In the last couple of months I have attempted to go a different route than the standard hardcover editions and given a try to reading some stuff on the old digital tablet. I’ve now made it through a couple of books in the Kindle app and am halfway through my second in iBooks. My goal here is not to debate the merits of either platform (I think I prefer the Kindle app at this point) but to quickly point out a new frustration I have with a medium that is still struggling to find its place in this world.

Since I know that having a love for reading is important (and that I’ve got a pretty flimsy relationship with it), one of my favorite things to do is to take my boys every other week or so to the library to get some new books. I let them pick out a few (with the full veto power a dad possesses) and I get to pick out a couple that I think they might like as well.

From as early as I can remember, the older one has had a fascination with books and will sit in your lap for hours to read or sit by himself and flip through them if you are busy doing other things. The younger one didn’t quite start out with the same love, but I have noticed that as he’s gotten a bit older he has started bringing a few of his favorites to me to read and seems to enjoy flipping through them by himself in the car. My hope is that this passion for reading will continue to grow in each of them and it will benefit them in multiple ways going forward.

— — —

Returning back to our library excursion, once we have secured the 5-6 books for them, we usually take a swing through the other side of the library starting with the CD section (great if you’re into names like Gillespie, Marsalis or Sinatra). We then head over to one of the computers to search for any of the author names that I have taken a liking to after reading one of their titles or been pointed to by some other source. This past Monday was no exception; same routine, typical results. Books for the boys, nothing new in music and the couple of books I had been thinking about getting were already checked out. No biggie.

However, there was one small difference this week that we hadn’t done before. I had recently seen a tweet from our local government social media account that mentioned an upcoming class on e-books through the library. This, of course, was right up my alley. A renewed passion for reading, the recent emphasis on reading on the iPad and the ability to read titles for free in a legitimate manner. Score. We made a swing by the reference desk and in no time we were out the door with paper instructions on the two different “e-book” options available.

Once home, we plowed through the boys books a couple of times so it was my turn to see what I could conjure up. Of the two options I had, one was only available online and not transferable to devices like my iPad but the other had the magic words of “Download in the App Store” so I proceeded. My first tip to something going awry should have been the fact that once I located it, the app was preceded by the name Adobe. Strike one.

I pressed forward with the install and then fired it up to hopefully find some quality digital reading material. Once open, the first task at hand was to add a library to the app. Unfortunately this process requires you to link out to Safari and search for it online. Once located, you then have to log in with your library credentials and are finally ushered in to the book area. Again all online, not in the app itself.

Upon getting logged in, the first thing I noticed is that the actual number of books in the store was quite a bit less than I would have imagined. Think of your library, then think of the nonfiction section, now think of a rack of books and this collection probably fills about a third of that rack. Strike one-and-a-half.

I navigated my way to the business section just to see what type of material was available. Much to my surprise, I found the grand total of thirty-one books. Yes, 31. This is the library, right? Without being deterred, I decided to try a simple one, Tribes by Gladwell, just to see how the whole process worked. Process as follows – clicked on the book, page loaded, given a multitude of information about the book and two buttons for my options: Place a Hold & Add to Wish List. Strictly from a UX standpoint, I’m at a loss. As a user I don’t really know what the difference is. I’m supposed to be browsing the library but is it safe to assume that they are trying to sell me this book in addition to letting me check it out? Interesting (and confusing) strategy.

I decided on Placing a Hold and then noticed the 10pt font just below, “0 copies available, 9 users in queue.” At this point, my frustration level is rising. To recap the situation thus far:
1. The app is useless for book finding
2. The selection of books is weak at best
3. The online experience is confusing for users
4. And now I find that I am at best nine-ish weeks out from reading this title and at worst some thirty-six weeks (9 users * 2 weeks per checkout * 1 renewal period for each user) from getting my turn.

Seriously?

I decided to check a couple of other titles but the best I could find was a book that was listed with five copies and two users in the queue, no matter that it wasn’t a book I cared to read. Who knows how many strikes at this point, but it’s definitely enough for an out.

