Plans on A Geek's Life

44: Legacy

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 12:28:00 +0000

The year of being 43 was meant to be the Year of Disciplined Execution, drawing from the Sean Covey book, namely : focus on the wildly important, act on the lead measures, keep a compelling scorecard and create a cadence of accountability. Looking back it is fair to say delivery on this was middling at best, with both high and low lights, summarised below:

Highlights

Daily Bible App story helped me maintain a semblance of devotional life
Highest ever plant performance ranking at work in several categories, increased recognition at the plant of my M&C skills with several key solutions delivered
Good earnings supplemented by decent performance in the stock markets
Greater clarity around the next type of role for me: stay in Upstream M&C Corrosion Management, not necessarily projects etc
Offered roles at bp and Shell after rigorous interviews, great boost to the morale that I can still mix it with the good guys
Bonding with L, despite the distance and intermittent visits from me

Lowlights

Weight stayed high, didn’t manage to bring it down to the low 90s as anticipated
Health was middling, a number of developing issues to keep a eye on as I transition into my late forties
Beginning to feel like I am in a rut at my current job
Didn’t blog/ write as much as I would have wanted

44: Legacy

For the next run around the sun, the word which has bubbled to the fore of my mind is Legacy. It is one which has guided the core of my activities and decisions over the past few years albeit without being explicitly expressed. In a sense, it is a continuation of the Year of Disciplined Execution, as Legacy and its underpinnings should drive the definition of what is wildly important which is then executed in a disciplined manner. Legacy is also inextricably linked to the three interaction clusters of my life plan, personal, professional and public. Of particular importance for me in this context then is being healthy in every dimension of my life whilst adding value in each of those three clusters.

The 2019 Actions

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 07:24:38 +0000

List of running actions and habits for 2019 for tracking, derived from The Year of Living Intentionally:

Read The Hero With A Thousand Face
Utilise the hero’s journey in updating my Life Plan
Identify my band of friends and brothers and engage them individually once a month
Identify devotional to use for 2019 (should involve reading 10 or less verses):YouVersion selected
Track performance vs KPIs (various), report monthly, quarterly and annual
Find web filter app for Linux and install
Remove phone and laptop from bedroom
Run >=25km a week
Practice intermittent fasting
Eat <100g of carbs per day
Exercise daily (run or fitness blender)
Limit coffee intake to one cup per day (morning)
Explore options/ procure a blood pressure monitoring wearable
Save >= 10% of net earnings (less GAYE)
Restrict spend to <110% of budget
Clarify medium/long term work plans (data science, corrosion/materials/welding/inspection) and location
Update M&C roadmap, include gap analysis and closure plans (vs XoM competencies)
Complete Data science Data Scientist track course, decide on Udacity Nanodegree
Join a Data science for good meetup/ hackathon
Identify/ complete a creative non fiction writing/ blogging course
Learn to use kdenlive or other editing suite, also inkscape?
Build list of books to read/ themes for 2019
Read a chapter of a book per day
Write compassion kid once a quarter
Identify/ complete assertiveness training/ coaching
Find a mentor for work and personal life
Call siblings / in-laws once a month, call Dad weekly
Meet up with one of Rotimi, Deji A and Deji Ajayi once a month
build stock picking tool (strategy and triggers)
Identify app for tracking daily/weekly actions completed vs planned
Determine my target macros (fat, protein, carbs) and total calories

31 Days of Journaling, Day 28: Tools of The Manly Life

Wed, 28 Nov 2018 18:39:38 +0000

Day 28 of the Art of Manliness 31 Days of Journaling Challenge is to gather my tools for a better life. Here goes:

