prompted me to start blogging my new years resolutions but its become a nice habit and I’ve always got friends to keep me on path.

So without further a do…

Following my review of last year, the year before that and the year before that one… here’s my New Years Resolutions for 2014 which follows on from my 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010. 2009, 2008 ones.

  1. Go to a new part of the world
    I’m going to Jamaica anyway, so although not so new there’s new experiences to be had. Nothing stopping me going elsewhere (except maybe money). I’ve already decided that by 2016 I will go to Tokyo. But I’m also wondering about the rest of pan Asia.
  2. Use my Task list more
    I did have in a previous resolution, document more and this is similar but more focused. When I actually write notes (even rough ones) and tasks everything seems to work out ok, but its when I don’t things get forgotten and before you know it, trouble. So I’m going to invest in a decent task writer which hopefully uses Google Tasks as its back end. I tried using Any.do which started out well but after a while the google sync became unreliable. Wonderlist was good but pointless when Ubuntu support was dropped. If Google tasks was a little more developed, it would be good for outlining. I do worry they will drop support in the end like Reader.
  3. Bake a bloody cake
    For year this has sat on the list but still hasn’t happened. Heck I even had suggestions from friends and family on what I should bake. I just need to set aside some time and do this
  4. Ride the bloody Smiler
    After missing the opportunity a few times, I’m dying to get on the ride for my Birthday. I’m actually stopping myself from putting up a G+ or FB event now for my Birthday. However I’m also keeping an eye on the new rollercoasters coming in 2014. A trip into Europe sounds like a good idea.
  5. Improve my circus skills
    I have completely forgotten about improving my circus skills, since the classes were miles away in Cholton. But now I got the scooter back, it should be easy enough to pop over to where ever for Circus skills class (although there might be a clash with Volleyball)
  6. Move away from GoDaddy
    I have been meaning to do this for a long while. However everytime I do, Godaddy have taken the money and I’m left thinking well I’ll sort it out next time. This time, I’ll do it in stages starting with my hosting then slowly move all the domain names over afterwards. The lovely guys at Melbourne Hosting and Bytemark Hosting have offered me deals but UKFast have also got in on the action. All have a base in Manchester by the way.I have already started crossing this out because, I already moved this blog to WPEngine over Christmas (thanks Ben). I’ll slowly move the rest (email and domain names) as time allows.
  7. Surround myself in higher thinking
    I’m already only following certain people on twitter because they say interesting things. This might seem very harsh on certain friends but frankly if some of that rubs off on me and aids others, then great. Its reminds me of my responsibility as a godfather.
    I’m not about to ditch friends, that would be stupid but rather try and elevate what I read and watch. For example, there is so much to take away from the brain jazz with Jason and Douglas. The internet is full of great talks like this and its a crying shame to be watching garbage.
  8. Scooter into another country
    Now this might be a little bit of a cheat but now I got the scooter back on the road, I think its time it went for a real long ride. This might be Europe in the Summer or simply Wales, Ireland (on the ferry) or Scotland. Either way, it needs to happen. I can easily throw my stuff in the back box and set off. My Honda Silverwing is made for long journeys and I’m sure would enjoy the open road during summer.
  9. Use social media to stay in touch with friends
    I’ve always generally used Facebook as a dumping ground but I’m starting to use it a little more to stay in touch with friends and family.  So all those Birthdays which I see in my calendar I’ll be writing something on peoples walls and streams. My aims is to  contact everyone once a year, even for a brief happy birthday which may lead to something a little more rounded.
  10. Pick up the family genealogy
    My family is massive, bigger that I even imagined. Sarah tried to map our family years ago and the map was a crazy affair, many many pages long. My mum has a printed copy which she keeps adding to, but its frankly full of corrections and changes. Seeing how my mum hasn’t switched to digital yet, I should take up this work.
  11. Live the life I choose
    Its become clear to me that career and life progression is going to be less that ordinary for me. I’m going to have to carve my own path through life and that means working in an adhoc style sometimes and being true to myself. I won’t lie, life is pretty good right now. Although it may seem like I should be working towards things, I’m always reminded of the Cluetrain rule #7 – Hyperlinks subvert hierarchy. As I believe in the hyper-connected world we’re moving into. My bets are against hierarchy and traditional. Maybe there is a word which sums this up?
  12. Sort out my love life and finish the book
    Although its the last one, its not so in my mind. I think I need to spend more time going out with new people and getting myself into even newer situations. I have already joined a number of meetup groups and with the scooter can go further a field.
    As most of you know I’m writing a book about my dating experiences. Its fictional and nothing like 50 shades of anything. Its meant to be released as a serialized ebook if I can sort out the US Tax issue with Amazon. I like the idea of self publishing the book in chapters which build up. The money I’m not so worried about.

