Recap week: geeky things in 2010

Every year, I try to give myself a gift. Usually that’s in the form of a big(-ish) “tech” thing; a laptop, a camera, an LCD monitor, that sort of thing.

In 2010, I didn’t give myself any of that. In 2010, I planned to get myself an iMac, but that didn’t happen. I spent my money on other, “bigger” things, and subsequently I did not have any budget left over to give myself the iMac. (I’m hoping to give myself the iMac this year, but with my finances at the moment, I doubt that’s going to happen.)

In 2010, I also lost my ol’ monitor. I don’t think it’s entirely lost, but it flickers every so often that I’ve just plain stopped using it. Maybe someone else can figure out how to fix it, but that someone isn’t me. Part of me says just give it to the recyclers who come by around once a month, and part of me says maybe someone will want to buy a slightly wonky monitor cheap and, if not fix it, salvage it. For now, it’s going in the storage room, because I don’t know what to do with it.

In 2010, I did buy a color printer, so I can do my own printing and also do a bit of bookbinding with my own printed paper, own designs, own whatever. I have not fully utilized it in 2010, that’s for sure, but I’m happy anyway with my li’l purchase. It’s already saved me a couple of times.

I also started to be more vocal about user interfaces and user experiences in 2010. I’ve always been very interested in how the web affects users, how it can influence people, but I think it was this year that I started gaining more confidence in my experience and knowledge. It was this year that I was really able to pinpoint what I wanted to do–not just websites, but what kinds of websites, what kinds of projects, what kind of experiences I wanted to create.

I think all those realizations are due in part to the support from my teammates and superiors, but also because in 2010, I started treating the web as a hobby again, like I used to do. I started taking this blog seriously, I reopened my portfolio. It wasn’t that I had more time, because I actually had less, but I made time for it, and that extra dose of creativity is reinvigorating me in other aspects of my life, opening my mind to more ideas and more experiences.

2010 was an interesting geeky year. No new geeky toys, but a lot more geeky experiences.

This week is recap week! Stay tuned for piecemeal recaps of how 2010 went for me.