The first week of new years’ goals is always the easiest and I think I did a good job of tackling things. I walked 5 times and worked out twice (for the first time over a year). I hung two of my guitars on the wall and managed to play for a while. I did a photo shoot for a breast cancer awareness calendar. I spent a bunch of time with my wife and children and made dinner one night.

There’s a little humor involved in setting a goal like “sit and watch TV or a movie with my wife at least once a week.” When we were hanging out together, she would ask if this was for my goals. Or afterwards, she would tell me I could check off another goal. That’s fine, it still was refreshing to make sure I made time for her.

I was also surprised to see my weight had dipped under 220. I’m still keeping my goal at maintaining under 225. I’m starting to lift again which means I may gain some weight first if I put on muscle mass. However, if my weight does drop down some more, I may lower my goal weight.

On the negative side, the kids are very good at trying my patience and my temper. I still need to work on improving that. However, that being said, I spent a lot of quality time with Jacob while Alicia was away teaching a class. That’s good because Alicia is going to be doing a lot of travelling this spring so I’m going to be spending a lot of one-on-two time with the children. The other negative was that I was nowhere near averaging a 12:45 bedtime. That’s going to take a ..LOT.. of work. However, the payoff will hopefully be improving my patience and temper with the children. :)

Work was a little tough with most of my time spent addressing a three day outage of our online databases. Basically, the idiots at Web.com moved our website to a new server, but neglected to move the settings and drivers associated with the site. Level one technical support was largely worthless, but since level two “didn’t take phone calls” they were the only people I could talk to. My support tickets would get escalated for level two to look at, but kept getting closed despite the problems not being completely resolved. The “best’ one was when they kept telling me to fix the problems myself with IIS Manager, but they neglected to actually install support for IIS Manager on the server. In the end, the only thing that got everything resolved was camping on the phone of a level one support person saying I would stay on the line until they could get a supervisor to address the problems. It worked slightly better than the previous day where I agreed to be put on hold until a supervisor could be found… and sat over two hours listening to the one minute hold music loop. We’ll be looking for a new host for our online Windows stuff.

One of my Facebook friends inspired me by placing a list of goals for 2009 online. For some reason, "goals" seem much more palatable to me than "resolutions". I've been feeling like my life has been getting out of control lately, so here is my attempt at a list of goals for 2009. Maybe I'm overbooking myself, but I think the list is pretty realistic for keeping me on course through the chaos while getting me to make time for the things I wish I was doing more of. I may also try to blog a progress report to make myself publicly accountable. (I know you're waiting with baited breath for those entries!)

Anyway, here they are… my goals for 2009, along with some commentary.

Family Goals

• Spend quality time outdoors with my son at least once per week
• Play a game with my son at least once per week
• Continue to take my daughter on walks and read to her as often as possible
• Sit and watch TV or a movie with my wife at least once a week
• Give my wife at least one massage per week
• Make at least one non-breakfast meal per week
• Take at least one family vacation that is not centered around relatives
• Visit my parents at least once every two months

Business Goals

• Lead NeuroDimension back to profitability
• Release a long-overdue update to TradingSolutions
• Find an appropriate way to make our Trader68 product generate revenue
• Hire a new employee in a way that contributes to the above goals
• Write a financial astrology add-on so I can stop thinking about it

Personal Goals

• Go for a walk at least 6 days per week
• Work out with weights at least 2 times per week
• Get our finances back to where we have money in savings
• Average going to bed by 12:45 each night
• Maintain my weight under 225
• Send birthday and Christmas cards and presents so that they arrive on time
• Keep my temper when dealing with the children

Recreation Goals

• Play music at least once per week
• Win a Rackless or Break-and-Run patch in pool league
• Play golf at least once every two months
• Do at least one photo shoot per quarter
• Have at least one party per quarter

Commentary

• I started to write personal goals, but I wanted to make sure that I placed family time at a high priority and didn't box them out for the sake of personal projects. I need to make time for both.
• We have never taken a family vacation that didn't involve relatives. In fact, I almost never take vacation time. I think now is the time to reverse that.
• I'm keeping my weight and sleep goals within reason for now. I may get more aggressive later, but I don't want to invalidate my whole list by setting lofty objectives in every aspect of my life simultaneously.
• Weights 2 times per week is up from pretty much 0 times in 2008. If I can swing more, I'll do it, but right now it'll be interesting finding any time to begin with.
• Same thing with playing music. I played maybe twice last year. Actually, I'd love to find people to jam with who don't mind me shaking off a ton of rust.
• While pool league is a team sport, setting goals like "making the playoffs" is pretty much out of my control. Instead, I'm concentrating on improving enough to win personal accomplishment patches that I have come close to getting, but have eluded me to date.
• I'm passively looking for people to play golf with. I consistently shoot over 100, so this is definitely just for fun. Let me know if you're interested. Ideally, I'd love to cobble together a somewhat regular foursome, but even a one-time outing would be appreciated.
• I feel lame setting a goal of one photo shoot per quarter, but that's the thing that I felt needed to give in order to make all of these other things work. I don't want to drop photography, but I want to make sure everything else is firing on all cylinders before feeling like I need to keep active in it.