New years resolutions 2013

Laura and Ian

Following my review of last year and the year before… here’s my New Years Resolutions for 2013

Worth pointing out its amazing I’m seeing in 2013 and with a lovely lady, who knows what might happen?

  1. Ask less for permission, beg more for forgiveness
    I tend not to do certain things because I’m unsure how it will be perceived but to be honest almost every-time I take some initiative and just do it, things work themselves out (in most cases). So I’m going to trust my gut more often and go with it.
  2. Think more from the heart and less from the head
    I can be very level headed in certain situations and I can be seen to hold back quite a lot (which is in conflict with my open style) But I’ve noticed there are moments and stages in life when you do need to just roll with them and not apply a level of analysis to them. I won’t say what things…
  3. Play more social games
    I’ve pretty much every year I say I’m going to play more and its not happened again… So this year I’m  going to play more social games like Werewolf. I’m setting up for once every month in the northern quarter with Larkin About starting Feb 6th.
  4. Drink only when they serve decent cocktails or wine I actually like
    Had it with crappy cocktails, so now I’ll switch to drinking Smirnoff ice or some simple mixer. Frankly I’m shelling out too much money on cocktails which are not worth the amount they are charging. Cocktails which pass my lips in 2013 will be decent ones worthy of my money. No more crap…
  5. Go to a new part of the world
    Got to I still want to go to Japan, Korea, China, etc but who knows if I’ll get there this year but in the meanwhile I’m going to go somewhere else in the world. Hopefully this might also fit with my long term aims to see the northern lights
  6. Do a budget
    Got my spending down but now’s a good time to do a budget and get stuff sorted. But at the same time I want to be able to spend less time organising and filing stuff. I’m actually angling to be clear of one of my credit cards by the end of the year.
  7. Bake a cake
    This is a follow on from last year. In 2013, I’ll bake a Banana loaf and maybe even a Victoria sponge. BBC R&D is in for a treat this year (or won’t know what hit them)
  8. Be fitter and heather
    Been consistently loosing weight at a slow pace but I do need to do more exercise. I’m hoping to find more of the things I like doing including volleyball in the next year. I’ve been consider a lot of what happens in the QS (quantified self) world and eying up the FitBit Ultra as it seems just open enough to do interesting things and work with my setup. My family got me enough Amazon credits to buy one which is great.
  9. Call out stereotyping, bullying and social engineering
    Last year I said “Don’t settle for mis-information and totally bogus arguments” which caused me to seem very argumentative which isn’t what I really wanted. I feel this is better focused on three aspects of communication. Stereotyping, bullying and social engineering. I found in the past, just indicating that you know what there trying to do is enough, so I’ll simply call it when I spot it.
  10. Wound up and trolled
    Its stupid and I do wish some people would grow up, but at the same time… I enjoy shuffling the trolls with some troll-baiting. However I’m going to do less to feed the the trolls (for what it helps). This doesn’t mean I won’t stop doing what I do and calling out stuff but expect less engagement with the trolls.
  11. Do a cocktail mixology course
    Its got to be done! Such great places near by and they all do mixology courses pretty cheaply if I get Laura and a few friends together.
  12. Roller Coasting
    I LOVE rollercoasters and although I do want to join a rollercoaster club again, I just don’t have the time. However I will go to Blackpool, Alton Towers and Thorpe Park this year… Maybe expect a Birthday weekend special?

I’m using Schemer to track most of my aspirations and new years resolutions, which I’m still liking and think is a great social network…

A review of last years resolutions 2012

Its that time again when I review what happened last year… Its what I do every year 2011, 2010 and 2009

  1. More public talks
    I quite like public talking although I personally think I’m not very good at it. I’ve forced myself to talk more in public and so I’m going to push my public talking more in 2012… Its starts with Ignite Leeds and a few others in the first half of 2012. More will come soon after.

Well I certainly did a heck loads more talks this year… I had the pleasure of talking about things close to my heart Perceptive Media and my own life changings in the story of me. Its been a great year for talks and I certainly don’t want to go beyond what I was doing this year. A talk a month is good more than this certainly is a handful and maybe too much?

  1. Keep my calendar more clear
    I find if I keep my calendar clear, adhoc things pop up and I quite enjoy this. So hopefully keeping it as empty as possible will help this happen. I’ve been known to use twitter a lot to arrange adhoc meetups and this year I’ll keep this going. This also fits with my idles about focusing more and removing the stuff which doesn’t matter so much, from my life.

Ok this didn’t go so well… I ended up filling my calendar with stuff which was great because I was able to keep a track of it all. I did however spend more time looking at Facebook, Eventbrite and Google plus Events which gave me a certain level of adhoc’ness to my routine.

  1. Play more
    Like previous years, I hope to play more games but unlike last few years I’m considering real life gaming like Werewolf, The thing, etc… I’m already playing Werewolf once every two months in the northern quarter with Larkin About. And the venue we have has bags of potential for other types of real life gaming experiences.

