2011 Prospective

I did one of these last year at about this time (aiming for New Years is just way too proactive), so I'm going to lay one out again. It's interesting to go back and read and helps to gather my thoughts. I'm not a big fan of New Year resolutions (don't wait until a New Year to work to change something you don't like about yourself), and I consider this a good alternative: what 2011 may hold and some things I'd like to accomplish. I'm fine with goals changing during a year, but it can be useful to have a square one.

I started by rereading the one I wrote a year ago to see how things looked from there. I don't particularly want to try to recap the entire year, but I'll hit on some key points.

I have to say, it still feels good in this climate to have a good job and receive a salary. It helps to have access to this "health care" thing I hear about in the news, even if I haven't had the pleasure of using it yet. Last year, going into the fall of 2009 a bit, was the first time I've been financially independent, and that still feels like a solid mark on the right side of the ledger.

My role at work shifted throughout 2010, as did the role of my program. AILA, whose director went to the executive branch in December 2009, took over GSI, whose director moved to A.T. Kearney shortly thereafter, merging the two programs under a single new director. There continues to be a question of exactly what shape the new AILA will have at CSIS and in the community at large, but this past year was good for shaking things up and providing new focus. As Owen transitioned to Deloitte over the summer, I added all of his university group, budget, and 7Revs logistical responsibilities to my existing ones, spinning off most of the AILA curriculum in the process. They've been good to get experience in and keep things interesting, and the AILA-GSI hybrid Program Manager was finalized with an official title change and promotion in November. That and a few side projects have kept things interesting for a host of reasons. The year that tucking in my shirt started to feel normal.

Amanda ended up in DC after a stellar final semester where she rocked the Boston Marathon, her thesis, and the MCAT in one week. She's had a fellowship at the NIH that will take her through the school year. It's been great being in the same city again, allowing for lots of adventures and exploring.

So how did I do looking forward? Well, energy continues to be a strong interest, and I've done a decent job trying to explore the field more through events, meeting people, and the like. It's an enormous and complicated field.

The apartment is going strong with the addition of another Jumbo this fall. It ebbs and flows how much time during the week I actually spend there, and it has certainly helped having Amanda around to do a much better job with cooking.

I kept up ultimate for most of the year and running a good amount. I didn't end up running an official half marathon in the spring, but I did run the same distance a random day and did pretty well. I twisted my ankle in the summer and retweaked it a couple times in the following months, so that put much of the running plans on hiatus. The last couple of months have turned that around and, although my ankle still feels a little funky on occasion, putting in 11mi yesterday morning and continuing to do a long run once a week with shorter ones every other day is a good schedule. I've tried to adjust my stride some hopefully to keep my knees good and jolly. Even the fact that a >5mi run can feel like nothing would surprise high school cross country runner me.

I wasn't very successful working Spanish into my daily routine, but last semester I did take advantage of something I wish I knew of sooner: free immersion language classes. Advanced Spanish once a week was enough to rub some of the rust off.

I got home only a few times during the year, but each time was great. I didn't get up to Maine during the summer, aside from Johanna's graduation (family trip to England and Wales and Martin's wedding in Vermont were excellent trips regardless)

Music did indeed ramp up. Postpartum Expression, the first (or at least latest) all-male cover band of all-female pop, became a reality this summer. It's been a good time playing in a band setup and getting some good electric guitar work in too. We had a successful opening show at a house party in December, and I hope to keep that going. On the acoustic side, Stots and I have been working a lot this fall on an album's worth of economics song after a song on NPR in 2008. More on that to come. I've played a good amount of charango, joined Johanna on clarinet for her senior recital, and still need to poke around in my melodica to tune up some sour notes.

I've gotten to a bunch of great concerts and have used my commutes well to stay on top of good podcasts (This American Life, Planet Money, All Songs Considered) and going through lots of music. My commute is pretty short, but it's hard to complain about a commute at all when you can use it well.

Ok, well that's a little attempt at summing up some of 2010 and my previous prospective, but what about 2011? I thought that was the point? I suppose...

So on the job front, CSIS stays interesting and a good place to work. People matter a lot, and it's hard to beat the people there. I'm continuing to keep an ear to the ground for the next thing, but in the meantime can't complain. It will be a busy spring with a few university groups, lots of work on 7Revs, and several other projects.

Also on the work front I've been able to maintain and expand the occasional side consulting into what now could be pretty steady professional research and presentation-building with a couple of senior advisors. It's good to keep in touch with them, flex the research and media portions of my brain, and supplement the income flow. I'm looking forward to keeping this up in 2011 and expanding it further.

I don't know for sure whether business school or grad school might be in the works, but not until 2012 at least. I'd like to get the GMAT or GRE out of the way though. I attempted to do that last summer, but the lack of any pressing need made it easy (and the right choice, I think) for it to fall to the wayside as other things got busy.

With running, after some setbacks last fall I'm back in the swing of things with running typically 3 or 4 times a week. Amanda will be doing a couple of half marathons this spring. I'd like to join for probably one of those, and 2011 might be the year to cross the marathon off of the bucket list. A door frame pull up bar was a good purchase last year, and keeping up using that and core work will be good. I don't think I'll be going paleo anytime soon (no dairy?), but it's interesting to read about.

Unfortunately there isn't an advance Spanish class offered this semester, but I'd like to try again to work in some Spanish media into my routine. Even just reading the front page of a newspaper a few times a week would help to keep up the grammar and vocabulary. Some chance I might opt for a beginner French or Chinese, because the opportunity is hard to pass up.

I'll be going to Montreal in a few days to work on this music project with Stots. It will be my first time in a studio, which I think is something to cross off the list, and will make it worthwhile even just as that. If, however, things go according to plan, expect to hear more about this in the next couple of months. In the meantime, continue to enjoy the older and computer-mic-recorded stuff on our myspace page. I'd like to keep up charango and get melodica back into the picture. I need to figure out a good way to continue improving on guitar too. I've been practicing up clarinet again recently for a wedding performance in a few months, which is reminding me that I still do enjoy playing. I might even be enticed toward caring more about mouthpiece and ligature experimentation now that I have positive cash flow.

I know I don't need to worry about concerts falling off the radar either. In February we have both The Low Anthem, who I've seen a few times already, and Josh Ritter, both of which will be excellent. I still haven't been to a handful of venues around the city, so I'd like to try some of those out.

I've been feeling the travel bug lately but don't know that I'll do much about that for a while. Seeing pictures of Spain or China make me nostalgic, and seeing pictures from my brother's Nepal trip or even just researching India-Pakistan relations reminds me that there are a lot of breathtaking areas in the world. Amanda has a few months before deciding where she'll be for med school, but is planning a Mediterranean excursion before she goes off, and I've love to be able to join for at least some of that.

With a new camera (more on that soon) in hand, I'm looking forward to continuing to explore the city. I could be in DC for another several months or hypothetically years. I've definitely enjoyed it more than I thought I was going to, but it might be time for a change of scenery before too long.

I'm looking forward to this year. 25 years of age feels momentous (damn you, base 10 numbering system), and I feel like I'm in a good place but with places to go. As Sok points out, this is the year of the captain, and victory is all but guaranteed.

And that's about all I have to say for now.