Weekly update

I'm really busy at work and working on all my goals for the year. I am having trouble keeping up with my blogging.

I have been spending a lot of time working on my CCNA certification. I am also reading a book on Risk Management for my PMI certification.

After I sprained my ankle, I wasn't able to run for a week. I went out on Tuesday alone and actually ran nearly 4 miles at a pace of less than 9 minutes per mile. Not bad.

Other than that, still plugging away.
-- Maddog

More goals

I was looking at LuluLemon and saw I had two goals defined that I didn't list here. So here the are:

Goal #6 - Pay off 3 store credit cards.
Goal #7 - run in one 10K and two 5K races while working out 6 days a week.

I am looking to run a 5K in early November with Boots, possibly in St. Clair.


We went for a run on Sunday. After about 1/4 of a mile, I twisted my ankle. I proceeds to run another 4 miles on it. Probably not my brightest move. But I don't think it is any worse than if I had stopped. We are supposed to run tomorrow morning and I think I should be okay.

Sunny October

Today is a sunny October morning here in Michigan. I'm enjoying some coffee on the deck before getting into what has turned out to be a hectic Saturday.

I have volunteered to run one of the cameras at my church. We attend services at what people call a Mega Church. Services area held I an auditorium which seats more than 1000 people. There is a live band each week (mostly rock type music) and two huge screens on which the entire festivities are projected. I will be running one of the five cameras that are used to capture the production. Today is my first day and while I am not exactly nervous, I am a bit apprehensive. This is outside my comfort zone. Everyone who work on my team seem like they have been doing this a long time. Two weeks ago when I watched from the production room, the director didn't have to instruct the camera crew on what to do. They seemed to know instinctively. I know that comes with experience, but I am a perfectionist and want to run before I can crawl.

Later tonight (actually early tomorrow morning) I am heading to work to install a new piece of hardware. So it feels like this sunny October weekend is shot before it begins.

As far as my goals go, I am writing today, so check that one off my list. No new progress on my PMI certification - I plan on investigating more of the free courses next week. For the CCNA cert, I read some more of the book I got. I am planning on cooking Beef Bourginon tomorrow. The Masters program has had no progress.

Boots and I ran on both Tuesday and Thursday, about 3.5 miles each time.

The start of a new trek

Alright, here I am, writing much later than I had originally planned, as promised (not the late part, just the writing part). Again, I am on the computer, this time because my phone's battery was low.

I have set my goals! The site I used had you start with your 10 year goals, then set the 5 year goals to work with those and then set your 1 year goals. So that is what I did. However, I will only reveal my 1 year goals here. Not because I am embarrassed by my long term goals, but that all of my long term goals will be a product of my short term goals and are only being worked on by working on the shorter ones. I may refer to the long term, but that is only for clarification.

Goal #1: Post once a week on this blog - no explanation needed.
Goal #2: Renew my PMI certification - I am a certified Project Manager. I have had this certification for the past 5 years. Every 3 years, you have to re-certify. To do this, you simply have to prove continuing education or work in the project management field. You need 60 personal development units (PDU's)of this work to re-certify; no test or money (other than what it might cost to take courses, etc.). I entered this year needing 45.5 PDUs and I must renew by November of 2011. Progress: Identified and scheduled several free courses that I can take for 1 PDU each and have obtained 3 PDUs this week.
Goal #3: Get my Cisco Certified Network Administrator certification - In my work role as Telecommunications Manager, I spend a lot of time dealing with network issues. By obtaining my CCNA, I will be better prepared to handle issues and understand strategically where we need to go as a company. Progress: I checked out a book from the library on CCNA certification and am in the middle of the first chapter. I have also done some preliminary investigation into the certification test.
Goal #4: Prepare to enroll in a masters program - The long term goal here is pretty evident. This goal has several parts. It includes identifying what program I would like to get my masters in (business vs. a computer oriented program), identifying (and possibly taking) any prerequisite courses needed for the program, taking the GMAT if necessary. Progress: No progress on this goal.
Goal #5: Cook 1 meal a week - I really like cooking and want to improve my skills in that area. What better way to do that than to do actual cooking? Progress: I cooked a new version of Shrimp Etouffee this week. A bit disappointing. I was more like gumbo than the other etouffee I have made. I didn't dislike it, but was expecting something less soupy and thicker. I may try thickening some of the leftovers to see if I like that better.

So there you have it, my goals for the year. I may not achieve all of them, but if I don't try, I will achieve none of them.

Not much running this week - We (Boots and I) got out once. Maybe today we will go out.

-- Maddog