The Life of Lou Ruppert

Here is an overview of the good and bad of 2009 as I remember it:

• Finished all the Arabic classes my local university offers.
• Got my GCFA Certification from SANS. That should add a second line of consulting income, if I market it..
• Grew a successful garden.
• Got more comfortable with people.
• Built my own TV antenna.
• Traced the Ruppert family history back a couple more generations.
• Improved the energy efficiency of my home with some weatherization and some LED lamps.
• Became more frugal as my employer stiffed me again on cost of living and my retirement investments tanked.
• Learned more virtualisation technologies.
• Began to get involved with the local Ubuntu community.
• Spent more time with my family.
• Got my transmission and timing belt on my car replaced.
• Replaced my faucet and some plumbing in my kitchen.
• Improved my landscaping in front, hopefully to distract from my seemingly cursed lawn.
• Completed my role as Administrative Overseer on my church board.
• Supported local farmers with a CSA from Wyllie Fox Farm.

It’s important to make a list of your accomplishments and struggles so that you can remember them later. It’s easy to fool yourself into believing your time just passed without anything meaningful coming of it, but by stopping and being mindful of what has happened, you end up with something to be thankful for. I may follow up with a list of goals for 2010, but we’ll see. It’s easier to pick them retrospectively than to chart a course into the unknown. Still, there’s something to be said for accountability, even if it is mostly just an illusion.

Happy New Year all.