A Mentor: One of the clear gaps I have identified from the past year has been a tendency to isolate myself from people, both at work and in my personal life, one of the impacts of which has been a lack of oversight of my decisions. Mentors, in both my personal and professional lives, are a priority for me over the next year. Two people, EM and CG, come to mind as options for both domains. Engaging them with a view to seeing if this is something they’d like to help me out with is something I have added to my list of things to explore and conclude over the next year.
A Mastermind Group: The AoM folks boil down a Mastermind group into a collection of similar irons which sharpen each other. Through my interactions with my friends in the corrosion business, I’d like to think the intent of this tool is being met already. Carefully selecting a mentor with corrosion expertise who also help provide coverage of this need, I believe.
A Pocket notebook: My evolving journaling practice is loosely aligned to Austin Kleon’s (which is in turn inspired by David Sedaris’s).
Discipline: All of the above require me to get off my backside and develop/ implement a number of habits consistently. Discipline is what will ensure I keep at these till they deliver value in my life. Enough self.

31 Days of Journaling, Day 8: On Work, A Timeline

Thu, 08 Nov 2018 21:08:18 +0000

For Day 8 of the AoM 31 Day Journaling Challenge: Reflect on Your Career.

–

Work for me has focused on materials, particularly ferrous ones, and how they perform in a variety of oil and gas environments, on two continents; Africa of my birth and Europe where I have spent the last few years. My journey began in December of 2003 with being hired straight out of University in 2003 as a trainee engineer through progressing via a number of roles in various aspects of the corrosion and materials discipline and eventually leaving in October of 2008, thanks to a mixture of burn out and the opportunity to return to the university for graduate studies. Since graduating in July of 2009, I’ve gotten back into the Corrosion & Materials field first with a service provider and latterly with an oil & gas production company where I am Corrosion & Materials Technical Authority.

Begin Again

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 01:22:16 +0000

It feels as good a time as any to begin to think about beginning again, what with it being the start of the second half of the year (and there being no scientific basis for determining that this point on the earth’s arc around the sun is any more an origin than say 10.53 am on April the 16th). That it is bang in the middle of a particularly emotive season - bookended by H’s birthday and mine, with her passing and her interment looming large over that six week period - also adds to that sense of an ending, and a need to draw a line in the sand and begin again.

2018: The Goals

Tue, 02 Jan 2018 11:54:00 +0000

It felt like I coasted through 2017 in many spheres of life with the main (only?) thing of significance that occurred being getting married to S in October. I’d like 2018 to be a vastly different one, filled with energy and intention and delivery. The seven focus areas in my life plan apply, with a few (Spiritual, Physical & Health, Financial and Personal Development) being focus areas.

A successful 2018 for me is one in which I:

01. On Resolutions

Mon, 02 Jan 2017 07:48:04 +0000

Image Source

As has been the case with every year since I can remember, I rang the new year in at church, taking the opportunity to reflect on 2016 and my plans for 2017 as the year turned.

As part of preparing for that, I took time out to reflect on where I was on achieving the wider goals that underpin the seven focus areas I have identified as part of my Life Plan. It is fair to say that it makes for gory reading, the details of which I’ll have to spare you. The cliff notes version is that, like everyone else, there are a few areas where I am pretty much where I want to be (Causes & Charity, Work & Career), a few where I have put in a decent shift (Financial, Physical & Health, People and Social) and a couple where I’ve gone backwards since the end of 2015 (Spiritual, Personal & Mental Development).

2017 - The Objectives

Sun, 01 Jan 2017 08:04:53 +0000

The following are what I consider my main focus areas and objectives for 2017, derived from the Life Plan. A number of these are long running things I have failed to resolve over the years. Here’s hoping 2017 is a much better year.

The Life Goals Restated for visibility: 1. Be the best husband, father, brother, son and friend that I can be 2. Excel in the Corrosion, Materials and Asset Integrity Engineering Discipline 3. Live in, and contribute to life in, a great church and a great city

A Question of Gaps

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 04:42:33 +0000

I am big on putting together grand plans, ones which go to a great level of details to spell out the things I want to do and achieve. Where things have fallen down over the past few years has been in the application; the hard, long slog that is the doing needed to bring the plans to fruition. It would appear that in this regard I am like most people, particularly as this relates to New Year’s resolutions. This gap - this disconnect between what I want to do and what actually happens - is most obvious in the area of my spiritual practice. As an example, getting to a place where a daily time of prayer and bible study is embedded in my daily routine is one of the key things I have wished for over the course of the last few years. This has tended to be more a source of frustration than inspiration in my case, especially as these failings drive a sense of cognitive dissonance.