— — —

My first thought of the entire process was to throw the blame at the library and ultimately at our local government for choosing such a poor product to associate themselves with. It seemed like a pretty standard thing for a government to do: create a program, implement it poorly and then tout their capabilities as if they accomplished some great thing. And it may still very well be just that.

The publishing world is still doing it wrong.

But after a few minutes of thinking on it, I’ve come to realize that the more likely scenario is the fact that the publishing world is still doing it wrong. Similar to newspapers, the book world is struggling to keep up. Yes, I realize in their eyes, jobs and executive bonuses are at stake – but on the other hand, they are absolutely fouling it up for themselves in the long run. I see more and more authors going at it by self-publishing or through smaller publishing firms that are paying attention to the changing times.

I know guys who publish on multiple formats – print, epub, mobi, PDF and more – just to be able to reach every audience available. Instead, Adobe builds the big publishers a proprietary crutch similar to the stupid DRM-crippling tracks that recording labels tried to push on users in the early ages of digital music. I bought very few of those and I plan on buying even less of these.

I get the fact that publishers feel like they lose money (and possibly do to a small extent) on libraries. But I have to assume that over the decades of libraries in this country – usually multiple in every decent-sized town – that they’ve earned some back by those who either go out and purchase a library-read title or purchase other titles by an author they found through the library. I have. If they felt like they weren’t getting a return, wouldn’t they kill their books from the library shelves by now? I would.

— — —

So, after getting my hopes up a little, I’m back to my two original options. Paper editions from the library or digital editions I can download at a cost. I realize I can also buy paper editions but like most, our family’s hard/paperback purchases will decline as we move forward. I dig the tactile-ness of a book but the storage of, upkeep of and resources used in their creation tend to make me think they will ultimately see a decline in the years to come.

It seems like a market that could really be taken by storm by a publisher. Prove to authors that you’re ready to play on the next level. Market online, publish digital, find a way to better find/promote the undiscovered talent and be the reason they shouldn’t go anywhere else with their content. Your dependence on store placement and book tours goes down and your fixed cost like printing and shipping could ultimately disappear. Business and Customer Win.

I wouldn’t normally position this letter in such a public forum, but this year you happen to share a birthday with a little Internet phenomenon called Blog Action Day. Each year, bloggers around the world unite on a single day to all write about a chosen topic. I’m not necessarily sure it actually spurs any action or proves any points but if it alerted even one to areas where they could help out, I can’t see the harm. Since I signed up and I’m borderline nerdy, I figured I’d join the revolution.

The topic being covered this year is pretty broad: Water. I don’t expect you to understand yet the idea of how important water is to your daily life. You’re too busy with learning new things, exploring, playing and learning to pitch like Cliff Lee but in terms of our physical needs, water is probably the most fundamental. We use it every day for drinking, for cleaning, for keeping our plants alive and so much more. In fact, it’s estimated that the human body can’t go more than about three days without water before shutting down. It is a necessity.

Due to blessings beyond our control, we have been given the opportunity to be in a situation where clean, accessible water is a right. But not everyone has been afforded the same. Sadly, almost one out of every eight people in the world do not have ease of access (or any access at all) to this physical lifeblood. Think of it like this, if your class represented all the people in the world, each of your friends would have access to clean drinking water every day, except Rihannon. Sadly, Rihannon wouldn’t have the opportunity to go to the drinking fountain, use a toilet that could flush or even wash her hands without the fear of them becoming even dirtier.

The problem is, is that it isn’t Rihannon or someone else so close that we see suffering, those who suffer we don’t see and often forget about. It’s really no different that the simple game we play with Keegan when he is getting into things he shouldn’t, “out of sight, out of mind.” We are often so near-sighted in our own lives that we forget about the Rihannon’s of the world from my example above.

• Pages have the ability to be far more flexible for each device that accesses them
• Page load times are often shorter with well-written code
• Search engines — like Google — mention well-written code in their documentation of ways to rank higher in their results
• Code-nazi’s sleep better when you abide by the rules written in their books and they don’t call you out in the blogosphere

I code in tables

With all of that said, I code in tables.

First off, let’s get this out of the way, clients don’t care. If it shows up well on their screen and is close in all of the major browsers, they’re happy. It doesn’t matter to them if their site can pass the W3C Validator.

