• Started training to run in 5K races as part of a New Year’s resolution
• Started attending the Firefly Logic Geek Socials and CentreSource Interactive Mixers
• Voted in my first city referendum against an “English Only” measure
• Signed our last lease with the current apartment complex
• Ran in our first race, the Predators Fangtastic 5K in just under an hour
• Went to our first PodCamp Nashville
• Completed the sixth iteration of this site, dubbed “Cluttered”
• Ran in our second race, the “Runnin’ to Beat the Blues” 5K with a better time of around 45:37
• Went to the Nashville Earth Day Festival
• Answered a jury summons, but was ultimately not selected
• Lost my maternal grandmother to cancer
• Won a belt buckle for answering a few crossword questions
• Ran in our third race, the “Ellie’s Run for Africa” 5K
• Had my car towed for the first time since college — this time without violating the law in the process
• Had an action-packed Fourth of July
• Participated on the planning committee for BarCamp Nashville
• Signed up for a Pro account on Flickr
• Went on our first church retreat with Eastwood
• Turned in my resignation to my employer of three years
• Attended the East Nashville Tomato Art Festival
• Went to work for CentreSource as an Interactive Strategist
• Launched a hypothetical company as part of Nashville Startup Weekend
• Worked a sponsorship table at BarCamp Nashville and was on the production team for the after event
• Finally went on a two-day vacation to Chicago to celebrate our third anniversary
• Went on a company retreat (spouses included) to Gatlinburg for an awesome weekend
• Attended the “Save Our State” training session from the TNDP
• Marked five years of having an official “blog” (powered by WordPress)
• Had an awesome evening with about a dozen or so college and Nashville friends around Christmas

I had two objectives for the day: work the CentreSource table and somehow pull off a small miracle to get the inaugural Ignite Nashville off without a hitch. While I won’t say that either of those were completely free, I was happy with it. Unlike most things I go to, I didn’t take a lot of pictures this time around. However, check out this Flickr stream for photos, and check out the BarCamp Web site for more scenes from today’s event.

I think I’m going to home and nap. For a day or two.

Of course, once you leave the friendly confines of secondary and higher education, summers start to mean less, and the school year only means that one’s commute becomes a bit longer. But I still enjoy this time of the year. There must be some sociology concept that explains the changes in moods and behaviors associated with autumn. Perhaps it dates back to the pre-winter months being the time for harvest. Then again, it could just be that football and hockey season have returned, and all is right is right with the world.

Lately I have been involved with the planning of BarCamp Nashville 2009, the premier technology conference for Nashville and the surrounding region. The event is scheduled for Saturday, October 17, and we hope to be able to announce a venue in the coming week. The meetings are 6 p.m. every Monday in Suite 422 of Cummins Station downtown.

My weekend/post-meeting project has been to dive right into the Symfony PHP framework. I have been developing with PHP/MySQL for well over six years now, but this is really exciting stuff. I did not break out of the procedural programming rut until about a year ago, moving most of my new projects to a modular, object-oriented approach. Learning the framework has the potential to help me build out some really robust stuff, all with the benefit of working in a common architecture that anoother developer can walk in to and know (for the most part) what is going on. I am quickly becoming a firm believer.

Samantha picked up an Objective-C book from Amazon for me a month or two ago, but I have not spent nearly as much time working with it as I had hoped. That will likely be something I tackle this winter when there is less daylight and more time to tinker around in Xcode. Until then, my lofty dreams of being an iPhone App millionaire will have to be put on hold. Hey, a guy has to have some goals, right?

The technology community in Nashville

At a recent social event, I met two guys that were new to Nashville and were looking to break in to the technology community. One knew that was where the best contacts were, the other had just heard about it from a friend. I told them what I tell everyone that asks about tech in Nashville: it is a community effort, and there really is not a power structure to contend with. If you are interested in programming, Web development, infrastructure or even social media, there is a place for you. If that place is not immediately evident, finding like-minded individuals to have meeting or put on a conference is only a tweet or Facebook post away.

I have met dozens of people with a wide array of backgrounds. Some worked in healthcare or entertainment, some at agencies, others in the more traditional corporate environment. All are really passionate about their trade, and they are all remarkably outgoing folks. I think it really shattered a stigma for those two guys at the mixer. The notion that “geeks” are always holed up in a basement, drinking Diet Mountain Dew and being the only one in a 500 mile radius that knows what they do is ridiculously outdated. If you are not out there making new connections or actively participating in ways to further your knowledge, it really is not worth doing at all.

