I’m wondering if I should just start off on the few scant things I did manage to get right last month, since they’re so few, but for the sake of previous format, I’ll stick to former presentation.

1. More mensch – Join a Board and Give Back
   Much like March, this has been more an exercise in throwing letters in bottle into the ocean. Board-dom seems tricky for most charities as they seem to take a great deal of effort in making sure osmeone is a member for a long time, or a founder, before being on the Board. It’s quite weird. I would have thought any number of charities would find my skills useful, but so far coming up with zip. I do have a list I want to hit up in May, but I have set myself a limit of taking care of this by June. If nothing happens by then, I’m just volunteering for something local that I like.

2. Travel somewhere every third month
   I do get to tick this one off as I did make it to Honk Kong in March and was still there in April (even a coupe of days extra due to a severe bout of food poisoning on my last evening). May is going to be a Sydney month, but for my birthday I’m thinking of sneaking off somewhere. There is a training course that’s been moved to Cambodia that I’d really like to take (Strategic Finance) and would fit in nicely with sneaking up from Phnom Penh to Siem Riep to coincide with my being in Angkor Wat on my birthday. So, really trying to make that happen. And end of July I’d like to sneak in a long weekend to get me in some snowboarding it I can but it will be heavily depend on where everything is with the election being called here in Australia (and the beginning of crazy(ier) time at work.
3. Learn to Surf
   I’d hoped to get a couple more kicks at the can in before the weather became colder and the water just wasn’t comfy to swim in without a full wetsuit. Recovering from whatever took me out in Hong Kong though took a bit longer than I would have thought, however, so this one is on hiatus until the Spring is back here in the Southern Hemisphere and I can take it up again. I am fairly happy with my progress though considering… looking forward to when I can restart again.
4. Languages – Learn Mandarin
   Mandarin was actually on hiatus in April. I’m not sure why the University of Sydney has such long breaks between classes but I have to say, it actually feels like all the Mandarin leaked out of my head over the past few weeks. I really noticed it the first day of May when classes resumed. Definitely need to be a bit more diligent about studying asI’m finding the character based learning much, much harder than Pinyin (which seems a breeze in comparison). Also, a bit worried that I need to round this out with something less academic and more conversational since the goal is being able to converse and interact and not just to learn the language. Performance versus learning achievement.
5. Health – Get back into shape and back to a martial art
   OK, first off I was shocked at how, when I finally managed to make it back to capoeira post-sleep deprivation, jet lag, and food poisoning (so, say three weeks off) how much I’d been set back in terms of progress. Annoyed myself and feeling better a couple of weeks on, but yeah, really have to get into the habit of exercising all the time until I really am back in shape. Getting there.

   And am still excited about snowboarding in July. I am loving the capoeira though. Much more so than the running.

6. Get back into cooking and add to my repertoire
   Um yeah… well, let’s see, line up a bit zilch for this one. Need to get back into it for May. And well, perhaps looking into some sort of interesting cooking course. Fish, maybe?
7. Financial Sustainability – be smarter with money
   Doing ok here, but not great. I find Sydney a bit strange in that you end up laying out money long before you actually use it (tickets etc) and then paying it back to yourself later. Still, never really feels like you’re actually making progress.

   Second source of income still a work in progress.

8. Start an online company around one of my applications
   The feature set is semi-set but haven’t managed to get any time to work on it. At the same time, I’ve got a great little idea for extending an old application I have in production with a feature that might possibly be interesting as well (and is kinda fun to work on).
9. Reduce and completely offset my current carbon and environmental footprint by 200%
   I’ve made virtually no progress on this one. While I do feel like I’m offsetting compared to where I was at the start of the year, I would be hard pressed to quantify it. And that is still the first goal. The strange thing is, even asking people who are supposed to know about this stuff hasn’t really been that much help. I just get a sort of “use a carbon calculator” answer. So, the first thing I’m worried about is that there is no real way to actually properly figure this stuff out. And if I can’t do it, that probably means a bigger issue for the world at large. What can’t be measured, can’t really be managed.

   So, May going to ask a few people I know who may be able to help with this.

   So, again, same as last month, could use some help on this one.