On top of having a new baby, a sick toddler, and an amazing number of hard drives crashing, Alicia's purse was almost stolen at the Oaks Mall this week. Here's the story:

Alicia was at the mall on Thursday with Jacob in the stroller and Dorothea strapped to her in a carrier. Her purse was in the basket in the bottom of the stroller. She left the stroller for a moment to help Jacob get out of a kiddie ride between Sears and Macy's when a man grabbed her purse from the stroller and started running off with it. Fortunately, a mall patron saw the whole thing happen and started yelling after the guy. Alicia struggled to gather Jacob and chase him. A couple coming out of Macy's saw him running toward them with her purse and pushed him over into some racks of clothes. The thief got up and dashed off, leaving the purse and its contents. Neither mall security nor GPD were able to locate him; however, there may be some footage of the guy on a store security tape.

One of the mall security officers mentioned that similar events have occurred both last week and this week. He also said that the bad guy (or guys – they think there are a couple people working together) seems to be targeting women with strollers.

We were lucky that no one (other than the purse thief) was hurt and that her purse was recovered. Please be sure to be careful with valuables and purchases, especially if you have children to attend to.

So, 48 hours ago I was posting about the time management juggling act going on...

Well, today, Alicia and I both woke up with some stomach bug. Violent nausea, the works. I stayed home from work and we spent a lot of time watching TV and napping with the kids.

Then, the bizarre happens. I'm sitting on the toilet, I start to feel light-headed and I wake up on the bathroom floor with a serious bloody gash across my nose. For those of you who have followed my blog for a little while, this is THE SECOND TIME THIS YEAR this has happened. This cut is probably worse than the last one, too. I think I need to install padding around the toilet.

After much napping and a light dinner, I'm feeling somewhat better... I just have no idea what to think of my face.

Oy.

Alicia's business lease expired this weekend, so we needed to get everything out of the old office. We were paying far too much rent for the amount of business we were doing, so after looking at other office space, we decided to partner with some other local counsellors for now to reduce expenses.

A friend was kind enough to swing by with a trailor and help with the big stuff yesterday, but all of the assorted little stuff got left to later. Thanks to the new baby, Alicia and I have been exhausted, so I opted for all of us taking naps when Jacob was down for his this afternoon.

Jacob has been pretty clingy lately, but we couldn't tell whether it was being sick or being unsure with the new baby around (or both). Well, the sick part of that showed up today in the form of projectile lunch return all over his room in the middle of his nap (which we managed to sleep through). Poor guy went right back to sleep afterwards. To clean up, Alicia decided to use the steam cleaner and I had the bright idea to remove as much of his furniture as possible. Midway through moving the changing table, I'm thinking this is pretty heavy for Alicia to be moving, but she didn't complain.

So after a very late dinner and bath, Alicia puts Jacob to bed while I do the dishes. When she's done, she comes out in severe pain gripping her abdomen. Either she pulled something or dinner isn't sitting well. She didn't think a trip to the hospital was needed, so she just took some Advil and used the heating pad. This left me to do the office space (which I'm glad I did, anyway, so she wasn't lifting anything else heavy). It was like the old college days... cleaning up the apartment at 1am the night the lease runs out. In the end, it got done... we've got a garage full of business and photo stuff, but we don't have to worry about the landlord doing something with it.

Anyway, by the time I was done, Alicia's pain had subsided. It just seems like sometimes all of these things come to a head. Things could always be worse, but I'd also be a fan of them being better at times. I fully believe we make our own reality. It just seems like so much less is in my control with the introduction of children into the mix. Heck, even the addition of a spouse made life less "controlled". What's a Virgo to do?

Of course, moving offices also means I need to find new studio space. Shooting at home isn't real practical with two children (besides, while Alicia is tolerant of my hobby, she doesn't really want complete strangers coming over). It might be possible to shoot at work if I can figure out how to safely move the conference room table, but I'm not sure about that. Hopefully, I can work out something soon. (That, or do more outdoor shoots.) Any ideas on 13'+ rooms that are pretty much free to use?

