Baltimoremick.com

In less than one week, I finally get to quench my entertainment thirst. The new (and seventh) season of 24 begins with a two night premiere.

As the biggest 24 geek, I will be firmly planted in front of my TV, watching the DVR recording of this bit of awesomeness.

Here it is, a few days into 2009, and I am just sitting down to write out some thoughts I had about the year behind and the year ahead.

2008 was not a terribly bad year for me. I experienced the painful loss of someone I loved and respected and who played a large part in where I am today.  I remain gainfully employed in the face of these troubling economic times.  On a variety of different levels, though, I feel personally unfulfilled.

For one, I have found myself procrastinating occasionally–both professionally and personally.  In all these years, I never thought I would find myself procrastinating–I have always been the one person who has always had things done on time.  My recent recidivism on this front was reinforced by a visit from my college friend Steve in December.  He mentioned that when we were in college, he was impressed that I was able to get my classwork done early.  Back then, it was almost criminal how early I finished reading and papers.  Now, however, I find myself falling off the wagon. I am not getting things done in a timely manner.

Part of this is the increasing number of interruptions I experience.  Work and the BlackBerry have played a role, and I am responsible for that one.  This year, I believe I found myself spending too much time on work–not putting the BlackBerry down or not being logged into my machine from home all too frequently.  In other words, I really need to make a better effort at respecting the work-life balance.  I did it earlier in my professional career, and here I find myself doing the same thing again.  My interruptions are not just at work, though.  I find myself interrupting myself at home by using Twitter and Facebook and being slavishly devoted to my aggregator.

I also find myself not being where I believe I need to be personally.  Again, the my time management difficulties manifest themselves here.  Instead of focusing on my personal life–dating, household chores, and entertainment–I spent so much time on other things that my downtime was devoted to just that–being down.  I also found my fitness discipline to not be up to snuff.

So, in 2009, I am going to make a conscious effort to declutter. I am paring down the feeds I read.  I am making a conscious effort to limit my time on Twitter and Facebook.  I am also going to make inroads on other personal initiatives.  I will make a better effort at maintaining my work-life balance.  In doing so, I will devote more time to dating, doing some stuff around the house, and going out to grab a movie or some other performance.

I am not making this the cliched resolution post, but instead a reminder of where I want to be.  In some cases, it is getting back to where I was.  In other cases, it is making progress.  In the end, though, I will be better in 2009.

Never has George Jetson's closing exclamation been so appropriate in my life when it comes to the last three weeks.  Calling the last three weeks hectic is an understatement. I am not dead nor have I gone missing, but I have been buried beneath a multitude of professional and personal activities.

1-7 December

This was a normal week, but the end of the week brought my friends' visit from Michigan.  A good time was had as we celebrated their impending child.  Also, Sunday was a lost day with the Ravens playing the Redskins that night--I could not leave my neighborhood as a result.

8-14 December

This was the week that brought turmoil at the offices of my corporate master, as the layoffs mentioned in the news came to fruition.  Those changes were most certainly felt by me and my group, and the rest of the week brought about the usual need to re-align our tasks and priorities.

The end of the week brought the arrival of my college friend who came down to visit and participate in the bar crawl.  Much fun was had that weekend, but the weekend was a busy one as I entertained my visitor.  Also, Sunday was an afternoon game against the hated Steelers, so there was no leaving my neighborhood again.

15-21 December

This week was another week where the last two weekends caught up to me.  I had not run any errands to purchase groceries and take care of Christmas shopping and Christmas cards.  Add to this an inordinately busier-than-usual week at the office--the rush to take care of things before people start checking out for the holidays--and the week becomes a bit busier.  Finally, the week had a few pleasant interruptions--a holiday happy hour with some coworkers, an unexpected yet welcome visit from another college friend, and my holiday visit to some old coworkers at Maryland.

Add to this some of the other tasks I took on for people: "Jason, can you fix this laptop?"  "Jason, can you take a look at this problem?"  At the end of the week, I came home from work on Friday, changed, and took a well-deserved nap.

The Week Ahead

All of this hub-bub has led me to welcome the upcoming abbreviated week.  Unfortunately, I still have some lingering holiday preparations to take care of--my Christmas cards will be getting out tomorrow and shall be consequently arriving late.  Nonetheless, I welcome the end of the week just to be able to breathe a little easier and take care of some of other lingering tasks.