Now that I have completed my last day at AOL, I was thinking of things to do. In the interest of full disclosure, here goes:
- Relax. Anyone who has worked with me for any amount of time knows that I invested a lot of my personal life into work life; and have made sacrifices along the way. Having worked a little over three years for the company, I need to relax and explore my other hobbies.
- Get my Amateur Radio License. I’ve always been interested in amateur radio and now that I picked up a nice transceiver, it’s expected that I know how to properly communicate. I intend on using my knowledge and licensing to become an emergency radio operator. Oh, and I like those snazzy license plates with their FCC call-sign, too.
- Volunteer. Probably one of the things I was meaning to do for a while while I was working at AOL, but I never got a chance to do. I want to share my expertise and skills and help teach some safety and security fundamentals to folks who need to learn it.
- Catch Up in Car Maintenance. I’ve been bad, I haven’t done my timing chain, water pump or motor mounts yet. I also need to do transmission flush and inspect my brakes. I imagine with my newfound time, I can put it to constructive use. I’ve also got two front speakers to install since mine blew out a while ago.
- Blog More. I intend to blog more frequently providing my visitors (old and new) great value from my blog. So, if you have any suggestions on things that you might be interested in, drop me a comment or an e-mail.
- Visit my other Online Communities. Some of my “fanclub” knows me from the Computing message boards on AOL. I’ll see if I can spot some time to helping folks out again. I also was found on Extreme Overclocking a lot, too, so as I build my next rig, I shall be there quite a bit.
- Upload and Organize My Photos. Organizing my photos is always a challenge. I have different categories, tags and descriptions for photos and also the retouching to make them stand out often takes time and some planning so I’m not caught re-organizing the reorganized. Yes, I know that’s redundant. Flickr, here I come!
- Visit the Spy and the NRA museums. Two places I wanted to visit, but I just never found the time. I’m intrigued by national espionage and I also have a passion for firearms. Expect a lot of pictures when this happens.
- Redesign my Web site. Personally, I’m probably the most dynamic person when it comes to Web site aesthetics. What I like one week, I’ll likely toss out the next. I intend to clean it up, add a few little things here and there and make it look good. I can probably spend more than an afternoon tweaking the CSS so it looks just right.
- Exercise. Earlier last year, I attempted to try a high-protein diet and work out. It was good for about a month, but it just wasn’t sustainable. My long work hours often handicapped my ability to make it to the local gym to work out. With more free time, I plan to go more often and become a little healthier.
- Read. AOL was really good about keeping their folks keen to industry related news and topics. They would often host conferences where a guest speaker comes in, shares their presentation and give their book to employees. I have several books I acquired that I can actually read, not just skim through in between projects. Additionally, a friend gave me a gift certificate that was good for Barnes & Noble, so I picked up a few books, too.
That should cover most things, among landing another gig doing what I like to do in Social Media. I’ll try to keep myself busy and productive. I should have Instant Messaging available, so feel free to IM me on AIM at JVManna. Thanks again to everyone who supported me. If you’d like you can subscribe to my blog and you will be e-mailed when I post new entries automatically.
~Joe