Remember when you went back to school when you were little. What did you do on your summer vacation Billy? Well, I’ve had the last two weeks off for some additional paternity leave and wanted to recap what all I did. More for me than anyone else. Some technical, some definitely not.

• Played with my Twins… a lot.

• Played with my oldest son.

• Painted my son’s room

• Took my oldest to a movie.

Clearly I’m a bit behind this year with my goals. These are usually posted on 1/1 but this year, things are different. Different priorities, different timelines, different expectations, still trying to be a better version of myself. So here it is, time to write down the goals and put a plan in action to make it happen! My 2017 Goals!

• Solve a Rubik’s Cube in under 3 minutes – This one may seem silly and it very much is. But its a brain teaser and something that has sparked a bit of competition at the office. I’m all about camaraderie and I enjoy picking on co-workers as I crush their hopes and dreams in friendly competition 😉
• Run 365 miles this year Some could call this run a mile everyday but that just isn’t in the cards for me. My hope is when the calendar goes from ’17 to ’18, I have 365 miles under my belt and hopefully a few less pounds on the body. With the running crew at work, I think I can make this a reality. So far I’m on track with a month in. I already have 51 miles under my belt with a couple of months in and cold ass weather here in the midwest.
• Learn Swift I’ve dipped my toe in learning swift a few times now. But there has always been something that has come up that has distracted me. I’ve recently started the iTunes U course on Developing iOS Apps with Swift. Its been good so far and I’m eager to learn more. Hopefully I can get an app I’ve been wanting to develop off the ground in the process.

3 is a good number of goals given twins, lack of sleep and everything else that seems to crop up. Some are physically challenging, some are mentally challenging, 1 is just dumb. But they’ll give me something to work for along with everything else that happens with life. I’m hopefully a good father, husband, friend and co-worker in the process.

I don’t think I’ve ever done this poorly on my yearly goals. But I have a good reason, a couple of them actually. Please refer back to The Ochos and you’ll fully understand. But…to stay consistent, let’s run through them and see how poorly I did.

• Learn Swift – FAIL I did some tutorials and the playground activity from the developer portal. I do like what I’ve seen in swift so far. But I’m not proficient in it yet so I consider this one a fail. While I did learn some, the goal was to proficient enough to ship an app or at least attempt an app.
• 26 posts – Not even close. I got 8. Just didn’t have the time to write with everything else that was happening. Not to mention, I kind of enjoyed checking out a bit at night which I don’t think is a bad thing either.
• Run Forest, Run! – FAIL – Didn’t make my 300 number but did put up a respectable 222 miles in 2016. Not bad considering I took close to 10 weeks off from running. I did start a running club at work as I only have time to run over the lunch hours it seems and maybe sneak away for a decent run on the weekends.
• zzzZZZzzz – LOL FAIL FAIL FAIL…I had twins. There have been several nights where an hour of uninterrupted sleep was amazing. Not to mention the several nights I spent at the hospital with Evan during his surgery. Sleep just hasn’t been happening.

0 for 4. An amazing amount of failure. But I learned a lot, the family is growing and striving. The job is good and I’m happy. Overall 2016 was a success.

I posted this on Facebook for all those that are friends with me there. But I think it needs a formal place here on the blog…the announcement of the twins born on 8/8/2016

With a triumphant roar, the Patterson boys came into this world on 8/8. Evan Michael lead the way at 10:32am coming in at 5lbs 9oz and measuring 18 inches. His brother Andrew Douglas gave mom a bit more trouble and made a fashionably late appearance at 11:16 after an emergency c-section. Topping his brother in size at 19 and a quarter inches and 5lbs 11 oz. Both are adjusting to all the new found space and momma is recovering well.

I think I’ve come to the end of my Fitbit adventures for a while. My 3rd Fitbit finally bit the dust. I originally got one when we had kicked open the doors of our new data center and wanted to see how much I was walking around the 1/4 mile long building. To sum it up, its a lot. On average, I was between 5-7 miles a day without even thinking about it.