2010 Resolutions Update?

Wow, it's been an extraordinarily long time since I posted anything on here. I had almost completely forgotten it existed! I actually went through today and cleaned up some things, removed some very old (2008 and before) posts, etc.

However, I thought I'd give you a quick update on where I've been and what I've been up to, just in case you don't know. And I thought I'd do that via the New Year's resolutions list I've been keeping for 2 years now. :P

1. Lose 60lbs. (ideal goal: Lose 30lbs): Yeah... this goal? Not so much. I've been absolutely swamped this entire year. You'll see why soon enough.
2. Win the lottery (ideal goal: Find a better paying job): Still in the same job, in the same place, though there are definitely prospects out there. However, I've sort of taken on a second job (you'll see, #4, keep reading).
3. Write a program, sell it, retire (ideal goal: work in Python with etank, and write software of my own) Most (read: all) of the programming I've done over the last year has been for work. I wish I had more time to write code, but I just don't. :/
   
4. Gain internet notoriety (ideal goal: Pick something, run with it): This is one of the two items I feel I've really made progress on. At the end of December, 2009, I started a YouTube series, just like I had planned (and, as it turns out, it was almost 3 weeks to the day after the last resolutions update!). It's called "This Week In Linux". I wanted to do something YouTube, since I was so inspired by some of the daily vloggers I watched, and Linux is sort of my thing, so when I saw the Linux News market on YouTube was relatively scarce, I jumped at the chance! The two channels I found when searching were QuickSurfInternet and JupiterBroadcasting. From what I could tell, the major focus of both of these channels were podcasting, with YouTube being a 2nd (or 3rd) priority. So I pulled together a list of Linux news sources, made a video (it took me days, honestly) and tried it out. Things went slowly at first, making videos regularly, a few people would watch, etc. and almost 6 months from the day I started, I was accepted into the YouTube Partner Program. This means I can put ads on my videos and actually get paid to do something I love! In the 10 months since I started making videos, I've accumulated approximately 9,000 subscribers and over 850,000 total video views. It's not gargantuan, it's not monumental, but it's a huge accomplishment for me. 
5. Be a good father / role model to my (then) unborn son (ideal goal: one day at a time, teach him): Just like last year, I think I've done pretty well on this one. I think there have only been a total of 2 or 3 nights I've been away from the little guy since he was born, and that was for Ohio LinuxFest. I've been there to teach him new words, show him new games, read to him, and take him to bed every night... and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

If I can find the time between family, video making, and work, I'm going to attempt to update this site a bit more frequently, but if you read #4, I think you'll understand, time is short for me. If you haven't already, make sure to check out my new website, my YouTube channel, and come visit me in the Forum or IRC Channel!

2009 Resolutions Update

Alright, it's been almost a year, let's see how I did... (just a hint... it's not good...)

1. Lose 60lbs. (ideal goal: Lose 30lbs): I actually started off excellently. I started at 207.5lbs, and when the baby was born in February, I was down to 194, just doing the 10-minute trainer videos 6 nights a week. That said, having a baby makes working out difficult. I started seriously training for a 5k back in July, but running doesn't really make me lose weight anymore, so while I felt great, I was still over 200lbs. After some recent sickness I'm at about 203lbs. I've still got a few weeks before the year is over. Perhaps I can start the 10-minute trainer again and try to get under 200 before New Year's.
2. Win the lottery (ideal goal: Find a better paying job): Like I said before, I started a new job in January, and I've been very happy here, for the most part. I've been constantly looking for new opportunities, but the market is just very dry, especially for a programmer with less than 1 year of real, viable experience (yeah, I suck).
3. Write a program, sell it, retire (ideal goal: work in Python with etank, and write software of my own): This I actually made some progress on. With etank and shaden (another guy from the BGLUG, I wrote a CLI-based version of Mancala. We were planning to turn it into a graphical networked multiplayer game, but there were time issues and it just hasn't happened yet. However, I did redesign Tucky Williams' website (http://www.tuckywilliams.com/wordpress), though it's not officially in use yet. I also learned Django, C#, and ASP.NET MVC for work this year, and every day you learn something is worthwhile.
   
