Wow, how does time fly?! Almost 12 months ago I shared with you, my valued reader(s), a tip about the Firefox plugin Lazarus. As sad as it may be, I followed the trend of most new bloggers, and stopped writing… It was probably a lack of motivation, a bunch of other activities chewing up all of my time, and then my server started playing up… All that combined was enough for me to start pretending my blog didn’t exist… But in the true spirit of Lazarus, Serialize This is rising from the dead! With new external (yet slow and buggy?) hosting, and a fresh theme to spruce things up, I’m breathing new life into this beast. My first ever post was on my 2010 resolutions, so it seems fitting to “start” 2011 with the same.

Victor Harbor NYE Fireworks (adamskee/Flickr)

Start writing a blog

This was the first of my resolutions last year, and the one that went to plan the least. My original schedule of 4 to 6 posts a week was ridiculous, and I had completely underestimated the amount of time required to write a quality blog post. This year my aim is at least one post a week, with more if I feel I have something useful to say. At this pace I hopefully won’t burn myself out, and leave plenty of time for doing other computery things, but also living my life.

Become fit and healthy

I am proud to say that I have made significant improvements in this area! Whilst I have periods of laziness, I am much more active than I was 12 months ago. I bought running shoes, and I go running. I bought netball shoes, and I actually play netball. The Sunday afternoon games have become something that I look forward to the most every week, and hopefully I can play a second night next season. Although we don’t win many games (and that’s being generous), I’m in much better shape and it doesn’t feel like work. So for this year my goal is to keep up the exercise, and really try to get a good 30 minutes in every day of the week.

Play the piano

I was very keen to get back into playing last year, but unfortunately I lost access to a piano on a regular basis. So this resolution is still on the cards, but on hold for the time being. Later in the year I may have another opportunity to take it up again.

Develop an open source application

Being a software developer by day can really sap your enthusiasm for doing any substantial coding when you’re at home. I think I set my sights too high with the projects I had in mind, and so I never found the time to complete them to a releasable level. I have had success with a number of small coding activities (such as a social assassin game for my partner’s birthday – post coming soon!), but there is nothing in the public domain that I can put my name to. I have an idea for something really small that will hopefully get me started on this front, but Paul (the first ever commenter who I don’t know personally!) suggested a different option. He recommended that I contribute to an open source project and add a significant feature. I think this is a great idea, and will probably lead to a number of ideas and opportunities. The hardest part is choosing where to invest my time…

New resolutions

This year I’ve decided not to make any new resolutions. The four from last year all still need a bit of work, and I probably should devote my time to achieving them. I’m looking forward to writing in my blog more, and honing my programming skills on some different projects. Like all resolutions, only time will, so come back in 2012 to see how I went! While you’re at it, tell me how you’re on track with yours.