This didn’t go so well either… I did help arrange the Salford University and BBC Games event in November but frankly I’ve not turned on my Xbox 360 for almost a year. I keep meaning to put it up on ebay or sell it some other way but I would miss certain games. I did play Anger Birds a bit but generally most of gaming this year was done with Larkin About with social games. Werewolf was the order of the year and Epic Werewolf topped off some amazing games earlier in the year.

  1. Inspire through what I do
    I still love the simplistic of iamido.info. I feel there’s a lot more what I can do to inspire others through what I do. Hopefully some of this will come through what I do at work. Lots of friends say to me, why don’t you setup your own company? But to be honest I love my job and I feel like I’m in a bit of a startup environment within BBCR&D. This has its advantages and disadvantages, but either way hopefully it will show theres more to life than money. This also means even more oversharing or overlistening. But I’ve decided to pump more information into Google Plus (because of their Data Portability) instead of Facebook or Twitter. I think the circles are a good idea, and I think I could use them over another service like Path. Even considered documentating things like dates I go on just like 52 first dates.

I would say this was highly successful. Certainly people didn’t like my oversharing nature and sometimes it got me into some trouble but also its got people asking questions. My status as a bit of a rouge but also a team player seems to be strengthen by whats happened with Perceptive Media. Hope to repeat the success with the next thing I’ve seen and I think could be really interesting for the BBC. The connected studio program has had input from myself on different levels and I hope to be involved even deeper with some of the black swan projects we’re working on.

  1. Don’t settle for mis-information and totally bogus arguments
    Quite a few times I’ve been having a debate with someone and they throw in something which is totally bogus. I mention it but we carry on regardless, then later on it comes back but worst. The other person builds a argument off the back of this mis-information. I then have to build a argument to counteract this mis-information. No more! The debate isn’t going to carry on now.

Yes I’ve been doing this but because of this, I’ve come across as bit too argumentative. Even saying in my own head to leave it, doesnt really work. So maybe I just need to drop this one in future.

  1. Never shy away controversy / push social limits (including complaining myself)
    I understand social limits or boundaries but can’t help but push them. I don’t do it to be deliberately a pain to others but sometimes I use them as a transport towards something much more enlightening. In my blog post about VivID lounge, I faced a lot of angry people, but in the end I’m starting to see comments which confirm some of the points I was making. Its not about me, I’m just pushing the conciousness into the public where others can give a better reasoned argument. Someone needs to be the person who lights the match I guess, and thats me. I’m also adopting Senior Troublemaker as my title at work, which is very fitting. I’m sure my plans for #geekstalksexy will also cause some controversy. Lastly complaining is important (within reason) My ex-wife use to complain when something grated with her and you know, it always ended positively. So its time to shake off the British stiff upper lip…

Yes I did this a lot. Very fitting while I watch the film Compliance.

  1. Drink only when they serve decent cocktails or wine I actually like
    I’ve already stopped drinking stuff I think is so-so, by extension I’m generally only going to drink when I’m really up for it and looking forward to enjoying the taste. This means no more drinking cherry beer just because theres nothing else to drink, no more settling for crappy cocktails made out of packets.

This is one I’ve done a really bad job at keeping up. Theres been quite a few times when the bar I’ve been to isn’t great but I order a cocktail anyway because I’m not drinking wine.

  1. Improve my circus skills
    I still loving my Diabolo and when I was off sick I was going to Manchester University Circus Skills. But when I went back to work the timing (2-4pm on a Wednesday) was never going fit with work. Now there’s the circus house next to me, and I’m hoping to make full use of it. On top of that, when it gets warm in MediaCity again, I’ll be pushing for Circus Skills classes again at lunch times. Maybe there’s a way to combine the two? Or even move one of the after hour classes away from South Manchester to East Manchester?

Another missed goal, which was a shame. The plans just didn’t play out and the circushouse had to move when their contract ended. On top of that the summer was a wash out, so there was not much outdoor time with the diabolo.

  1. Buy more non-black shirts
    If you know me, I tend to wear a lot of black shirts. Hey I like them and I have many of them (maybe I should take a photo of my wardrobe just to prove it). However I’m not against other colour shirts (I wear Orange/Yellow/Green/Red Tshirts for example), but they do need to be short sleeves and not dodgy cheques like you see on a lumberjack. So time for different shirts and you know what? Maybe even different colour trousers now and then…

I did buy about 5 white shirts across the year and I’m getting use to wearing them and liking them. So thats a tick off…

  1. Be more careful with money
    I’m spending right now about 6 pounds on lunches bought at Booths at MediaCity (Booths is the Waitrose of the North) , this has got to stop. Not only that, I’m treating maybe too many people with free meals and drinks. Cool but I do need to limit the number per month.

Not bad on the Booths lunches, now spending about 3 pounds per lunch but the quality of the food isn’t as good I feel. However I’m spending too much on Cocktails and more to the point ones which were not the best.

