Goalsville: Reviewed

It's been a big year for your Intrepid Blogger. Though my dear little blog has only been up for a part of the year (since August) I'm sure you can all gather enough information to know that it was a long time coming. It seems only fitting that to end 2009, I give you all a rundown of where we stand on the various goals I've outlined in my posts:

Goal: Survive After Quitting My Job in a Recession
Success Rate: 100%
I thought I'd start on a high note here folks. Quitsville was started with the notion that I would spend sep-dec 2009 (at least) scrounging for money and work. The job market was not a friendly place to me in the earlier part of 2009 and I had really no reason to believe that would change when I quit my job - but I had a really remarkable support network and the belief that I had to do it; so I quit anyway. And here I am, 4 short months later, happy and successful in a new company with people I respect and like (not always the same thing). So, consider this goal met (really, knocked out of the park if we're being honest).

Goal: Obtain the World Record in Dr. Mario
Success Rate: 50%
Let's be honest, I've made some great progress on the Road to the Record but bottom line - I do NOT have the record in hand. The fact that I have proven (if only to myself and you dear readers) that I can do it is HUGE so I feel I'm owed some percentage of success even if, in the end, I have not met my goal. 2010... watch out.

Goal: Read 10,000 Pages During the Calendar Year
Success Rate: 138%
You read right! Not only did I meet this goal but I surpassed it by 3,825 pages. I have to admit that I'm pretty pleased with myself on this one. I've read some amazing books and every minute that I spent reading is meaningful to me (sorry if that's a little nerdish). There are a lot of things to spend time on in life and it's difficult to set aside an hour to read sometimes. However, I've never regretted it when I have.

Happy New Year dear readers! I've been spending some time thinking about the future of Quitsville... there will be one... but you'll have to wait until 2010 to find out what it is!

How Jobless are you?

I know this question seems sort of obvious - you're probably either 0% jobless or 100% jobless - but think about it. We've been hearing about the Boomers, the Lost Generation, the Gen Xers, Women, Executives, College Students. But if you're like most people, you're a tricky combination of various elements and aren't only one of those groups.

Luckily for you, The New York Times thought of that and created this handy little tool to help you determine precisely how jobless YOU are.

Click here to visit the New York Times Jobless Tool

Sure, it's not perfect. The age groups are pretty wide for one. And I'm not entirely sure what they mean by jobless. But, it's pretty interesting nonetheless.

I fall into a category that is only 3.6% jobless which, in light of what I know about the rest of the country, feels pretty good. And certainly brings up quite a few conversation points about who is not that lucky.

Blogger Fail?

Hello Dear Readers - are you out there?

It was impressed upon me this morning that my last post was - gasp! - exactly 2 weeks ago. You might remember the post because I went a little ranty all over Consumer Electronics Advertising and then sealed up.

As you all know, December is a month of chaos for the most organized of us (which is not me) and is essentially a s***show for the rest of us. Don't get me wrong, I love the family togetherness and the holidays and I'm a ridiculously sappy fan of Christmas specifically... but, there's just a lot going on.

I haven't forgotten you! Or Quitsville! As the year end nears, I suspect you'll be getting a pretty detailed rundown on some of my progress - as it pertains to my laid out goals - and some news on the failure... (er... recovery) of our economy.

For now, it felt important to yell into the blog void and say hey, I'm still here! This isn't indicative of silence to come!