New Year Resolve

Well, it’s that time of year again. I’ve never really gone in for the whole resolutions bit, but this year I thought I’d do it with a twist. Instead of the usual ‘lose weight’ type resolutions (which even if I did make, I probably wouldn’t post about), I’m making myself some technical resolutions. In addition to this, I’m breaking them down into Immediate and Ongoing tasks…

Immediate

I intend to complete these ASAP.

Re-implement my home gateway – Since my recent conversion to ADSL my aging RH 8.0 based ISDN gateway has been retired. Unfortunately – and frustratingly – I’m having to run ICS instead. In the very near future I want to replace this setup with either another computer based gateway – probably running something like IPCop – or a hardware router/modem combo.

Switch to Debian – As most readers will know, I was (until recently) running Ubuntu as my main OS (I will be returning to it!). In the meantime, my Linux running servers at home (and work) are running various releases of Red Hat and Fedora Core. I would like to replace all of these with Debian, and now I have the bandwidth to support this effort I will be following through on it.

Fix my Linode – My internet presence is currently hosted on a Linode supplied UML box. In recent weeks, it has had lots of peculiar problems that I need to sit down and resolve. Of course, this server will be included in my Switch to Debian effort, so that may resolve them for me.

Ongoing

These will either be complete at somepoint during the year, or are ongoing improvements.

Technical Writing – Following on from my previous efforts, I want to produce (and get published) several articles this year. Nothing so grandiose as writing a book. At least, not yet.

Replace my website – As previously announced I intend to replace my current CMS with a homegrown Mono-based alternative.

Produce two pieces of software – I’ve had a few ideas for software products rattling around in my head for a while. This is the year I will do something about them. My current intention is to release one as Free (as in speech) and one commercially.

Become certifiable – Obtain my MCAD and MCSD certifications.

OK, I lied

Thinking those tasks up brought some non-technical improvements to mind, which are:

Become more productive – As mentioned in a previous post I procrastinate. I’m also easily distracted and forgetful. When I really focus on a task, I know I can be extremely productive, but it’s getting and especially maintaining that focus that I need to work on.

Become more organised – This one has two facets. I am an extremely disorganised person – which I obviously need/want to improve upon – but also I am becoming more responsible for organising (or rather managing) others. So for their benefit as well as mine I need to be become more organised.

Be consistant – This is linked with the previous two. As regular readers will know, this site (and by extension myself) go through flurries of activity. For example, two weeks of silence will be followed by a weeks worth of posts in a day (often with the posting times altered to mask this).

We’ll see how I’ve done this time next year!