Times, Seasons and A Hundred Juggled Things..

Fri, 01 Apr 2016 13:38:54 +0000

It feels like a trick of time, a sleight of hand drawn from the very top tier of a Houdini play book, but the facts – borne out by the calendar I have open in front of me, and the worn pages in the notebook I bought a couple of months ago - tell a different story; a record, as stark as it is of just how much time has passed in 2016 already.

2015 Goals

Thu, 01 Jan 2015 16:59:19 +0000

Three main achievements will make 2015 a ‘perfect’ year, to all intents and purposes, viz:

Spiritual growth as evidenced by a regular routine of bible study and prayer
A new Technical M&C role at an oil and gas operator
Getting married

The wider goals and targets I’m looking to achieve for the year though, aligned with my personal SWOT analysis and the refocused Life Plan are:

Spiritual
- Achieve 80% Daily Bible Reading and Prayer - explore the Lectio Divina process
- Average 6 (of 8) church days per month
- Attend FOL Morning Prayers twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) – 80% target
Physical and Health
- Get fitter – YE target is 15% body fat, weight under 80kg
- Get blood pressure below 140/90 consistently (explore potassium replacement/ supplements as a quantified self project)
- Average 6 hours of sleep/day >80% of the time
- Use the gym 3 times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) – target 80%
- Track sodium and attempt to bring within recommended limits
Social and People:
- Track B contact time (Target > 1 hour per day); track completions in Habit List
- Host a hangout for my 2015 birthday (Aberdeen)
- Drag my London Blogger peeps today for a meal over summer 2015 (CaramelD, Simeon, NoLimit, ToniAnni, Aloted, MizKeji)
- Maintain weekly phone calls home to Dad
Career & Work
- Become staff M&C Engineer at an O&G Operator;
- Attend monthly industry working group meetings – target 80% of months with a meeting (one of ICorr, IMarEST or AFBE) – track in Habit List
- Deliver Work Projects
  - TI Anomaly Risk Review
  - TI Vibration Fatigue Strategy and Implementation
  - ECE Project
  - Procedure Updates - Integrity Risk Screening (PoF Guidance, DAF Risk Assessment)
  - MU Integrity Management - Inspections and Topside Pressure System Integrity
Financial:
- Save 30% of net earnings,
- Reduce total spend; 2015 YE target of £35k
- Grow net worth by 50% (total - investments + savings + pension growth,+ assets, etc)
- Rebalance net worth and elements; buy a house, build ISA back up to 10k, invest excess in index funds
Mental and Personal Development:
- Deliver on a 25 book reading plan (Aim to cover Christian Classics, Literary Classics, Popular Fiction, Current Christian & Non-fiction with 5 each per category)
- Blog here at archive.rustgeek.me at least once a week (Plan is to post something >500 words every Tuesday)
- Learn to write VBA for Excel and Macros
- Learn to play a musical instrument - need to decide between the acoustic guitar and the saxophone, target is to present something at eXpressions 2015)
- Attend Structural Integrity course at Imperial College
Causes & Charity:
- Catch up on my first fruit offering from pay rise in Q1 2013 (as a one time gift if possible at the end of February)
- Write to Moises and RosieMarie twice each during the year
General, Projects and Bucket List Items
- Complete a modified Whole30 or Ketogenic Diet for an entire month
- Walk or run 5 miles daily for a month
- Read 5 Booker Prize Winners (Bucket List)
- Attend the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
- Watch the Ball drop in New York’s Time Square