  1. Bake a cake
    I don’t understand why but there seems to be something about engineers and baking cakes. I don’t personally get it, but the guys all bring in cakes every week for everyone else. I’ve not contributed to this and to be honest I can’t bake because I can’t help but mess with the recipe. Maybe its the creative side of me… or something. Anyway, sometime this year I’ll bake a cake and bring it in for BBC R&D, can’t pledge for its quality however

Ok this didn’t happen but I have got a recipe which seems pretty straight forward and its for Banana Bread. I’ll move this one over to the next year for sure

  1. Eat healthy
    Been consistently loosing weight at a slow pace, and to be honest my NHS dietation/nutritionist has been good. And we’ve identified the only time I eat bad is when I’m far enough away from decent quality food. So I’m going to avoid all the rubbish food places and stick to decent places (even if its at odds with number 10). I’ll also do more smaller shops, so I can pick up more fresh fruit and veg.

This did happen although very slowly… The general quality of the food i’m consuming is of a much better quality, I’m just eating a little much of it. The plan to move away from monthly shops didn’t happen, maybe next year would be a good idea to take up Tesco’s delivery saver.

New Years Resolutions 2012

Me in Manchester

Taken by Becky Davis in Cloud23

Following my review of last year… here’s my New Years Resolutions for 2012

  1. More public talks
    I quite like public talking although I personally think I’m not very good at it. I’ve forced myself to talk more in public and so I’m going to push my public talking more in 2012… Its starts with Ignite Leeds and a few others in the first half of 2012. More will come soon after.
  2. Keep my calendar more clear
    I find if I keep my calendar clear, adhoc things pop up and I quite enjoy this. So hopefully keeping it as empty as possible will help this happen. I’ve been known to use twitter a lot to arrange adhoc meetups and this year I’ll keep this going. This also fits with my idles about focusing more and removing the stuff which doesn’t matter so much, from my life.
  3. Play more
    Like previous years, I hope to play more games but unlike last few years I’m considering real life gaming like Werewolf, The thing, etc… I’m already playing Werewolf once every two months in the northern quarter with Larkin About. And the venue we have has bags of potential for other types of real life gaming experiences.
  4. Inspire through what I do
    I still love the simplistic of iamido.info. I feel there’s a lot more what I can do to inspire others through what I do. Hopefully some of this will come through what I do at work. Lots of friends say to me, why don’t you setup your own company? But to be honest I love my job and I feel like I’m in a bit of a startup environment within BBCR&D. This has its advantages and disadvantages, but either way hopefully it will show theres more to life than money. This also means even more oversharing or overlistening. But I’ve decided to pump more information into Google Plus (because of their Data Portability) instead of Facebook or Twitter. I think the circles are a good idea, and I think I could use them over another service like Path. Even considered documentating things like dates I go on just like 52 first dates.
  5. Don’t settle for mis-information and totally bogus arguments
    Quite a few times I’ve been having a debate with someone and they throw in something which is totally bogus. I mention it but we carry on regardless, then later on it comes back but worst. The other person builds a argument off the back of this mis-information. I then have to build a argument to counteract this mis-information. No more! The debate isn’t going to carry on now.
  6. Never shy away controversy / push social limits (including complaining myself)
    I understand social limits or boundaries but can’t help but push them. I don’t do it to be deliberately a pain to others but sometimes I use them as a transport towards something much more enlightening. In my blog post about VivID lounge, I faced a lot of angry people, but in the end I’m starting to see comments which confirm some of the points I was making. Its not about me, I’m just pushing the conciousness into the public where others can give a better reasoned argument. Someone needs to be the person who lights the match I guess, and thats me. I’m also adopting Senior Troublemaker as my title at work, which is very fitting. I’m sure my plans for #geekstalksexy will also cause some controversy. Lastly complaining is important (within reason) My ex-wife use to complain when something grated with her and you know, it always ended positively. So its time to shake off the British stiff upper lip…
  7. Drink only when they serve decent cocktails or wine I actually like
    I’ve already stopped drinking stuff I think is so-so, by extension I’m generally only going to drink when I’m really up for it and looking forward to enjoying the taste. This means no more drinking cherry beer just because theres nothing else to drink, no more settling for crappy cocktails made out of packets.
  8. Improve my circus skills
    I still loving my Diabolo and when I was off sick I was going to Manchester University Circus Skills. But when I went back to work the timing (2-4pm on a Wednesday) was never going fit with work. Now there’s the circus house next to me, and I’m hoping to make full use of it. On top of that, when it gets warm in MediaCity again, I’ll be pushing for Circus Skills classes again at lunch times. Maybe there’s a way to combine the two? Or even move one of the after hour classes away from South Manchester to East Manchester?
  9. Buy more non-black shirts
    If you know me, I tend to wear a lot of black shirts. Hey I like them and I have many of them (maybe I should take a photo of my wardrobe just to prove it). However I’m not against other colour shirts (I wear Orange/Yellow/Green/Red Tshirts for example), but they do need to be short sleeves and not dodgy cheques like you see on a lumberjack. So time for different shirts and you know what? Maybe even different colour trousers now and then…
  10. Be more careful with money
    I’m spending right now about 6 pounds on lunches bought at Booths at MediaCity (Booths is the Waitrose of the North) , this has got to stop. Not only that, I’m treating maybe too many people with free meals and drinks. Cool but I do need to limit the number per month.
  11. Bake a cake
    I don’t understand why but there seems to be something about engineers and baking cakes. I don’t personally get it, but the guys all bring in cakes every week for everyone else. I’ve not contributed to this and to be honest I can’t bake because I can’t help but mess with the recipe. Maybe its the creative side of me… or something. Anyway, sometime this year I’ll bake a cake and bring it in for BBC R&D, can’t pledge for its quality however
  12. Eat healthy
    Been consistently loosing weight at a slow pace, and to be honest my NHS dietation/nutritionist has been good. And we’ve identified the only time I eat bad is when I’m far enough away from decent quality food. So I’m going to avoid all the rubbish food places and stick to decent places (even if its at odds with number 10). I’ll also do more smaller shops, so I can pick up more fresh fruit and veg.