Second, I don’t code all of my sites in tables, only certain ones. And only because the tools I have at my discretion for the project call for it.

One of my clients has a custom CMS. The tool itself works well and has some 200 or more clients that use it daily. Development of the CMS started some time around 2001 in the pre-CSS web era. Over the next decade it has grown immensely with modules that range from photo galleries to blogging and calendars to real estate packages with MLS incorporation. These and many more are all available to turn on at the flip of a digital switch. As with most any technology, it has flaws as well and one of its biggest is that it is a fan of table-based layouts mainly due to the age of development.

I don’t code all of my sites in tables, only certain ones. And only because the tools I have at my discretion for the project call for it.

I’ve fought it. Many times over. I used to rant daily about it but have learned to work within its confinements as much as possible while still utilizing best coding practices and minimizing the use of tables to the least amount possible. Though it isn’t a perfect solution, you realize that when you have a system with 200+ businesses counting on their stuff working everyday — from shared code no less — you realize that the sum is greater than the individual parts.

A quick technical explanation for those who might care is that the CMS builds the content area in sections. Each section adds a new row. A row must reside in a table. Thus, I build my sites with semantic code and then wrap only the content area and the navigation in tables. That’s two tables (not nested) that I insert into my code to make all new sites behave nicely without offending current sites on the system. On occasion (as the design permits), I can even eliminate the need for a table on the navigation resulting in a single fixed width table around the content area.

It’s not a perfect solution but it is one that works. My styles still reside in their own CSS stylesheet and my layouts are still controlled by floating divs. But today, I confess to the community, that I code in tables.

Footnotes
¹ I am not currently seeking employment. I am, however, always open to chat if you think you have the perfect situation for me and my family.

I am by no means immune to this conundrum. I am as easily, if not more, distracted than anybody else out there but I can say that slowly I think I am getting better at it. I’ve been blessed to work for myself now for almost five years and in that time frame I have been able to refine some of my processes over and over again to help aid my work-flow and hopefully allow me to get a little quicker/better at what I do so I can spend more time with the distractions that I really love.

The following is a list of software (both local and web-based) that I use almost daily for what I do. Of course some of it is directly related to my profession so you’ll probably have no need for a few but maybe you’ll find an item or two that might help you along as well.

Time Tracking: Toggl (Free)
I’ve been using Toggl now for probably the better part of 3-4 years. Originally a web-only tool, it has now been developed into a cross-platform local app built on Adobe Air meaning you can run on Windows or OS X. It allows for multiple users, unlimited projects and does a decent job of reporting. The interface isn’t the greatest but it gets the job done. There is a paid version but honestly I don’t know what else it offers.

To do list: Teuxdeux (Free)
I’ve tried everything from pen & paper to local apps like The Hit List and even web-based project management tools like Basecamp. Right now the one I am most comfortable with is Teuxdeux. Designed by Swissmiss, it’s very minimal, allows for the user-feedback of actually checking off items and organizes in a way my brain thinks, a single week overview.

Invoicing: MacFreelance ($45)
This is an area I am still tweaking. In five years I haven’t found the right solution for my invoicing. In the past I’ve done the Quicken thing, a web-based option or two and even gone as far as attempting to build a custom-designed invoice in InDesign (which lasted for about two invoices). MacFreelance does a fine job of keeping all of my records together but they have the poorest looking invoices on the market with very little ability to customize them. As to why I haven’t bought into others like Billings, Harvest or Xero? I’m cheap. And paying $10 a month just to be able to send invoices isn’t high on my list. Suggestions?

Banking: EECU
We use a credit union for all of our banking needs. They’re fine as far as financial institutions go. I like that they’re small but it’s also the same reason I dislike them. Their location in relation to us is inconvenient and while they do have online-banking, its usefulness is mediocre at best.

Application launcher: Quicksilver (Free)
I am slowly coming around on the idea of launch applications for computers. For the longest time I was a mouse man but with the onset of carpel-tunnel as well as their ability to save time I am slowly seeing their benefits. I’m on a Mac so I use Quicksilver (in which the developer got bought by Google so we’ll see how long it continues) but there are other options like Launchy (Windows) & Alfred (Mac). Having the ability to open applications without leaving the keyboard will save you time.