The 90 Day Weight Loss Challenge

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 17:55:36 +0000

Baselines

Weight - 87kg, 26.1% body fat (Tanita Body Composition Monitor)
Waist - 88cm,
Hips - 108cm,

The Plan

Exercise every day - Run (Gym or outdoors) on alternate days, body strength straining at home on other days; utilise the fitnut plan from work.
Eat well - Resetting the diet to same time last year - no grains, rice or gluten containing food; meat, nuts and vegetables primarily

Day 18 - Find Your N.U.T.s

Wed, 18 Jun 2014 19:32:45 +0000

Day 18 of the Better Man in 30 days challenge - Find Your N.U.T.s

---

Your Non-negotiable, Unalterable Terms that is. For me these are inextricably linked to the Core Values from Day 1- Faith, Family, Continuous Improvement, Mentoring and Health. Soooo, here goes:order:

Living out a real world faith - continuously seeking ways to translate the undergirding principles of love and consideration for others, and social justice - will be the single most important thing that will guide my relationships with others;
I will honour my daily spiritual practice and journaling;
My family, and adequately fulfilling the various roles I play in it - Son,Brother, (future) Husband and Father - will always take precedence over other considerations;
I will schedule regular (monthly at least) time to go through plan-do-review cycles for each of my core connections and the roles I play in them - friends and family, professional and within the wider civil/social context;
I will take care of my body - eating well and exercising.

The End of the Beginning

Fri, 28 Feb 2014 20:36:47 +0000

When I first came here, it was not love at first sight. There was no instant click, no immediate sense of belonging; only a sense of tentativeness.The call that set it all off had come out of the blue one Tuesday afternoon, from a Manager I didn’t work for directly. My first response was to email the guy I actually did work for - he took a day and a half to get back to me - by which time the moving train had gathered speed. After less than three months back at the mother lode, following a six month stint sequestered in a client office, I was on the move again.

The life plan...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 19:56:39 +0000

Distilled into three main components:

Be the best husband, father, brother, son and friend I can be;
Excel in (Corrosion, Materials and Welding) Engineering;
Live in, and contribute to life in, a great church and a great city.

Not quite as simple as it sounds, but tiny first steps are all that count, no?

2013 - The Plan

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 19:39:33 +0000

Develop a daily practice of meditation, prayer and journaling
- Complete 40 consecutive days of prayer
- Make morning prayer meetings @ FOL three times a week (M, W, F)
Weigh 80kg
- Gym thrice a week (M,W, S)
- Improve eating habits - cut down on eba, soup and rice
- Use myfitnesspal.com as food journal
Save 30% of Net earnings
- Min of £1k per month
- Target 12k extra saved this year
Improve Professionally, get Chartered engineer status
- Receive feedback on IMarEST CEng application
- ASME Level 2 Plant Inspector/ NACE Snr Corrosion Technologist certification
- Register for a PhD in corrosion, materials and or welding (Newcastle/ Manchester/Cranfield)
Get a driver’s license:
- Pass theory test,
- Get a driving teacher on retainer
- Get 20 hours practice in
- Get full driver’s license
Resolve long term settlement options
- Base plan - Remain in Aberdeen + progress professional development opportunities(see #4 above)
- Only seek to leave Aberdeen if US/ Canada/Australia opportunities open up
Resolve my dating conundrums; target being in a stable committed relationship by YE 2013:
- Clear all people I’m currently stuck in the friend zone with, gain clarity (Mo, Fola, Ese etc
- Gain knowledge about Dating and Relationships the Godly way;
- Prayerfully pursue the woman God has prepared.
Find a spiritual mentor
Take 2 main trips
- Nigeria
- US (Depending on where I am with Project M by Q3 2013)
  - Oklahoma ?
  - Houston
- Spain or Portugal
Complete a writing project - the3six5N
Buy a house (2 bed)
- Requirements: 2 bed room flat, city centre apartment, parking space, etc
tba

Certainly Uncertain....

