NOTE: This was not published at the time. It was a forgotten draft until 2021.
As I sit here, I am writing this on a tablet because I am reformatting a hard drive. I promise myself going forward from today, I will ALWAYS make a ghost image and run virus software (if I’m still running windows). This is the second time I’m doing this on this system this year and it’s like the third or fourth time I’m dealing with a crash this year. All this along with the New Year’s crash makes me feel like the word to sum up 2011 is “crash.”
So when could be better time to write the Year End Review for 2011?
In the next two weeks, I will have completed a full term on the city council. I’ve always joked and compared it to the typical high school experience, mostly because of the similar length of the term. So running off that logic, this will be the end of my senior year, and am I ever ready to complete it. It’s really nothing more than a benchmark or milestone. It’s kind of the opposite from high school in the case, you do everything right and win your election and but you stay for another four years. I’m just ready for a new chapter.
Thirty-six minutes into 2011, I was sitting in a wrecked police car. I’ve been on dozens of ride-alongs in the past four years with the police and fire departments. But this was the first time, I was involved in an incident. The law of large numbers says I’m a long way from this happening again, so I’m probably pretty safe for a while. I never thought this would be the year of the “crash.” (remember the only reason I’m writing this is because my hard drive crashed.)
2011 has been incredible just as much as its been difficult.
If you remember back to the beginning of 2011 you’ll remember meetings in the homes and yards of concerned citizens, who care about wild cats. (side note, I’m sick of the word feral, I’m saying wild for now on). In hindsight, I think there was some quality feedback and insight from those and other meetings. Don’t get me wrong, we spent way too much time on the silly issue, but at least it wasn’t in vain. So 2011 was really a year for Comprehensive Cat Reform as well.
The experience from South by Southwest (SXSW) this year changed my life. First was the friends, reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones while in line to see a private Foo Fighters show. The second was Austin, I love that town. So much life, color, and weirdness. What a great way to experience a city for 10 days.
SXSW was the eye-opening experience that lead to the Yuma Block Party events. Well, actually it was two things, 2nd Saturdays in Downtown (in Tucson) and SXSW. My goal was to coordinate the live music in all the downtown venues once a month. Seemed easy enough right? Make a poster and website with the start times of all the bands and maybe some drink specials. That was the original idea anyway. Well, the idea morphed into something much bigger and required a full-time staff, revenue, and a punch list every month of about 400 items. For the first time in my life, I felt overwhelmed and stretched in too many directions. So unfortunately I had to make the decision to pull the plug after just 3 block parties into it. I felt it was best to let it quietly fizzle out as opposed to making a big deal or PR stunt. I learned a lot about business this year, one of which is how to shut one down.
When we stopped the block parties, that gave me some very much-needed time to focus time, creativity, and resources into my real business, Media Management, and also get some sleep.
As a CEO of Media Management in 2011, I’ve should have been blogging all year. Going through an election, I’ve should have been blogging every day.
San Francisco, Comic-Con, And the Election also took some time from 2011.