The Smashing 10s. Happy New Year and Decade

2010 and beyond, here i come.

I started last year and liked it. So i'm doing it again. Ladies and gents:

My 2010 to-do list.

• Network, network, network. i've realized that this is only way to move ahead in life. sadly, it's taken me almost 20 years since i started work to realize this
• Make, make, make. In 09, it was my first pc. i'll start small here and learn to solder first and maybe build a usb charger for the ipod. Instructions are all over the internets but goal is not so much for me but to kick start kids' interest of building things. There's a ton of stuff on instructables website. I will update this ist with projects as i go along.
• Run, run, run. Have to fix my knees first. As soon as that's fixed, i'll run harder. i went from running <2m>3M in a year. my goal is to hit 5M.
• Travel. This will be the year of travel for me -- for both business and pleasure (even in a non-sabbatical year)

As you can see, just 4 things. I decided i need just 3-4 things on my to-do lest it becomes too burdensome. i want to make it both challenging and attainable with hard work which this list is.

Wish me luck!

2009 Personal Scorecard

Here's what i wrote almost a year ago...and my score (green = successful, yellow = passing mark, red = fail)

New Year's To Do List

Take longer vacations. no one-day 'staycations'.
Push through with my Sabbatical.
Lifestream.
Shoot more with my DSLR.
Build my first PC.
Work even harder.
Expand my professional network.
Shut down. PC. everyday.

Not bad at all. I'll have to address the last two, networking being a top priority fo work goals this year -- no excuses.

with that, a Happy New Year greetings sent to the cloud!

Gee Thank You Very Much NFLX

you are now hovering at around $60. that's after I pulled the trigger at around $41 in March. if i waited, that would have doubled my profits. i suck at stocks.

Thanks NFLX

...it's been a good run. 15% CAGR over three years. not my best stock purchase of all time. Still, in light of the recent market downturn, that's pretty good.

alas, I had to execute a sell order today. the reason -- Blockbuster just announced that they would start streaming its videos through Tivo.

i think NFLX will survive this latest salvo. it's just going to be a lot more competitive for them. And i had been looking for a reason to sell. This was it.

100 Miles and counting

Well, well, well. I hit my 100 mile mark. after deciding to start running again over a year ago, i'm still taking baby steps and making gradual improvement in distance. i have no grand plans to run a marathon (should I?). i feel great just running over 2 miles 2-3 days a week. but my goal is to get to 3 miles and go from there. maybe increase frequency as well.
some a couple of key observations:

• i find that eating right does help.
  
• i run better later in the day. pressure release valve? thanks to Nike Plus as well. I'm all about graphs and metrics.
  

Nike provides instant gratification from that standpoint.

Credit Crisis Explained

http://www.crisisofcredit.com/

excellent explanation

San Diego

Business trip. No rental cars at normal rates (100 per day WTF). Took a cab. Enjoyed the no stress ride to the field sales office. Took a pic of

(what is it? Interesting architecture)

spent a day in meetings. took the edge off by hitting the hotel gym. now just hanging out in the hotel room.

Marriott always nice (4/5 stars!). waiting for Life and Lost (leaning towards latter). can't decide which one to watch. just to be sure, recording both shows at home. more meetings tomorrow. can't wait to go home.

good night!

Can I Just Say...

I hate Samsung Blackjack. and now there's a huge crack across the screen -- not Samsung's fault. It was in pocket and i hit the edge of the table. it shielded me from some pain, completely absorbing the hit. i suppose i should be thankful. good excuse to change phones.

Samsung the new Sony?

not going to CES this year with my company's very strict guidelines on travel. so i'm following things closely from afar, sans long cab lines. as always, HDTVs are headliners. saw this and getting more excited as TV and PC are slowly melding together. i would have expected SOny to lead the way in this space. but Samsung seems to be doing a fine job. I now spend more of my time on the internet. i love my laptop but long to do my internets surfing from 10 feet away. easier on my four eyes.

New Year's To Do List

1. Take longer vacations. no one-day 'staycations'. i'm going long this year starting with...
2. Push through with my Sabbatical. Time for a recharge. Eight to 9 weeks should be enough plus another 2 weeks for my remaining yearly vacation.
3. Lifestream. i promise to make use of available technologies to keep a log which means i'll need to...
   
4. Shoot more with my DSLR. which in turn means..
5. Build my first PC. and it will be a monster (by my humble standards). which means i'll need $$$s so i'll have to...
   
6. Work even harder. still have to pay the bills.
   
7. Expand my professional network. part of a non short term plan.
8. Shut down. PC. everyday. Good for PC, good for self. (added 2/11/09)
   
9. unfinished....

might as well publish this...i'll make this an organic list with multi-adds and edits. stay tuned...