Settling In

With January come and gone, many things have changed in my life. New year, new home, new responsibilities, new church, even a new age. Fortunately, I can look back on these one at a time.

2007 came to me like most years, quietly, watching the ball drop on TV, alone. Can't say I really mind, as everyone I know will tell you I'm not a party person. I'd rather worry about retraining 12 months of muscle memory and putting the right number on everything I date. I've never been one for New Year's Resolutions, either, but something Dave Ramsey said on his show on that last day stuck with me enough for me to write down. He was talking about goals, how to make them, and what they had to be. He gave six categories for goals, and four requirements.

The categories were:

• Career
• Financial
• Spiritual
• Physical
• Family
• Social

and goals must be:

• Specific
• Measurable
• For a specific time limit (no "one of these days" allowed)
• Your own (not someone else's goal for you)

That's gotten me thinking, and starting to wonder what goals I have, or should have. No good answer for that yet. I'm not an ambitious person, nor one to really push for something (which explains a lot of the "perpetually single" part of my bio). There are things I want to do, but I always feel like most of those desires are the hands of others, not me. Something to keep thinking about, and I'm trying to have some sort of goal set by the end of the month.

The apartment lease was signed the first week of January, and we cleared out most stuff that weekend. The furniture barely fit in the U-Haul, but fit it did, and we managed to get it all moved in one trip. Our measurements of the apartment were nearly perfect, and the floor plan we'd worked up was fine. Then the next 3 weeks of shuttle-runs of more boxes of stuff (mostly mine) that either didn't fit in the U-Haul but could wait, or just wasn't packed by then. I am happy to say that I unpacked the last box Saturday, and just have to go get some drywall screws to hang stuff on the wall to call our move Complete. Next step is getting Nacho to actually go through with it and sell the house, so he can officially join me here -- not that it makes much of a difference, given how rarely he's in town.

To my astonishment, things have smoothed out at work. At the time of my last writing, I had serious doubts about my new manager. The very next day at work, I found out our department head had transferred to a newly formed position in the company, and that the manager I trust the least had been named to succeed him. I still have some serious doubts about his ability to lead, as well as my manager's ability to manage, but for now they're keeping their hands out of my business. We'll see how long that lasts. Also, the newly-formed position of Senior Systems Administrator was filled shortly before Christmas, only to be vacated again mid-January. From what my manager's said, I'm not confident on the caliber of whoever his replacement will be. The answers to those three personnel questions will determine the longevity of my stay.

No, I didn't leave Fellowship Bible Church. We just moved 100 yards. After 5 years, our Worship Center is finally complete. They made some design choices I wouldn't have, and there are still some things that need to be fixed and tweaked, but it is amazing to see the place full. For this month, there is only a single service instead of 2, and we're not even cramped. Now to see if the new building brings an unnecessary pomp to the proceedings. I hope it doesn't, but there are disturbing signs.

Last and least, my birthday came and went. Like New Year's nothing too fancy. But then again, most people don't consider watching the State of the Union Address to be much of a birthday party. That's OK, too. 26 isn't that different from 25.

Now that the past has been examined, on to the future. Given the only thing of note in February is Valentine's Day, I expect (or at least hope for) a very quiet month.