The first month of 2010 is past us. It was a good month, filled with activity and fun. As February begins I am beginning to fill a little overwhelmed. I have agreed to take on a LOT of items at work and as I look at my list I see 9 major deliverable this month alone. When I say major, I mean that they are all goin to be either highly visible, strategic, or both.

It all started as an innocent foot rub when I began to put Jerry to sleep in place of Eriko. She had been nursing him at night, but that wasn't working as effectively and I wanted to give her a break. Before long, I added the back scratch to the foot rub, as the foot rub wasn't quite enough to keep him pacified. Almost overnight (pun intended), the list grew extensively (in no particular order):

My goals page has been relatively unchanged for several years. As I reflect on it, these goals continue to be the most relevant near-term objectives that I have. I do tweak them slightly at times as my specific interests wax and wane. The ones that I tweak tend to be less specific and more theme-oriented, such as “stay technical” or “get back into science and mathematics.” Those should be more specific - but for now, just consider them placeholders.

Look at him go! Look at those doughnuts!

The theme of diligence has been strong for me. I consider it key to our company’s success and key to my own personal success. As I created my 2010 “New Year” post and clarified my specific goals, I looked at the definition of Diligence per Wikipedia. The definition affirmed my understanding and I proceeded with my post. What caught my eye, however, was the reference to the 7 heavenly virtues in Catholic catechism - and thus I wanted to revisit the topic.

2009 was a great year for me. I don’t know that it started out that way - I came into this year struggling with my new career - while I was enjoying myself to some degree, I didn’t feel as if I was excelling or accelerating. Some of that was likely due to my newfound distraction/obsession - the economic crisis. Some of it was due to my beloved Jerry growing up and demanding more of my time and attention, not less - and that was a struggle too.