10. Keep up the good habits of 2009 – Don’t Lose My Gains
    • Blogging, journalling and GTDing once a week
      Actually, doing alright on this one. Blogging well, and I am getting things done, but not journalling quite as much as I should which is always a danger signal. Again, big kudos to Taskpaper which is help ing me keep on top of things and Notational Velocity.
    • A cultural outing every month
      April was saved at the last minute by a random comedy festival invite, but kinda happy since May is going fine with two things already sorted. Do need to sort out June now though. Of course, if I do sort out Cambodia, this is kinda handled. And May was sorted by the end of April with Chunky Moves’ Mortal Engine.
    • Polishing development skills
      Well, can’t complain too much about this one, since I have been chipping away at it pretty well consistently. Still feel like I’d like to take a few months off and just work consistently at just nailing advanced skills. Sometimes feel like I’m still rpgoramming with the mental constructs of 15 years ago. Of course, I guess I should remember what John Nunemaker says about it’s all about just practicing. And Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers would seem to reinforce that. So, keeping on at it. Really, really need to get better at testing and test-driven development though. Cucumber is fine, but RSpec and I still need to become friends.
    • Read – at least a book a month
      Knocked off Godin’s Linchpin and the homilie-filled Rework (though it did have some interesting ideas in it). May is going really well bookwise (mostly because with the fridge on the fritz I’ve been eating out a lot and reading over dinner).

How did the Ides and the rest of the month treat me this March ?

1. More mensch – Join a Board and Give Back
   Now admittedly, I didn’t think this was going to be an easy task, but I also didn’t think it would be this hard. Board appointments seem to be broken down into two groups. New orgs that need board members for everything from strategic help to handling web site updates and older organizations that seem to make it very difficult if not downright impossible to make it to the board. I’ve been hitting the second kind this month and quite surprised. A large number of boards have provisions in place to make sure you’re, well basically, not so much strategic help as a long time supporter of the org. Found this with a few of the well known charities in Australia so far. Will check out smaller places next month, but still quite surprised at how much effort I’ve expended on this for having accomplished very little. Maybe most of them don’t think my skills are all that and a bag of chips. Frustrating. So, again, if anyone knows of an org that can use some help, I am looking.

2. Travel somewhere every third month
   Well, since I’m in Hong Kong as I’m writing this, I can definitely tick this one off though originally the plan had been to head to someplace I hadn’t been before. Still, though, utterly love Hong Kong and glad to be here. Thinking of a weekend run in Shenzhen as well just to see it. Still planning on something big post election and hoping I can pull off the long snowboarding weekend in NZ in July (unless something more interesting comes up).
3. Learn to Surf
   Going great. Check. Still have a ways to go before I’m awesome, but can’t complain about progress. Still have floating on the surfboard out the back of the breaks in my mind whenever I am feeling the need for a tranquil thought. Only problem now is that it’s going to start getting cold soon, so will have to see how weather is before seeing if I can keep this going in April or whether it sits till the end of Aussie winter.
4. Languages – Learn Mandarin
   Done my second level class and actually managing to throw down a little here in Hong Kong when Mandarin gets used at all, so I’ll have to see though realizing I’d like to be focusing on the characters less and more on conversational skills. Reminds me, need to book for level 3 this week if I want a teensy discount. Also, still thinking doing this on Saturday mornings keeps me out of trouble (well, mostly) on Friday nights. Need to be a bit more focused on revision every week though. And, I have to admit, being here makes me wonder whether Cantonese wouldn’t be slightly more practical if I’m at all thinking of HK in the future.
5. Health – Get back into shape and back to a martial art
   Have to say this was absolutely a winner in March. Besides the capoeira and the surfing, also picked up the running and am about a third of a way through the couch to 5k plan. Actually, surprised at the progress. eating better, have definitely lost weight and definitely have more energy (when I’m not falling asleep at night because I’ve done too much exercise). So yeah, doing pretty well here. had to swtich days around though which is causing some issues. Capoeira is now Mon and Wed or Thurs.

   Actually kinda excited about being back in good shape as well as how well my snowboarding will go in Jul once I’m back in shape.

   Injuries are still a concern. Stopped wearing flip flops(thongs in Oz) because I was getting knee and ankle pain and switched back to proper walking shoes. Have switched to tevas here in Hong Kong which have some serious support, so we’ll see how that goes. Shoulder is still a bit wrenched but seems to be surviving capoeira nicely, so…

6. Get back into cooking and add to my repertoire
   Going well, though finding I’m doing more scratch cooking than major meal planning. Also, because of me working out so much I think I have to go find myself a sports nutritionist to help me out with some basic, solid yummy meals I can cook on the fly with simple ingredients (did I mention the sardine and avocado sandwiches?).

