As 2006 winds down, I’m loathe to be like everyone else and reflect on the past year and wallow in the glow of yet another year gone by.  Why? Because there is so much I haven’t done and I feel like I’m slipping further behind, that’s why.

As an example, this blog: I have not updated this blog with witty, insightful or interesting tidbits.  That’s a shame, because many thoughts have come and gone, but I have not capitalized on them yet.

Exciting things to do: I have not yet played with or otherwise installed and reviewed Microsoft’s Vista.  That likely makes me the last techie on the planet to have not.  But I am also one of the few that doesn’t have the hardware to do so.  I’m ashamed to say it, but much like a street walker (aka “hooker”, “whore”, “consultant”) I usually have my toys paid for by my employers.  My current employer doesn’t really afford me the opportunity to have that kind of hardware at the moment.  Sure, I can ask for something and likely get it, but it’s not material fast enough to get the full ride of the platform.  As such, I haven’t used it since beta 2. 

Microsoft’s Longhorn is another item I haven’t yet cracked that tape on.  That’s not good because that’s an up and coming server OS that deserves more attention.  Sure, I’ve been deeply immersed in R2, but it’s just not the same.

So….what have I been doing?  I hate to admit it, but I have been looking back and what I see is a lot of busy work.  I’ve been busy making inroads into areas that desperately need attention at my current employer.  Years of politics and divestitures and mergers have taken their toll on the infrastructure.  There’s a lot of fragmented talent and the infrastructure reflects that. I’m working hard to sow a lot of that up and convince, help, push people to move in a more positive direction.  That means ripping some things out, re-thinking others, and avoiding still others. That takes time. Especially when I’m just a lowly hands on, in the trenches kind of techie at this company.

Virtualization – man I love that stuff.  Very handy and solves a myriad of issues.  Of course, it opens a lot of other doors that might be dangerous, but I love it.

Monitoring – well, it has to be done.  Not very sexy, but boy does life suck without it. Even worse when you don’t realize what life is like with good monitoring and you think you have it already.

Email – that’s a passion of mine, but I’m hands off currently.  I’m biting my nails realistically.

School – hey, it’s always nice to keep the mind sharp. So I decided to return to school and see if I can pick up some business classes.  This is a first step on a long journey, so don’t look for anything earth-shattering any time soon. Just stay with me on this one.

Exercise – like many of us in this field, exercise comes at some other time.  I miss it.  Before shoulder surgery many years ago, I was running 5-7 miles a day and then going to the gym etc. Previous life of course, but I miss it and I’m starting to get back into it.  Slowly because I really don’t want to pick up any undo injuries. I’ll let you know how that progresses.

Writing – I keep trying to write on a regular basis.  Goodness knows I need to improve it. Let me know how I’m doing if you have any suggestions (return to my day job has been taken; please pick something else J

I haven’t mentioned my family in this, but let’s leave it as an assumption that I devote as much time as I can to my family.  My wife is also going to school these days and I am committed to supporting her in that endeavor.  I’m also committed to supporting my kids in their endeavors.  That doesn’t leave a lot of time as you can imagine.

What’s ahead?  As if I need more right? Well, I plan to look into some of these open source projects.  I think it might be time I take a closer look if I can find the time to do that and look at Longhorn.  I’ll keep you posted on that as well because I think it could be a great learning experience and can really enhance my career path in the sense that I’ll get that better learning. All of that will have to wait until after my wife and I finish our missions trip in February.  She’s a dental professional and I work with computers – turned out somebody needed us both at the same time. 

So as 2006 ends, here’s to wishing you a happy, safe, fulfilling and exciting 2007.  No put down the mouse and go outside. J