A review of last years resolutions 2011

Every year for the last few years I’ve been publicly posting my new years resolutions… 2011, 2010, 2009 and here’s a review of last years

  1. Ski on real snow
    Yes and this year I did it. Chill Factor in Manchester was where I skied on real snow for the very first time. So I can finally take this one off the list for good.
  2. Organise a Trance night in Manchester
    This (kinda) happened, I got together with Dirty Si and Composite and we did it in a small place called Arcadia on the Great Ancoats ring road. It lasted about 4 weeks but only shut down because the owners had a massive fight and we lost our venue in the aftermath. Shame as we were starting to build our night, Startup… Not to say its over, but I’m not pursuing it right now (for reasons below)
    Of course theres more mixes on mixcloud if you want tunes.
  3. Read more non-news stuff
    Ok so this hasn’t happen so much, still got many books I need to read on the Kindle but generally I’m reading less news stuff and more blogs and opinions. Also reading a lot of recommended stuff from people I follow on twitter.
  4. Live even more in the public
    This is all happening… I’m actually currently writing a presentation about this in the same vein as Jeff Jarvis. Over sharing or Over listening? Who knows, but I do know spilling my thoughts into the public domain is always going to cause conflict no matter how I think about it before hand. Perfect example is my thoughts about the late VivID Lounge, which still is getting comments, some negative and some positive. But they got people talking…
  5. Document more online (including films, books, photos, etc)
    Using Trakt to document all the films and tv shows I watch has worked out great….Specially when you look back across the whole year like this… Its much better than documenting them using Twitter or even Identica. Pushing things into Facebook has been interesting, specially when my friends commented “am I feeling alright?” when watching a lot like love. I keep meaning to add reviews there instead of Twitter but it hasn’t happened yet.
  6. Meet more young, progressive, single and central located people
    This is happening more and more, slowly slowly… Only real issue is they all seem to be gay (so no love action), but alas I conclude my gaydar is totally broken and I’ll just have to live with that now. Will have to work around this.
  7. Consider going out with woman who have kids
    Generally I’m more open to woman who have kids, but haven’t dated any yet. But I have spoken to a few in passing, so who knows what might happen next year…
  8. Get my finances in order
    I could have done better but to be honest, I’ve saved quite a bit money but I’ve also spent too much money on lunches and dinners out. A little look through my bank details shows a lot of transactions from the newly opened Booths in MediaCity, and Booths isn’t exactly cheap (its the Waitrose of the north for my friends down south).
  9. Work more on my healthy lifestyle
    Playing Volleyball, walking most places in Manchester and losing weight slowly but steadily. Its certainly going all in the right direction. I did sign up for the gym but they wanted a doctors note to cover there arses, which the doctor could not/would not give me. And to be honest, I think taking up another sport is more likely than the gym.
  10. Play much more
    This is one I’ve failed on for sure… Simon Lumb keeps saying, stop watching films and play instead, but I’m generally doing something else at the same time, so its continent. When Brendan was living with me for a while, we did play PES 2010 a bit but most of the time the Xbox 360 stays off. However, I’ve started pushing the Manchester Werewolf chapter again and the last one was very well attended and its great we got the venue deeply involved.
  11. Spend more time thinking deeper and focusing
    This year has been all about this. Less time keeping track of whats on everyones radar and more time focusing on things which matter to me. This could be seen as a social/media bubble but if it stops me trying to store lots of loosely related things in my head, then so be it. I’m very active about pushing away things which are not core to myself or what my goals/aims are.
  12. Take Geek Culture to new heights
    I’m pursing a few things which are related to this. There’s thoughts about whats next after BarCamp and Hackday? What would go into Geeks talk sexy series 2 and what other games can we play socially. I’ve done some ground work to work closer to Larkin About and who knows where it goes from here?

