Personal Enrichment

At the beginning of 2007, I started a To-Do list. This is not a leap for me. I’m a To-Do list fiend. But, this list was not about chores, errands, work or bills. The prompt was “What would I like to improve about myself?” Here are some of the items on my list:

1) Do Volunteer Work: I’ll donate $$ without blinking an eye but give up my precious weekends? Ha!

2) Switch to Linux: More like develop dual-boot capability. I figure learning more computer stuff is never useless. Research stage is complete. I’m in the backing up & cleaning up my computer stage. Toward the end of July, I will be partitioning my hard drive and installing Ubuntu (gulp).

3) Take A Self-Defense Course: I signed up for a Krav Maga class but I had to go out-of-town for work a lot so I missed most of the sessions. Need to re-sign up.

4) Unclutter Apartment: Have given away old clothes, thrown away old boxes / stuff-I-saved-for-reasons-that-elude-me-now, re-organized my personal files and been cleaning my apartment more often. Still need to re-sell some books/DVDs, give away some more clothes, re-organize entry closet / under my bed storage and dust my baseboards (my mother has repeatedly insisted this is necessary).

5) Start a weblog: (ahem) Now I just have to keep up with it.

6) Be More Sociable: To accomplish this I thought, join something that requires actual interaction with actual people. I’ve been looking & I’m a bit torn between the local Astronomy club, a shooting club, or a gardening club.

7) Take 1-2 Classes: Can be on any topic. I signed up for a First Aid course but missed it because of travel for work. Perhaps a language class to go with it?

8) Re-plant my patio garden: I let this get into dis-repair over the last winter so it’s good to see green & flowers out there again. Apartment patios are terribly bleak without something growing in them.

9) Improve Photography Skills: I’m terrible! Lately, I’ve been taking more pictures but there’s a lot of room for improvement here.

There are a few other items, but they’re smaller, more like preparations for next year’s list.

I think I’m going to start 1 or 2 regular features on this blog to further some of these goals. Here's some ideas:
- Updates on PE Goals: Monthly summary of status of above.
- Off the Beaten Path: Texas: Review some of the smaller, less well-known Texas attractions. Examples: Central Texas Antique Car Musuem or The Menil Collection in Houston. I’m thinking one every couple of months.
- Switching to Linux: This is the biggest computer-related anything I’ve ever attempted. I kinda want to record it and, if possible, help anyone out considering the same change.

Right now, I think the most good I can do is in improving myself, getting better at blogging and paying attention to the world around me. As far as further work goes, I’m going to keep an eye on the building of Ejectia. According to Mr. Whittle, version 1.0 will be up and running around July 4th. I have a feeling, next year’s personal enrichment list will be a great deal more interesting than this year’s.