GOALS: intellectual

This one, interestingly enough, is a bit easier to get your arms around and measure.
I've had a lot of success during past intellectual encounters and past career encounters -- somehow I lump the two together. Not tooting my own horn here, no one's listening anyway, but whenever I've set out to do something that requires thought and hard work, I've usually achieved it with great success.

I remember a good instance of failure. It was in college, and I got the opportunity to do this island wide beaver survey -- I was focused on field biology, just to clarify any possible misconceptions of the word "beaver." It was/should have been an ideal task -- check out all the extant beaver lodges on Mount Desert Island, Maine and assess whether the lodge was active or inactive and then develop a population assessment. GOD - looking back, why didn't I just KILL that job - I was so perfectly set up. But, for whatever reason, I half-assed it and it showed in the final presentation to the guy at Acadia National Park. Now, that guy was and was known as an asshole and I hid behind his ass-holeishness when he tore me apart, but, looking back, he had every right to tear me apart. Anyway, as you can tell, that experience left a mark.

ANYWAY...
Goals:
1. I've always wanted to write a book -- a novel or a collection of short stories. If I look in the bowels of this computer and my past computers, I bet I'd find three dozen failed first attempts. Well, here's a reasonable goal: get something published in a magazine, any magazine.

In my eyes, writing can be the most personal-intellectual endeavor. It's something I like and something I'm reasonably good at and something I want to pursue more fully.

2. Get my own side business off the ground. Yes, I am considering this one intellectual, because it involves so many things that I need to learn. I actually already have my LLC, Groundup Foods. The idea was to create an energy bar -- low tech, a la Clif Bar when it first started. That, I still feel, is a good one to work on, as it could go a long way toward helping me with my other goals. It's not about giving up on my current job, but, rather, having a side project that's fun, makes a little money and helps/forces me out into the world of competition some.