New 2008 Goal #5: Get better at foosball

I really got shamed in the annual tournament this week and need to bring my game up a notch – goal is a top 8 finish next year.

#6: Stay involved with the .NET User Group

This has been a really great resource for developers in West Michigan, and for me personally, so I want to keep attending and presenting whenever possible.  We’ll work to make the Day of .NET conference even nicer/bigger this year.

#7: Stay debt-free

(other than the house) Keep the credit cards paid off, keep saving, and be smart with what we have.  It’d be really easy to do something stupid here so I’m putting it out there.  I’ll add to this that I need to think more about what we can do for our kids future education – this is one of the last loose ends in this equation.  It is true having the house paid off by the time they could choose college would really help here, but I still want to plan it out better on paper. 

#8: Use WPF and/or Silverlight on a production project

It was/is great to learn a bunch of nice new technology, but I’d really like to put it to positive use.  This will enable some great applications and add some real-world experience to the more academic learning.

#9: Detail what a trip to Scotland might look like

We’ve been talking/dreaming about going on out of the country on a longer plane ride, and I’d really like to go to Scotland again.  Practicality aside, it’d be nice to detail out what a trip like this could be.  Assume we have 10-14 days – what would we do?

#10: Don’t take on anything I can’t commit to 100%

This really is more of a meta-goal than a goal (i.e. a goal for goals if that makes sense).  I have tended to take on too many things at once in my recent past – all well-meaning of course, but if you take too many things on then you don’t end up focusing well on any one of them and leave none of them well-done in the end.  In reviewing the other 9 goals I think all of them are attainable in 2008 (except maybe #5 (foosball)) but I think it is a good time to stop and start crafting a plan to make it happen.