Keyboard shortcuts (Free)
I hope this seems slightly remedial to you but if it doesn’t then you should definitely pay attention. Keyboard shortcuts are your friend. They save you time as well as giving the ability to not have to jump back and forth between the keyboard & the mouse. I’ll list a few of my favorites/most used but feel free to chime in with your own. And for the most part, these will be cross-platform by just changing the Cmd (Mac) with Ctrl (Win).

Cmd+C – Copy
Cmd+V – Paste
Cmd+X – Cut
Cmd+Tab (Mac) | Alt+Tab (Win) – switch between open windows
Cmd+H – Hide window (Mac)
Cmd+W – Close window (Mac)
Cmd+Q – Close application (Mac)
Alt+F4 – Close application (Win)
Cmd+R (Mac) | F5 (Win) – Refresh
Cmd+O – Open file
Cmd+N – New file or message in email
Cmd+T – New tab in a web browser

And possibly my favorite:
Cmd+Enter – Takes a word/phrase and surrounds it with the htt://www. and .com in a web browser so you don’t have to type the whole thing out. Chrome & Safari actually use Ctrl+Enter (Mac)

Learn your keyboard shortcuts. It is one area where I can for sure say my productivity has increased over time from the use of.

This has grown a little longer than I originally intended which is somewhat ironic since it is a post about my work-flow and productivity. I’ll just throw down a to be continued and try and pull in some of my other software in the next round.

The preceding is for a series in a writing experiment that I am participating in called Project52. If you liked it, feel free to follow along and read other #p52 articles – or even better, subscribe to all of my writings by RSS or Email.

Why do I tell you all of this? Cause I’m about to rock your [shower] world.

While you’ve probably put very little thought into it; I’ve been carefully crafting, honing and refining my shower routine for years. Today you got a shower, you follow my lead and tomorrow you have an experience.

Showering is about preparation

A great shower isn’t happening if the elements aren’t right. Just as if you were throwing a huge party, careful consideration and pre-planning must occur for the perfect shower. Your shower is your daily party.

Ever attended a party where you casual’ed it up while everybody else went penguin style? Welcome to the similar feelings you get when you realize that you just hopped in your morning shower and failed to notice pre-soak that the soap dish was empty. Yep, that’s you. You could lay blame on the previous inhabitant for not restocking but you’re still getting out and dripping crazy amounts of water on the floor just to remedy. Good luck not eating it when you forget about the wet floor after you’re all done.

What about a forgotten towel? Even worse. At least missing soap affords the opportunity to warm back up with a full shower ahead. Thanks a lot, laundry day.

While you’re preparing, don’t forget to bring in your clothes ahead of time so they’re nice and warm for you (even if this means you’re ironing pre-shower) and figure out a way to create the least amout of contact with your bare feet and the tile floor. Floor-mats are acceptable but when paired with a space heater, you’re golden.

And for the final (and possibly most important) pre-planning I present to you:

Showering is about rhythm

Gloria Estefan was singing about more than dancing when she reminded us that the rhythm was going to get us. I’m not advocating dancing in the shower unless you’ve got some sort of anti-slip mat (of which I’m not a fan of anyways) but I am going to point out that you’ve got to establish a routine.

In my shower there’s a perfect spot that I rarely stray one to two degrees from on the temperature dial. But I never start there. I’m a crank-it-up-all-the-way guy to make sure it’s at level scalding first and then I back it down to where I want it. This works two-fold: first it allows for the fastest warm-up and second it pre-heats the shower floor so I’m not mistreating my feet anymore than I have too.

There’s also the routine of how you cleanse yourself as well. I’m a ground-up kind of guy for soap and shampoo but I know some top-down people as well. In fact, top-down is probably a better method because you’re not contaminating clean body parts (ie. feet) with dirty parts as you might be with the ground-up. I’ve contemplated this often but haven’t yet strayed from my ways. I’ll reconsider.

