My 2010

It’s the last day of the year, so it’s only right that i look back on 2010 and see what i got up to… i’ll divide it up in to ‘quarters’…

January – March

In early January i bought myself a new TV and a PS3. I rarely use either but they’re usually on in the background or on constantly whenever i have my girlfriend over. Over the last couple of months in particular i’ll regularly go to bed before 12am on a college night and just watch TV in bed.

That’s new for me. For the past few years i’d take a laptop or a netbook to bed but my iphone has changed all that. You see winter messes me up… i want to stick to the same schedule and stay awake for the same length of time all year round but i become slower and more tired in the winter so this winter i’ve conceded i must rest & sleep more than normal, simply to prevent myself from burning out.

Anyway, in January 2010 i also got my 3rd year Christmas exam results back and passed everything, averaging 66.8%. I’d settle for that in January 2011 😉 Apple also announced their new ipad in January and at the time it was being billed as a ‘netbook killer’. I couldn’t see any use for it myself and said it was;

“a fancy luxury that yes, i’d like to have, but i know i would rarely use it because it’s just not practical for web browsing and writing which is what i spend most of my time doing.”

Almost a year later and that’s still my opinion on the ipad. Would i like one? Yes. Would i use one? Yes. Would i use it enough to warrant paying €500 for? No. Do i need one? No.

Moving along to February and i vowed to get back in to photoshop & design more in general. I wanted to be more creative and not just write, but design my own pictures to for this blog too. I revamped the blog design, created a new logo and came up with a new set of rules for myself on smemon.com. Not one rule has been broken since i made that post almost 11 months ago.

In March i was over in London for a friendly between Ireland & Brazil, that was the first of my three trips to London in 2010. I also showed you just how much paper & notes is involved in a college course these days (crazy amount).

Finally, in March smemon.com also found itself a new home on Irish soil for the first time. From March 2010 on, this blog has been hosted with blacknight. Can’t say anything bad about those guys.

April – June

In April 2010, i became Google analytics qualified at the second time of asking. I also spoke about the importance of photos and that’s something i’ve tried to keep reminding myself about… just yesterday i made reference to that again. I’m determined to increase the number of photos i take & publish in 2011 and you should see more videos from me too. In April, this blog’s word count also topped the 500,000 word count mark. smemon.com will see out 2010 with a word count of 640,000+

Moving on to May and i played around with Photoshop CS5 and instantly loved it. For the first time ever i seriously considered getting a Mac and at that stage i was already sold on getting the then unannounced iPhone 4.

In May i also bought a wireless colour laser printer which was one of the most useful things i’ve ever bought. Worth every cent of the €166 i paid for it. The cartridges still have over 50% capacity left despite the fact i’ve printed 900 pages (almost all of them college related). It’s comforting knowing that print quality will be superb and ink isn’t going to run out mid-way through printing an assignment. Every home should have one.

May was also the month Facebook sparked a privacy war. Mainstream media & online media were eager to tear down Facebook. Several big tech names & several Google employees ditched their Facebook accounts and for a split second, Facebook’s future was in doubt but i believe what Facebook did was right, their philosophy was and is right…

“More openness and more information can only be good for the internet. We should welcome and embrace it, not try to move backwards and restrict the flow of information”

June brought us the iPhone 4 and the world cup 2010 a.k.a the worst world cup in living memory. Vuvuzelas destroyed the atmosphere and only served to frustrate spectators who were already frustrated by the poor standard of football. African sides were embarrassed on their home soil and the big guns under-performed consistently. The right team won in the end but it was an ugly tournament in terms of football.

Luckily, i missed a few days of it because i was away in London. Great weather, great photos, great time in general. Will i make it over there again in 2011? Who knows… June was also the month i got official confirmation that i passed all my college exams and my three years in college were over, resulting in my first degree.

July – September

July 2010 was the month Spain became champions of the world. It was also the month i got myself a new set of wheels which *touches wood* hasn’t given me an ounce of trouble yet.

Despite the fact i’d already been in London twice in 2010, i went back for a third time in July. Again, more great photos, more shows, more hotels, more great weather… the stuff all good holidays are made of.

In August i visited the Giant’s Causeway for the first time. I was also in the new Aviva Stadium for Ireland’s first match against Argentina. In August i also ordered new office supplies, a new chair, new speakers and generally revamped my working space. My biggest website, theleavingcert.com also got a revamp.

September 2010 saw me back in college, starting a new course, a one year add on degree in IT Management. That’s the reason why work has stopped on pretty much all of my online projects from September until now. It sucks up a lot of my time and i’ll be glad to finish up with college work next summer, perhaps for good. These days i question the value of a degree and although i don’t want to work any harder, i would prefer if things were tougher, simply to increase the value of a degree. Is a degree the new leaving cert? I would say yes. I see it as a minimum standard for anything, simply because if you’re in competition for any kind of a job, you’ll be competing with people who have degrees.

In September 2010, i also picked up an iPhone 4. Although i still don’t like typing much on a screen, the iPhone 4 is incredibly useful thanks to the apps available for it.

October – December

In October i got myself some moo cards. I also graduated and collected my important piece of paper. In November i bought myself a second hand Mac Mini and a third monitor. If you were to take them away from me now, i’d be very angry. Once you get used to three monitors, even two just doesn’t seem enough.

There’s not much else to say about October – December, as i said college has pretty much destroyed everything. All i can talk about is college work and i don’t want to because i’ve spent the past three months letting it invade my life.

2011 will be interesting though. If i can learn to develop iphone apps (i’m working on it), it will open up a new world to me. After i finish up with this degree, i’ll also have to make tough choices which will dictate how and where i spend the latter half of 2011. I’ll finally be able to control what and how i learn and the pace i learn it at. Although i may well be finished with college for good in 2011, i definitely won’t stop learning. I’m as hungry as ever for technology.