Archive for December, 2008

If the truth be told, I had been toying with the idea of whether to write about this or not. Most years, like many people I’m sure, I made some plans which duly fell by the way side early into the new year however this year I am determined more so than ever to make them stick, especially after reading Elliot Jay Stocks blog post about the same subject, and have therefore decided to publish them for the whole world to read.

Due to this being the first year I will be in full time employment, after finishing my studies, I’d like to keep most of my resolutions work related.

Start writing

It’s always something that has interested me, I love reading and I’d love to have something of my own published. Although I’m not expecting myself to write a massive book on Cascading Style Sheets I would like to start out on that road and get a few things jotted down.

Speak at an event of some sorts

Much like reading, I’d love to give a little something back. During my studies I’ve learned alot, there’s still plenty more to learn but I’d like to be able to help people who are just starting out. We’ll see how this one pans out, I hope something comes of it though.

Attend some web conferences

During my studies I never had the time available to go to these conferences, mainly due to the fact that most of them either take place down south or abroad, infact I recently blogged about this. Attending web conferences will also allow me to link up and meet some of the people I admire in the industry.

Not fall victim to the current financial climate

People all around me are starting to fall victim to the credit crunch, multiple shops in the area have already closed or have laid off members of their staff and that’s without mentioning the bigger chains. My plan of action is simple, keep my head down, keep learning and produce a high quality of work.

Buy my first Apple notebook

Ok, the above post now makes this one look a bit daft but for as long as I can remember I’ve wanted an Apple notebook, infact one of my very first posts on this site was about Apple notebooks, touching four or five years now but they are an expensive piece of kit and I couldn’t afford one due to that fact I was still a student. Now, however that has all changed and hopefully I can finally take the plunge.

Continue my reading

As I’ve already mentioned above, I love books, of late I seem to have been bitten by the bug and have purchased several new publications. Most of the books in my collection are web based due to my profession but I’ll pretty much read anything. In 2009, I plan to continue this habit and continue building upon the nice little collection I’m starting to develope.

Learn jQuery

I recently created a new site which required elements of jQuery but due to my limited knowledge I had to get a helping hand from Dan Wellman. If I want to progress my websites are going to have to start incorporating some of the jQuery library.

Summer holiday

What’s this doing here? It isn’t worked related. Well, I feel like I owe it to myself, and girlfriend for putting up with me, we haven’t been on a Summer Holiday for two years, excluding two Easter trips to Dublin and Paris respectively, when we went to Bulgaria. We both deserve a break.

Summary

That’s it, just about sums up most of the things I want to do for 2009. Sure there’s alot of boring stuff in there but they mean alot to me and if I can get a fair few of them accomplished I’ll be chuffed to bits.

The previous year has been challenging to say the least but I hope 2009 provides me with as much joy as it’s predecessor did. Hope you all have a wonderful year in ‘09.

Geek Nights

After a conversation with an old friend a few months ago, I was told all about this brilliant night he started attending called the Oxford geeknight. The OGN describes itself as

A chance for web developers and designers in the local area to get together, share their skills and talk about new ideas, techniques and technologies.

Each OGN consists of two keynote talks of 15 minutes each. There are also frenetic bursts of socialising, sometimes adverts for other local groups, but always interspersed with two sets of 5-minute-long microslot sessions.

Knowing that I am missing out on all the brilliant speakers that the night attracts fills me with jealously.

Although I understand that there are always going to be more events taking place down south, England, I’m not too sure why I haven’t heard about more taking part up my neck of the woods in Scotland. I have spent countless hours trying to find meet-ups that are happening close to the central belt of Scotland. However, the only night I have been able to find is Refresh in Edinburgh which might be a bit too far for some people to travel too.

Now, I can finally get down to the reason I started this post, that is if you’re still with me! I’m going to propose a Glasgow meet-up for the good people of the central belt. There is alot still to be planned, infact, I haven’t got anything organised as yet. The meet-ups should hopefully follow the same structure of the OGN where the met-ups take place once every two months. The night will also be on a different week night from refresh incase anyone attends that.

Thats all for now, it’s just a brief insight into what I want to do with the night, if you want to keep updated on proceedings then keep checking back or check the subscriptions checkbox beside the submit button and you’ll recieved updates via email (the one you submitted when filling out this form.) Alternatively, if you wish to help with the setup of this night then don’t hesitate to get in contact with me via the contact form.

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On a sidenote, it’s the first of December and that can only mean ~~one thing~~ two things.

It’s nearly Christmas
24ways launched today

Keep going back to 24ways.org. The advent calendar for web geeks. Because each day throughout December they will publish a daily dose of web design and development goodness to bring you all a little Christmas cheer.