There really is not an “in crowd” for Nashville’s technology community per se. At the same time, showing up for a handful of mixers or seminars is never a bad idea. It has become clear in the last 18 months that everyone must be willing to adapt their skills to remain relevant. Shrinking budgets mean more pressure to deliver even as we get less to work with. Adapting is really the only option for many.

Web designers are starting to become interested in development. Developers can no longer ignore the user experience. Graphic designers are starting to slice up their own Photoshop compositions. In that sense, it is great that many are becoming “jacks of all trades, master of a few.” After all, there are few more humbling feelings than when everything you have worked for must be condensed into to a few 8.5 x 11 inch pieces of paper that you hand off to prospective employer. Flexibility is key.

I know that all of this has spurred me to approach things differently.

Staying connected is a rather difficult proposition. It takes what precious amount of leisure time we have apart from our jobs (unless you “borrow” a bit from your employer every now and then) to keep up to speed on what is happening in an online social circle. For those that have flatly chosen to avoid it, they do so at the peril of missing an invite or receiving those little nuggets of information about which they might not otherwise not hear. Despite living in a more connected world, it has become even easier to fall out of the proverbial loop.

Back to instant messengers. As Twitter has reduced the number of text messages I use in a given month, the text message reduced the number of times I signed on to an instant messaging service. Most people do not venture very far without their cell phones, and text messaging has proven to be the fastest way to transmit an “urgent” message to just about anyone. If I wanted to find out where I was supposed to meet up with friends that evening, I could wait until they got back to a computer or send a quick text.

How have your usage patterns changed over time of instant messengers, text messaging and micro-blogging services like Twitter?

The application can tag almost any music it records with the accurate song title and artist, as well as links to purchase the song on iTunes or watch a music video (if available) on YouTube. Tonight, I pulled up my list of recently tagged songs and proceeded to add them to my shopping cart on iTunes. These were songs that I had heard throughout the week played on radio that I wanted to remember and save for later. I liked them enough to purchase them. It makes for a fairly seamless transition from hearing the music that I like to making the purchase. Some are independent artists without big touring budgets, others are more mainstream.

It is really how I have always bought music online — hearing the song played on the radio or at a venue, then going home and seeing if it is available on iTunes (or another service). If I realize that I liked a number of songs from the same album, I will go ahead and buy the entire thing to hear it in the format the artist likely intended it to be heard: as one flowing piece of work. But for the most part, singles fill my music library.

I spend more on music now than I did when I had to weigh whether to purchase the entire album. I have a few CDs (Jimmy Buffett and Frank Sinatra, for example) that I picked up on clearance, but even those were quickly loaded into to digital library. It is just a smarter way to manage your music.

The traditional distribution channels for music (record stores, big box retail, and even Internet) could learn a lot from watching the newspaper industry enter the twilight years of its existence. Both have been thriving industries in the past, and both have been slow to adapt to the new ways that consumers seek out their product. But, just like the news will be reported regardless of the medium, there will always be music. The entrepreneurial spirit will put forward new ideas and new models to make the recording industry as vibrant as ever by taking the leap of faith into the new century.

I believe that it begins by looking at the actual product. I am purchasing the sounds that come out of my speakers, not the CD that plays nor the digital file I downloaded. Both are useless unless I hear “Fire And Rain” softly rolling through the room or in my car. Likewise, I am purchasing the knowledge gained from reading the newspaper, not the dingy paper and ink product.

For now, it is off to bed before we head to PodCamp Nashville tomorrow.

My handwriting is an example of what happens when a skill is not used often enough. You can ask any professor or co-worker how difficult it is to discern my “5″ from an “S” or why a “P” looks more like an “l” and an “o”. This demonstrates what can happen when technology, in my case typing 98 percent of my written communication, creates a deficiency for using the more traditional approach.

