blog.bharper: the blog of brandon harper

Whew, that year went by fast! Too fast in fact, I feel a bit under-accomplished for the year quite honestly. I’d really like to get my degree buttoned-up so that I have free-time again.

My vacation went by in the same fashion; I don’t really feel like I got many of the things done that I’d planned. Of course I spent the last couple of days sick in bed hoping for death after getting food poisoning, and had a couple of other days where my plans didn’t quite work-out. I suppose that’s to be expected as nothing ever works out as well as you hope when it comes to planning a week or more of plans. Oh well, it was nice to get a breather from both work and school at the same time.

I’m thinking I need to go out on a limb here and maybe make some goals so that I can hold myself to them…

• Travel more. I really only took one trip last year other than family obligations, and that was to buy a car. Right now I have initial plans to go see a friend from my first go around at college in Austin in the Spring which should be good stuff. Maybe I’ll go to Germany again just because I can without having to pay for lodging… who knows.
• Start getting things squared away to move out of the burbs. I can understand how they are for some people, but I really just don’t belong here and somewhat regret buying property here before getting to know Denver very well. Granted the neighborhood I live in does have flava’ compared to most of the area around here, but still. Live and learn, right? I’d like to move to one of the neighborhoods in Denver such as Highlands (here too), Sloan’s Lake, or perhaps Park Hill. I’d like to move in the next 2-3 years.
• The on-going fight against extra weight. By on-going, I mean this is pretty much a constant.
• Finish-up the rest of my General Education classes so that I only have Math & CS classes left to complete for my CS Degree
• Finally getting to the point of writing Java fluently, rather than always needing a reference around to look at every 5 minutes. I do take a Java class in the Spring for the degree, so that should help immensely.
• Find some time and a little money to put into the 280Z. It’s in great shape overall, but as with all older cars, it needs a little TLC. My first orders of business would be to start troubleshooting why it runs rich (further), finish-up the exhaust system I designed for it, and start looking into upgrading the suspension and brakes. The big ass bumpers need to go, and I’d like to get some 17″ wheels, but those will have to wait for sure.
• Clean out the garage! This was supposed to happen during my vacation, but I just won’t have time since I have other things higher on the priority scale to finish. I have just about all of the stuff I need to get it organized (minus a workbench and a couple of other minor things), but it shouldn’t take much to whip it back into shape other than a few days of work.

I don’t think these are really too ambitious, so I should be able to get most of them done this year. Here’s hoping!