The Year That Was 2012

Is it me, or did 2012 zip by way too fast? Here on its last day, we think back to what were the highlights of the year. First of all, we are utterly grateful to our God for having seen us through another year without any hiccups. Our union has grown stronger in spite of flares here and there, as is common in any marriage. Reflecting on the concluding year, the theme seems to have been "settle": we finally got a lot of things right or in place and grew comfortable in our roles as married people.

There were no major events in our lives this year, but a few of note:

• We both maintained our current employment. We continue to be thankful for the benefits and flexibility the jobs offer us, and that they finance our livelihood comfortably.
• SHE run a 5K marathon for the first time -- the Turkey Trot, with her friends.
• We started attending a married couples' Bible study every other week, where we fellowship over soup and wine. It is awesome to learn from others that have been married a little longer than us.
• HE acheived his 10-year employment milestone at his current job, and is eligible to take a 5-week sabattical anytime. Maybe some travel is in order.
• SHE continued to work with high school girls from church as a leader of a weekly Bible study group.
• We hosted numerous friends for dinner almost every month (the Meyers, the Weeks, the Danjumas, the Sears, the Clarks, the Sterns, our friends Kelly+Seth, a baby shower for the Summers, the Kitikats, the Baileys). I mentioned our hosting tradition in previous posts.
• We also hosted our second Christmas Brunch and Hangout on Christmas day. Basically, we prepare a hearty brunch for family and friends at our house and hang out later for games, movies, hikes, or hot-tubbing, among other things. It's a tradition we intend to maintain going forward.
• We've continued to do our cooking experiments. This year we did some Russian and Australian/New Zealand dishes, and quite a few African foods. I still need to learn to make kebabs properly to totally disconnect my dependence on that Ghanian lady that I buy African food from a lot.
• We went camping in Wyoming for a week with our friends the Schiefs and the Weeks. Aside from the unfortunate event while white-water rafting, it was good times being away for a little while.
• HIS cousin Venex visited from Uganda. After 14 years without seeing each other, it was good to catch up in person and get updated about the situation back in Uganda.
• Our newest niece Emma was born! We hosted her baby shower back in August.
• For three weeks, we did not need to buy juice: we had a lot of fresh-pressed apple cider from the Totems farm, where we had gone to help prepare it one weekend.
• We celebrated our anniverssary in Estes Park, Colorado. We intend to celebrate our anniversaries in a different state each year (or so we think for now).
• We worked out to the tune of "Insanity", "P90X", and other BeachBody.com DVDs. SHE has been more religious about exercise than HE.
• HE started working a big project (leafcompass.com) through his business, alongside completion of several other small projects. This year, it's become clear that his small business is viable and worth developing into a self-employment venture.
• HE officially became a drummer, able to play whole church services. He still plays bass guitar at their home church. She still has not picked up guitar.
• We officially dove into the world of financial investments, staking half of our emergency fund into municiple bonds. There is interest to do mutual funds and even riskier stocks.
• We ramped up our plans to complete our house in Uganda, currently ready for a painting and furnishing phase. We'll have two residences -- in the US and in Uganda as needed (where his family is).
• We visited our mentors the Hunters in Kentucky. We intend this to be an annual trek, if possible. They ooze wisdom and insight, and we appreciate that they can share their lives with us.
• We started our monthly date nights. Yes, we dress up and go have a fancy meal somewhere exotic. Highly recommended for all couples, to take a break once in a while and go enjoy yourselves. The idea of lunch dates every couple of weeks didn't quite catch on.
• SHE visited Las Vegas for a bridal shower, and then Washigton state for the wedding of her friends. Lots of travel this year.
• HER friends Shannette and Victoria visited us. Speaking of visitors, we need to find a better air mattress that can hold its own the whole weekend. We've returned air mattresses three times this year.
• The Waldo Canyon fire affected us too: we self-evacuated when most of our neighbors were given evacuation orders and the smoke was too thick around our apartment complex. We were out for 3 days, but we did not lose any property.
• Losses that affected us profoundly: one of his groomsmen lost his wife, and another lost their unborn child. This hit too close to home, the saddest moments of the year.

 We live very simple lives and are thankful for each day His mercies are renewed for us. With much vigor and expectation, we look forward to 2013.

Learning French, Pt.1

For December, one of my projects is to spruce up my French language skills. Languages are one of the few things for which "use it or lose it" is invariably true. I spoke French fluently more than 10 years ago, but it eroded for lack of practice. Increasingly, I am having difficulty reading French publications and listening to French dialogue (in movies and song, for example).

So I'm studying French as anyone would if they were learning a new language. You start with grammar and writing (this month), then do literature and reading (January2013), listening and culture (February2013), and finally conversation (March2013). So by summer next year, I should be fluent again. It is easy this time because I already have some background in the language.