It is much more severe in professional writing. While I can turn to a computer (or, when something must be handwritten, my wife’s polished script) to replace my handwriting, nothing can replace the ability to string together a few sentences to form a coherent, actionable thought. Blogging has taught us to take a more casual, conversational approach to communicating at the expense of maintaining a bit of credibility. If I want to be taken seriously, there is no way that I am handwriting a letter. Much the same, I would not use a “blog-like” approach to getting my message across. Even though we live in a world where executives at Fortune 500 companies can fit their thoughts in the 140 character limit of Twitter, they most likely did not arrive to that point in their lives without a basic understanding of how to write a professional letter.

The other side to writing is proofreading. I occasionally receive e-mails from vendors and customers that are clear in their intent, but short on making sure that there are not grammatical errors or misused words. Even when distracting, I can overlook the occasional error in subject-verb agreement or stylistic errors. I am far from perfect myself in that regard, and find it amazing that my day job even has a component of it where I am expected to correct such errors. The Internet generation has turned such errors into their own language (“LOL-speak”), so it may be a matter of time when a traditionalist like myself will find myself writing the words “I CAN HAZ PROMOSHUN?” to a boss.

(Shudder.)

I am interested in taking a corporate communication course or two as a means of self-improvement. Time constraints aside, I know that I could use some remedial instruction to undo the damage caused by reading “bad influences” on the Internet.

Samantha and I (along with just about anyone else I can drag along) will be attending PodCamp Nashville 2009 at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 7. I was a little skeptical of the event when it rolled through town last year, mostly because it was held at a cramped bar and put on by a lot of people I had never heard of before. Having been to a Digital Nashville event, CentreSource mixer and Firefly Logic’s Geek Social in the last few months, along with BarCamp Nashville in October, I can now pick out a few more familiar faces.

If you can attend that weekend and have an interest in social media, this event is one you will not want to miss. Registration is free, and if it is anything like BarCamp there will be plenty of giveaways and door prizes. Click the link below to register.

Register to Attend

That would appear to be the overarching theme for 2009: slow but steady progress. A recent survey at work indicates that most in our industry do not see this year as having much of a chance at being better than the last for the overall economy, but are staying upbeat about their own businesses’ prospects. My wife has requested an embargo on talking about the state of the economy while at home unless it relates directly to us. I can certainly empathize with her sentiment there.

On two separate occasions, someone has told me how they wish we could catch a break in the nightly news docket of economic doom and gloom. If someone would go into the mainstream media and just tell us things are getting better quickly (read: tell an outright lie), the psychological boost to our nation would be enough to get the economy’s gears moving again. I am not sure I believe that it would happen, but I suppose it is good to have that as an option if we run out of all others.

One of the things I am doing to strike a more positive note for 2009 is to set a few goals. We are already a week into the new year, so to call them “resolutions” is likely impermissible. I hope to get to more networking events in Nashville this year to stay current on what all is happening in the Music City technology crowd. Like many Americans, I want to concentrate a bit more on physical fitness this year. Signing up for the Nashville Predators Fangtastic 5K in February is a positive step in that direction. Other goals include reading more and a slightly wider variety of books as well as eating out less and contributing to our savings account more often.

Unlike the talking head due on television any day now, I hope that I am telling the truth when I commit to those goals.

• Wrote one letter to the editor
• Joined my employer’s 401(k) plan
• Bludgeoned with primary election season coverage
• Enjoyed a nice, long period of quarterlife angst
• Endorsed a candidate for president
• Saw Ani DiFranco and Over the Rhine at the Ryman
• Received a tax refund and stimulus check
• Signed another a lease for another year at our apartment
• Attended my first Stanley Cup Playoff game (Predators 3, Red Wings 2)
• Re-activated my Twitter account
• Designed the "Go Green" theme for my Web site
• Attended the East Nashville Hot Chicken Festival and the downtown fireworks
• Endured a long summer of staff transitions at work
• Received first post-college promotion
• Attended the Tomato Arts Festival in East Nashville
• Turned 25 in August; received a bit of a discount on car insurance as a result
• Marked my second year with my employer in September
• Finally purchased an NHL game for the Wii, much to wife’s chagrin
• Posted (almost) every day for the month of September
• Attended the second annual BarCamp Nashville event at the Sommet Center
• Became the proud owner of an iPhone 3G
• Celebrated two years of marriage and five years of being with my wife in October
• Early-voted in my second presidential election and third for a U.S. Senate
• Launched a site for NCAA All American candidate Lester Hudson
• Attended my first wedding for a college friend
• The wedding was the only time I left Tennessee in 2008 (5 miles over state border in Kentucky)
• Joined a Disciples of Christ congregation
• Accompanied my wife as we purchased a new car for her
• Donated our minivan to the National Kidney Foundation

