2014 in Review

2014 was both a difficult and a wonderful year. The year began in the middle of a chemotherapy cycle but I was still able to work about an 80% schedule (which I maintained until the fall).

I did a video interview with Troy Dean where I talk quite a bit about my work history and philosophy.

I attended the Pressnomics conference along with a number of colleagues.

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In late January I put up a post about owning your online identity using the FavePersonal theme. Yes, it’s a little more work than outsourcing to Twitter or about.me, but it’s oh-so worth it.

In late 2013 I picked up a Panasonic Lumix GX7 camera. By January 2014, I was convinced I didn’t need my Canon SLR gear anymore. This was a great decision. I have two prime lenses with it, a 20mm f1.7 pancake as my primary and a 45mm f1.8 for portrait situations.

I got curious about smart watches and tried a Pebble.

Pebble

Our pup is nearly 10 years old now. but still going strong.

Cooling off after a ball session

In Febuary I signed the papers to officially sell Crowd Favorite to VeloMedia.

Signing Documents

In March we took a family vacation to Palm Springs. We were joined there by my wife’s parents and her brother’s family.

Poolside

While there I posted some thoughts on the rumored iPad Pro – I’m guessing we’ll find out in early 2015 if I guessed right.

ipad-pro

I was also able to get in a bit of golf and a trip to Joshua Tree National Park.

Later in March I put down in writing some ideas that had been percolating for a while about what makes new hires successful.

I also did another business-related video interview, this time for the Matt Report, where I talk more about my business philosophy.

April started with a trip to Portland for OwnerCamp.

After that, I embarked on a trip through the south. I was able to go to a practice round at Augusta National, play TPC Sawgrass, attend a family reunion, play a few courses on the Robert Trent Jones trail and cap it off with a weekend in New Orleans.

New Orleans was highlighted by my own parade.

I did an interview with Richard Banfield, one of the folks I was lucky to meet at OwnerCamp in both 2013 and 2014. Check out the video here.

In May I attended WordCamp Miami.

In June we did a little local camping trip.

In July my wife and I spent a very nice weekend in Colorado Springs. While we were there we learned a bit about deer and dogs.

In late July we headed up to Seattle to visit my family. While we were there I did a little nostalgic photo walk.

Mt. Ranier

We also enjoyed playing Chamber’s Bay golf course (the site of the 2015 US Open).

At the end of August my daughter started Kindergarten.

Walking Caitlin to Kindergarten

In mid-September I had to take medical leave.

At the beginning of October I headed to Maine for Monktoberfest, plus a special weekend spending time with great friends.

Since then I’ve been dealing with a number of medical issues and haven’t been online as much. My posting here has fallen off quite a bit as a result.

We hosted Heather’s family for Thanksgiving this year.

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And my family came to visit in December for a great Christmas. We hosted friends for New Year’s eve, with our traditional fondue goodness.

I’ve got a few personal and family projects planned for 2015 – hopefully I’ll be hard at work on those soon.


I’ve run the numbers for my site again this year (the code is available here). My posts are down about 20%, which accurately reflects me being offline a bit more than I was in previous years.

  Posts Avg. Length Total Length Comments (Mine)
2014 804 233 187,681 1,784 (13)
2013 1,084 290 314,531 2,632 (77)
2012 1,065 309 328,676 1,645 (106)
2011 936 375 350,543 1,179 (93)
2010 734 608 446,533 1,037 (92)
2009 903 414 374,098 1,743 (109)
2008 1,097 337 369,669 2,392 (151)
2007 1,628 438 712,989 3,617 (276)
2006 555 1,696 941,477 2,919 (442)
2005 496 1,397 692,791 2,445 (438)
2004 635 1,090 692,353 2,188 (523)
2003 659 721 474,960 641 (227)
2002 71 784 55,667 40 (30)

This post is part of the thread: Year in Review – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.