Next post has to be 2012 resolutions…

Achieving New Year’s Resolutions

Just discovered Derren Brown is blogging and twittering. One of the things he reblogged was a link to achieve your New Year’s Resolutions.

  1. Make only one resolution – Many people make the mistake of trying to achieve too much
  2. Plan ahead – Don’t wait until New Year’s Eve to think about your resolution
  3. Avoid previous resolutions – Deciding to re-visit a past resolution sets you up for frustration and disappointment
  4. Be specific – Think through exactly what you are going to do, where you are going to do it, and at what time
  5. Set S.M.A.R.T goals – Focus on creating goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time based (SMART).
  6. Carrot not stick – Focus on how much better life will be for you, and those around you, when you achieve your resolution
  7. Go public – Many people keep their New Year’s resolution to themselves.
  8. Be persistent – New habits take time to learn, and once in a while you will slip up and revert to the old you.
  9. Visualise – Visualise yourself doing whatever it takes to achieve you resolution as this will help you believe you can do it and see it through.
  10. Be positive – It is better to think about the good things that will flow from a healthier lifestyle than the bad things that will result from an unhealthy one.

So looking at these recommendations, I’ve pretty much failed on every point except number 7, a bit of 6, 9 and 10.

7. Go Public – Many people keep their New year’s resolution to themselves. Unfortunately, this makes it all too easy to simply forget about them. Instead, go public. For example, write down your resolution on a large sheet of paper, sign it, and place it somewhere prominent in your house. Tell your friends, family and colleagues about your resolution, and ask them to provide you with helpful nudges to assist you in achieving your goal. Either way, do not keep your resolution to yourself.

New Years Resolutions 2011

So after reviewing my 2010 resolutions its time for my 2011 resolutions

  1. Ski on real snow
    Yes every year I say this but seriously this coming year, I’m going to do it at that indoor snow place (Chill Factor) in the Trafford Centre.
  2. Organise a Trance night in Manchester
    Not only can I dj but i’ve found 2 djs from work and 2 other geek djs who are interested in djing out. Enough to surely put together my own night. Ok no one would get paid at the start but heck we’re all doing it for the fun of it.
    On top of that, I’m also hoping to get more involved with music and maybe do a few live broadcasts via the pacemaker. Either on my own station as such or else where. Of course you’ll certainly see more mixes on mixcloud.
  3. Read more non-news stuff
    Since I bought my ebook reader (the sony one) I’ve honestly read more that ever more. Even when I had my ipaq and use to take 3 hours to cross South London. But I seem to be reading lots of news and blogs rather that books. This isn’t necessarily bad but there are lots of books I would like to read. So now I got the Kindle, I’m hoping to slow down a little more and read more non-news.
  4. Live even more in the public
    I’ve come around to the fact that I’m a very public person and although there are certain things I won’t reveal to the public (isn’t a person able to keep a few secrets) I’m generally going to be more open and public that before. I know some of my friends will be saying heck no, please no more but I don’t really see a seriously bad side to all this. i’m already considering making my dating profile public, right now it links to my online persona in parts which might be why I’m getting the type of woman reply that I do.
  5. Document more online (including films, books, photos, etc)
    Luckily this should be much easier this time. I did microblog (twitter/identi.ca) every film using the hash tag #film but then I noticed Twitter was cutting off my entries past a certain date. Identica fairs much better going right back to Jan 09, but I only really post to identica when I’m at my laptop (really need to find a identica/statusnet client for android). Anyway, now I’m using Trakt, things should be easier. Although I got to say having my film collection online does raise lots of questions.
    On the photo front, the Nikon D40x (DSLR) is helping a lot, but I’ve still not picked up the courage to shoot people on the street like pebaline (susanna’s great work). I’ve also got first dibs on shooting our work area at Media City for Wovox. Of course Dataportability is still high in priority as always.
  6. Meet more young, progressive, single and central located people
    My boss (adrian) made the point a while ago when he took me to hospital with Tim (my ex-flat mate) I know lots of people from all over the world but I don’t know many people in Manchester or the North. I live in one of the party central locations of england and I should be out all the time but alas I don’t really have many people to go out with (yes cue the violins). So its time to change that and get to know more people. I say single but thats only because I already know lots of couples and its nice to go out with people with a similar status, be them male or female.
  7. Consider going out with woman who have kids
    I’m 32 this year and its becoming more and more difficult to meet women who don’t have kid(s). Although I’m not really bothered either way about single parent families, I’ve tried to only date women who have no kids to date. I spoke to my ex-wife (Sarah) and she gave me some advise (thats how we originally got talking online, she was giving me advice about a girlfriend I was having trouble with at the time) regards to meeting woman who have a kid. So I’m not going to rule it out like I was before.
  8. Get my finances in order
    Now I got a mortgage again, its time to be a little stricter about my spending. I earn quite a nice salary and heck I live in quite a reasonable place for going out. So I should be paying off more that I currently am. I was actually doing ok then I blew up my scooter engine and spent the good part of a grand buying a another one. I also think this might be the last motorbike regrettably
  9. Work more on my healthy lifestyle
    Although I had the bleed on my brain back in May/June, I’m certainly a lot more healthy that I ever was before. I had no idea I had high blood pressure and a lot of the small things were tied to that. So now I have that under control (thanks mum & dad for the blood pressure monitor for Christmas). I generally eat healthy but I do eat quite a bit. So hopefully little things like buying smaller woks will help aid with this.
  10. Play much more
    I have a feeling that play is going to be massive. Its going to be weaved into almost everything around us. I would go as far as to say play will be as big as social was in the late 2000’s. I say play because it doesn’t mean we’ll be playing more Xbox games, no the concepts and mechanics of gaming will make it into more and more things. So its time to get a lot more serious about my own playtime.
  11. Spend more time thinking deeper and focusing
    After the life/death experience I’ve had this year, I’ve done a number of things to improve myself but what still amazes me is our brains. Between hypnotherapy, mydreamscape and a few other things I’ve observed. I’ve come to realize that our brains are extremely powerful and even the idea of positive thought can do amazing things. My social worker (yeah they assigned one to me when I came out of hospital) said these type of life or death experiences makes you question your religious outlook. Although this hasn’t happen for me (although I am thankful to everyone who prayed for me) it has certainly made more interested in what can be done when you really focus hard.
  12. Take Geek Culture to new heights
    This is a bit of a aspirational one (not that there is nothing wrong with that), along side running a full barcamp at Media City UK and putting effort into the BarCamp WikiBook. I’ve been thinking, I’m really interested in what happened to the girl geekdinners, Sarah Blow and the other ladies worked very hard to make it the success that its has become. I feel there might be something with the geeks talk sexy series. We’ve only done one so far but there is something surprisingly compelling about geek culture right now and I think now the general public has the taste. So hopefully the rest of series will be even more successful and the chance to do run at the green room will really kick off something extra interesting.

