Reviewing My 2010 Goals

You can go over my goals here.  I’ve really hesitated to do this post because, in my opinion, I did so poorly.  Here’s what I did:

Community

1. Write 1 article per quarter for SQLServerCentral. – Fail.  I don’t think I wrote one article this year.  Sorry, Steve.
2. Submit 1 video per quarter to SQLShare  - Fail.  I think I did one last January.  Sorry, Andy.
3. Grow OPASS from 15-20 attendees to 25+ per meeting – Fail.  We tried several new things including Live Meeting and meeting monthly instead of every other month, but we never really got any traction for growth.  With some new help, Karla and Rodney Landrum, in town we’ll be trying again this year.  There will be a blog post coming about OPASS changes for 2011.
4. Speak at 4 events this year (user groups, SQLSaturday’s, PASS Summit?) – SUCCESS. I spoke at SQLSaturday #32 – Tampa, SQLSaturday #41 – Atlanta, Seacost SQL Server Users Group on June 8th, SQL Server Society of Las Vegas on July 8th (Remote), SQLSaturday #40 – South Florida, Space Coast User Group on September 9th, SQLSaturday #52 – Colorado, and SQLSaturday #49 – Orlando.  I definitely made that goal with room to spare.  I really enjoy speaking and eventually would like to make it up to a national conference like the PASS Summit.
5. Present for 1 PASS Virtual Chapter – SUCCESS. I presented for the DBA Virtual Chapter in July.

Professional Development

1. 2 blog posts per week with at least 3 scheduled. - Close.  I had 98 posts in 2010 (not counting this one).  I did really well until November, although I never got a consistent set of 3 scheduled.  Most of the year I had none scheduled.
2. Read 2 technical and 2 professional development books. -   SUCCESS.  I read the MVP Deep Dives book and MCTS Self-Pace Training Kit (Exam 70-432): Microsoft SQL Server 2008-Implementation and Maintenance.  For Professional Development I read: Tribes, Crunch Time: 8 Steps to Making the Right Life Decisions at the Right Times, and Visioneering.
3. Get MCITP: Database Administrator 2008.  - SUCCESS.  I passed both tests on the first try with good scores.  You can see my thoughts on this process here and here.

Technical (Can I skip this one?)

1. Develop an application (C# or PowerShell) to automate testing of backups. – Fail. I never even worked on this one.  I’d still like to do it, but can’t seem to get a test environment setup at home. 
2. Learn how to and do a page restore. - Fail. Haven’t had to do it in real life and probably never will, so little motivation
3. Develop an application (C#) that uses SQL Compact Edition for offline access and uses SQL Azure for storage. – Fail. I actually started this one, but couldn’t find good documentation on how to sync an existing compact database to Azure.  I’d still like to do this one.

Personal

1. Lose 25 lbs. – Fail.  I hadn’t done anything until I ended up in the hospital with a heart scare (false alarm) just before Thanksgiving.  Since then I’ve made lifestyle changes and lost 15+ lbs and I’d like to lost about another 15.
2. Play my bass guitar 10 minutes a day to finish the book my wife got for me. – Fail.  Did well on and off on this one.  I definitely see improvement when I do this, but life gets in the way too easily.
3. Study my Bible every day. - Fail.  I definitely did better than ever before, but I didn’t even read my Bible every day, much less study it.  I did do some study every week.

Not a great year for meeting my goals.  No excuses, I didn’t get it done this year.  Here’s hoping for a more productive 2011, at least as far as goals go.