New Year’s Do-Over

Tomorrow is February 1, but I am going to start my year over. Taking a mulligan on the month of January. I am not sure how, but I completely missed the start of the New Year. I’m not just talking about the normal New Year that falls about a month ago, but the New Year of the CAD Calendar which begins the day after you get home from AU. (Let’s be honest- the Monday after you get home from AU.)

I did pretty well with my list from last year, and crossed off a few items that had carried over from 2008. I figured since the baby was turning two in 2009, it was probably pretty safe to stop gaining a pound a week like my doctor had recommended in 2007. I managed to lose about half of what I’d like to, and got into the habit of exercising. I passed the P.E. in October (after a bit of a false start in April.) It still feels a little strange writing Dana Probert, P.E., but I’m getting used to it.

I read a ton of books, listened to a ton of books, went camping, did crafts with the kids, threw endless tennis balls into the lake for my dogs and even turned off twitter now and again. I had some once in a lifetime opportunities to visit new places like Frankfurt, Prague, Australia and New Zealand. I took a short trip to Raleigh to see Hazen and Sawyer and came back with a full moleskine and a totally new view of BIM in the Civil and Wastewater space.

We managed to finally buy a bigger house- which means the tech bucket of stuff and stacks of obsolete laptops now have their own room instead of doubling as end tables. (Speaking of which, if you are looking for a place to live near Millsboro, Delaware, you can rent my old house Here’s a map. Your office could be in the very room where I wrote my parts of Mastering Civil 3D 2008, Mastering Civil 3D 2009, Introducing Civil 3D 2009 and the blog post that started all this hoopla. Think about it.)

Sometime around October, I developed a case of the “just get through”s. If I could just get through finding a house I can afford. If I can get through getting the banks to accept our short sale offer. If I can just get through another delayed closing… Thanksgiving… Autodesk University… One more trip to Manchester… Christmas… etc.. etc.. then things will calm down. Only then could I neatly tie 2009 with a pretty bow, stick it under the tree, open it up and enjoy it for the crazy roller coast ride that it was.

It didn’t quite work out that way. Everything that was in the air as I juggled what seemed like a million important things came together neatly, but right before Christmas we got some news that came from nowhere. Here I was thinking I had it all figured out, and really, I now wonder if I have ever really known anything. All of the drama of work, moving, preparation for holidays, and whatever else all suddenly seemed incredibly superficial and easy.

So after a few weeks on autopilot- working at making the new house a home, getting the old place adopted by a new family, enjoying the first winter I’ve had on the Eastern Shore where we could build not one, not two but THREE non-muddy snowmen, and gearing up for the Spring software frenzy, I am finally ready to embrace 2010.

Louisa’s resolution list the other day reminded me of all goals I want to accomplish this year from a career perspective.

So here goes…

1. Ask myself every week- Am I serving my personal mission? What can I do to stay on course?
2. Read as much as I can. And finish David Copperfield already!
3. Blog more (3 a week). Record more narrated demonstrations and tutorials to post to youtube (1 per week).
4. Under no circumstances will I allow myself to be talked into teaching more than one class at AU. Yeah right.
5. Spend time each day digging into subjects like stormwater management, flood analysis, wastewater collection
6. Attend as many industry conferences (like StormCon) and ULI local events as possible.
7. Work through one 3DS Max Design and/or Dynamite VSP tutorial per week.
8. Listen more, talk less.
9. More turtle, less hare.
10. Never forget my security badge when I go on a trip to an Autodesk office.

Comments

[Louisa G Holland]

Thanks for the shout-out. I totally hear ya on the "just get through"'s Best of luck on your goals this year!

[twitter.com/kclark138]

Congrats on passing the PE!

[Earl Kubaskie]

Kewl, Dana - congrats on reaching Pickled Egg status.

Between the blogs and the book and the AU sessions, I am just one of many who owe you thanks for how much we have learned from your efforts.

So if I may make a suggestion regarding AU classes - give us something new each year. I think it would be win-win. You master something new to the point where you can help the rest of us get there. And AU remains a fresh experience and a challenge for you, while we benefit from your drive to learn and from your skills as a presenter.