The New Year

Well it is a new year, and I think its going to be a good one. Honestly, they’ve all been pretty good, but this one stands out for a couple of reasons.

In November, I will marry Genevieve and that is really exciting. We’ve come a long way, and it took me a long time to pull my shit together, but I finally asked her to marry me and she said yes. Along with that I will be accomplishing these things:

Not smoking a single cigarette. I don’t really smoke that much. A few here and there, mostly on the weekends. But it is such a disgusting habit, without any real benefits.
Working out regularly, and joining a soccer league. I realize that these first two are very typical resolutions that often fall by the wayside quite quickly, but I really believe that I can accomplish them, by thinking of them as clearly defined goals not just vague lifestyle changes.
Learning to program in Python. I’m really excited about this one. I’ve wanted to learn more about programming recently, but was overwhelmed by the number of languages out there. My boss recently asked me if I knew anything about Python, because it is a supported scripting language in ESRI software. I told him that I didn’t, but was really interested in it, so one of my goals at work for the year is to learn how Python can help us automate some of our processes. Python is also used to write web apps and also can be used to write software for Mac OS X. What is really great about this is that I will have support and encouragement at work, and will be able to use what I learn for both work and personal interests.

I am going to try to do a monthly post on my progress towards these goals, so stay tuned.