New Year Resolutions 2010

Myself

So I’ve already done a review of 2009, so its time for my 2010 resolutions.

  1. Go skiing on real snow
    This is a carry over from 2009. I really need to just go do this, specially since there is a fake skiing place in Manchester’s Trafford Centre.
  2. Blog more
    Since Twitter, i’ve been blogging a lot less. This needs to stop as this is my base and twitter isn’t. Although I can aggregate with things like storytlr, i’m very interested the support for the twitter/open-microblogging api by wordpress/automatic.
  3. A better routine and live more healthy
    Goes without saying really but I’m already signed up to PureGym the 24hour Gym but need a doctors note saying I’m not going to die of a asthmatic attack if I use a running machine before I can go for the introduction. I’m also attempting to go to sleep before 2am every night and wake up at a decent time. I need to go to more comedy clubs too.
  4. Kick off Manchester werewolf night again
    We started playing werewolf in Manchester at the start of last year as a monthly thing in the BBC bar but moved it out to Space soon after as we got more people. I want to grow it a little and run a couple special one-off’s around events like FutureEverything and other conferences in the city. Actually the 1st one of the year will be Wednesday 3rd Feb if your interested.
  5. Find my perfect development stack
    I was meant to be learning Python but it just didn’t feel right for me. Apache Cocoon 2.1 is still my baby and I use it for all types of little bits and pieces but Cocoon 2.2 and 3.x are completely different. I could/maybe should learn how use them and the new Maven approach, Maven also seems to work well in Eclipse and Netbeans (didn’t I mention I like Netbeans).
    I like the idea of XQuery specially because it does most of the things I want to do in my web applications. Add in Exist DB the open source xml database and I got a complete backend stack. I’m also still liking the idea behind ZK to ease with the front end, although I know everyone is loving a javascript library over a complete framework. Lastly I’m looking more and more into XProc but I don’t feel this will help with my development stack.
  6. Playout live more
    I’m going out clubbing more which is great but I’m feeling the need to playout/dj out loud. There’s not many trance clubs in Manchester and I’ve already tried to join the Rong Trance night via a competition. So heck why not setup my own night? Well it looks like I found a venue (TV21 in the Trendy Northern Quarter) and a couple other djs who also want to play out live. So who knows…
  7. Use even more graphics
    Inkscape, napkin sketches, raytracing are all working for me. Now I’m sketching on my ebook reader in some meetings so I just need better ways to integrate them into my presentations and work.
  8. Upgrade sooner if it makes a noticeable difference
    Sometimes I wait too long to upgrade software and hardware. For example I waited till my old battery only holds 12% charge before getting a new one. This is fine but having to go to meetings next door with a power adapter is a pain. I should have bought a new battery ages ago. I also waited too long to upgrade to Gwibber 2.0 for sure. This also extends to other stuff for example I just bought some new trainers after 3+ years of wearing the last one to near collapse. All this stuff is worth just buying earlier to avoid all the stresses which go into keeping the previous generation alive. Talking of which I really should upgrade my camera to a DSLR soon.
  9. Be involved in a regular podcast
    I started one with a few friends but we never really got it off the ground due to our pretty hectic lifestyles. However now I know I can do skype over my Orange HSDPA connection and it still sounds great, I should be able to do it from anywhere I am. So its just a matter of being committed really.
  10. Buy a flat in Central Manchester
    People have been wondering what happened with this. Well it was all happening then the mortgage deposits when from 10% to 20% across all lenders, which ruled me out of buying a 2 bedroom place. However this year I’m confident that I’ll be on the property ladder again. Although I’m thinking maybe I should consider one bedroom places too.
  11. Avoid all online services which don’t perform to my acceptable levels of data portability
    Its 2010, theres no need for closed systems which don’t talk to anything else. No OpenID or OAuth? You won’t see me signing up in the future. Can’t get my data out on to my own site via some API? forget about it, I’m not even going to venture near it.
  12. Play more games
    I love games but never play enough of them. There’s a whole selection of great games which I’ve not played which I think I’m missing out on. For example I bought Portal the other day for a day when I’m sick and need to stay in. Theres some amazingly inspiring games out there which must be played.

