I would say that all the late-night coding sessions and speaking engagement preparations and all other community involvement have payed off, but the truth is that they pay off constantly when I receive “thank-you” emails from people to whom I've provided a solution. One of the reasons I got into user-group talks and writing for CoDe Magazine, etc. is that I really enjoy passing on knowledge. One of the best things around is the ooooos and aaaaaas you get when your audience sees something really cool that they did not know they could do. I get that a lot especially when I teach people how to develop custom webcontrols. Well, though I trully enjoy all my community involvement and will continue to do it no matter what, it was great news to find out that Microsoft has awarded me with an MVP award in the area of Visual Developer - C#. Thank you Microsoft and thanks to all the guys and gals in the local development community who either directly or indirectly encourage me to continue helping others in the .NET community and to continue staying involved. I have to mention some names because they provide a great deal to the community and need to be linked here: Rob, DonXML, ScottW, ScottG, Stacey, Andrew, and Rod.
I have a lot planned for the upcoming year, including many group talks (in fact I have 2 this month + 2 code camps), many more articles published, a lot more freeware (and some commercial stuff as well), and of course -- non-stop blogging.
Let the games begin...