Tonight, while waiting for my wife’s plane to come in from Florida, I went to the Digital Nashville December Meet-up and Mixer at the Nettwerk/SYNC offices above Edgehill Studios Cafe. This was my first event with this group, so there was bound to be a period of time where I stood around searching for anyone I might have met through other events. I finally struck up conversation with a few other first-time visitors, so the evening worked out well. Now my wife and I are celebrating the fact that I did not burn down the apartment while she was away.

I will sign up, claim a URL, throw a few pictures on there, let it sit for a while and then forget why I ever registered in the first place. Here is the cold truth for anyone trying to start the next Facebook or MySpace: it is the number of friends that use the platform, not the technology behind it, that determines success.

MySpace is a good example of this concept. Intrusive flash ads, lousy 1990s-era design and perennially slow performance matter little when it is ranks at or near the top of the most popular sites on the Web. It all is about who uses it, not the platform itself.

Niche social networking sites have sprung up and enjoyed success on the small scale. Most of these sites focussed on a very particular demographic (like young adult novel fans) or built on an existing offline community (like political campaigns).

Pownce is an example of a site that falls into the “also-ran” category. Sure, it was a full-featured site with blogs, photo galleries, public message boards, groups, etc. But what it lacked was an audience that was willing to say “see my profile on Pownce.” It really comes as no surprise that after their acquisition by Six Apart today, Pownce will be in closed two weeks.

Social networking as a marketplace has remarkably low hurdles to hop in terms of creating and maintaining. A developer, a framework and a leased server farm are all one really needs to get into the game. You can even skip all of that and use a pre-built service like Ning. But advertisers and investors will not come calling until after you cross the 1-2 million member mark, particularly when their content can get higher visibility with Facebook’s 120 million users.

Success in this arena is a very tall order.

The trouble is that most displays (projectors, televisions and computer monitors) that you would connect to the notebook are not HDCP compatible. This can be added to a long list of moves by computer hardware manufacturers and entertainment industry companies to handcuff the law abiding consumer. It is really difficult for me to understand why the physical or digital media that I purchase cannot be transferred or played on any device with the hardware capability to do so.

In Apple’s defense, Steve Jobs wrote an open letter in 2007 to music industry executives stating his company’s position on DRM:

So if the music companies are selling over 90 percent of their music DRM-free, what benefits do they get from selling the remaining small percentage of their music encumbered with a DRM system? There appear to be none. If anything, the technical expertise and overhead required to create, operate and update a DRM system has limited the number of participants selling DRM protected music. If such requirements were removed, the music industry might experience an influx of new companies willing to invest in innovative new stores and players. This can only be seen as a positive by the music companies.

Much of his same logic could be applied to the rest of the entertainment industry. As consumers, our only voice in this entire industry paradigm shift is how we spend our money. I believe the best thing we can do is to stay up to speed on these moves and continue to support the platforms that give us the most playback freedom.

Title taken from an industry PSA related to pirated software.

After the weekend trip to BarCamp Nashville, I have started giving thought to what other kinds of technology events I would like to attend next year. I really enjoyed the social aspect of BarCamp, even though I only held a conversation of any length with my wife. Instead, I followed the live updating commentary left by other Twitter users who used the #bcn08 hash tag. Including that in the update means that other users can search for all posts related to BarCamp. It is an imperfect system (I forgot it most of the time), but it seems to be the easiest to roll out.

I did notice one thing that had to be driving the session presenters bonkers: lack of an attentive audience. I know that I personally missed large segments of the presentations because I was fixated on browsing and updating on my phone. It is rude, and I am just as guilty as anyone else in the room. My wife and I attended all of our sessions together, so maybe whatever one missed the other caught.

Welcome Session
Lots of thanks to the sponsors and organizers. There were some raffle drawings, but we came out empty handed.

Micro Blogging with Dave Delaney
An overview of Twitter and discussion of Trust Based Economies. Dave also used it to promote philanthropy and raised more than the requested $411 in one day from conference attendees.

