2019 roundup

As has become my tradition, I would like to invite you to take a look at the year which is about to end with me, as it pertains to me, my life, and the blog.

2019 has been a year of change and development. I applied for a number of positions, ultimately getting none of them, and have attended a seminar series on inter-personal processes and management through my union. As part of that, I have been studying human resource management – with a focus on human – and labour law. I sat my exam for the former in the beginning of December, while the exam for the latter is to come in the middle of January 2020.

Our kids are finding their way in the world, the eldest now being thoroughly comfortable in school, and the youngest attempting to rule the big kids’ department in kindergarten. Throughout the year they have been testing their own limits and ours, while also being thoroughly affectionate and fond of each other.

March saw me graduating with many of my fellow Open University students at the Barbican centre in London. I made a short video about that experience, to round out my B.Sc. Vlog series:

As I alluded to, I have been looking to find a new job, and that search will continue in 2020. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy my job, and I like my colleagues. I am, however, seeing that my career path in all likelihood lies elsewhere; the positions I want are not available with my employer, and so I must look outside the company. I am not, however, under any kind of time limit, and will focus on finding the right job, rather than any job right now.

January saw a mix of opinion-pieces, including the tenth installment in my review of the Tesla Model S. February was half tips and tricks, and half business and process-related stuff, while March was a decidedly mixed bag of various opinion pieces.

April was a mixed bag, too, with one straight knowledge piece, a couple of opinion pieces, and a couple of how to’s. In May I wrote about metrics, as well as business and OU students. June saw three useful tips, and an urging for people to educate themselves about phishing.

July opened with my fourth annual State of the Blog, and included one tip, another post on removing a particular piece of software, as well as an attempt to bridge the gap between support and the end user – from both sides. August was all opinions, all the time, while September dealt with scripting, documentation, and software.

October offered tips, views on no-win scenarios, and a review. That bled over into the start of November, where I also had a couple of tips and an opinion piece on change. December offered a couple of tips, before rounding off with my discoveries post and the post you are currently reading.

This is the point at which I have traditionally written about the audience and metrics. In previous years, I have pointed out that it doesn’t really matter all that much to me, as my intended audience is myself, and anyone who bothers reading my stuff is a bonus. I stand by that. Writing these posts benefit me in and of themselves. As a result, I will not be including the metrics anymore, other than to note that I tend to have around 2300 monthly visitors, another marked decline from previous iterations.