{"id":1144,"date":"2013-01-01T22:17:46","date_gmt":"2013-01-01T22:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2013\/01\/01\/2012not-the-end-the-of-the-world\/"},"modified":"2020-04-18T17:43:49","modified_gmt":"2020-04-18T17:43:49","slug":"2012not-the-end-the-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2013\/01\/01\/2012not-the-end-the-of-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"2012–NOT the end the of the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

So 2012 is done and dusted.<\/p>\n

If i was trying to sum up 2012 in one word\u2026..BUSY.<\/p>\n

An awful lot changed in 2012, personally and professionally.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t quite gotten a handle on the whole thing and I\u2019m still forming new habits and routines to make sure I can fit everything in!<\/p>\n

Our biggest piece of news was that earlier in the year Bryony managed to get a new job working with the NDCS<\/a> (National Deaf Children’s Society). To say the role was made for her would be the understatement of the year! This had a big impact on home life as Bryony made the switch from part time hours to full time hours. Both of our routines entirely changed as we found ourselves getting up much earlier in the morning and having our evenings start much later after the children are in bed.<\/p>\n

As a result weekends have become even more about family time and evenings are now mostly about catching our breath!<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t the only thing that has kept us busy on the family front. Other big \u201cmoments\u201d include having a family member leave the UK for a new life in Australia, various family members with scary health problems (everyone is ok now!) and two children who go from strength to strength every day.<\/p>\n

\"483576_10152313565020323_1809521842_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Very proud Dad here, they\u2019ve both achieved a lot this year.<\/p>\n

On a professional level the biggest change for a lot of people has been Microsoft sending Small Business Server out to pasture.<\/a> This was scary on one hand for a lot of IT providers but if looked in another way it provided an opportunity to differentiate yourself from others and provide a solution designed by yourself from the ground up.<\/p>\n

I was also fortunate enough to be named a Microsoft Partner Area Lead<\/a> and AMITPRO<\/a> continues to be well attended by companies in the Midlands area.<\/p>\n

Aside from all this serious stuff I did manage visits to EuroGamer<\/a>, PlayExpo<\/a> and The Retro Computer Museum<\/a>. I also spoke at a Pecha Kucha evening for a second time<\/a> as well following my own advice to make sure I was taking time out to recharge the batteries<\/a>. I\u2019m also happy to report my knee<\/a> has been trouble-free and the tactics I\u2019d used in 2011<\/a> to lose some weight also worked successfully again as I looked to drop a few pounds in the run up to the start of the football season. <\/p>\n

Since it wouldn\u2019t be much of an end of year post if I didn\u2019t, so I\u2019ve picked three things I\u2019d like to think about changing in 2013.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking back on your own 2012 have a read of this post by Richard Tubb: Three Questions To Ask Yourself Before Setting Your New Years Goals<\/a><\/p>\n

The one question that really jumped out at me was \u201cWhat do you enjoy doing that you simply don\u2019t make time for anymore?\u201d.<\/em> We all use the \u201cI\u2019m too busy\u201d<\/em> or \u201cI don\u2019t have time<\/em>\u201d excuses frequently but if we\u2019re being totally honest if something is really important you\u2019ll make time for it. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m usually a bit wishy washy when it comes to setting goals but I think it\u2019ll help with some of these things if I actually commit to something publically!<\/p>\n

Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n

In January 2011 I started tracking what I was reading<\/a>. I was pretty pleased with the results and the actual act of tracking encouraged me to read. For reasons I can\u2019t explain 2012 has been a disaster on this front. I\u2019ve actually read a tiny portion of books in comparison to previous years so I\u2019ll be looking to do something about this in 2012. I\u2019ll start tracking again and have a target of finishing a book per month. That\u2019s perfectly do-able based on past activity and I\u2019m pretty sure once I get back into the habit I\u2019ll smash this target.<\/p>\n

Blogging<\/strong><\/p>\n

19 posts in 2012\u2026.not great at all. Blogging is still something I really enjoy doing so I’m going to put right this year. When I first started if I had an idea for a post I\u2019d write it pretty much immediately or it would be something I\u2019d do of an evening. As my evening routines are significantly different nowadays blogging doesn\u2019t get a look in! I\u2019ll commit to a post at least once a week and make it much higher priority on my to do list.<\/p>\n

IT Community<\/strong><\/p>\n

If I\u2019m being completely honest I\u2019ve not done enough on the community front in 2012. While AMITPRO has been ticking along ok that\u2019s all it\u2019s been doing. As an example, the website is only updated with the next meeting details at the moment. This goes hand in hand with the Partner Area Lead role. I\u2019ve also not being doing as much with this as I\u2019d like. Being more active with AMITPRO will automatically sort out the Partner Area Lead concerns I\u2019ve got. Not sure how to set goal for this one though but I\u2019m going to sort the website out for start. This means restarting the meeting reviews that used to go up after each event and updating the site to make sure the information is up to date.<\/p>\n

In closing, 2012 wasn\u2019t a bad year on the whole, even if it feels like it whizzed by. I\u2019m very grateful for having great friends and family who have been there to share it with.<\/p>\n

So welcome to 2013! Let me know how your year went and what plans you have for the coming twelve months.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s online or in person I look forward to catching you soon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So 2012 is done and dusted. If i was trying to sum up 2012 in one word\u2026..BUSY. An awful lot changed in 2012, personally and professionally. I haven\u2019t quite gotten a handle on the whole thing and I\u2019m still forming new habits and routines to make sure I can fit everything in! Our biggest piece<\/p>\n

<\/span>Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal"],"yoast_head":"\n2012–NOT the end the of the world - Andy's Techie Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2013\/01\/01\/2012not-the-end-the-of-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2012–NOT the end the of the world - Andy's Techie Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So 2012 is done and dusted. 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