Back to the daily grind

It's nice to be back after a vacation with the fam.

I have been doing some thinking, and some reading as well. I am refining my goals and trying to sort out what's important to me. And I have some goals, I really don't want to say that these are "resolutions" because to me resolutions are always meant to be broken. I have done some thinking, and I want to prioritize some things.

My Priorities

I don't think anyone lies in their deathbed and wishes they spent more time in the office, so I plan to make more time for the people that matter to me the most. I want to spend more time with my kids, I want to watch them grow into good people. I would like to work on my personal relationships on not lose sight of that. It's very easy to do. In the name of providing for a family to forget why we are doing this in the first place. That's all I am going to write about that here. I don't like to make all of that public. All ya'll need to know is that I love my family more than anything.

Be a leader in my profession

Besides doing, you know, my job, I want to become a leader in my field, this is a tall order since Computer Engineering is filled with brilliant minds. But I want to contribute to the collective knowledge of the software community. I need to find a cause, a problem to solve, a new invention, or some way to make a contribution.

This is going to be hard because just doing my day-to-day job is consuming. Writing quality software takes a lot of work. But I do not want to be another mediocre engineer The good is the enemy of the best, and I would hate to be an average worker, I'd rather not do anything than to do an average job.

Being Creative

This ties in to the last goal, the thing is, I am the type of person who likes to take stuff in, I like to read, to analyze, to criticize, to understand, but I don't usually create things. I don't invent things, well, not usually, at work I get told what the end goal is and I make it happen in the code. But being creative involves visualizing the thing you want to create and then realizing it. I don't usually do that and I want to. This blog is one of the first things that really stem from my creativity, and I don't want to give up on it.

I'd like to write down the thoughts that come to my head, but I can think faster than I can type, so by the time I write it down, I always end up deleting it, because I hesitate.

However, I'd like to start with some short essays and eventually work my way up to a book. The thing is, I just don't know what the book will be about if I don't have anything that will inspire me to write. Probably technical stuff.

Work for a good cause

I know I am sounding really vague up to know, I want to invent something but I don't know what, I want to write a book and I don't know what I will be about, and I want to help a good cause, I just have not chosen one yet, but there are many good ways to give back to the community, I want to pick something that will make a difference in people's lives, I want to do something to help low-income students become interested in science and math, but there are so many other good things out there, like solving world hunger, genocide, diseases, I guess is better to think globally and act locally. Therefore, it will be something to help out people in the South Florida Area.

Take better care of my health

Ok, I've put on a few pounds since I got out of the reserves, and it's not too bad yet, but when I have my aunt in Venezuela urging me to lose weight I know it's time to do something. So I want to lose 20 lbs by my 30th Birthday, seriously, I am tired of being overweight, I just feel all nasty and I think about how I could get sick with heart disease and I just don't want to check out early, if you know what I mean. Therefore, I am going to work out at least 3 times a week. This one will be hard to do as I already have some many things to do. So many roles I have to fill. Husband, Father, Home Manager, Grad Student, Engineer, Creator, Blogger, friend, community member, etc. etc. But it would be stupid for me, not to do it.

Anyway, these are my resolutions for 2009 however, these are things I want to keep doing for the rest of my life. It will take some effort, but I can be done.

Take Care.

J.V.