A new year is here

And I have not put anything up here. :)

I have been working on re-launching my photoblog over at www.donaldharper.com, and I just finished up the new look.  There was a lot of back-end cleanup I had to do, and it seems to have worked well.

I have also brought back Abandon The GUI!.  I have some ideas I wanted to share, and they are too geeky for this place, so I brought it back.

As for goals this year, I have decided to keep it simple:

  1. Simplify – in all areas I can, to reduce stress and enjoy life more
  2. Work on my photography as an art and a passion, but nothing more

I know these are kinda vague, but these should keep me focused for the new year.


Yearly Goals Update

An update on where I am with my goals for the year. There has been some progress made! Yeah!

  • Social
    • Join and participate in at least one organization/club (outside of church). Helped restart the Katy Area Photographer’s meetup. Had a great event. See here for some details. Also, joined up for the 2nd annual World-Wide Photowalk, which in turn turned me on to a photowalk group based loosely here in Katy.
    • Work on blogs more. Still need to do more.
  • Travel
    • 1 Trip with family not to see family. In addition to the family camp out, just booked a weekend in Galveston with the family.
    • Start planing on bigger trip. Decided to put this on hold until we have killed our debts.
  • Photography
    • Take and post a photo a day. Been hitting this one so far! See my post about it. I have noticed that my photos have gotten much better since starting this.
  • Simplify
    • Reduce wardrobe, books and computer stuff. Attempted to bring the desk under control, and I have it as a task this month to do something with the closet. And I still need to do it. We are making some progress with the bed room, and the electronics, however
  • Finance
    • Set up emergency fund. We finished FPU, and this week we started the emergency fund!
    • Set up wills. Got the forms, should do these next month.
  • Health
    • Take better care of self. I have lost about 15 lbs and two or three inches in the waist. Started the yoga class and I am enjoying it. Only missed the week I was at UMARMY so far.


Progress Check (Updated)

Time for another belly-gazing type post. An Update on where I am with my goals for the year.

  • Social

    • Join and participate in at least one organization/club (outside of church). Helped restart the Katy Area Photographer’s meetup. First event is this Saturday. Also, attempting to start up a Katy area Linux Users Group

    • Work on blogs more. A few posts over at cli.donharper.org and here, but not enough

  • Travel

    • 1 Trip with family not to see family. We took a family camp-out over Mother’s Day weekend. Everyone had a blast, and I think we will do it again next year.

    • Start planing on bigger trip. Nothing, yet.

  • Photography

    • Take and post a photo a day. Been hitting this one so far! See my post about it

  • Simplify

    • Reduce wardrobe, books and computer stuff. Attempted to bring the desk under control, and I have it as a task this month to do something with the closet.

  • Finance

    • Set up emergency fund. FPU is going great, and by the end of the month, we will have the emergency fund started by the end of the month!

    • Set up wills. Got the forms, should do these next month.

  • Health

    • Take better care of self. Started a new diet, lost 5 lbs in the first week (and an inch or two from the gut). Starting yoga class in the morning.

Starting to make some progress on the goals. Getting some things aligned with the wife has really made the difference in some of these.


Another scare…

The boy gave us another scare this week. Some drill, woke up late, sluggish, and cold. Checked the blood sugar and it was waaay low. Off to the ER with us. This time, they ran the correct tests.

We came home today after only one night in the hospital, and the docs think they know what happened. Seems he just finished another growth spurt, and his body used up it stores doing the growing. Since he was tired, he slept longer, and his body did not have enough to keep going.

Simple solution is to make sure we give him some simple sugars and carbs at bed time (mind those teeth, though!), and do not let him sleep in too late, and make sure he has a good breakfast.

They had a name for this, but we missed it. But, he is home, in good health, and has no dietary restrictions. Woot!


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