Resolutions For 2010
I’m not a great one for New Years Resolutions. The reason is simple, I don’t like failure and when most people make a resolution this is exactly what they are doing. However, exactly one year ago, I decided to break my tradition. The reason was simple, I knew that if I published my aims and goals for the forthcoming year I would be more likely to see them through as people had been able to see what I had laid down for myself.
My goals were; start writing, speak at an event, attend a web conference, stay in a job, buy an Apple notebook, continue reading, learn jQuery and take a holiday.
Goals achieved
Start writing
Seeing as this was my very first attempt at blogging, I like to think that I got on quite well with it, writing twenty six posts during the year.
I also had the pleasure of writing an article for .net magazine which if you missed can be downloaded here.
Attend a web conference
In the end I actually ended up attending three. In May I attended Future of Web Design in London with my good friend Mike Robinson. This was the first time I had the pleasure of hearing Mark Boulton, who now holds the position of my favourite web designer.
Next up was Future of Web Design Tour, Glasgow leg. This was right on my doorstep and seemed like an oppertunity that I couldn’t afford to pass up but in the end I probably could have saved myself a few quid as sadly it wasn’t all that great. However, I did get to meet some great people.
The first Build conference was held during November and it was easily the best conference of the three, I will definately be back next year. I would throughly recommend it to anyone who didn’t have the chance to attend. Big props to Andy McMillan for organising something spectacular.
Stay in a job
Check.
Buy a notebook
I bought my first ever Mac setup in January. Buying a 15″ MacBook Pro and the lovely 24″ Cinema display, since then I think Apple has taken a fair chunk of my wages away with all their lovely peripherals. Does an iPhone count as a peripheral?
Continue reading
This year I’ve bought far too many books, in fact it’s starting to border on an unhealthy obsession. Not just any books, books that only focused on web, colour and typography. Send for help.
Holiday
My first holiday in three years. My girlfriend and I travelled a mere twelve hours away to take in the sights of Koh Samui, Hong Kong and Macau. If you fancy seeing some of the worst photography in your life then head over here.
Unplanned Goals
HTML5 Doctor
One of the plus points of the year was getting the HTML5 Doctor site up and running. In my opinion this has been a run away success and I’d like to thank Rich, Bruce, Tom, Mike and Remy.
Goals to be carried over
Speak at an event
Unfortunately this is something that fell through towards the end of the year. I did have a small talk lined up for a class of 20-30 students but perhaps this is something that will be achieved in the new year.
Learn jQuery
I didn’t get very far with this resolution, I have learned a few bits and pieces but nothing great. 2010 will be the year that I finally get to grips with jQuery.
New goals
Project 52
I actually covered this in my last blog post and it’s one that I’m definitely looking forward to. I still haven’t got any posts lined up for this, baring in mind that it starts in less than two days but it’s the challenge that I like the most about it.
Personal Projects
This coming year I’d like to spend some time on my own projects, I have a few in the pipeline right now, which should take me up to April/May time. So keep popping back and find out exactly what I’m on about.
Move Out
A scary thought is the fact that in two months I will be twenty three and I’m still living at home. I hope 2010 will be the year that I can make the jump and find somewhere.
Meet more great people
This year I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some great people; Aaron Bassett, Ashley Baxter, Sam Brown, Jason Cale, Rich Clark, Dennis Coughlin, Dan Donald, Paddy Donnelly, Gary Ennis, Piotr Fedorczyk, Andrea Gandino, Molly E. Holzschlag, Si Jobling, Patrick H. Lauke, Roan Lavery, Bruce Lawson, Tom Leadbetter, Inayaili de León, Drew McLellan, Rick Nunn, Adam Oliver, Graeme Pirie, Alan Wallace. Sorry if I missed anyone out, it’s been a long year.
Let me know what you’ve been up to.
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Who I am
My name is Jack Osborne and I am a Glasgow–based designer and writer. You should follow me on Twitter.
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What I do
I am a front-end developer with proficiency in; accessibility, design, semantics, usability & web standards.
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Where I do it
I am currently working freelance and I am available for hire. Feel free to get in touch with me if you fancy a chat.
Nice one fella, and I’m glad I was one of the people you met this year.
I have a few javascript articles coming up for project 52, which will include jQuery so hopefully they might be of use.
And remember, you can never have too many books. Although these days its cooking books that seem to take over my flat.
Keep it jingle jangle.
Jase.
Nice roundup dude, thanks for the mention.
I’m hitting project 52 this coming year as well. I’ve been working on my first post for it over the past few days. It’s going to be about my 365 and my last year with photography. I should probably try and plan some more else p52 is going to be a lot of har work.
I try to only set myself one real goal for the year but I like to make it a big one and I like to make sure I hit it, so 365 done onto p52.
@Jason – I’ll be looking forward to the Ruby and jQuery tutorials because my level of knowledge of both fields leave much to be desired. Oh, I’ve got my fair share of cookery books too but I can never peel myself away from the pages to put anything I’ve read into practice, I’m normally too busy salivating over the pictures.
@Rick – p52 is indeed going to be a lot of hard work, I’m already started to question whether I’ll be able to do it or not. You managed the 365 no problem so I don’t really envisage the p52 being much of a problem for you.
Wish you all the best for 2010 lads.
A pleasure to meet you too Jack. Also thanks for playing a big part in HTML5Doctors success. Especially the glossary. I’m hoping that H5D posts are included in your project 52 writing!
Here’s to a great 2010.
Rich
@Rich – Trust me, the pleasure was all mine. Best of luck with Speak the Web.
[...] thought Jack Osborne wrote a good post on his resolutions for the new year and adding it to my blog where it is written down for me to check and update in a [...]
All the best