Other things that I’ll just scratch the surface with are some who shave (males, specifically) and those who brush their teeth in the tub as well. I incorporate neither of these techniques into my daily, but if I had a fogless mirror I might entertain the de-whiskering.

Establish your routine, make it work for you, and practice it enough to make it habit.

Showering is about enlightenment

I’m not exactly sure on the count at this point, but I’ve probably solved about half of the world’s problems in the shower. Whether its the soothing sounds, the cleansing of the sinuses or the warm embrace of flowing water, your brain can kick into Albert Einstein mode when you’re in the shower zone.

Some of my best written work and project ideas were hatched, modified or mapped out in the shower. Heck, I bet most of the pioneering thoughts and devices of the twentieth century were hatched in the shower. The toaster oven, the post-it note, tilt-shift photography and even Little Debbie cakes could have all been a spark while someone was scrubbing their hair.

I encourage you to use the shower to benefit all mankind. Who knows, you might discover the next big cure.

Showering is about freedom

When my two-year old takes a bath, it’s all fun time for him. He shoots baskets, he colors on the walls and he squirts me with rubber ducks to just name a few. At some point between adolecense and adulthood, we lost the wonder of the tub. Let loose in the shower, get your inner child back. Whether you’re giving yourself a shampoo mohawk or trying out for American Idol, rock that daily shower.

Showering is all about a comfort zone

There’s not a lot about showering I don’t love, really just a few things come to mind. The cold shower is a terrible thing to have to endure but not quite as bad as having to give it a go in a foreign shower. It’s the pits. I’m not recommending forgoing the shower on foreign soil but I will point out that once you find your shower happy place, you will be out of the zone once you cross enemy lines. It’s not just an all or nothing type of thing but more of a sliding scale so at least you have a small shot of peace on the road. Mine are broken into three categories but you can classify/organize the non-home use tub any way you like.

The shower is an adventure unto itself. I encourage you to spend some time establishing your goals for this daily occurrence. Do you want to be the kind of person who just hastily rushes through this menial task while saving the finite, precious resource we have called pure water? Or would you rather join the ranks of those of us who take great pride in their shower techniques and their body and mind daily thank them? That’s what I thought.

Go forth and cleanse.

With the introduction of the iPad this week, I was reminded that we live in an era that’s seen more technological advances in the last twenty years than we’ve probably had total in the last two millenniums. Medical advances, TVs, mobile devices, computers, the Internet and so much more. While the improvements in technology are a fantastic thing to watch for nerds like myself, they aren’t without their drawbacks.

Devices that have been created to help us connect with each other often do just the opposite and break down the lines of communication with those we care about most; our fancy tools can be used against us to feed the machine that is greed and lack of contentment; and sadly, the advancements have also encouraged a sense of entitlement for many people and given them a platform to share their views with everyone else. It’s been said before but these days, everyone has a microphone. And to be brutally honest, not all of us are deserving of one.

I’ve heard horror stories from friends-of-friends about getting selected for week-long trials and have been informed many times over on the ins and outs of how to avoid getting selected. From what I gather, leaning as far as you can one way or another on your beliefs seems to be your most plausible way of getting the axe.

I have to wonder though, why is it we pride ourselves as a nation of the just – willing to spout off our views on the rights to a fair trial for everyone – when we wholeheartedly make every effort possible to avoid helping when our name is called? Don’t get me wrong, the thought of spending days (or worse) losing billable hours is not high on my list; but in an hour’s time in the jury room today, I came to a small realization that it is my civic duty and a responsibility I shouldn’t take light-hearted or desire to avoid. I decided that the most responsible thing I could do for my government was to answer wholeheartedly and honestly as possible. Much less, I owed it to the person on trial my best effort to give them a fair shake and could only hope that if [heaven-forbid] I were in a similar situation I would get the same.

The following is my account of my first ever jury summons and appearance. And if you’d prefer the abridged version, yes, I was selected.

I’ve been pretty lucky that with thirteen eligible years behind me, it took this long for me to be summoned for jury duty. My notice arrived in mid-December and like most, elation wasn’t my initial reaction. In fact, I spent the better part of the next month pushing my political views to the extreme in preparation for the selection process and fretting over the notion that I’d be doing some serious all-nighters to keep clients happy if the trial happened to draw out over any amount of time.