Content Delivery and Metrics with Nicholas Young
A presentation about ArtistOneAnalytics.com. The presenters (I cannot remember the other guy’s name) were making a pretty compelling sales pitch for harnessing the marketing power of P2P. He is fairly convinced piracy is not what is killing the music industry — confusion is.

PR 2.0 The Deer Have Guns with Steve Horton and Bill Seaver
A longer form of the presentation that Bill gave a few of my coworkers and me this past July. It was a great refresher course and was a bit of a reminder that we really, really should research it further.

Designers Developers Unite! with Jared Scheel
This is one I wish I had my co-workers in on, if nothing else for the humor factor. Jared went through a few common struggles between developers and designers in a web shop and offered a few strategies from getting through them. My wife thinks he was biased against designers.

Went to Lunch
A pretty good session at Panera Bread and Starbucks. That counts, right? Both had Wi-Fi.

New Ecosystem with Alex Lavidge
This one was about a co-working environment set up in Knoxville to help self-employed entrepreneurs get their start-up off the ground and built for longevity. I was really intrigued by the idea of an open office space where you share resources (break room, conference room, etc.) with others in a collaborative environment without sharing an employer. I have to wonder if something like that could come to the mid-state.

New Media for Change
We bailed on this one. Not at all what we were hoping for.

Rails Rumble with Mark Wise
One of the project members for a Ruby on Rails competition shared a status report on FeedMatch.com. While none of it talked about the Ruby code itself, I did like the peek under the hood of a development team trying to finish a project on a tight deadline. Learned a bit about wireframes and version control.

Hockey Game with the Nashville Predators
Not really a session, but we were able to get discounted tickets for yesterday evening’s game. We ducked out early from the conference to go get ready and change clothes. I was able to pick up two extra registration bags and t-shirts for my co-workers.

Final thoughts …
The conference exceeded all of my expectations for a technology event in Nashville. The only thing I would have liked would be more distance between the sessions and the “trade show” floor (hallway). It became really cramped out there with people pouring in and out of sessions. I really look forward to next year!

I am micro-blogging from BarCamp Nashville. It has been a lot of fun so far. The conversation in the hall suggested that 560 or more have registered to attend the one day un-conference for the Tennessee technology community.

If you are browsing a contact list and your finger slips, it dials a number. Touch a call from your recent call log and it dials instantly. When using a Web application or one of the new native iPhone applications, touching a telephone number places the call immediately. Apple made it very easy to place a call, even if it is unintentional.

My proposal is to add a setting (hidden in the Settings widget) that allows you to set whether all apps or just certain apps can dial a telephone number without user interaction. Otherwise, a modal window pops up and says “Call (555) 555-1234?” In fact, it would be helpful if you could do this from the included Contacts application as well. If you are using the touch pad, there would not be a need for the confirmation.

If Apple does not want to add it to the firmware, at least application developers could include such a prompt in their product. Until then, if you get a call from me and I immediately hang up, please forgive me.

I am exhausted from a long day of riding all over Nashville in “celebration” of iPhone Saturday. I have had this one on my calendar for a while because it means I got my first new gadget in quite some time. There are a few facts I learned today.

iPhones are pretty nifty – Mine is turned off for now to let the battery recharge, but the apps I picked out a while back work great and I am sure I will find a few more worth having. Other than test calling my wife, I have not actually used the phone portion yet.

AT&T uses Equifax to verify credit – Last December, someone broke into the Davidson County Election Commission and stole a laptop containing the private information of every registered voter in the city. We are among them. In response, we put credit freezes on both of our accounts through all three credit bureaus. AT&T uses one of them, Equifax.

The Apple Store is not accustomed to dealing with frozen credit files – If you go to purchase an iPhone (even if you completed the online process and it says your credit was checked), the store employee will have to go to a back room and call AT&T’s service line. The agent on the other end will ask for the pin number to temporarily access your records.

Equifax cannot unfreeze your credit on weekends – I was able to call the other two agencies and have the freeze temporarily lifted. Neither was the one that AT&T wanted to use. Equifax only processes such requests between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday – Friday.

We are not con-artists – Contrary to the uneasy looks we got the second time trying to complete our rather expensive purchase, we just wanted to hurry up and be done with the process. Even after driving back to Goodlettsville to retrieve our files, we were still unable to satisfy their credit verification needs.

