As I look back over the years the thing that stands out are a handful of friends who have influenced my life significantly. I don’t make friends very easily, and I don’t think I realized how lucky I was to spend time with these people. So here is my 2000-2009 timeline. I am sure I forgot plenty of events and facts, so I might have to come back to this later as I remember things. Here it goes:

2000
Lived in: Seward, Nebraska
Worked for: Concordia University, local gas station
Drove: 88 Toyota Pickup
Favorite possession: Specialized mountain bike
Most influential friend: Jason Simanek
Art shows:
Midstates Graphic Design Competition, Concorida University
5th Plains States Undergraduate Exhibition, Emporia State University
Nebraska Annual Student Art Competition, Wayne State
Watched: Cast Away
Was listening to: Beastie Boys

Big events:
Living off campus
Summer painting class with Professor Bockelman
Dating Betsy Hanft
Playing doubles with Brady Gurganious

2001
Lived in: Nebraska and Colorado
Worked for: Costco, Front Range Community College, Focus on the Family
Drove: 88 Toyota Pickup
Art Show: Painting/Prints by Adrian Hanft, Senior Exhibition, Concorida University
Most influential friend: Paul Maurawski
Favorite possession: Power Mac G4
Watched: The Royal Tenenbaums
Was listening to: Oh, Inverted World, by The Shins

Big events:
Senior Art Show
Kicked off tennis team
Graduation from Concordia University
Got married to Betsy
Moved to Colorado

2002
Lived in: Colorado
Worked for: Nelnet
Drove: 88 Toyota Pickup
Favorite possession: Nikon Coolpix 5000
Most influential friend: Gary Meyer
Watched: Spider-man
Was listening to: The Creek Drank the Cradle, by Iron and Wine

Big events:
Got a job at Nelnet
Betsy pregnant
Moved back to Nebraska

2003
Lived in: Nebraska
Worked for: HuebnerPetersen
Drove: 2001 Toyota Tacoma
Favorite possession: iPod 3G
Watched: Lost in Translation
Was listening to: Beulah

Big events:
Rian is born
Got a job at HuebnerPetersen
Moved to Grand Island

2004
Lived in: Colorado
Worked for: HuebnerPetersen
Drove: 2001 Toyota Tacoma
Art Show: Recent Works on Paper, three person group show, Hastings University, Hastings, Nebraska
Favorite possession: Our house
Most influential friend: Bennett Holzworth
Watched: Kill Bill 2
Was listening to: Black Keys

Big events:
Award of Excellence, website design, AIGA Nebraska Annual Design Competition
Started Be A Design Group
Moved back to Colorado
Bought our first house

2005
Lived in: Colorado
Worked for: HuebnerPetersen
Drove: 1996 Toyota Tercel
Favorite possession: Sony Turntable
Most influential friend: Travis Gray
Watched: Batman Begins
Was listening to: Blinking Lights And Other Revelations, by Eels

Big events:
Official Bloggers for the 2005 HOW Conference
Interviewed on Design Matters:
Be A Design Group website featured on HowDesign.com’s “HOW’s Top Ten Sites”
Found Photography photo blog launched
Lego Camera on Digg

2006
Lived in: Colorado
Worked for: HuebnerPetersen
Drove: 1996 Toyota Tercel
Favorite possession: Sennheiser HD580 headphones
Watched: Battlestar Gallactica
Was listening to: Rodrigo y Gabriela, by Rodrigo y Gabriela

Big events:
Best of Flickr, The Blink of an Eye Flickr Photo Contest and New York Exhibition
Launched Adrian3 blog
Timelapse Construction Movie on YouTube
Betsy in car accident

2007
Lived in: Colorado
Worked for: HuebnerPetersen
Drove: 1996 Toyota Tercel
Art Shows:
Weld County Annual Fine Art Exhibit
Modern Portraits of Christ, Hastings University
Most influential friend: David Fotherby
Favorite possession: MacBook Pro
Watched: Mad Men
Was listening to: The Shepherd’s Dog, by Iron & Wine

Big events:
Art Show sharing gallery with Robbie Conal

2008
Lived in: Colorado
Worked for: HuebnerPetersen
Drove: 1996 Toyota Tercel
Favorite possession: iPhone
Most influential friend: Tony Splittgerber
Watched: Dexter
Was listening to: Orakular Spectacular, by MGMT

Big events:
The end of Be A Design Group
Font Burner Launches
Disney Cruise
I turned 30

2009
Lived in: Colorado
Worked for: Red Rocket Media Group
Drove: Still driving the 1996 Toyota Tercel
Favorite possession: Panasonic Lumix LX3
Most influential friend: Chadd Bryant
Watched: Twin Peaks
Was listening to: Song Up In Her Head, by Sarah Jarosz

Big events:
Left HuebnerPetersen after 5 years
My sister got married
I wrote 4 WordPress plugins
Started new job at Red Rocket Media Group

2010
I have high hopes for the coming years. Blessings to you in the new year and beyond.

Shawn Blanc has an ongoing blog series about “Sweet Mac Setups” and I am honored to be featured this week. I have also posted the images used in the article on Flickr adding notes pointing out the highlights of the images. My home setup can be viewed here, and my setup at work can be viewed here.