Having never sat through a trial before, I had no idea what to expect. I had a decent idea that it was going to be something smaller since I was reporting to our local city court and not the county courthouse in downtown Ft Worth. Honestly, I had to even ask my wife what I should wear before going so as not to look too out of place. For those who care, I went with jeans and a green oxford shirt. And I matched my black leathers.

I equipped myself with a full Instapaper reading list and a Moleskine just in case inspiration struck. 22 of us were shoehorned into an undersized room that would have accommodated 20 decently if it were set up right. It wasn’t. We waited patiently – silently – for just under an hour before we were greeted or given instructions by anyone about the process.

For the selection process, we were sworn in and then seated according to some order that wasn’t alphabetical or chronological to when we signed in. The state attorney (prosecution) had the first shot at us and explained that we were called in for a trial involving a speeding violation, a Class C Misdemeanor. We were also informed that the one police officer in the room was a witness and ultimately the one who wrote the ticket.

If you want to stand a chance in the courtroom, hire the better lawyer.

I didn’t know any difference at the time, but the prosecuting attorney had it together. The only basis I have to weigh her talents with was the fact that the defending attorney didn’t at all. In fact, it took very little time after he opened his mouth that I was questioning his ability to communicate much of anything in the English language, much less a profession that required persuading others with it.

During the jury selection process, one of the potential jury members raised his hand and pointed out that he had no problem giving credence to anything the police officer would say over what the defendant would say if it were a case of singular-opposing testimonies. And there’s the rub. This was the answer and as soon as everyone saw his name get marked off by the defense lawyer, the floodgates opened. If my math is correct, 12 of the 22 quickly jumped on and got their name axed as well.

Although in most situations I would agree with that statement, I didn’t pipe up with a “ditto” comment.

With 10 left and 6 spots to fill, I knew what my odds were on being chosen. The lawyers made their final decisions passed them to the judge and within minutes I was juror #4, back row, far right.

The actual court session lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes with both sides interviewing the defendant and the witness (the officer). They questioned about the radar (which I learned today isn’t actually radar anymore, it is laser device now), the calibration of the device, the training of the officer, the traffic at the time, the location of the car on the road and many other things that each lawyer felt pertained best to prove their case.

In the end our deliberation was only about five minutes reaching a unanimous guilty verdict on the first vote for driving 63 miles per hour in a posted 40 mile per hour zone. We re-entered the courtroom, gave our verdict and walked out about fifteen minutes past five with somewhat of an odd feeling about the whole situation.

Some observations I had or thoughts I will be chewing on for a while:

- I travel the exact road the defendant was ticketed on multiple times per week. As the officer was called to the stand first, it was hard for me to not solidify my verdict right then being so familiar with the area as well as knowing the posted speed limits. I had to mentally remind myself a number of times throughout the trial that I had to be fair in my judgment especially before hearing her side of the story. On the other hand, ignorance is not a plea-able case when on trial but the defendant was not a local resident so there is the issue of feeling a little bad for them as well.

- We as jurors were treated very nicely by the judge and the attorney’s but I can’t help but think it would be a less intimidating time if it was a little better stated up front what would be going on for the day. Add to the fact that the jury room accommodations could have used an upgrade and things like drinks/coffee might help take the sting off of the whole process.

- If you want to stand a chance in the courtroom, hire the better lawyer. I’ve heard Mark Cuban tell an adage that he lives by a couple of times: “When you walk into a meeting, the first thing you should do is look around the room for the idiot. If you can’t find the idiot, you’re him.” The defending attorney today was sadly overmatched. As an older gentleman, I had expected him to have experience and a better presence. He fumbled for words, he failed to make good points, his posture was somewhat poor and it made it look much worse that his opponent was better on all of the stated and then some. I have no idea of knowing if it was the best the defendant could afford or maybe a friend of the family but it didn’t work out in her favor.

- The judge would be great in sketch comedy or a game my cousin invented called “Make Me Laugh.” He had a great poker face but I can’t help but imagine he knew full well of the outcome early on.