Thanks to everyone for the congratulations on the baby girl! I need to get over wanting her to accelerate to where Jacob is (and simultaneously wanting Jacob to be more grown up). I think as soon as everyone is well I'll start to be able to enjoy things more. :)

Up next... taxes that were deferred thanks to our office manager screwing up our books. Actually, we got the figures in mid-summer, but I still need to figure out fixed asset depreciation for Alicia's business before I file (by mid-October). Plus, I still have one more shoot to finish post-processing (and three to upload).

What was that I said about making my own reality? :)

Now, off to tend to Jacob's nightly coughing. Stupid post-nasal drip.

For more pictures of Dorothea, Jacob, Mommy and Daddy... click here

Real quick... before my computer overheats...

Lots of new photoshoots... of which I just uploaded two to the GainesvilleModel.com site (and blog).

Air conditioning is out AGAIN... and it's HOT in here.

Alicia and I are sick (on top of Alicia's recent heart problems which we're going to the cardiologist for tomorrow).

Jacob is doing great.

Alicia's pregnancy is going fine... not that Alicia is one of those people who enjoys anything about being pregnant. :)

Ok, need.. to... get.. downstairs... before...melt.

If you've been following my GainesvilleModel.com blog, you've seen more text than pictures. That's because I've had an amazing string of SIX cancellations/no shows in a row. Thankfully, I have years of training with programming computers and recent training with a toddler so I am prepared for things just not going my way. :)

Shoot #1 was an actress who is preparing for a big show. Normally Monday night is great for actors, but she had an emergency rehearsal come up. So we had to postpone until after the run of the show.

Shoot #2 was a local model with fair amount of experience. Unfortunately, she also had a rather strong allergy attack this week. After talking to her the night before and the day of the shoot, we decided to postpone the shoot until her eyes were less watery and nose less sniffly.

Shoot #3 was a pair of models driving in from Jacksonville for a tandem shoot. Unfortunately, the husband of model #2 was evidently unaware of shoot and made other plans for them that couldn't be cancelled. So we had to postpone this shoot.

Shoot #4 was scheduled only one day beforehand. For whatever reason, she was a no-show. It's possible that something happened last minute and I'll run under that assumption, but I still haven't heard back from her.

Shoot #5 received my follow-up confirmation a little late, but was still responded to. Unfortunately, the response was cryptic enough that I had no idea if the model was going to be there, so I spent another chunk of time hanging out at the studio waiting for a no-show.

Shoot #6 was a back to the bad luck from a few weeks ago. This was a new model who unfortunately got completely eaten up my misquitoes the other day, so she politely cancelled and asked for a reschedule.

The runs of bad luck I can't do much about, but the no-shows are a bit troublesome. I think part of the problem is that I rely on e-mail for all pre-shoot communication and some people may not associate much responsibility (or memory) to what they say in e-mail. It was suggested to me that a phone call might be better, so maybe I'll start trying that. I personally find phone calls a little invasive, but I can also see how they make the person you're working with a little more real. :)

Anyone else have a suggestion?

After a 4+ month break, I'm pleased to announce another shoot is online:

Ok, things are moving forward again. :)

I have acquired a new camera - a Nikon D40 DSLR. I haven't done any shoots for www.gainesvillemodel.com with it yet, but I think it will bump my work up a notch. After taking the Spring off, I've started scheduling new shoots for the coming month... wish me luck! (And if you're interested in being a model, my shoot calendar is on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/gainesvillemodel.)

Jacob is doing better. The fevers were gone last weekend, but he started off the week spitting up blood at nights. It seems his sickness from the previous week had left his throat so raw that this was the result. Thankfully, that stopped after a few nights and he's actually starting to sound less like a 20-pack-a-day smoker.

This coming week's project is taxes. Normally I don't put them off like this, but it became apparent that work wouldn't have their taxes done in time which meant I'd need to file an extension. Of course, since I have never filed an extension before, I didn't realize I'd need to include an estimate of my taxes. So, my evenings this week will be spent creating said estimate. Just as well, it needed to be done eventually, anyway. Just not looking forward to figuring out how to depreciate Alicia's business possessions properly.

The next two weekends will also be interesting... Alicia gets to play sorority big-wig and attend the creation of two new chapters. This means Jacob and I will be hanging out and doing more male bonding. (Last weekend, this included playing basketball and him handing me screws while I built garage storage.)

Oh, and he cleared his Grandma's yard of eggs today in what seemed like record time. There was barely enough time to take pictures, but they will be uploaded eventually. :)