Many people write a Christmas or end of year letter reporting what all has happened in their life in the past year. I decided to do mine via e-mail on Christmas.

The year has overall been a good one but busy. However if I said anything but it being busy many of you would say it was not about me.

I had the opportunity through out the year to improve my education. I took and finished several free online courses with Hillsdale College that I enjoyed. Still working on the two from the fall (Great Books 2 and history of presidency) but hope to finish soon. In June I had the opportunity to attend a week long training session on Cisco and teaching in Jacksonville that was good and several friends and I found some good restaurants also. The end of July I attended the CompTIA conference on computer education in Phoenix that was one of top conferences of all time. The sessions were all good and I learned a lot on teaching and security.

I traveled a good bit this year but a lot was related to the college. I was in Jacksonville for the above conference. I drove out to Phoenix for the CompTIA conference and had hoped to tour more but work at the college limited that. However I did get to experience a severe hail storm in the desert in New Mexico in my car, see my uncle in Tucson and tour the copper mine for the first time where my dad worked in the 1940s in Bisbee. I also drove out to Rogers Arkansas for the annual Daisy National BB Gun Championship which was fun and I shot about 1200 pictures. I also got a 75th anniversary Red Ryder gun. This coming year's match should be real good as it will be the 50th and also will be my 20th year attending either as a coach, director, treasurer, national representative for the program or webmaster.

I continued my writing career this year, publishing 2 books thru Nook of Barnes and Noble. I wrote my weekly question answer technology article for the fifth year that is published in three newspapers. I also did about 20 columns of my Watt Thoughts which this is one of I have done since 1998. I am working on best of books for both and hope to do this year.

I achieved several more computer certifications. I am now a Microsoft Certified Educator (MCE) and passed the beta exam for CompTIA Introduction to Computing new certification. (If I had failed second I would not have heard end of it).

I continue speaking in churches as a Certified lay Speaker for the South Georgia Conference of the united Methodist Church. I spoke in several churches in SE Georgia for their regular services during the year and also did the devotion one Wednesday night at First Baptist in LaFayette. I am active at Swainsboro First United Methodists as sound and video technician, web master, Sunday school teacher and lay speaker. I attend First Baptist in LaFayette on Wednesday nights and do some other stuff with them. I also read thru the bible for the third time in a single year.

I finished my term as president of the Fort Oglethorpe Kiwanis and they re-elected me to a second term I am in now. I am also serving as Service Projects chair for the Kentucky-Tennessee Kiwanis District.

At the college I basically took on a double load of classes starting July 2 when the other full time instructor went out on medical leave. That kept me busy thru December but challenged me to see new ways to use HTML5 and CSS on my web pages and start updating them. 16 sections in fall was a busy load but the students and I made it thru. January looks easier.

I did several new web pages during the year for a restaurant in SC and rental location in Swainsboro and have several more on drawing board I have been requested to do.

The end of January my 2001 Saturn turned 500,000 miles on the odometer and in June I had my 1986 truck repainted and looks nice. The Saturn now has 541,000 miles on it.

The year had some sad moments also. The main one was my mom dying in November. I talked with her two days before the stroke and heart attack and saw her weekend in between so I was prepared.

Next year promises more challenges as I hope to get back in running and bicycling more seriously and will be moving to a new version of Windows Server in some of my classes. Also building those new web pages. Hopefully some more travel during the year. For several years I have had my eyes on a trip to New York and Niagara falls and also a trip to Alaska. Who knows if this year or later?

Hope you all had good years and a better one next year

Dwight