I saw a TikTok where a guy said instead of a list of goals/resolutions, make it a bingo card. Therefore making it more of a motivation to get a bingo by years end. Here’s my 2025 resolutions bingo card.
As it’s the end of the year, I thought I’d throw an update to 2024 Resolutions. In the coming days I’ll be doing 2025 resolutions. Here’s how my 2024 resolutions are going:
Work on Years Collage – I’ve done a lot of enhancements to yearscollage.com over the past year such as adding more fields, more sorting, more security, and a places. I plan on implementing a timeline at some point.
Finish Dad’s Years Collage – I’ve finished this for a while now. I’m proud of it but unfortunately the people that I set it up for don’t really care so it’s just whatever. I still like to look back at my father’s life.
Finish my Years Collage – Not there yet. But I have been adding to it and not slacking.
Build movie organizer – This was a very fun (but fast) project for me. The only thing that was difficult was finding a source but once I was able to get reliable and free JSON, everything was great. It is kind of a pain to add new movies but it’s a process that I have documented and hopefully could figure out should the resource go.
Learn more Portuguese and be able to have a good conversation – I feel like my portuguese has progressed a lot but I still have a lot to learn. I’m good at reading and writing but speaking and listening not so much. I bought Practice Portuguese and do it every day. I’m also going to look into booking classes online since my portuguese class has been on hiatus since September :(
One month sober – Did Dry January. It was a pain in the ass. I’m not doing that again.
More quotes – Not so much. I even put a notice on the quotes site. Maybe next year I’ll do better but I doubt it. It’s just freeing to not have to whip out my phone to record something.
Figure out a shrine for my Dad’s stuff – I put his stuff on two shelves in my office. I like it and look at it every day.
Figure out a place for glasses/shot glasses – This stuff is in a few boxes in the storage. Maybe next year we will figure out something but right now we just don’t have the real estate.
Reach out at least once a month to people – I have set alarms in my phone to reach out to people.
Aunt Janet – Not
Sabrina P – I talk to her game nights; I need to do more
Helen E – We talk at least once a month
Becky D – Though I’ve ignored my alarm a few times, I still try to reach out
Matt A – I talk to him on game nights
Megan W – I have an alarm but I have ignored it a few times; we’re seeing them next year!
Billyray M – No alarm but I feel like I keep in contact well; I’m excited about the future!
Dance more – Not doing much but hope in the new year will bring more of this.
Do something nice for Brian every week – Ugh I think I definitely dropped the ball on this one. Laziness and ideas… Maybe once a week was too much of a commitment. Maybe once a month next year.
Blog more – More than once a month wasn’t bad!
Swim at least once every three days – Nope. I should do this though.
Practice juggling – Another nope. The juggling balls are right in my office but I’ve been spending so much time with Bri, I don’t think about it.
Have more online game nights – I had a few this year… The problem is staying up late (I stay up until 2 AM every Monday for Dominion). I should have more though.
Now that we’ve settled more into Portugal (we’re still not all the way here yet), I’m going to be doing some New Years resolutions. Here are 15 things I would like to accomplish next year.
Work on Years Collage – Enhancements, maybe pay for SSL, more enhanced search, etc. I have a list.
Finish Dad’s Years Collage – I want to set out to finish this by mid-January and put his pictures online. I’m still going through cropping and organizing.
Finish my Years Collage – I still have a list of stuff I would like to put on there.
Build movie organizer – We have a bunch of movies on different media (DVDs, Amazon, Google, etc). I would like to build something that will use some sort of API to get the movie information so I can digest the data to be able to search and find the movies I have and on what media.
Learn more Portuguese and be able to have a good conversation – Of course I’m still learning the language and I am capable of having a basic conversation but I hope to get to the point where I can have a more complex conversation.
One month sober – I’m going to do a sober January. No alcohol.
More quotes – This past year wasn’t exactly full of quotes. Although I’m hanging out with more people and doing stuff almost every day, I’ve been slacking on recording these memories. I hope to change that.
Figure out a shrine for my Dad’s stuff – In the states I had a big china cabinet that housed some of my Dad’s stuff. Right now it’s in a box and I feel bad since it’s not being displayed. Even though we have a much smaller space, I would still like to have something like it back.
Figure out a place for glasses/shot glasses – Right now my collections are just in a box. I want to showcase them. Maybe that will be in the kitchen enhancement 3.0?
Reach out at least once a month to people – These relationships are important to me and I do not talk to them enough. That’s not to say others aren’t just as important it’s just I need to keep up more with others.
Aunt Janet
Sabrina P
Helen E
Becky D
Matt A
Megan W
Billyray M
Dance more – With a little help from my friends here :)
Do something nice for Brian every week – Brian is a great guy. My husband, my rock, my confidant, my best friend. I need to show him I really care about him more.
Blog more – Once every four or five months is not enough. I have several ideas for posts like what advice to give new college kids (thanks Heidi).