   April… Hmmm… Need to think about what I want to be able to cook. Being here in Hong Kong has definitely made me think I should try and pick up a cooking class on fish or something when I get back. Or possible Chinese or Thai.

7. Financial Sustainability – be smarter with money
   Yeesh… OK, haven’t done so well on this one but that’s because I’ve been buying a bunch of things that have worn out and used part of my savings form this year for this trip in Honkers. Still pretty sure I’m drawing about even on this one, and April is a three paycheque month, so that third one goes all back into the savings account.

   Second source of income still a work in progress.

8. Start an online company around one of my applications
   OK, have the feature set basically laid out on this and just need to get the programming working and some of the tricky things (payment processing anynone?). Just need to find time to work on it. Perhaps on the plane back ? (yes, I’m kidding… )
9. Reduce and completely offset my current carbon and environmental footprint by 200%
   Ugh… OK, this is even worse than the money one. This is actually super hard. I had no idea how tricky it is to make sure you’re actually buying stuff locally or trying to make it as green as possible. I mean, it is really much harder than I thought. Hell, anything interesting you want to buy like sauces are also trucke dinto Aus from elsewhere and now I”m not even sure I see a difference between stuff being moved to Sydney form Autralia versus New Zealand since it’s probably a lower footprint to bring it from NZ. And I can’t tell you how manic everything being in plastic is making me at the supermarket.

   And yeah, I took a plane here to Hong Kong, so I’m seriously doing total crap on this one.

   Could use some help on this one. If on any resolution I feel like it’s a total mess, it would have to be this one after what seemed to be a promising start.

   And the other problem here is that, after speaking to an environmental engineer friend, it’s clear that there are several different definitions of what sustainable needs to mean and no common understanding between them.

   The first step here might be in me creating an index to rationalize them a bit, at least in terms of what is important to me in terms of sustainability.

   Any pointers to books and such, please feel free to send suggestions over the wall.

10. Keep up the good habits of 2009 – Don’t Lose My Gains
    This is going well – no worries there.
    • Blogging, journalling and GTDing once a week
      Yep. Very happy I’ve got journalling back into the swing of things as well as blogging and GTDing. Feel like I’ve let GTD slip a bit, but that is easily addressable with a little more realism in terms of what can get done in a week. Again, big kudos to Taskpaper and Notational Velocity.
    • A cultural outing every month
      KIng Lear was fine, though not quite as great as I would have liked. And if Hong Kong isn’t a cultural outing in and of itself (to say nothing of the fesitvals I’ve been to since I got here and the fact I’m off to the races tonight), I don’t know what it is, so can definitely check this one off. Need a cultural outing for April though and kinda stumped at what needs to be in there. Any suggestions ?
    • Polishing development skills
      Yep, just kicked out another little app for work which I’m quite happy to say I pulled together in roughly a day’s work, so quite please with that.
    • Read – at least a book a month
      Nailed the Buffet book and have started Linchpin by Seth Godin which I figured I’d finish on the plane, but was just too hard ot take notes and felt like I wasn’t retaining anything. Unlikely I’ll be done tonight though, so needs to get shunted to April. Still, need to set aside time for reading more properly (I also worry the reason I got less reading done is because Lost came back on and someone lent me the first season of the West Wing. Hm.

(via Lifehacker.)

So, how’d I do in Feb ?

