Reflections on 2011

Well, it’s time again for my yearly post that looks back on the previous year and my resolutions to see how I’ve done.  Well for the resolutions, I flat out sucked to be quite honest.  I didn’t get more fit, and rather gained back some weight.  I spent more time traveling and working and a little less with my family.  In fact, I think we were all over-scheduled a bit.  As for photography, I didn’t really do anything artistic, but did get a lot better at taking photos of sporting events thanks to my daughter’s gymnastics.

About the only thing I did accomplish from my list was to enjoy what I have and decrease spending.  Even with that, there never seemed to be a surplus of money.  Seems we always just get by.

Now if you read the above, you might think I had a crummy year, but the opposite is true.  It was actually quite good, and here are some reasons why:

• We accomplished a ton at work this year.  We opened a new office, moved three others, updated systems, launched a killer XPages application, increased network capacity and much more.  In fact, it’s been IT’s most productive year I can remember.  I owe all of that to the awesome team of individuals I have working with me.
• My youngest had a great gymnastics season, and her and her team ended up winning first place at Nationals.  She was ranked 6th overall in the nation for her age group.  It was pretty amazing.
• Nationals was at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports at Disney in Orlando.  So in the spring, we made the trip and enjoyed a vacation as well.  That didn’t help the whole “spending” thing though.
• My eldest started dancing at two new places (one a competitive team and the other for technique classes) and she really enjoys it.  In addition she’s found a few new really close friends out of the deal, and that’s pretty cool.
• The man cave really came into it’s own.  It got lots of use as I was able to have friends over for poker or sports or just to hang out.  The ability to do that this year was really nice and helped keep me level headed.
•  The Zen attitude really helped this year.  My whole “let go” motif has really served me well.  Now it doesn’t always work, I am human after all, but for the most part I’ve been able to not be bothered by things I cannot change. I’ve also been pretty good at the separation of work and home life, and that has made things better for the family.
• Most recently, I was picked to speak twice at Lotusphere in 2012.  It’s quite the honor and I look forward it it in January.

So the year itself was pretty great overall.  Myself and my family were happy, healthy and busy, which is much better than the alternatives.  Here’s to an even better 2012.