Swim at least once every three days – I have an indoor pool. I need to use it more.
Practice juggling – It would be so cool to go down to the marina and juggle with Brian. That would be fun. My juggling skills need some fine tuning.
Have more online game nights – It sucks staying up past 3 AM but relationships and friends are worth it. I should host more Jackbox game nights.
In order to discourage myself from eating meat and becoming more of a vegetarian, in the entire year of 2012 I kept track of all the meat I ate. Granted this list doesn’t include seafood in which vegetarians do not eat but I still eat… I’m more of a pescetarian.
A lot of this list contains meat of which I was “forced” to eat via going over family/friends houses where their main course was meat. Also it contains instances where I ate meat because it was going to be thrown out anyway. Here’s a key for the reasons why I ate it:
^ = went over someone’s house who served meat
* = ate meat because it was going to be thrown out anyway
# = chose to eat meat
Date
What I Ate
Reason
1/5/12
chicken & broccoli
#
1/8/12
1 piece bacon, turkey
^
1/14/12
chicken & broccoli
#
1/15/12
chicken wings & sloppy joes
^
2/4/12
half hot dog, chicken & broccoli
^, #
2/14/12
chicken teriyaki
#
2/17/12
bbq that ar wouldn’t have eaten
*
2/25/12
chicken & spare rib
^
3/4/12
ham
^
3/11/12
lasagna with meat
^
3/22/12
chicken teriyaki
#
3/24/12
pepperoni pizza
^
4/3/12
roast beef
^
4/8/12
chicken, turkey, ham
^
4/15/12
sausage
^
5/6/12
chicken teriyaki
#
5/28/12
sausage, part of steak
^
6/28/12
lasagna with meat
^
7/1/12
fillet minion
#
7/22/12
chicken teriyaki
#
9/2/12
bbq sandwich
^
9/27/12
hamburger
#
9/29/12
hamburger
#
9/30/12
meat in pasta from pizza hut
#/* (I didn’t realize the pasta had meat in it when we ordered… damn Pizza Hut)
11/3/12
piece of roast, little bacon
^
11/22/12
turkey, ham
#
12/25/12
ham, little turkey bacon
#
12/28/12
little hot dogs
*
So I guess I didn’t do too bad for the year. I ate meat 28 times. I averaged eating meat once every two weeks. I only really chose to eat meat 13 times. I definitely cannot call myself a vegetarian after eating all of that meat though. I will do better in 2013 as I’m more familiar with meat substitutes (Morning Star Ribs, Veggie Chinese place, chik’n, etc).
I’ll continue to keep track and see how I do in 2013. I need to be more strict and refuse to eat meat when it’s served.
By the way, the main reason I became a quasi-vegetarian/pescetarian is to help save the planet. Eating meat is very hurtful to the environment.
Get over feelings I have (yeah, I don’t feel that way anymore, and frankly I don’t care)
See Aunt Ruth & Aunt Janet more (ugh, I saw AR like 3 times this year, AJ like no times… I suck)
Eat less meat and find more things to eat that are vegetarian (I find it really hard to do this, I’m eating more fish but it gets hard at restaurants, I find myself eating fish or multiple sides)
Finish the garage (everything else but the driveway is complete)
Get Candi off the cone (her paw is almost 100% healed but this will sadly be never done)
Settle Dad’s estate (not under my control)
Fix the Camaro and paint it (runs fine, needs an oil change, paint = DONE)
*you know*
Ride the scooter to work (whenever I can, I do)
Host at least three parties(haven’t even had one yet, a few mini parties, maybe in a few weeks)
Snowboarding, master the bunny slope and be able to get off the lift without falling (nope)
Go see a general practitioner (done, I have high cholesterol)
Donate money to charity (haven’t been able to donate to anything since I have bills to pay and people I need to support)
Go on vacation and take more weekend breaks (Vegas, went to OC, plan to go on more little trips)
Get better at debating (I’m well in the loop)
Make more friends (I made a few this year, I want to make more)
New goals:
I may delete my facebook page
I’ll be setting up my own wiki of my life
Take more pictures… maybe… of parties I attend and stuff
Get at least 1,000 quotes next year (I might make it)
See Aunt Ruth and Aunt Janet more (once my dad’s stuff is worked out my weekends will be free again)
Get over some things that bother me
Keep off the 10 pounds I just lost (currently weigh 150), be healthier and eat healthier (I weigh 148, cutting back on meat and never eating until you’re full is the key)
Treat Brian and Candi better (always a resolution)
Do something good for the environment or humanity (starting to commute to work on an electric scooter but this is not enough)
Buy a house
Buy a new Prius
Get Candi off the cone (poor puppy) (really wish I could mark this one off)
Settle my Dad’s estate (not in my control) (done a little, need to order and sell Dad’s house then I’d mark this one off)
See a doctor and dentist (seeing a doctor in August, saw the dentist)
EDITED FOR SECRECY, IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, JUST ASK ME; CAN’T HAVE IT ON THE WEB RIGHT NOW (not really a goal anymore)
Plant grass
Buy a grill
Buy a lawn mower
Buy a plasma TV for downstairs (not really a goal anymore)
Buy a sound system for downstairs (not really a goal anymore)
Buy another TV for the bedroom (not really a goal anymore)
