2008 Goal Review!

It’s time for the 2008 Goal Review!  In general, I was pleased with the progress this year given the large amount of change that we’ve undertaken with the move to Colorado.  Enjoy, and expect to see the 2009 Goals tomorrow!

• Debt Repayment!

This one has been going very well in 2008.  Our relocation, while stressful, was generally beneficial to the ol’ bank account.  We have reduced ourselves down to just three remaining debts: two of my student loans and one of Tasha’s.  Unfortunately, the debt snowball dictates paying off the smaller debts first, so now we are left with big debts to finish off.

Since the relocation option presented itself around the first quarter of 2008, we immediately stopped aggressively paying off our debts and started stockpiling cash.  With the added benefit of our relocation money and some aggressive efforts to relocate on the cheap, we’ve saved up enough to nearly wipe out two of the three remaining debts.

We’re still waiting to get our taxes done before applying that money toward our debts (in case Uncle Sam takes more than we expect), but that will take place early next year.

With any luck, we’ll make major strides in 2009 and stay on target to become debt free in 2010!

• Karate

This one was very disappointing.  I made 90 workouts this year, which averages out to a depressing 1.73 workouts per week.  There were many factors that contributed to this failure, notably the amount of effort required to relocate to Denver.  That being said, the workouts that I did attend went a long way toward Sandan preparations.  We spent much of the year focused on kumite and drills designed to cultivate the required skills for the Sandan exam.

I am going to redouble my efforts toward karate and general fitness in 2009, so expect to see this goal repeat next year.

• Learning to Relax

This goal was intentionally intangible, however I have rediscovered gaming by virtue of Rock Band 2, World of Warcraft, and our StupidRanger.com website.  I’ve made some new friends as a result of all of these ventures and had a good time while doing it so I’m counting this one as successful.

• 2008BloPoMo

I ended up blogging each day in five months for 2008, many months I missed by only one or two days.  In the end I blogged 319 out of 365 days, or 87.39% of the year.

On the plus side, there were 386 posts this year.  My intent was to blog for solid months in the tradition of NaBloPoMo, however I think since my number of posts this year exceeds 365 I can consider this one a success.