It's the first day of 2009. It's a new year, a time for fresh beginnings for a lot of people and for the rest of us, a period of about 2 months where we continue to write "08" at the end of our dates. For me, the start of the year is a time to publish a list of goals, big and small that I can work towards in the coming 12 months. And better yet, I make 'em public, which hopefully keeps me accountable. I really enjoy putting this list together and it's been a good thing to keep me focussed for the year... so here we go for 2009, in no particular order;

• Give Steph the love and attention she deserves. I didn't do that great last year on this front, so I need to do a better this year. And don't include her in my summation of some of our household putting on weight in my wrap up blog of 2008 :) (Sorry hun..)
• Sort out the garden at the new house. At the moment it's a big dirt patch with strategically placed weeds. It needs to be levelled, landscaped and maintained. It's going to be a big, expensive job, but for the sanity of Steph, Aurora and I, it's a necessary job.
• Work on losing some weight and getting in better physical shape. I'm the heaviest I've ever been right now, so I'd like to work at getting back to a healthier size. I don't think I'll get to the crazy biking, hiking and running level of most of my fellow work colleagues, but to shed a couple of kilos would be great.
• Make the conscious decision and/or commitment; Vegan or not? Finish reading Peter Singer's book and make the decision to become Vegan or not. I'm getting more and more comfortable with a lot of my choices regarding food and consumer products, but I need to give some serious consideration as to whether or not to make the leap into ruling out animal products from my life altogether.
• Ride the wave that will be the next Neumann in our house. I'm sure it will be a turbulent ride with a new baby in the house; for Steph, myself and Aurora. I'm a tad apprehensive about how it will all go, but having a son is something I'm really looking forward to.
• Continue teaching and learning the lessons of life with Aurora. And help her adjust to having a little brother.
• Make an impact on OBS, and have as much fun as possible doing it :) Take on some more responsibility in the business if the opportunity comes up. Deliver some amazing projects, make sure my team is happy and that OBS kicks some serious ass.
• Spend some quality time with the Soesters. I'd like the Neumanns to spend some more time with the Soesters again - either here, in Adelaide or at some other exotic location... the location isn't important, we just have so much fun and get along so well together, it'd be great to hang out :)
• Keep blogging. At least 10 entries a month; or better yet, at least 2 entries a week.
• Don't start smoking again
• Hopefully get along to the MS Worldwide Partner Conference again in July (this year in New Orleans). I do like attending the conference - it gets me pumped for the coming 12 months work wise. It's also an opportunity for me to spend some solo Andy time.
• Keep playing guitar. I'm really happy with the frequency I'm playing guitar these days, so I'd like to keep it up. At least a couple of times a week.
• Start a habit of posting songs I've written and recorded to my blog. Given I have at least a couple of hundred songs in my back catalogue, I should start putting them here for you to listen to, or not :) I'll try for at least one a month, maybe once a fortnight?
• Win the lottery (Division one). That'd be nice :)

I'm sure there's some more, but let's keep these as the biggies to begin with. Wish me luck, and keep me honest :)