My goals for 2010, In Review

By Josh Highland in Josh's Rambling

I started 2010 off with a list of things I wanted to accomplish. Since the end of the year is just hours away, I figure it would be fun to revisit the goals I had set out for myself.

  • Create a few more iPhone apps

In 2010, I launched 3 new iPhone apps, and I have one pending approval, for a total of 4 apps in 2010. I also started a consulting company, NewLeaf Labs, that specializes in iPhone app development. In January 2010 taught an iOS development at a college in San Bernardino California. I guess you can say that 2010 was packed full of iPhone, and I met my goal. 

  • Train more / get back into fighting condition

On January 28 2010, I destroyed my ACL in my left knee and had to have major knee surgery. Of course I blogged about it. Recover from the surgery has been a longer road then expected. It’s been 11 months since my injury. I’ve been going to physical therapy 3 days a week and lifting weights when I can. I still have a long way to go to be 100% again, but I can honestly say that having my mobility taken away has made me appreciate my body, and fitness even more. 2011 will be my year of body building.

  • Switch over to Mac completely

For the most part I would say that I reached this goal. At home I use my Mac Book Pro 95% of the time. My PC is mostly for media sharing via my XBox. I love the stability of the Mac.

  • Launch “IE Tech Scene”

Yeah, this one is a big #FAIL. Not being able to drive a car or stand for 6 months really put a damper on this one. Maybe 2011 will be more fruitful in this are.

  • Automate more of my income

I’m a huge fan of The 4-hour Work Week, but I’ve back slid on this one. I sold the pomade company I had and took 2010 off. I already have plans for 2011, and I have people in the US, India and China working with me to get the new project off the ground. More details to come… 🙂

  • Blog more

Maybe I didn’t do the best job on this one. Looking at my stats on this blog, I only made 4 more posts in 2010 (44 posts) then I did in 2009 (40 posts). However, I did start a new blog, www.IAmStraightEdge.com, and I have made a ton of posts over there. I’m going to give myself the win.

  • Reduce clutter in my life

This is an on going battle. I will say that my office is the leanest it has ever been and I can park 2 cars in my garage. I’ll count this as a win, but i still have so much more to organize / throw out.

  • Attend more conferences / conventions

This one gets a big win. I was unable to walk for 6 months this year, but I still managed to make it to 3 conferences, WordCamp LA, CFUnited, and BlogWorld Expo. I was a speaker at WordCamp, and CFUnited. I hope to speak at more conferences in 2011, including Blog World Expo.

  • Take more trips / vacations

I thing this goal can be checked off the list as well. Again, for not being able to walk for 6 months, I was able to spend 2 weeks in Portland, a canoe trip in Minnesota, a 5 days in LasVegas, and a week in the Washington DC area.

  • Be as wireless as possible

2010 was the year of the Bluetooth. Bluetooth mouse, and Bluetooth Headphone. Check.

  • Get a few more tattoos

Yeah, this didn’t happen. I didn’t get a single tattoo in 2010. Weird (for me at least)

  • Continue to be healthy and not get sick

Well, being injured technically isn’t sick, but I’m going to fail myself on this one. Not being able to walk for 6 months doesn’t exactly fall into the “healthy living” section of life.

  • Pay off my credit cards

Massive medical bills from surgery, doctors appointments and physical therapy have made it tough to do. I’m hoping that 2011 will really be the year that I can declare that I am debt free. It’s a good goal for all of us to have.

Star Trek – Engage!

By Josh Highland in Josh's Rambling

I embrace all things geek, but I believe that with this blog post, I’m taking that love to a whole new level.

Earlier this year I had a massive knee surgery. As a result, I spend several months laying on my couch, working on my computer and watching reruns on TV. Over that time I discovered Star Trek: The Next Generation. After a few episodes, I was hooked. More importantly, so was my wife!

I grabbed the complete DVD box set and within a few weeks we had watched all 178, hour long episodes. I think that officially makes us “trekkies“.

After we watched all of the episodes and the TNG related movies, I was still hungry for more. I picked up a copy of “Make It So: Leadership Lessons from Star Trek The Next Generation”. The title says it all. A leadership book based on TNG. To be honest, it was a major let down, but I still wanted more.

As luck would have it, one of the largest Star Trek exhibits ever was going on display just 20 minutes from my house, and practically next door to the university I attended.

The exhibit ended up being way sweeter then I could have imagined. To my surprise,  most of the items were from The Next Generation. In my opinion, the most amazing thing in the exhibit was the re-constructed main engineering. It looked perfect! We were able to walk around in it and play with everything. It was awesome. I really wish they allowed pictures to be taken. I wanted a picture of me modifying the warp drives in the worst way. At least I can say that I got to see it.

When Halloween 2010 rolled around, I know just what I wanted to be, Captain Jean-Luc Picard! Amy wanted to be a Vulcan science officer. I wasn’t going argue with that! I have to say that the bald cap and pointed ears worked well for us. My make up made me look more like Data then Picard. Maybe I’ll join my love of Robots and Star Trek and go as Data next year.

The Star Trek Exhibit in Riverside, Ca is running until February 2011. I highly recommend seeing it.