1. More mensch – Join a Board and Give Back
   I’ve got a lot of feelers out on this one, but so far it’s turning up pretty much butkis. Do you ever get the feeling, you’re not part of the old boy network? How have other people become Board members with interesting organizations? Anyhow, did have a very nice Board member for my present organization point me at an opportunity, but the organization in question appears to be too closely tied to a political party which would be problematic for my current real job, so I’m going to have to take a pass. I am giving this till my BDay at which point, as I mentioned in my initial post I’ll just do some senior volunteering for a locally focused charity. In the meantime though, if anyone hears of anything or know anyone looking for a Board member that has experience in strategy, operations and well, information technology and internet, please give me a holler rightaway.
2. Travel somewhere every third month
   I’m already nervous about this one but have decided to take a number of days around Easter to do something interesting and stick to my guns on this one after my boss killed my Thailand/Bali over XMas and Chinese New Year in HK. Fiji looks cheap and semi-promising at the moment and just have it on the todo list tonight to check out what sort of cheapies the discount carriers might have that Easter-ish week.
3. Learn to Surf
   Surprisingly, despite the rather rocky start and miserable weekends we’ve had, I’m actually getting a lot happier with where this is getting to. Have managed to get my kip up onto the board into good stead and just need to be a bit better paddler and stop straightening my damn legs when I stand up. Also enjoying it much much more now that I’m in a tiny bit better shape than when I first started.
4. Languages – Learn Mandarin
   I was actually a little worried about reporting on this one until the class on Saturday. Characters seemed to really be kicking my butt, but for some reason a lot of things clicked this last Saturday and a number of characters seem to have remained in my head to the point where I’m actually able to read and form simple sentences from the stuff we did in pinyin last class. I still cheat usually by writing the pinyin under the characters in my book during class, but it’s getting there. Also, I have to recommend the excellent and free Pleco iPhone Chinese-English dictionary which has been great and just downloaded Chinese Flashcard software to help me out a bit for lunchtime drills.
5. Health – Get back into shape and back to a martial art
   If I can point to anything in February and say it’s massively improved, it would have to be the health front. Managed to stick to both surfing and capoeira, have been eating much better and cooking or fixing (or eating out and having) healthier meals, I feel trimmer and a lot more sporty and also have started an 8 week couch to 5k plan which I just passed the first week on. So… yay me! Trying to be good about bed by 1am (though slid once or twice), have miraculously managed to stick to 2 coffees a day, and then only drinking unsweetened tea, cut out red meat and have been walking to work whenever I am not late for a meeting or something. Energy levels are up but really noticing that I’ve been quite tired by the end of the day. Passing out and sleeping soon as the head hits the pillow so will be glad as I start to get more fit. it’s still humbling feeling like I’ve slid into sloth while in London, getting my running back up to Vancouver levels and re-learning all I’ve lost in capoeira. Still, great progress this month. Now I just need to make it a habit and work around things like evening events. Just in case you were wondering though, Mon, Wed Fri is running, Tues, Thurs is capoeira and Sunday is for surfing. Saturday is my off and cheat day for food.

   I am getting a little worried about injuries as I’m pushing myself pretty hard. My shoulder feels a bit wracked and my right knee threw conniptions running on Sunday, so if anyone has some very good injury prevention advice, I’m all ears.

6. Get back into cooking and add to my repertoire
   Much better and keeping the fridge stocked and making meals at home. Lots of salads though this month I did stretch myself a bit and try to cook a calamari from the “get it at the market”, clean it (not as tricky as I thought), cut it and marinade it and served it with my high school friend Robyn’s amazing mango salsa recipe. Overall, need to cook more but kinda happy with where this is. Will be posting recipes of what’s been done in Jan and feb shortly. Might try another fish dish without the squid (which I overcooked sadly) as the salsa was aces. Do want to perfect squid though. Still can do a mean chicken dish though.

   March I think I want to work on a cooked vegetarian super yummy dish, so if anyone has a contender, please throw it over the wall for consideration. As always, must be easy and quick to make, use sustainable produce (preferably local to 150 kms), be nutritious (think protein on this one) and super nummy.