But it will take hard work and commitment to finish well. I use library books and study for an hour each day. Apart from an ongoing effort to connect with French students and speakers around town, I also do a lot of memory exercises, and try to translate as much English to French as I can. Heck, I also read the Bible in French and have switched my email, Facebook, iPod, and some programs I used day-to-day to the French language. I call this the "poor man's immersion", and I can testify that it helps in getting your mindset back into the language and culture.

Free Weekends

A lot has happened over the last month that I'm surprised I have not gone insane by now. There have been births, deaths, deadlines, demanding projects, and other personal obligations that consumed every wake hour I had. It is actually amazing how easily we burn through weeks and months without a second thought, until our bodies must physically warn us about the abuse (burnout). Without anything substantial to show for the month, it feels like you wasted or lost time. Life is quite cutthroat at that rate.

But the secret to maintaining sanity and preventing a total breakdown: rest and play. Yes, mindless play and laughter like kids do best. And plenty of rest like you have no concern in this world. So as a family we started a year ago the practice of reserving a free weekend (Friday evening through Sunday night) each month during which we unplug from the busyness around us. During our monthly planning sessions, the first thing we decide is when to have this weekend. We schedule absolutely nothing (or as little as possible) that whole time so we can rest, no matter what is on our plate. We might plan a leisurely getaway, but we usually just stay home because travel can be cumbersome and tiring itself.

A miracle happens during that weekend for me: willful neglect of social media, email, and entertainment (except background music). I typically don't do church or answer my phone as well. Nor do I concern myself with anything remotely considered an adult responsibility. Complete blackout from the usual grind. On the other end of the weekend, we are energized and have better perspective on the challenges we face. Definitely time well spent.

Study Frenzy

I really don't miss school/college, but I do love to learn. So it is not surprising that from time to time, I choose topics to study and can sometimes overdo it, much like I find myself this week. Because of upcoming changes in my work environments, I've found it necessary to spruce up some technical skills. So I am currently reading:

• Ext JS 4: a technology for rich web user interfaces and mobile applications. You can produce some nice-looking and responsive websites and mobile apps this way.
• Spring 3.1: a technology used widely in Java to wire various components of an application. For example, I use it a lot to manage how I use Hibernate (data persistence), security, website presentation on the server, and application configuration, to mention but a few.
• Hibernate 4.1: my preferred library to handle interaction with databases, abstracting a lot of the details and allowing me to use ORM in my apps.
• Mule ESB 3.3: in an enterprise with different kinds of applications and systems, you need a data conduit that can connect everything together. I use this enterprise service bus to achieve exactly that, enabling legacy and other proprietary applications to communicate.
• ActiveMQ: a better way to move data reliably using message queuing. This is part of what will be implemented on the ESB.

All the above studies are skill/tool upgrades except ActiveMQ. Usually when I find myself using older libraries and technologies (or newer ones offer attractive features or fix old problems), I conduct a study to learn what's new and end up upgrading my entire code base. So it looks like the rest of the year will be consumed with completing this upgrade.

Besides these studies, I am also primarily still developing LeafCompass, the portal for landscapers. The first release is out, to be followed soon by a mobile version and a comprehensive support site.

As if that isn't enough, I am in self-taught mode for business administration: I'm feeling the itch to start ramping up my small business Strive Consulting, LLC and taking on more jobs, and eventually becoming completely self-employed. So I am designing a new app that will help administer that business too (so I can achieve operational automation and efficiency through technology).

Talk of busyness, I am! But the study frenzy seems like a necessary step at this stage in my life. I know it will pay off, so I do it despite how boring it is and how tired I end up.

We Fit(ness) Together

I'd be hard-pressed to find anyone that never works out and yet is physically fit. So that we look and feel good, we all must work out. Some do gyms and others get personal trainers -- we just do DVD programs at home. Enter "Insanity", which we have been doing on and off for the last couple of months. My wife does another women's Beachbody product from time to time, which has served her well.

We've seen some results, even with our lackluster commitment, so we know that if we work harder at it and be more consistent, we'll see even better results. Actually, my wife has been more successful at exercise than I, working out pretty much every weekday even if I do not join her. I realize that (1) I have a bad habit of working out in 1-2 week spurts then taking a week or two off, (2) I work out better in the evenings than in the mornings, and (3) exercise can become routine and boring, creating less of an desire to commit seriously.

So I've designated October and November as the months I intend to finish the entire "Insanity" workout. To encourage my wife in her workouts, I'll workout in the mornings with her. I'll workout everyday (except Sundays) so I can be true to the workout and see if it really delivers on its promise of serious abs and better cardio response. I'll work out to my own music though, to keep things interesting, and will "test" my physical fitness every 2 weeks with a brisk hike up the Manitou Springs Incline. Yes, this all sounds like a New Year's resolution -- and it is. Simply applied really late into the year.

At the other end though, I expect good health and vanity. I mean, why else do we work out?