4. Gain internet notoriety (ideal goal: Pick something, run with it): While I'm definitely not internet famous, I have been recognized on at least one occasion by my username. One of the guys I work with was discussing Linux with me, and I mentioned that I co-run the BGLUG, and he said "You're THAT jkeyes0??". Yeah. I win. Other than that, I've been working hard to learn more about video production, open source video tools, and linux, and I'm planning to start a web series on YouTube sometime in the next few months. I've also been doing lots of video work for the BGLUG at our meetings (speaking of which, BGLUG has become much more active lately, and I'm extremely proud of that, so if you haven't checked us out before and you're interested, go to our website and come to a meeting!)
5. Be a good father / role model to my (then) unborn son (ideal goal: one day at a time, teach him): I like to think this is where I really shined this year. I made it my mission to be there for everything I could with my son. I was there when he was born, when he took his first bottle, when he first laughed, when he sat up, when he said "da da" (his first word, yay!), and I've been having a blast with him.
   

While I can't say I was a true success at even my ideal goals, I definitely made some progress, and I learned a lot more about myself in the process.

I'll definitely give this a shot for next year, so expect a post right around New Year's with some updated goals.

Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Release Party!

On May 9th from 4pm - 7pm EST, the BGLUG in association with the Ubuntu Kentucky LoCo Team will be hosting a release party for the newest version of Ubuntu: Jaunty Jackalope. The event will be held at Tates Creek Christian Church:

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Come join us for some free food, good fun, presentations, and a lot of geeking out!

Gaming Night / LUG Meeting

Borrowed from etank.

This Saturday (03/07/09) from 4:00PM to 7:00PM (EST) the Blue Grass Linux User Group (BGLUG) along with the Ubuntu Kentucky LoCo will be hosting a gaming night / LUG meeting. The event will be held at Tates Creek Christian Church (see below for the map). Check out this thread on the BGLUG forums for more information on the games that we will be playing and the topics for discussion. Also attached is a flyer for the event.

If you plan on gaming remember to bring a laptop or desktop with all of the hardware you need to run it (monitor, power cords, keyboard, etc). We will have a game server there with the install packages available so if you don’t have time to get the game installed beforehand don’t let that stop you from coming.

We will be ordering pizza at some point during the night so if you you have it and are willing to chip in on the cost that would be great too.

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New Year's Resolutions

In the last few days I've been thinking alot about what I intend to do in the next few months, and the next year entirely. Here's a list of resolutions I've made to myself for the year 2009 (with a list of more attainable goals for myself in parentheses):

1. Lose 60lbs. I'm currently at 207.5lbs (thanks Christmas), so that would put me at just under 150lbs. I'm 5'9", so my ideal weight should be between 130lbs and 170lbs, between 19 and 25 BMI. (Ideal goal: Lose 10lbs before the baby is born, 10lbs by summer, and hopefully 10lbs by fall)
2. Win the lottery. I'd love to win millions and millions of dollars in the lottery and just retire. Yeah, right. (Ideal goal: Find a better paying job. I'm moving to a new job in a few days, but without a pay raise. In order to help make ends meet better, I really need to find a better paying position)
3. Write a program, sell it, retire. Again, it'd be nice to make tons of money so I wouldn't have to keep grinding my life away toward retirement, but alas... (Ideal goal: Use my newfound knowledge of Python to work on the project with my friend etank, while writing software on my own)
4. Gain internet notoriety. Yeah, not a good goal, I know, but it would certainly be nice to create something useful, interesting, or funny to share with the world. A webcomic, internet TV show, webcast, etc. I don't know. (Ideal goal: Pick something I'm good at, do something with it, and stick it on the web. If it's noteworthy, it'll gain traction. If not, what's next?)
   
5. Be a good father / role model to my unborn son. While this doesn't seem entirely unattainable, it is definitely something that will be difficult. I have a lot of bad habits that I need to ensure I don't pass along, and a lot of life lessons I'll have to teach him when he is able to understand (Ideal goal: Take it one day at a time. Teach him what I can)

That's really all I can think of at the moment. Lofty goals, offset by more humble, attainable ones. I'll be surprised if I even achieve any of my "Ideal goals", but I'm certainly going to try.

(Partial sidenote with regards to #2 and #3 above: For my new job, I'm learning C# and ASP.NET. I'm sort of against the idea of "Microsoft" languages, but it's a part of the job, so I've got to do it...)