Build a garage (in progress, check out flickr for pictures)
Paint the basement (not really a goal anymore)
Paint the bathroom (not really a goal anymore)
Get insurance, tags, title for the Dodge Ram (problem is actually using the truck, it’s just sitting now taking up space)
Get the Camero painted AND fixed (it broke, needs some work)
Have a house warming party (a successful party)
So I’ll go rogue a little and get something off my mind. I don’t want this to be a depressing post but I sometimes get these waves of obsession where I can’t stop thinking of an old friend I used to hang out with. The last few times we hung out I don’t think it went so well or whatever. He doesn’t talk to me and I don’t talk to him. He’s got other friends and so do I. So many things I just want to say to him to kind of get it off my chest so to speak but I know if I do he’d probably not care. I just need to get over it. He doesn’t want to hang out or anything, he doesn’t invite me anywhere though I reach out to him sometimes. I guess I just want him to miss me like I miss him sometimes. I want him to know that I am enjoying my life as I’m sure he’s enjoying his. However I just miss him and wish things went differently so I could be a part of his life. Just part of me wants to say this.
Sorry it took me so long to post but after over two years of wanting to do it, I finally took and PASSED the Zend PHP 5 Certification Exam!
Although this has nothing to do with what I’m currently doing now, I feel it will help me in the future, plus it’s pretty cool since I can use the logo! Anyway, I started preparing for the exam around the beginning of March. I had previously bought the two books by PHP Architect (Zend PHP 5 Certification Study Guide 2nd Edition and Zend PHP Certification Practice Test Book).
I first read through the Study Guide. Though full of mistakes, it really wasn’t too painful to get through. I took notes on stuff I thought I should know. All the while I was reading what others were saying about the test itself. I read any blog that I could in relation to the test. That’s where I got another recommended book (Zend PHP Certification Study Guide by Zend Technologies). I bought and read this book only to discover a few pages into it that it dealt with PHP4, not 5. I decided to skip the things that had totally been redone since 5, like OOP. I did steal a lot of the questions though.
Thinking I was pretty well prepared, I decided to take the tests in the Practice book. I burned pretty badly on a few topics (Dates, Security, Streams, and Regex). I also found a few free practice tests online. After wearing out all the test questions online, I pretty much decided to hit the Manual… hard. That was painful and grusom, if you have any idea how BIG the manual is. I spent most my days at work reading the PHP Manual and taking notes and preparing practice tests for myself.
After reading the manual, taking practice tests, and preparing my big ass function practice test, I decided to buy the practice exams offered by PHP Architect. On average I took two a week, starting March 29. I passed all of them, with the last three I took being EXCELLENT. It doesn’t give you the answers at the end, but it gives you the areas you need to improve. I was always bad at Design and PHP4/5 Differences. Google and Wiki helped me in these areas. All the questions I wasn’t sure about, I copied to a text file during the test. I really highly recommend these tests since it’s set up like the exam itself. 70 questions in 90 minutes.
I took the Friday before the exam off to study and took the test Saturday. It only took me about an hour and 15 minutes. They make it really nice for you since you can go back and review. My name was in the PHP Yellow Pages by Tuesday.
Thought I’d update on my New Years resolutions for this year, and add some new ones.
Be more soft spoken, tone it down a bit and watch what I say (done, however I sometimes speak louder than I mean to)
Have more parties/go to more parties (still settling in, plan to do more, but right now just weekend fun)
Don’t feel the need to say how I feel all the time (besides with Bri)
Get PHP certified (not accomplished yet, studying, but I registered and will be taking the test in a month)
Get at least 1,000 quotes next year (on my way… have 165 currently this year, may or may not hit that mark)
See Aunt Ruth and Aunt Janet more (not really finding the time, however did see Aunt Janet)
Get over some things that bother me (as time passes, I get over things)
Keep off the 10 pounds I just lost (currently weigh 150), be healthier and eat healthier (lol, gained 5 pounds, but now I’m cutting back on snacks and exercising)
Treat Brian and Candi better (always a resolution) (doing well)
Do something good for the environment or humanity (ugh, what do I do?)
Buy a house
Buy a new Prius
Get Candi off the cone (poor puppy) (maybe a few more weeks… it’s still there)
Settle my Dad’s estate (not in my control) (should be settled by June)
See a doctor and dentist (haven’t had the leave)
New goals:
EDITED FOR SECRECY, IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, JUST ASK ME; CAN’T HAVE IT ON THE WEB RIGHT NOW
