Hopes and Goals for 2016

2015 was an awesome year. I accomplished so much, both personally and professionally, and laid the foundation for the next 3-5 years. To help carry that momentum into and through the next year, I’m setting some goals, writing them down here, and tracking my progress as often as I remember. Hold me accountable, OK?

Personal

  1. Give my wife the vacation she deserves

    I want to bring my wife on a long-awaited vacation to Hawaii or Cuba. I’ve worked too hard, for too long, and she’s taken up my slack. She deserves 2 weeks on a beach.

  2. Run a half-marathon

    I’ve run 3 times a week since August, and I’ve gone from being winded after a block, to running a 24-minute 5k. I’ve got plans started to go from 5k to 10k, and then from 10k to half-marathon. I’ve got until late October to get the plans finished.

  3. Lose the weight I’ve gained over the holidays

    I started 2015 at 260 lbs. I had lost 80 lbs. and was at 180 lbs. before Thanksgiving. Then Christmas cookies happened and I gained back 15 of those pounds. I want to be back down to a stable 180 as quickly as possible.

  4. Read to my daughters 5 nights a week

    This should be an easy goal to accomplish. They deserve my time, and I want to give it to them.

  5. Read or listen to 25 fiction books

    My time spent reading and/or listening to books slipped toward the end of 2015. I want to make it a priority again.

  6. Finish my basement bathroom

    I suck at this stuff, so the goal really should be “make enough money to hire the work done”.

  7. Shop responsibly

    This is going to be the year of, “Josh gives as much money as he can to companies that care about their employees, the environment, and social justice.” Sorry, Walmart.

  8. Be far less angry

    This goal is hard to quantify, and hard to verify, but it’s the year of a presidential election, and I could let my anger get out of control. But I resolve to laugh at Donald Trump rather than pull my already-receding hair out.

Professional

  1. Get back into speaking at conferences

    2013 was a year that I spoke at 20 conferences. 2014 had me speaking at 10. 2015 saw a very pedestrian 4 speaking engagements. This year, I’d like to (mostly) split the difference and speak at 10 conferences and meetups again.

  2. Write 26 blog posts

    I say this every year, and I fail every year. But like all starry-eyed dreamers, I’m 10000% sure this year is the year. *eye roll*

  3. Learn Angular 2

    2014 was the year of Angular 1.x and 2015 was focused on React. 2016 brings a new version of my favorite front-end MVC framework, which includes my most desired feature… server-side prerendering. Woo.

  4. Build two products for startups

    Kidblog first scratched this itch, and now, 5 startups later, there’s nothing I love more. I don’t expect that to change in 2016.

For A Good Time, Call Midwest PHP

A great group of people at Midwest PHP

 

So, I’m at Midwest PHP. That’s right. A front-end developer for a .NET shop at a conference filled to the brim with open-source developers, talk about Linux, and beards… so many beards. That being said, I’ve never met a group of people so kind, accepting, and open. They are a credit not only to the PHP community, but the developer community as a whole.

The talks have also been awesome. It’s been a nice collection of topic overviews that I’ve enjoyed learning from and being inspired by. I already have a long list of to-do’s that I’m taking back with me to both try and use, and we’re only half-way done. I’m really excited for day two.

Anyway, enough fawning over my new-found friends.  Let’s get to what you’re all hear for… slides. Here are my Rocking the Responsive Web Slides and the simple responsive demo. Steal them, use them, convince your boss and clients that responsive is the future AND the present. Do responsive, and make the web better. And if you’d leave me your feedback on joind.in, that would be great!

Need a place to start? Fork and contribute to Squeaky Clean, my fast and clean WordPress boilerplate. Even if you’re not a WordPress guy, the SASS file is a great place to start on your project.

Here are the slides for my second presentation, “Embrace Your Inner Designer.” I’m sorry they are so delayed. My brain decided it was a good idea to leave my laptop power cord somewhere other than in my bag.

Oh, if you use these slides to make something awesome, PLEASE put a link to it in the comments below. I love hearing about amazing new things.

UPDATE: If you missed my talks at Midwest PHP, or you want to watch them again, MJG Intl. was kind enough to host a meeting, “An Evening of Web Development,” during which I presented very similar (and very nervous) versions of my two talks. The videos are available on YouTube: Embrace Your Inner Designer and Rocking t he Responsive Web.