So. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that kinda jazz.
Obligatory summation of the year that has now passed. Not that I blog particularly often these days – though with enough inspiration I may choose to start jotting down a few random tidbits here and there. It’s been a little bit of a sleepy year, but as always there have been some notable highlights and lowlights of this year.
Some of the things that I have kept in my head are these:
- Bought a new camera and the photography gear I was lusting after. Canon 40d plus a 70-200 f2.8L and some strobist gear. I’ve got all that I need to create some bitchin’ shots. Check out my flickr page for some shots.
- Changed jobs. This one was particularly important as it made a dramatic impact on my life and career.
- Cut my hair. Okay – so I had long hair for about 11 years, and now I don’t. I raised over 2000$ for the Leukemia Foundation via the Shave for a Cure charity event. Thankyou for all who donated!
- Seriously considered writing my first paper. My boss encourages such, for Sage-AU. I guess I’m still a little insecure about writing something for my IT peers – wouldn’t want to make a fool of myself.
- Had my NAS break thoroughly. I lost over 3 years worth of photos, approximately 60 gig of data. There was other stuff on it, but my photos were the main thing that I considered important. Quite saddened, because I had things like Sof’s 21st on there, but c’est la vie. Currently looking at another Thecus to replace it, probably a N5200PRO or a 7700.
- Bought a motorbike. Most fun I’ve had in ages, and has introduced me to a group of people that I barely realized were there. It’s like a family unto themselves. I’ve had my learners permit for 3 months now – and have received my notification that I’m eligible to sit for my P’s.
- Taking responsibility for my own actions. A small screw up at work – I manged to identify what I did, how to fix it. No panicking, no childish hiding the problem or pretending it didn’t happen – not that I would. Just sat down and worked it out with no ill effect. Much to be said about having a clear head about things
- Lost a family member. My Dad’s father died. I barely knew the man, but it’s still incredibly sad that I had so little exposure to that side of the family.
And that ended the year that was 2008. I’m not sure if I can definitively say that I took away any particular life lessons, and it certainly dragged on. Anyways, I may or may not return to blogging, though I’ve begun to take my camera places again. I try and post some decent stuff up on flickr when I can, but I’m much more interested in getting away from a computer than I am staying on it. Too busy to want to waste much time.
Leif is a UNIX Systems Administrator for a Tier 1 Australian Telco, an avid amateur photographer and general purpose geek. He has been working Unix environments for 5 years, and bought his first Digital SLR body in mid 2004.