Well, wifey called me (and the world) to task, so I figured I should step up. I'll admit, I was being one of the debbie downers reflecting on everything that I didn't get done this past year. So, well here it is, some reflections on things that I did well and accomplished in 2008.
It' all about the family and I made sure I focused on that.
My wife and I had a great year. I mean, a REALLY REALLY REALLY good year. Our relationship has never felt stronger (and well, I feel we've been pretty strong from the start). We haven't been married long, just 8 years (June will be our 9 year wedding anniversary), but man do things feel right. It's been a lot of work, but there's really no one I would rather spend my time with and well I'm proud of all that she and I have accomplished together this past year.
The boys are doing great in school and every day (even the bad days) have been really good. I love watching these guys grow up and the young men they're becoming so early.
It's been a great year for family.
He's my new baby and he's so cute!
Speaking of family, ours grew this past year. My baby is now almost 11 months old. Having our new baby definitely changed my routine at home. But I still managed to do a lot even while dealing with all that comes along with a new baby. He's a cutie too.
I got "The Big V" and I only cried a little
Not only did we have a new baby, but we had our last baby. I volunteered to end our baby making career (it was only fair after Wifey went through birthing four of them). The vasectomy was painful, but I only cried and whined a little. But all my tests have come back clear and I'm officially no longer a baby maker.
What in the world do I know about supervising? I think I know a little now.
I was promoted to the role of supervisor in January of 2008 managing a team of 5 developers. This, more than anything else this year, has really changed my life. I have no freaking clue how to be a supervisor. And the "winging it" definitely takes a toll on someone who likes to do things well.
I come home at night totally exhausted and I feel like I didn't accomplish anything during the day. I hate feeling like that. But after a year of struggling with this new role, I finally feel I'm starting to get my footing. I still have a lot to learn and there was a lot I did wrong this last year, but I can definitely look back over the year and be proud of what my team has accomplished (although I think that's more them and less me). We really rocked it and hopefully I can make sure the world knows how well they did as a team (and hopefully next year I figure out even more about what in the world I'm supposed to do as supervisor).
I didn't hit any cars (well, except for that one but it doesn't count because I didn't like that guy anyway)
I've been learning to parallel park. I've never lived in a city. I grew up on a farm and parallel parking wasn't a skill we had to refine. We had it on our driver's test, but we didn't have to be very good at it. And I wasn't.
Now that our new office is downtown, this has been something I've been having to learn how to do again. In fact, I spent a lot of time this year forcing myself to be the one to drive to lunch just so I would be placed in a situation where I had no choice but to parallel park.
I still suck at it, but I have managed it several times this past year. And you know what, I'm pretty proud of that.
Oh books, how I love thee!
I read a lot. And not just fantasy and science fiction (I know people usually write science fiction and fantasy, but fantasy always comes first for me!). I read more technical books than I've ever read before in a year and I even threw in some one covering just what in the world a supervisor is supposed to do. It was a great year for reading, and I read a lot, man did I read a lot. I'm pretty proud of that!
Yeah, I drew that.
Drawing. I've been filling sketchbooks with drawings. I've done more serious sketching and drawing this past year then I think I've ever done. I stumbled across an artist I really liked and started just working through his books. I love his style and hopefully someday I'll be able to emulate a similar style without just looking at his pictures. I've been having a lot of fun drawing so much again and I did a really good job improving my technique this past year.
I did write some...
I won't say I did awesome blogging, but you know I did blog, so that's something. I had 40 posts this year so I did average over 2 a month (even if some months I didn't manage to get 2 posts done in a month...). So while not great, definitely an accomplishment, and well I guess I should be proud of that. Nah, I am proud of it. I did good.
I pwnd you!
I beat Castle Crashers and did more gaming in general. I've been making games a lot, but I had kind of forgotten how much fun I had playing them. This year I went through a Team Fortress phase (where I was rocking it as a medic), I made it ALL the way through Castle Crashers (man I love that game) and played a ton of other XBox Live Arcade and XBox Live Community Games. I'm proud of the things I accomplished with gaming and the whole family had a ton of family gaming together this past year. Gaming is the new board game night.
You almost can't see me when I turn sideways
I lost more weight. Over two years ago, I stepped on a scale and watched it hit 209 lbs. I was shocked and in tears. I was a wrestler in high school so I graduated a very light 140 lbs (I'm 6 foot tall). In college, I packed on some weight, but mostly muscle from pole vaulting (I was a letter winner every year in college). So I graduated a respectable and descent 165 lbs from college (much better for a guy my height).
Then somehow over time and inactivity, the weight just kept coming on. Well, after that 209 lb moment, I got serious about losing weight, I set a goal of 175 lbs and I've been working on it steadily ever since. Before thanksgiving this year I was down to 178 lbs. Over the Holiday I've put on a little, but this morning I'm still at a pretty decent 182 lbs.
I'm pretty proud of how I've taken the weight off and kept it off and I think this year is going to be the year I finally hit my target. So yeah, that's something to be proud of this past year, continuing to lose the weight and keep it off. 175 lbs here I come!
I love the XNA Community and I continued to show it.
Since the beginning of 2008, I've posted over 1,000 times for support in the Creator's forum answering game development questions and helping out in that community. My total post count for this new iteration of the forums is 1,344 posts since they launched. That's not too shabby for something I do in my spare time.
I also managed to update all of my tutorials and samples on my site for the 3.0 framework release. I began making videos of all my samples and also took some time to begin releasing Zune and 360 versions of my work as well. I even did my first (and probably only) video tutorial for extending the Microsoft Getting started tutorial. I didn't release as much new content this year, but I'm still pretty proud of the work I did at XNADevelopment.com this year. And getting into Official XBox magazine with some quotes and my picture was an admittedly high point of the year.
I'm also pretty proud of all the work the community has been doing. With the release of XBox Live Community games, the community has had to go through a bit of a transition as new blood came in to the community and personalities changed and shifted. It's been an interesting growth period and I'm proud of the part I've been playing in that.
Microsoft XNA MVP - we meet again
It's official, on January 1st I got the email congratulating me for being given the Microsoft XNA MVP award for my work in 2008. Did I mention I love the XNA community? I just can't believe how much time has gone by since I first got involved with XNA. It's been an incredible experience.
I'm pretty proud of all the work I did this last year to earn the award. From helping out in the forums, running my XNADevelopment.com site, starting and running a user group, answering emails, idling in the IRC to working on my own projects. This is definitely a full time hobby and it's a community I can say I'm proud to be a part of. We have a lot of very intelligent, creative and helpful people in this community from the XNA development team to the various leaders and members of the community and I'm honored to be a part of all of it.
It's been a great year for XNA and I'm really excited to see what's coming out of the community for 2009.
Let me conclude by saying...
So yeah, I did pretty good this year. I definitely had moments when I probably should have done more. Periods of time when I had it in me to do more and I let opportunity pass me by. As a whole however, looking back on it, I did awesome. And I need to remember that, it's crucial to remember that.
And you know what? I'm sure you did to. So reflect on that and get ready for another great year. I promise you'll feel better that you did.