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:46:11 +0000

A few days ago, mid way through a telephone conversation with one of the lads I used to work with in my UX5 days, the delectable lass who joined a few months before I was due to leave overheard our conversation and asked to speak with me.

Even back then, in those early days of 2008, I was the bloke with a 5 year rolling plan complete with milestones, leading and lagging indicators and a roadmap. Her question had an air of inevitability to it; it had to do with the current iteration of the plan. Sadly, I could not give her the reassurances she was seeking – namely that the plan was still on track, and that an invite – amongst other things – would be winging it’s way to her Nigerian post box in the not too distant future.

Bitter-sweet

Tue, 29 May 2012 19:09:10 +0000

I have spent the last few days offsite attending the SPE’s Oilfield Corrosion Conference in Aberdeen. When the email invite first came through, I knew I had to be part of it. The one main gripe I have about my job is the lack of real technical content in it on an ongoing basis. I tend to get sucked into the fire fighting, reactive mode that prevents me from applying my specialist Corrosion & Materials engineering knowledge.

2012 in Twelve Things

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:55:14 +0000

In what is going to be a first for me, I will cross over into the new year aboard an airplane, albeit one headed homeward. It certainly is a far cry from how 2011 started, but perhaps this unconventional start will afford me the chance to pause and ponder a few days early, and agree on 12 things for 2012 all aligned with my seven priorities for life. Here goes:

Develop a daily practice of meditation, prayer and journaling: Taking time out to examine life, capture things as they happen and improve daily has to be a key component of my daily routine going forward. The seven priorities are great on paper, but unless progress on the continuum towards achieving them is measured and recorded, I suspect the end of the year will come, and I will still be where I am as of today, stuck in a rut. Target: 4 of 5 days a week of reading the identified text in the Our Daily Bread app.
Lose 20kg: I am overweight – no amount of faffing around can gloss over that simple fact. I tried for a month, before slipping back into my my routine of Nandos, large potions and baguettes at work. Losing weight has to be a focus in 2012, the target is to lose 20kg for a return to c. 80kg weight and a healthy BMI. Target: Walk to and from work daily, take 2 days in the week to eat only fruits (seedless grapes, bananas and apples only), stay off coffee, eat half of what I would normally eat.
Read (and review) 25 books in 2012.
Call parents and siblings once a week: Quick phone call to Dad/Mum every two weeks; hopefully I can catch the siblings weekly for a quick chat.
Save £1,000 a month: The YE spend data for 2011 was abysmal. For a net (ex. taxes) increase in pay of c. 600 pounds, I ended up doubling my expenditure versus 2010. Some of it was unavoidable – the house move in late 2010, increased bills and rents hit for the full year 2011 versus the one quarter in 2010, but large swathes of cash remained unaccounted for. The plan is to move 1,000 each month from my net pay prior to any expenses coming through, as well as refuse to get involved in providing soft loans to the lads.
Get chartered engineer status: I didn’t make a lot of progress professionally in 2011. There were no conferences attended or certifications gained. This is a focus area for 2012 – I am looking to get at least one of either the C.Eng designation or complete my NACE certifications before YE 2012.
Get a driver’s license: I have had a provisional drivers license for over a year already. The focus in 2012 will be to use the 1st quarter to write and pass the theory test, and the summer months to practice for and pass the practical test for a full drivers’ license. Given my traumatic car crash from 2008, and the fact that I haven ‘t driven since then, I suspect this will not be a trivial pursuit.
Resolve long term settlement options: 2012 will be crucial for me as I decide where I will lay down my long term routes. TheBZ would be a good place, but the increasingly louder anti-immigrant rhetoric is a niggling issue at the bottom of my mind. Canada seems to be a longer term option – one that I will explore to a greater extent in 2012.
Resolve my dating and meeting issues: I am at a stage where I can truly say that I have let got of my EJ issues. Having said that there remain pockets of memories I need to ditch finally. The target through 2012 is to bring myself to the place where I can truly say I have forgotten and moved on, a position where I am free in my head to meet and date again. 2012 in this regards has to be the year of de-cluttering.
Complete FAN integration: Given my constant moaning about how mind numbingly boring the little city I live in is, that I am not taking advantage of what opportunities there are to meet people is a shame. Through 2012, the intention is to reconnect with the Youth and Singles group at church once a month.
Re-engage with FOL service: My service in the group I work with in church was shocking in 2011. Granted, part of it was a busier, less controlled work load, but my worldview issues also contributed in no small measure. The plan in 2012 is to reconnect and reengage with the group, and be useful once again.
Find a mentor: I’m looking to get more intentionality in life, a mentor would definitely help for the accountability bits here.