7. Financial Sustainability – be smarter with money
   Have held to 80/20 so far but it’s slipping. B minus for me on this one, though the expenses had more to do with layouts for a lot of the new things I was doing (running shoes, starting lessons on things) than on-going expenses. Still, money I owe myself I need to pay back shortly. Still working on second source of income besides reading up about startups a lot though I am attending the Eric Ries’ presentation in Sydney on Monday evening so sliding int he right direction on that one.
8. Start an online company around one of my applications
   Have started programming a little on this, but internal work projects at work kept pulling me off of it where I was foolishly using my personal time to get it done (mostly a vacation and TOIL tracking app). Definitely did a lot more programming in Feb which felt very zen like and good actually. Still need to look at setting up the whole thing completely offshore and have it integrated with payment services (so it doesn’t matter if I move countries). Could use advice if anyone has done this before.
9. Reduce and completely offset my current carbon and environmental footprint by 200%
   Shockingly, this has been the hardest thing at all. A lot of it seems to revolve around the rather seminal problem of people not being able to agree on how an ewnvironmental footprint should be measured. I would have thought this would have been figured out by now, but nope. So, had a rather interesting if random conversation in a swimming pool with a friend who is an environmental engineer over the issue. Apparently, there are four basic issues people argue. Is sustainability measured via carbon emissions, resource load (ie. how many hectares to support my person), lifecycle analysis (how much gunk went into getting me that carrot?) and toxicity (how poisonous is what I do to the envirnoment longer term). As near as I can tell, no one seems to have a proper answer, so this is going to require more research. No, I”m not copping out, but surely someone has combined these things into some sort of synthesized footprint calculations I can figure out before/after and what I need to do to make it neutral. I am quite worried that I just don’t earn enough cash to offset my current lifestyle even after I reduce it. Guess we’ll see. Still managing to stick to local produce as much as possible and eliminating some big issues out.
10. Keep up the good habits of 2009 – Don’t Lose My Gains
    Doing pretty well on previous gains as well. Can’t say that I’ve done too badly. Just for review, the ones applicable to this month and on-going are :
    • Blogging, journalling and GTDing once a week
      Check-a-roonie. Big fan of Taskpaper now and have switched from EverNote to the lighter, faster and vastly simpler Notational Velocity. Both sync over the internet with respective iPhone apps which keep me focused on the go. Both are superfast, efficient and keep it simple. Both are keeping me on track though do need to put aside time at the start of each week for planning.
    • A cultural outing every month
      Oh crap. I’ve got King Lear planned in March but had originally meant to go to Hong Kong to fill in this one and see New YEar’s there. Fallbacks obviously didn’t happen for whatever weak-ass reason. Sydney’s New Year’s parade (missed due to late ferry), Mardi Gras (was exhausted and super woozy from eye testing so slept through till after parade started) and the Dragon Boat Races (clashed with surfing). Hmmmm… could forgive myself since I did so much in January but think I’d better double up in March. Bad precedent even if it is averages. Well, need something to work on next month. Those do sound like a sad collection of excuses though, don’t they?
    • Polishing development skills
      Definitely been working on these though need to practice TDD and BDD much more before the fact than after.
    • Read – at least a book a month
      Actually, knocked this one out of the park, even on a short month and got through four (count ‘em – 4) books this month including a Nobel prize winner and the very diverting Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown. WOuld have probably done even better except this retreat for work sucked up a lot of evening time I’d normally use reading.

Well, shockingly (even to myself), January has been really great on the setting em up and knocking em down front and I have to admit I’m super happy with my progress this month on just about all things. Very few have slipped to the side at all and overall, starting things, which I always find one of the hardest things (along with maintaining them in the fact of other things going on) is always a trick.

So, how’d I do ?

1. More mensch – Join a Board and Give Back
   Surprisingly, this one has been going a bit slower than I would have thought though have got one serious bite after two other dead ends (and one “we really need a techie but we’ll call you a Board member” offer.). If you do know of anyone in Aus/NZ/HK/SE Asia or even back in Canada (timezones willing), please let me know. About to send a raft of emails out harassing people about who they might know in the field. BTW, if this ends up being a dead end by my BDay, I’m planning on just volunteering somewhere local.

