Account of Learning in 2011

Another year has gone by since the last annual account. You can go back each March to read the prior years if interested. In this article I try and summarize the major learning points over the course of the year. March is the month of my birthday so I like to hold myself accountable to my actions over the last year. I personally feel that this year has been the greatest leap forward in my life so far for one big reason; I was finally able to start a company and absorb many of the learning opportunities that come along with it. I also returned to my home state for the second half of the year, so spending time with my family was a rewarding experience this year. Please join me with this fun list.

• Learned how to move to another state again – it was no big deal this time. I was able to do a living expense estimate long before taking the plunge which turned out pretty accurate.
• Learned a huge amount about Federal and State taxes and regulations.
• Learned about starting a company in Michigan and Massachusetts.
• Learned important lessons about contract pricing.
• Learned a ton about accounting. I feel much more comfortable dealing myself with several aspects of accounting.
• Learned a small amount about copywriting.
• Learned more about universal design principals.
• Learned several manufacturing processes, materials, and paradigms (in overview).
• Learned more about graphic design and was real proud of myself this year for making a brochure and handouts that went through six revisions, but proves that I can still do design work.
• Learned about rapid selling on craigslist. Very effective if you know how to frame items correctly in photos.
• Learned a lot about articles of incorporation across different states and drafted my own.
• Learned a lot about an operating agreement and also drafted my own.
• Learned about working with an attorney.
• Learned about working with contractors (I've been lucky to work with some really great people).

Ok – here we go into all the computer related items.
• Learned a lot more about Drupal 6 and 7.
• Learned a bunch about Virtual Box.
• Learned a bunch about Java 7.
• Learned a lot about cookies in Windows and Adobe AIR.
• Learned a lot about social media APIs.
• Learned a lot about proxies in Java and in general. Used squid a bunch and wireshark finally in an effective manner.
• Learned about manipulating 4x40 character displays.
• Learned a great deal about programming design patterns.
• Learned the Adobe Carignorm paradigms.
• Learned how to use the Robotlegs framework and all the fun paradigms that go along with that.
• Solidified a few testing paradigms I had about museum exhibits.
• Increased understanding of performance based rendering in Flash and AIR.
• Learned about the Google Maps Javascript v3 API.
• Learned a lot more about dynamically creating pdfs.
• Learned a lot more about the guts of MIME messages and the importance base64 encoding plays in images and attachments in email. For the record, I love Base64 encoding.
• Learned about implementing cloud services.
• Learned a lot more about automated testing and documentation tools.
• Finally learned how to program a PLC and understand the challenges and advantages of using one depending on the environment.
• Learned a decent chunk of RLL (Relational Ladder Logic).
• Learned how to program the Microchip PIC Platform.
• Learned how to program the NXP ARM 32 Bit Platform. Extremely impressed here compared to many 8bit chips. Wow.
• Learned how to program an 8bit Freescale USB offering.
• Learned about kiosk work challenges in .NET.
• Learned about programming the Kinect.
• Learned a little about programming on Android.
• Learned more about HTML5.
• Learned a ton about Watchout and their socket API. (Watchout is a popular software solution for multi screen A/V presentations).

In summary I am extremely pleased with progress made this year across several facets. This is probably the biggest list since I have started recording these each March. In terms of well being I've been able to reconnect with old friends and make new ones this year as well. It's been a great year and I am very thankful for all the people who have been involved in it.