Seven Priorities for Life

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 08:37:05 +0000

I spent the weekend going through Michael Hyatt’s cute little e-book Creating Your Personal Life Plan. In no particular order, below are the things I feel need to be priorities going forward:

God: World-view, faith, God and how these interact in defining a moral compass for me is a crucial part of my developing fully into the sort of bloke I need to become. It is time for me to start engaging my various proclivities which are preventing me from gaining the clarity of thought and direction that I need.
Health: Whilst I have not had any major health scares, truth is I am overweight by some. A few years ago, I had blood pressures that were way out of the ‘safe’ and ’normal’ zone [Thankfully, I passed my last offshore medical in flying colours]. Keeping fit, counting calories and staying health has to be one of my priorities going forward.
Family: Whilst I remain single at the moment, deep in my heart is a longing to meet someone, find love and raise a family together. Two dimensions stand out here - finding the one and being the sort of bloke she’d want to be with. These both have to be priorities going forward - engaging the ‘knowledgable others’ in my circle and being open enough to solicit, accept and implement honest feedback where it is offered on areas where personal improvement is required.
Personal Development: Learning continuously, and always reviewing where I am versus where I should be has to be a key component of my life. Big things are expected of me, and getting those done depends on continuously improving and finding the over arching knowledge and foresight required to grow into those big roles. This will have two facets: Career, in which I develop into a globally recognised Corrosion/Materials/Integrity Engineer, and personally where I progress and develop my public speaking, and writing skills.
Friends: Given the large number of acquaintances I have, the few real friends I have (and I would count O & I as the two stand out ones at the moment) who time and time again have proven they are worth their weight in gold, and more, deserve some reciprocal attention. They are going to have to be priorities going forward - they’ve earned it!
Finances: Finances are a key part of fulfilling the responsibilities that I will have as a Father, Husband, Son and social justice campaigner. Learning how to manage and grow my money is a critical part of the me I will become.
Service: One more priority is taking all the gifts and blessings that I have been given and pouring them all out in service to others. The details of this are not exactly clear at the moment - especially considering the significant evolution my world view is going through at the moment - but finding the time and the place to make a difference for others ’less blessed’ as to be a priority going forward.

The first day

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 21:47:48 +0000

…Of the last year. I suspect that today was my Newcastle moment; the day when my decision to head out to pastures new was taken. The UK is looking increasingly hostile ( I may be reading the comments section of the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph too much), but it certainly hasn’t helped that some drunk wanna-be pirate complete with an eye patch called me a f*ucking black bastard in broad day light in Aberdeen. Even conversations at work occasionally centre around immigrants - mainly Poles, but surely its a short hop from Poles to Nigerians.

On reading..

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 14:28:00 +0000

On my forty things by forty list is a task to read 25 books each year. For 2011, I am thinking of starting off with the Booker Prize lists. I suspect a few of them might be out of print, but from running my eye over the list there appears to be at least a few of particular interest. Ben Okri’s 1991 winner ‘The Famished Road’ and Ian McEwan’s ‘Amsterdam’ stand out as starting points. First off though will be ‘The Finkler Question’ by Howard Jacobsen - thanks to the Kindle… :)

New Starts....