The AT&T Store is slightly better prepared – Two failed attempts at the Apple Store put us right down the road to the AT&T Store. They were able to verify our credit through alternative means (we passed) and also merged our bills with our home phone and Internet service.

Debix will actually call you – While at the AT&T Store, an off-site credit analyst went about an alternative means to verify our credit. They called the phone number on file with Equifax, which was a line monitored by Debix. Debix took their information and then called me on my cell phone and asked for a security pin. After providing that, I was able to complete the rest of the process.

Lint and protective screens do not mix – Just ask my wife, who spent close to an hour trying to figure out how to de-lintify her case for the iPod touch. I dropped the static cling side to my pants leg while bouncing down I-65, so it ultimately winds up being my fault.

A margarita and a quesadilla takes the edge off a long day – We stopped by Rosepepper Cantina & Mexican Grille in East Nashville on our way home. I highly recommend it.

Fall has finally arrived. A lot of southerners lovingly call this “football weather”, because it is just cold enough to require long sleeves but not the kind of icy feel of December. The afternoons tend to climb in the low to mid-80s, so versatile wardrobe selections have to be added to the daily routine. My wife calls it “hoodie weather.”

Today was spent split between an InDesign and Dreamweaver window. I eventually had to pick on which I was going to concentrate because dabbling in both was not getting me anywhere. There are deadlines (some that have come and gone) for both applications, but I have discovered over time that I do lean towards Web development over print design.

Now, I use Dreamweaver while I am at work. I cannot think of the last time I started a project in design view, preferring to use the apps basic code-completion and syntax formatting over its other features. When at home on my Mac, I use Smultron, an open-source application that on the balance is more feature-rich than Dreamweaver for my purposes.

While on the subject of the upcoming BarCamp Nashville, a co-worker told me about the Nashville Startup Weekend that is happening the weekend before. It looks like a cool idea, having a group of professionals come together with the purpose of brainstorming, planning and building a new company or project. I do not think I or Samantha will be able to participate this year, but check it out it out if it sounds like a fun weekend. The registration page says it will set you back about $40.00 for the weekend.

We are going to BarCamp Nashville 2008 October 18 at the Sommet Center in downtown Nashville.

BarCamp Nashville is an open-source gathering of technology enthusiasts who come together for one weekend to share what they know and learn what they don’t. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees.

Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join.

Sounds cool, right?

Tonight my wife and I went to the Nashville Area Blogger Meet-up at The Flying Saucer in downtown Nashville. The gathering is one of those “Hey, I know you online but we’ve never met in person” kind of events, so there is always those awkward moments when one must let the senses catch-up to the new information.

I had a good time, even though my wife is the one who knew or had more contact with a handful of those in attendance. Much like our other endeavor that occurs regularly at the Saucer, it is always good to meet new people.

Here is another note about the Flying Saucer. They have a political gimmick going on right now where you buy a beer glass for $5 representing your presidential candidate of choice and they add it to the total on the wall. They even aggregate these numbers nationally to see who is the preferred candidate of beer drinkers.

Also, to whoever ended up not having to pay for two “BBC Nut Brown (2 @ $4.50)“, you are very welcome. I learned the lesson tonight that you always review the bar receipt before you sign off on it. Ah well.

For the last couple of nights, our DSL connection from AT&T has been less than reliable. At one point, we had less than three minutes of connectivity before having to re-reset the modem and the attached wireless router. Mostly out of frustration, I ordered one of their combined Router/Modem gateways. I wagered that at least if the connection was going to be flaky, I would only have to reset one device instead of two. I am starting to wish I had done that to begin with.

I still have a bit of trouble compartmentalizing the last couple of months so that I can get back my usual pattern of stumbling aimlessly forward. The truth about change, for better or worse, is that it eventually becomes the status quo. No matter how much turmoil and upheaval one experiences, over time it just becomes a way of life and is seldom given a second thought. If those are to be my circumstances, I wish that I were already a bit more accustomed to it.

Perhaps “aimless” is not quite the correct word. I generally end up with far more specific goals than most, but my timeframes are almost always open-ended. The marching orders typically go along the lines of “give it everything you got and hope to accomplish a few of those goals along the way.”

Maybe I should take my wife up on the offer of a walk around the park if the weather cooperates.