2. Travel somewhere every third month
   Off to a rather inauspicious start, my boss kakked both a trip to Thailand/Bali over New Year’s and Chinese New Year in HK, so I’m a little bit worried about this one despite what I said before coming on board about vacation time. I’m still planning a trip around my BDay to do some snowboarding in New Zealand and seeing Angkor Wat is a big push after we get past the Ausse election, but still trying to figure out a first not-bank-account-breaking trip somewhere between now and June. Ideas ? (and besides small little trips around Oz which I’m already on top of).
3. Learn to Surf
   Managed to sign up, make the first lesson and, despite a near cracked rib, been back to take another swing. Bought lessons in advance so I just need to get my butt out to the beach (and avoid bluebottle stings) but felt like I made massive improvements the second time. If this lags, might get a private lesson or two as well. I do suck at this much more than I would have thought possible. Determined, I am.
4. Languages – Learn Mandarin
   Again, this is going pretty well though wondering about the wisdom of Saturday mornings. Learning characters are also kinda killing me since my brain still likes Pinyin. Still, this does actually feel like progress though need to set aside some more study time and get some sort of flashcards program for identifying the damn characters. Anyhow, I’m impressed I’ve managed to get this far on top of last year’s lessons.
5. Health – Get back into shape and back to a martial art
   Spent most of January checking out kung fu and capoeira clubs before finally settling on a capoeira club I liked. Was really hard getting back in there and surviving the first and second classes, but managed to hang in and do ok so far. It felt great too. Really noticing how out of shape I am, but this combined with surfing and some much better food habits (lotsa fruits and veggies, bed by 1am, only 2 cups of caffeine/coffee a day, no red meat, cooking at home more, walking to work as much as possbile) I’ve already lost weight and gained a bit of strength that I can feel. Energy levels are up to, so super happy about this one.
6. Get back into cooking and add to my repertoire
   Surprising even me, I actually cooked at home quite a bit and really enjoyed it. Forgot how much I liked doing it (not to mention how much more money it saves than dining out). The weird thing is that most of the really good dishes I know how to cook I’ll no longer eat because they were meat ones though my amazing greek salad has been a favourite standby as well as my breakfast pita eggs (recipe posts pending). February’s goal is to do something I’ve never been able to do before which is to ace one amazing fish dish that’s local, easy, super nutritious, environmentally sustainable and nummy.
7. Financial Sustainability – be smarter with money
   So far have managed to hold to 80/20, though seriously need to rejig the budget and do some projections to make sure that the money I’ve outlaid to get these resolutions started is sustainable (so yeah, not sure about deficit reduction). Also, haven’t done so well the first month on that second source of income besides dropping up a few plans and doing a lot of reading on startups (which is not the same as action in my opinion.
8. Start an online company around one of my applications
   Again, if you just read the point above, did a lot of reading, did a bit of design work and thought about some other ways to do things, but again, that’s not the same as getting to an MVP and having something online. Feb needs to do better on that front. Did do some more programming though (see below) which definitely ought to make this stuff easier. BTW, if anyone knows how to set up a company completely offshore and have it integrated with payment services (so it doesn’t matter if I move countries), could use advice.
9. Reduce and completely offset my current carbon and environmental footprint by 200%
   Surprisingly, this one has been harder than I thought despite a lot of effort and research. I’ve yet to find a good surrogate measure for what my total envionremental impact is, or at least a non-biased one (jump in here if you’ve got pointers or ideas). For example, I’m looking for some sort of calculation which can give me an idea of how much damage I’m doing by saying having 75% of my groceries Australian grown versus say 25% that come from overseas. As well as giving me an idea of what I really need to do to offset the inevitable airplane rides I’ll need to take this year. So, while the idea is one of living more sustainably (for example, I’ve dropped to 2 coffees a day (rarely store bought), walking to work (or wherever I need to go) wherever practical (though think I need one of those razor scooters), and committed to buying only Australian produce, completely eliminating red meat from my diet and only eating fish and chicken, and eating in restaurants I know have sustainable meals or sources, I’m still a long way to figuring out what my impact is, let alone offsetting it. The problem seems to be that most of the places that seem to want to help me with this are also trying to sell carbon credits at the same time, so…

   Still… I feel pretty good on this front. Done lots to reduce my footprint overall and trying to do more. This month I’d like to actually get a benchmark calculation versus the start of the year and then figure out what I need to do to offset it by the end of the year as well as someone else like me. Read my “Less Impact Man” post for more details.

10. Keep up the good habits of 2009 – Don’t Lose My Gains
    Doing pretty well on previous gains as well. Can’t say that I’ve done too badly. Just for review, the ones applicable to this month and on-going are :
    • Blogging, journalling and GTDing once a week
      Definitely a checkmark here… though haven’t been journal writing as much as I should. Blog and GTDing like a fiend. GTD has definitely been easier using TaskPaper I’m finding and planning weeks rather than days. Interested to see how also using Notation Velocity makes me more efficient (especially both those apps combined with their iPhone versions and the SimpleNote service.
    • A cultural outing every month
      OD-ed and went overboard on this one. Hamlet, Mindreading acts, the Sydney Festival… Jan was a blur of cultural awesomeness. February needs some planning. Had planned on Chinese New Year in Hong Kong filling this slot, but with that nixed, need to figure something out.
    • Polishing development skills
      Actually, programmed a little app in my spare time (mostly) for work to handle TOIL and vacation tracking which I released last week. We’ll be open sourcing it very soon. Good practice though as I need to work on the little online business app shortly (like tonight).
    • Read – at least a book a month
      Surprised myself and knocked off three books this month as well as knocking off a fourth in the first few days of Feb, so awesome for me. One being a prize winning novel instead of non-fiction as well.

So, here’s hoping that February goes as well. My only real concerns this month are on the Board and travel resolution. We’ll see how those go.