A new year…

I’ve been meaning to put a bit of an “end of year” post up for weeks now but time has flown by and I’ve had a cold/flu bug for ages now so I’ve not got round to it until now

2009 is officially over and a fresh start with 2010 is upon us

I want to start by listing a few things I’m thankful for from 2009 (bit american ‘thanksgiving’ style but meh)

Leah – having a girlfriend that lets me do what I want when I want and supports me in the things I want to achieve is amazing. Love you babe x
My Mum – she’s had a tough year for various reasons, but as always she’s been there whenever I’ve needed her. I couldn’t ask for a better mum!
My Job – I’ve had a superb year at work. I’ve launched a massive project (DespatchBay) which I am incredibly proud of, and i’ve finally made the leap from web developer to web development team manager. Those of you who know me know that I don’t usually stick at jobs for much more than a year – but I’ll soon be coming up on 2 years at my current company and I’m still loving it!
dSLR / Rick Nunn – My best mate Rick got a dSLR this year and it convinced me to go out and buy one and try a new hobby. As with most things time and a lack of motivation has meant I haven’t done as much with it as I wanted, but I love it as a relaxing hobby and I’ll be doing much much more in 2010 with photography

Now I don’t want to do a new years resolution because I never stick to it, but I do want to list a few things I aim to achieve in 2010.
I’m hoping to revisit this list monthly or bi-monthly and see how I’m getting on with it

Get Fit – I’m heading back to the gym 3 nights a week (workload permitting) and aim to lose 2 stone by next christmas. I also want to strengthen my knees up as recently my old Ice Skating/Hockey injuries to my knees have been causing me a lot of problems
New Car – I’ve owned Peugeot 106′s for 8 years now (and as most of you know I run the 106 Owners Club in the UK), but I feel it’s time to move on. I’m currently stripping my car back to standard for the new owner and eying up Clio 172 Cup’s. I’m excited about learning a new car and getting back into modifying.
New Blog – I bought phil-barker.com a few months back as I’m sort of trying to phase out my old “Fuzzy Orange” persona, but I put wordpress on it and started a skin and completely ran out of time. I’m aiming to get this skinned up in the next month and migrate the posts from here that I want to keep over to my new blog. So ermm watch this space
Scuba Dive – I’m not sure where I’m going on holiday this year but I really want to try scuba diving!
Nurburgring – I’m heading over to Germany in october with some good good mates this year to drive the nurburgring. Looking forward to that immensely!
Launch Another Project – There’s another project on at work which I’m hoping to get my hands on in the next few months. Me and Rick are very excited about its potential and I want to see that get launched this year!
Photography Projects – I want to do a few mini projects (people, self, cars, etc..) to try to push me into learning some new skills with my camera.
Be More Sociable – I want to spend a bit more time with my close family and friends this year, and a bit less time sat behind a keyboard
Save Money – I still rent my house at the moment but I have a 3 year plan to buy myself a nice detached house away from the things that annoy me (mostly other peoples screaming kids). So this year I’m starting to try to save some money for a deposit on a house.

I hope you all had a great christmas, and I hope you all have a fantastic 2010!