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 03:35:00 +0000

The turn of the year is unique for the way it inspires one to try better. Plans from the last year, cast aside without thought or regret, suddenly return to the fore of the mind - seeking to exact their recompense for one’s neglect. Its a New Year.. The one thing I plan on doing this year is to articulate more of the thoughts floating around in my head. Hopefully I’ll write a piece each day on here.. Maybe I’ll not..December 31, 2011 will be the final judge of how well I fared…

The 2011 Plan

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 14:17:08 +0000

This is slowly becoming a yearly thing on this blog. The 2009 and 2010 Versions are linked. Since 2010 I have opted for focus areas rather than a list.. So here goes the 2011 plan.

God/Faith: Failed to make any headway in this regards last year - It’s a new year.. Let’s hope we fare better this year with resolving the God issues and getting back into a church community.
Work & Career: I safely navigated getting back into work after a poorly thought out decision led to me quitting my last job. This year the focus is on chasing a couple of certifications to boost my profile as an independent contributor. This is slightly complicated by the Girlfriend being stuck in North America. This year I intend to get my professional membership of at least one UK and one North American Engineering body sorted.
People and Socials: Last year was the year I splurged on social media connections. This year, I need to have a strategy for social media interaction. The goal of this strategy is to focus on sharing information, keeping the loose chatter to an absolute minimum. For real life connections, I have been blessed with having a couple of old friends from undergrad in my city, so as a minimum, I should hang out with them once every couple of months..
Health and Weight: 2010 was the year, the bulge finally beat me. The keg ballooned out of control. I bought a home treadmill in my attempt to regain control. This year, I hope to win the battle - running thrice weekly on the treadmill.
Family: The family connection hasn’t been great up to the end of the year. This year I hope to call the parents and siblings at least once each week.
Financial: The numbers from last year indicated I saved approximately 25% of my gross earnings - in spite of significant expenditure on trips to the US and gadgets. This year, I hope to up the percentage to 30%. In conjunction with a promised pay rise at work, it should be a good year - if I avoid splurging on any new gadgets.

Yay..

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 05:07:06 +0000

The first quarter performance review was short and sweet - I think… The recovery is under way.. Now we need to secure it… (as Gordon Brown likes to put it)

Re: 2010

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:06:00 +0000

Coming into 2010, it was clear this was the year that could potentially make or break me. Coming off a mid-life crisis in 2009 a nasty break up in 2008 that was finally formalized in 2009, and major changes that seemed intent on tossing my well laid plans aside, I thought four things would be a small number of items to focus on - turns out even those four are a big ask.

2010 - The Plan

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 22:54:00 +0000

Last year was about a laundry list - 20 things I wanted to get sorted by year’s end. I did Ok.. Never got to learn french and missed out on the distinction..This year I want to have focus areas - key directions in which my energies will be focused.

Career: Manage my transition to a new job/ new city; target getting confirmed on the job and a raise by year end.
God and Faith: Get back into the regular church thing - sort out my niggling God issues.
Weight and Health: Get a full physical exam - for info - and shed the excess weight sharp-ish.
Love and Loving: End my girl hiatus; actively get back into the meeting and friendship scene again.

One more, which doesn’t count as a specific goal I think, but which is needed nonetheless, is to toughen up. I fear for the past few years I have grown too soft, more altruistic than is necessary. 2010 is my year.. of living dangerously..

The 2009 Master Plan...

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:24:00 +0000

2008…What a year…Seems like it was only yesterday when my friend and I drove to church to attend the New year Service and to get the year rolling……Lots of stuff have happened to and around me.. Wonder what the highlights were tho…

On a personal note heading back to school ranks up there… One humid March evening, I finally decided I’d had enough of working on the edge; after spending the 4th straight weekend at work trying to troubleshoot a pipeline problem…. Got home that night,and started the online application that has landed me on the MSc program I’m currently on…..apparently to the distaste of my bosses - who told me they thought I was doing fine without the MSc and that it was unnecessary….Who cares? I needed to keep my sanity……My cause can’t be helped by the fact that a number of chaps also decided to flee in my wake too… duh…