Saturday, January 1, 2011

2010 in Review

It sounds so official, doesn't it?  2010 in review?  It's not.  LOL!  Just my way to seeing how well I kept to or didn't keep to my goals from last year.  It's a tad of a long one coming up, just warning ya...

I had four major categories I put my goals into last year - Health/Diet, Exercise, Education, and Job I Love.  So, I'll just go through each on and give ya the 411 on how each went.  Some better than others.

Health/Diet - F

This one really comes down to how well I stuck to my goals of following the Weight Watcher plan, loosing the last 25 pounds to goal, and then maintaining it.

Yea, this one was a complete failure.  Utter failure.  I not only did not follow the WW plan, but I had to cancel my membership in July due to lack of funds.  Then it just went all the heck.  I not only did I not lose weight, sadly I gained it.  I'm not thrilled about this.  I am not happy.  I am fairly ticked off at myself for allowing it to happen.  I really bungled this one.

Exercise - B

This goal had four parts: complete five 5ks, possibly a 10k, run 250 miles, and work on adding in extra exercise - Wii exercise, weight lifting, etc.

* While not perfect, I completely did better on this one than Health/Diet.  Seriously.  I totally hit the five 5k races this year!  I did six actually - Kelly Shamrock 5k (Baltimore), Colon Cancer 5k (Harrisburg), Spirit of Gettysburg (Gettysburg), Baltimore Woman's Classic 5k (Baltimore), Fort McHenry Tunnel Run 5k (Baltimore), and the Jingle Bell 5k (Harrisburg).  I was really happy with this.  It wasn't hard to get in so many races and I even did two back-to-back.  Which I will say was worth the experience, but I think it's one I need not repeat.  LOL!

I also added in the Harrisburg Mile in July.  I hadn't done this race in 2009 due to scheduling conflicts.  This year, I signed up and had a great race!  I set my 1 mile PR at this race, finally getting under the 12 minute mark!!  It was a banner day.

* The 10k was an idea.  Around here though, it's hard to find a 10k. The one that we know about was the day we flew back from vacation, so we knew that was out.  Well, then we decided to organize a team and run the Baltimore Marathon Relay in October.  I chose to run one of the two 7 mile legs, which was MORE than a 10k.  It was a great race and it was a lot of fun!  I'm glad we did this race, even if I did pull my hamstring on the way back to the start.  LOL!

* Running 250 miles seemed like such a good idea at the time...I didn't quite make it.  I did my tally from my DailyMile accounting and while I'm not 100% I always updated the website, it is what I have to go on.  My total comes to (drum roll please) 110 miles.  So, just under 50% of my goal for the year.  In one sense I'm ok with this.  I know I could have done better.  Some months were a conscious decision not to run (think summer months) and for about a month and a half I was out of commission with the pulled hamstring.  So, I'm not beating myself up over it.  I can learn from it.  On this one...it's all good.

* Oh those pesky other exercise actions I should have been doing.  Sadly, I didn't follow through on these as I should have.  I went in spurts.  One weeks we're great and I was on it 100%.  Other times, it just sat there...forlornly.  I wouldn't say it was a total failure, but it wasn't a rousing success either.  Bah!

Education - B+

This little goal was a tad wishy washy to begin with.  I didn't really know what to do for this, but I knew I wanted to keep learning.  The idea was to take an on-line class, learn my Photoshop Elements 6 program better, and take a class. 

I can say, I nailed this one!  I took the on-line course I signed up for at the beginning of 2010 and an additional one through the same company later in the year.  I bought the Photoshop Elements 6 book and taught myself some things I had NO idea how to do.  That class I signed up for through the camera club?  It got canceled and rescheduled for a night I couldn't go, BUT...

In July, I attended a Photowalk in Harrisburg.  Had a fantastic, if not ridiculously hot, day with a group of fun people photographing the City.  A great experience just being with other photographers and seeing what they were doing.

I signed up for and attended Skip's Summer School in August.  It was an absolutely amazing experience and I am so glad I went!  Not only did I have a good time in Las Vegas, but I LEARNED so much!  It was fantastic and a total out of the box experience for me.  It really made me want to get out there and take pictures. 

And I took advantage of joining the Harrisburg Camera Club by attending several educational meetings of the Harrisburg Camera Club.  They were both good sessions and again, I went out of my comfort zone as I attend these meetings alone.  I also attended a photo walk through the camera club in Harrisburg, taking us to the tops of the City's parking garages.  Totally different and a great lesson on looking at things from a different angle!

Job I Love - C

This is one is bittersweet.  The goal was to have an article published in a magazine, teach at an academic institution, and start actually being a professional photographer. 

* The magazine article never got written, nor published.  All my fault.  Totally 100% mine.  Nothing more to say than it didn't happen.

* I applied to a couple institutions of higher learning to teach history, but I never heard back from them.  I tried, but nothing.

* And the photography business is a mixed bag.  Some successes, some failures.
  1. Successes
    1. I changed by photo blog from Blogger to Wordpress and am so much happier with it.  I have also kept up with it much better than I had.  It's a good little blog, one I am proud of.
    2. I put a pricing list up for sessions.  Officially in business!
    3. I volunteered my services to a local fire company for their first annual 5k event.  It went really well and made me excited for doing photography
    4. I put up several ads on Craig's List on three different cities.
  2. Failures
    1. Booked not one session.  Nothing.  Nada. Niet.
    2. I applied to a local photography studio to be an apprentice and after an interview, was turned down.  That was pretty rough...and depressing.
* And last but not least, what most people would consider the most successful piece of 2010, I was offered a full-time position on December 28th.  After almost exactly 18 months of unemployment, I am now gainfully employed again.  The new position begins on Jan. 10, 2011, so another week of unemployment, but it's almost at an end.

That's it.  My 2010 Year in Review.  The good.  The bad.  The boring.  It was an interesting year.  In some ways fantastically better than 2009.  In other ways, completely awful.  But I suppose, that's the way of life.  Highs.  Lows.  And you live your life in the middle.

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