My New Year Resolutions

Happy New Year everyone…So in the usual vein, I'm going to blog my new years resolutions. I don't usually care or do these but I think the process of blogging them will maybe help because you guys might help me stay on track. I'm all about getting things done…

Finally go to Tokyo
I've talked about it for years and seriously know I will just explode when I get there. But have never got anywhere close. If I can go via Hong Kong then even better. So how is this going to happen? Well I'm looking for a site (besides Travelocity) where you can set a specific price on tickets and it will alert you when that price is close no matter which route or time of the year. RSS would be great too.

Not to do another BarCampLondon unless the BBC is the venue
So at BarCampLondon3 I decided I wouldn't want to do another BarCampLondon because people are starting to expect me to do it and thats not fair on others. Also BarCamps are poping up all over the place now (leeds, brighton, cork, etc) so this is a good time to say thanks to everyone who's kick started BarCamps in the UK but now its time for others to take it forward in their own vision.

Work on something very different but cutting edge this year
This is already happening. I think it wouldn't be a secret to say I could be working on an Alternative reality game (ARG). My feeling is that Play is when we are most open to learn and I think ARGs can be used to educate without the usual guff you get about educational games. So look out for that because I think the small team which have formed could pull off something very special.

Dataportability
I'm going to spend more time on this subject next year. Its a worthwhile cause and I think the link between all the trends like open data, the data web, authentication (like openid and oauth), etc is data portability. Giving people not only access to the data but also to move their data around. This was also part of my flow/pipelines concept anyway but much more tangable. I'm also looking to pimp this at a few conferences in the near future.

Small Routines
So I'm going to build up a few routines including reading my rss at regular times and going to certain events and not others. My Blogging has finally picked up which is good but I do need to keep it up. Theres also a bunch of other stuff I'm going to do including visiting friends and family regularlly.

Play a team sport
I've tried many thing to keep fit but what works best for me is playing in a team sport I enjoy. So something like joining Basketball, Volleyball and Handball team would be great. I've been looking around and there seems to be some new teams starting up in Jan.

Geekdinners and Geekvenues
So as you may have all noticed geekdinner.co.uk is down at the moment. I'm going to try and get to the bottom of this really soon but till then I'm going to move the geekdinners blog to my own server. The plan for the future of geekdinners was like the girl geekdinners to make it a charity or non-profit but this has been put off for a while because I need more help on geekdinners. Plus maybe its time to get a little more regular? I've not added enough to geek venues, and I do plan to add a lot more soon.

Start learning Python
So Python seems to be everywhere. From the xbox media centre scripts to conduit provider scripts. This seems like a useful programming language to learn or at least understand enough to hack around with. I'm also liking the idea of python with xslt using something like uche's 4suite.

Use the technologies around me better
I've been making do with some services, but actually I've been compromising with the limits attached to the free account. If I just pay the small fee, it will much more useful and effective. So for example paying for Plaxo means I can now sync between linked-in, plaxo and my windows mobile phone. On top of the syncing between Plaxo, Google Calendar, Outlook and Sunbird.

Go to more comedy clubs
I love comedy and I don't go to enough comedy clubs. So its a no brainer right?

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