2013 was Exciting! I had several side contracts, which helped us buy a house. We left Jacksonville, and moved back to the Nashville area. I finally put some health issues behind me, allowing me to get out to some user group meetings again, as well as present. I put in a new topic for cf.Objective, which has been accepted. I picked up the camera I've been waiting a decade to buy, and jumped back in to photography with both feet. And, I carved in some time there to review a few books, do a CF Hour interview, and write a few blog posts (some even a little controversial).
Now, there's downside here too. Heavy side contract work is not always conducive to a happy home. Buying a house, much less from another state (and the move that goes along with it) can be very grueling and stressful. Working at this kind of pace can bring on other health issues. The financial requirements of buying a house, moving state to state, setting up a new home, etc, make it impossible to do "other things" (like conferences, for instance). And, I still have several other book reviews I've yet to write, and didn't blog nearly as much as I would've liked.
Well, you do what you can with what you have, and pray for the best.
The two bright points in all of that are my wife, Teresa, and my daughter, Savannah, who continually support this crazed life, and without whom it really wouldn't be worth doing it all. I can never tell them enough how much I Love Them, nor just how much they mean to me.
I never got the opportunity to talk about my conversation with Rakshith, concerning the future of ColdFusion. It was a great conversation, focusing quite a bit on Adobe's commitment to the platform, the strides in the education initiatives, and a focus on giving developers the tools (and language) they need to build better products. I think one of the greatest ColdFusion bits, to come out of this past year, was the creation of Team CF Advance. This group, entirely made up of volunteers, is working to produce Open Source applications and API's in ColdFusion. While it is still getting off the ground, the team has already made some pretty big strides. This is the kind of thing that will help bring ColdFusion back out front.
I have high hopes, and high expectations, for what is to come from 2014. I've already committed to taking at least one picture a day, gotten seriously started on losing a few (too many) pounds, have several topics laid out for blog series, and am about to put some spit and polish on that preso I mentioned earlier. And that should be just the beginning.
So, to all of my friends, colleagues, co-workers, and family, I wish you all the Happiest and most Prosperous of New Years.
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