2016 into 2017

January 3rd, 2017/Share/Edit ✏️

A year is just one thing - one revolution of the Earth around the Sun. Here are a few things I did.

I wrote 14 articles.

That’s a little over one article per month. I did my best to always focus on quality over quantity, and I only wrote long guides and instructive tutorials. I didn’t write about opinions, or make small posts for snippets.

This blog has been my greatest accomplishment and favorite hobby, thank you all for reading, sharing, and commenting!

I designed and developed 10 websites.

And I won't mention how many email templates I made. A few of these sites were done in collaboration with a designer, but most of them were my product, from conception to launch. This involves setting up a meeting, sending out a quote and proposal, creating a design in Illustrator, developing an HTML site, integrating a CMS, and migrating to a live server. 2016 was the first full year I spent as a professional web developer.

I made 883 commits.

This means absolutely nothing. It’s like keeping track of how many lines of code are in your project. Still, it’s fun to look at. I was relatively consistent with how often I worked on projects, with the exception of one vacation in September. I rarely ever commit on weekends, and I like it that way. Some of my commits for personal projects have titles like “did stuff”, “hmm”, “here goes nothing!”, and “EIGHTIES MODE”, but I’m working on getting better.

I lost 11 pounds.

I started 2016 at 146 pounds, and today I weigh 135. I did this through a lot of running, biking, and lifting, as well as eating healthy. I'd also like to write about how I stay in shape.

I recorded 8 songs.

Occasionally, I like warbling into my phone, playing the accordion, and making really bad Photoshops, and I consider this a great accomplishment. Here's a peek at my "unique" taste in music.

I drew 4 Pokemon.

I enjoyed drawing as a kid, but I stopped around 2007 when I began working as a chef. I thought drawing all 150 Pokemon would be a nice, tangible goal to get back into a drawing hobby. I made four! That’s almost 3%!

(Only 3 Pokemon pictured because I don't know where I put the other one...)

I drew 3 portraits.

I also attempted to make a few portraits, which has always been a struggle for me.

Can you tell who they are!?

I deleted Facebook

I've had every method of "staying in touch" via the Internet growing up - Livejournal, MySpace, Facebook. After 10 years, I finally permanently deleted Facebook. Whenever someone asks me why, I just say, because I'm weird!, but Leo Babauta of Zenhabits has a much more eloquent explanation that sums up most of my reasons.

I never had Tumblr, Instagram, or Pinterest to begin with. I do have Twitter since it's the cool kid developer thing to do.

I also travelled to some places (Arizona, Sweden, Denmark), and biked and hiked, my favorite outdoor activities. I found a method of organization that worked for me. I made it to the front page of Reddit. I made an online game and got a bunch of my friends to play for a while. I wrote an article for SitePoint. I started a small community of programmers and aspiring developers. I designed a framework that I used for all my professional sites. I learned a lot about life and love.

Goals

My only goal is to be the best person I can be.

Here are just a few things I'd like to accomplish or focus on.

Improve my JavaScript skills, in both the fundamentals and framework departments, which I've been documenting here.
Learn to play La Noyee on accordion.
Create an outlet for my thoughts outside of web development.
Remove any and all material posessions that do not add value to my life.
Continue a routine of hiking, riding, and lifting.
Be open and flexible no matter what happens in life, and compassionate and empathetic to the people I encounter.

Article ideas

I have a lot of ideas for design and development articles I want to write in 2017. Here are a few of them.

Bootstrap 4: how to integrate into the official Grunt and Sass workflow
How to make a simple PHP contact form
Design for developers: some simple rules to follow for a clean, professional design
Basic command line tutorial for Windows and Mac/Linux
The fundamentals of CSS animations
The reasons my Google search ranking is so high
A list of blogs I follow

Some of these I might write, some I might not, and there are infinite new things to learn and document.

Moving Forward

Life is special. You are special. The possibilities within you are endless. Please, let the people who are important to you know you appreciate them. And have a wonderful day.