I already did a 2009 retrospective post, so now I suppose I’ll do a rambling 2010 post to go with it. None of these should be construed as New Year’s resolutions, just stuff that I feel I need to work on. If anything, this post is more for my benefit than any else’s since it lets me lay out what a few of my goals for the year are. ;)

I should note that this post is revised fairly significantly from the original, which I toggled back to draft status. I discussed some of the points from my original version with a few friends and did some thinking on points that they raised, primarily on technology stuff, and I've backed off of a few points there.

Personal Stuff

My biggest priority this year is making an effort to be a more well-rounded person and re-develop my interests outside of just technology. I love geeking out, but last year I didn’t do a very good job of balancing work and personal life. For that matter, I didn’t do a very good job of balancing tech and non-tech within my personal life, either. The last few months of the year were especially bad, and it’s something that has to change.

I don’t know if I’ll resume swing dancing on a significant basis this year. It’s fun, but it was getting a little routine, and there’s other things I can do with that time. I’ll probably go once in a while, but I probably won’t be going on a weekly basis anymore like I did when I started. On the other hand, no matter how much or how little I dance in the future – I’ll be very glad I took it up for a while because it helped my self-confidence tremendously.

On the other hand, I really want to get back into photography. It’s something I enjoy and haven’t really made enough time for, and if most of my Fridays aren’t occupied with dancing, that should free me up to go to meetings of the Cleveland Photographic Society – it would be nice to spend some time with people who share my interest there.

Aside from that, two of my other goals for the year are to try and become a little more socially involved (I’m still thinking about joining the local young professionals’ group), and to resume my visits to the gym. Once again, mostly just a question of making time, but making time is something I haven’t been doing a very good job of so far. I may have to force myself to become an (ugh) morning person, since doing the gym first thing is about the only way to make sure work can’t blow my schedule up completely.

Career Stuff

This one seems fairly straightforward. I want to continue being awesome for the client I support so he continues to give us business and money. ;) Essentially though, my goal here is just to continue solving the business problems he throws at us.

I also plan to take the point on pushing some standard processes into my group at work. I don’t want to get onerous and heavy-handed in that area – I tend to believe that too much process is as bad or worse as too little. Still, there are some areas we’re not doing as well as we could and I intend to push for improvements.

Software Development

Originally, my thought was that it's time to admit the truth—I've been saying for a long time now that I want to learn Ruby on Rails and it still hasn't happened, and I should just give it up as futile. A few people I've discussed it with, though, have said they're not sure it's a good idea to stay totally uni-dimensional and focused on the .NET world, and I kind of agree. At the same time, my problem is figuring out where I'm going to find the time to dig into something else while also picking up some of the .NET stuff that I really need to get caught up on, like ASP.NET MVC.

I still haven't figured out how I'm going to balance the two while also trying to get out more, but I suppose I can give it a try. I think for me, the biggest dilemma is this: by far, I'm most experienced and comfortable with Visual Studio, C#, and the .NET framework, and I'm as subject as anyone else to a bias against change and leaving my comfort zone. I don't think I'd be human if I weren't. I've got years of experience working with them and they're one of my strengths, career-wise.

At the same time, I think it's pretty clear that Microsoft is losing quite a bit of its dominance in the industry. Am I saying that they're going away? Heck no... Microsoft is far too large for that, with far too much of an installed base. But they're definitely losing a lot of their influence, and it seems like most of the really innovative stuff in the area I'm particularly interested in—web applications—isn't happening on Microsoft's platforms quite so much anymore. Do I stick with the "safe" corporate technology, or do I try to keep up with other frameworks? I dunno... still wrestling with this one. I don't know how some people find so much time and motivation to play with new tech stuff outside of their day jobs.

Microsoft technologies and web frameworks are something I think I may have to explore further in a future post. I really do believe they're losing ground in a couple of important ways, which is unfortunate since having a bunch of strong competitors around keeps everyone on their toes.

As it is, I'm going to try and explore various things and actually blog about them. We'll see if I have any luck with that.

Mobile and Desktop Computing

Originally, given that I was going whole-hog on .NET, the plan was to ditch the Mac, which is a bit of a wrench... I have my nice desktop system and an older PC laptop I can use, but my MacBook is by far my nicest laptop, and I hate to give it up.

So, I guess I won't. :P

It's also nice sometimes to look at something that's different from what you stare at all day at work...

That said, there are a couple of points I'd still like to make regarding the Mac:

• You'd better like the same hardware Steve Jobs does,
  because it's all you're getting.
• You'd better not like cheap mini-tower systems,
  because you're not getting any.
• The Mac's pretty nice, but I don't think it's head-and-shoulders
  above Windows like some people do. That doesn't
  mean it's bad, just that they both have
  strengths and weaknesses and most people will get by
  fine with either one.

I get the feeling Apple sees sealed-up (or nearly so) devices like the newer MacBooks, the Mac Mini, and the iPhone as the future of computing, and it makes me a very sad panda to admit that they're probably mostly right. Although the transition from dumb terminals to full-blown machines for every individual was a bit before my time, I really think it was one of the best things to happen to us—and I hate seeing "everything should be in the cloud and you can access it through a relatively limited device" advocates trying to turn back the clock on that. I'm not sure if Apple is trying to do that per se, but sometimes it feels like they are and I don't like it. I want powerful devices that can do more, not less.

This is why I'm a little skeptical about the Apple tablet that's probably being announced in a few weeks. Quite apart from the expense—I wouldn't be surprised if it costs somewhere between $749 and $999—I just don't really see what I'd use it for. What niche does it fulfill that existing products don't? If it's intended for portable web, email, and media, then my iPhone already does that, and it fits into my pocket.

On the other hand, if it's intended for me to be able to use it on the couch, I can already do that with my MacBook now, and quite comfortably. I don't understand all the people who are saying you can't use a laptop comfortably on the couch—what kind of twisted position are you sitting in? As I type up this post, I'm sitting quite comfortably on my couch with my feet up and the MacBook on my lap, and the screen holds itself up at a comfortable angle. If I were using a tablet, then I'd have to prop it up somehow so I don't end up with a stiff neck. I really think this particular argument is just rabid fans looking to build a justification for buying one when it comes out...

That's not to say that I'll never buy one, I'm just having a very hard time envisioning what niche it's supposed to fill and why I'd want to drop six or seven Benjamins on it. I guess we'll have to reserve judgement until we see what they come up with, but I'm a bit skeptical.

I will say that I think the people complaining about reading e-books on a backlit screen like the MacBook or iPhone being "uncomfotable" are wrong. I use Stanza or Kindle on my iPhone for probably at least an hour a day (I like to read while I'm at lunch) and I don't find it at all uncomfortable. I do recommend using light text on a dark background, though.

I do plan to stick with my iPhone this year, though I'm hoping the next revision will come with a screen comparable to the Droid's. If not, I may eventually look around to see what my alternatives are. An iPhone on Verizon might be somewhat intriguing, although Verizon is run by idiots so I'm not that inclined to switch to them again.

Conclusion

Sheesh, another long post. :) It seems that I have plenty of stuff on my plate this year, and I’m sure I won’t be able to accomplish all of it – but hopefully, I can make a pretty good dent.

Either way, here’s hoping that 2010 proves to be a good, productive, and interesting year!