- If you’re speeding, you’re breaking the law. Knowing this probably doesn’t change my driving habits all that much, but when the question was posed to each of us whether or not we’d contested a speeding ticket of our own before, I was quite surprised at the number of yes responses. I’ve had enough tickets in my lifetime to know better. And for every single one, I was in the wrong. An officer shouldn’t have to take time out of his work schedule (or worse, day off) to come in 9 months after the fact to prove that he caught you breaking the law.

- I’m still pondering the idea of swearing in under oath. Much less to “so help me God.” The Bible points out that we shouldn’t be taking oaths and if you do, you’d better keep them. Let your yes be yes, and your no be no. I swore in today and I kept my oath. But was I right in doing it in the first place?

And the one I’ll be pondering the most:

- It was easy for me to render a decision today. I heard the facts and believe without a reasonable doubt that the defendant broke the law. And for my decision, I straddled her with a $208 fine. How much worse do those have it that know lives and livelihoods are on the line with a very similar decision. I will sleep well tonight, but if I just sent some kid’s father away for any number of years for a lack of good judgment on the dad’s part, how many hours would I sit awake wondering if I did the right thing?

The preceding is for a series in a writing experiment that I am participating in called Project52. If you liked it, feel free to follow along and read other #p52 articles – or even better, subscribe to all of my writings by RSS or Email.

There’s no guarantee and I’m sure that some weeks I just wont be feeling it, but by signing up there’s some accountability to be had.

Since it is still early in the new decade, I figured I’d do the standard and offer up a few things I’d like to accomplish over the next 357 days. Innovative and ground-breaking, I know. Similar to Joshua, these aren’t actual resolutions due to the fact that when 2010 ends I don’t necessarily want to leave things unresolved. Aspirations, if you will.

- I grew up living almost directly across the street from the library, but it has only been the last couple of years that I have actually found benefit in it thanks to my son and his love for books. Late last year, I even took the plunge and checked out some books with words in them for myself. For the most part it was being utilized as a new (old) music search to widen my knowledge of big band and jazz.

Since that time, I have read through one completely and made it through about 3/4 of another before I got bored with it. Progress. The one I completed was good and have renewed it for another three weeks thinking I might go through it one more time.

I have a couple of others on my desk that I need to do something with. A little less screen time and more book time in 2010 would do me some good.

- Expansion. For almost 5 years I’ve worked for myself and been fortunate to see growth each year – measured most easily by dollars but in many other ways as well – and this is the year that I’d like to see some explosion. I just filled out my first 1099 yesterday to send to another freelancer for his services I procured in 2009. Whether 2010 is filled with more contract help or employee additions, I’m not sure, but I am sure that a decent sized growth spurt is what I’d like to see.

To accomplish this means that I’ve got to grow as well. Sales must increase so in turn that means my sales skills/tactics must get better as well. My ability to rely on others has to grow as well, I need to do my best to surround myself with those whose talents outweigh mine in their respective areas and trust them to do what they do without micro-managing their skills. With bringing in others, it means that there will be many areas I need to develop and increase my skill level in. Project/talent/client management, business basics, communication abilities and of course time management.

To go along with the growth I need to make in running a business, there are also professional skill sets I’d like to learn or get better at over the next twelve months. Content writing, article writing, UI methodology and practices, design thinking and theory, photography and HTML5/CSS3. The list isn’t exhaustive and I know that I may only scratch the surface of some of the categories but each of them could benefit my clients in some form or fashion.

- Do less talking about ideas and more implementing of ideas.

- Accelerate [our] pace on debt reduction. We made positive steps in 2009 but of course were not as dilligent as we could have been about it. I have no grand illusions of being debt-free by the end of the year but plan to be in a better position when it ends than when it started.

- Work a little harder to care a little less about opinions of those that really don’t matter in the grand scheme.

- Become a little healthier.

- Continue to promote and advance the causes I believe in.

- Crush it.

So here’s to 2010, a new season and a chance to clean that slate. ‘09 you were good, but there’s no reason to think that we can’t do better as we move forward.