Last year I started a series of Year End Review posts. I figured it would be good to continue it this year as so much has happened in my life in 2009, that it’s likely not many people know where or what I’m doing any longer.
Unfortunately the year started off poorly. Early in the year, as the economy tanked, I came really close to losing my job. The guys I was working for fought long and hard though and were able to keep pulling in enough business to allow me to stay on which I greatly appreciated. Around this same time, I thought it might be good to start cultivating other opportunities if I needed them. I took a look at the things I was doing and what I really enjoyed, and thought about how to start making that be able to support me.
Early in the year, I announced that I would be organizing WordCamp Richmond. It is an all day event where folks get together and discuss all things related to WordPress, the powerful blogging and Content Management System for websites. It also helped me to get my name out there in the local area to let folks know that I was around and could help them work with this tool. Anyhow, the event came and went, and was a great success. We had more attendee’s then I thought we would, the speakers all performed amazingly, and we’re already planning another again in 2010.
Not too long after WordCamp I purchased a new-to-me car, a 2006 Subaru Outback, LL Bean. It’s been doing great and really helped out with all the snow we got a week or two back. Atticus enjoys riding around in the back and it’s an extremely comfortable car to ride around in.
Let’s not forget that I also met and started dating Carrie this year :) We get along great and have spent a lot of time together the past couple of weeks. Atticus approves of her, so you know she’s good stuff. She attended WordCamp and at some point after it we started talking, and then talking some more, and eventually I worked up the nerve to ask her out and she said yes. Things have been great ever since.
Towards the end of Summer, I switched jobs to become a contractor at Capital One. This was my second time back and I enjoyed it, however my stay was brief. In November, I began speaking with a friend in Denver, CO about a new opportunity. The new opportunity involves me managing and staffing a help center for WordPress. Individuals can call or email us, and receive professional support for their sites/themes/plugins at reasonable prices. I started work on December 7th and so far things are going great.
So it has been a bumpy year, switching jobs, meeting new folks, starting my business, and many other things. Even though is seems the year flew by, I’m not sure I can say it was because I was having so much fun. I’m just hoping that some of what I accomplished this year is going to let me have more fun in the coming years.
