What Would a Kick-Ass 2012 Look Like?

2011 was a really tough year for me and my family. My son Grayson changed from a stationary bundle of cuteness into a roving force of chaos. Adjusting to a mobile one year old boy consumed a lot of mental and physical energy. My daughter Mackenzie turned five and we decided she was not ready for kindergarten. In my opinion this was our first major parental decision, and it was a hard one. She still had to deal with a big adjustment in that we switched her preschool to where she will go to kindergarten next year. I went back to work after being laid off for seven months. As it always is they hired me three months after I was needed so the summer was a lot of hours at the office which is hard on all of us. Things are good though and I really have no complaints.

Another big thing that happened in 2011 was that I started listening to the Nerdist Podcast. This is significant because it reminded me that I am a creative person and in order to be mentally healthy I have to express that in some form. The Podcast also introduced me to another world of great and creative people on twitter.

So coming off a very challenging year and being inspired I really want to make 2012 a kick-ass year. There are a million things I'd like to improve in my life, but flossing more regularly and organizing my music don't necessarily make an awesome year. So what does a kick-ass 2012 look like for me?

Architecture

I've been working in architecture since 1998. While I could have been a licensed Architect years ago I never really felt I knew enough until the past couple of years. I won't be able to complete the licensing process this year because I just don't think I can get through all seven tests in one year. I am going to knock out four of them though. The one I failed last year and three new ones.

Writing

I think deep down I am a creative Renaissance man. I can see myself doing wood working, sculpting, writing and music at some point in the future. At this point in my life though the easiest thing to get my creative fix is to write. I've really come to enjoy writing even if what I write sucks at the end. At the very least I always enjoy typing words. I am going to focus my writing on this blog and put out a lot more content this year. That alone would be good but not kick-ass. So I am going to tackle some of the hard topics I have always meant to. Like the common misconceptions about Christianity and where my views fit on the political spectrum.

Fitness

If you saw me on the street you would not consider me overweight, but I am thirty pounds heavier than I want to be. So it would fantastic if I could drop those pounds and be fit enough to ride The Dam Loop. For those outside the Austin cycling community the Dam Loop is a 50 mile cycling route that goes by the dam that forms Lake Travis.

Travel

There are two vacations I have in my head and it would be awesome if we could take either one. The first is to visit my friend Tammy in Guatemala. She's there with her husband and family doing missionary work for the church. The second is to go out to Los Angeles. I have a couple friend's there and so much I want to do. Like go to the Wednesday night Meltdown show with one of the hosts of the Nerdist Podcast. See a show at the Disney Concert Hall which was designed by Frank Ghery. There is more to this goal than just taking a vacation though. We'll need a lot of money for either of these trips and that goes into a 2012 goal that I'm not going to discuss on the blog!

The Truck

A couple years ago my dad gave me the Dodge pick-up truck we drove when we moved from Potsdam, NY to Merkel, TX in 1981. I will fully restore it at some point. I know I wont' be able to do it all this year but I am going to do something on it. Just one thing. What is implied in this goal is cleaning the garage. The truck is buried in junk right now and it's going to take a bit to get where I can work on it.