Whenever you make a birthday post on your blog you feel like you have to say something profound about getting older. Since 31 is such an uneventful age, forgive me for not having the secret to life in this post. However, I am going to use my birthday as an excuse to do a little naval gazing. Apologies in advance.

If I had to comment on a characteristic of my personality that I have noticed lately it would be how competitive I am. I have always been competitive but lately it seems especially hard to not want to win at everything I do. It doesn’t matter if it is ping pong, chess, basketball, graphic design, or a weight loss competition. I will put everything I have into trying to beat you at it. I am even competitive when the only person to compete with is myself. For example, when I run I am disappointed if my time isn’t a personal best every time. I am so competitive, that I don’t want you to just think of me as being a competitive person, I want you to think I am the most competitive person you have ever met. And I am not sure why.

As I try to consider what makes me the way I am, I think it has something to do with how I handle failure. My mom tells stories about how stubborn I was as a child. Being strong willed is a trait that hasn’t left me over the years. I like to think of this as a positive attribute, and it has served me well. Perhaps a better word to describe me would be “determined,” When I don’t win I will try again, and again, until I achieve my goal.

If I have achieved any degree of skill, it has been earned from failure. I have always been a mediocre basketball player. Today I can hold my own because years of blocked shots and turnovers have taught me what not to do. I have lost more games of chess than I care to admit – probably in the thousands. Playing ping pong with me is like playing against a wall – because I have logged so many hours of racket sports.

Unfortunately, being extremely competitive often goes hand-in-hand with being a jerk. And that’s where things get tough. Allow me to end this post with an apology to anyone I have annoyed with my constant determination. As I said at the beginning of this post, I am blessed with family and friends. Thank you for putting up with me! Oh, and if you think it is annoying now, wait until I turn 40 and really have something to prove.

Oh, and for what it’s worth, these were taken with my new Panasonic Lumix LX3 camera at the 24mm side of an amazing Leica lens. So far I am really loving this amazing little camera.

So, I turned 30 this week and I would be lying if I told you that it isn’t a little traumatic. I know it’s not that old, but it is a milestone, and it has caused me to take inventory of my life and measure myself against the goals I have for myself. What am I proud of? What do I regret? Who do I love? How did I get here? What’s next? I suppose this is normal, and I feel good about my life and who I am.

With all the soul searching I didn’t have any big moment of clarity and there wasn’t any big revelation. And maybe that’s the lesson. Life is just one endless search to figure out who you are. The arbitrary importance that we put on certain ages (10, 13, 16, 21, 30, 40, 50, etc) are meaningless points on timeline. The important thing is that you do the best you can and take time every once in a while to reflect on what it means to be you.

I read a story a while back about the death of the author who wrote “100 Things to Do Before You Die.” He died at 47, but he lived his life to the fullest. This and other similar stories have made me want to write a list of things that I want to do in my lifetime. Some are relatively easy and others would be amazing achievements. The important thing is having goals and dreams. I plan on updating it as I go, but here is the first draft:

Write a novel
Learn to play the guitar, write a song, and record an album
Write a check for $1,000,000
Write a screenplay
Direct a motion picture
Build and mass-produce a camera that I design
Jump out of an airplane
Be debt free
Design my house
Save someone’s life
Own a Warhol painting
Shake hands with the President
Have an exhibit of my photography
Publish a book of my photography
Teach a college class
Have my name or work mentioned in Wired
Run a marathon

If you are in a similar reflective mood, I encourage you to make your own list. It feels good to have dreams and ambitions even if you die before they are all checked off. So now that I am 30, it feels pretty good. Life keeps getting better and I can’t wait to see what my 30′s bring me!

On another subject, has anyone seen the Simpson movie? I haven’t heard a thing about it. Is it any good?

I = introverted and reserved
N = intuitive and introspective
T = thinking and tough-minded
J = judging and scheduling

A couple tidbits about the INTJ:

1. Difficulties are highly stimulating to INTJ’s who love responding to a problems that require a creative solution.

2. When planning, the INTJ is completely open-minded and will entertain any idea holding promise of utility.

3. Only ideas that make sense to them are adopted: those that don’t are disgarded regardless of who the author is.

4. INTJ’s aren’t distracted by slogans, buzzwords, celebrity, credentials and measure everything against what can add practical value to a project.

5. They can become single-minded at times and can drive others as hard as they drive themselves. This can result in an impression that the INTJ is demanding and difficult to satisfy.

6. INTJ’s are certain that both internal and external consistency are indispensable in a well-run orgainization.

7. INTJs apply (often ruthlessly) the criterion “Does it work?” to everything from their own research efforts to the prevailing social norms.

Four jobs I have had:
1. Produce clerk
2. Gas station attendant
3. Inventory auditor
4. Graphic designer

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Fight Club
2. Star Wars Trilogy
3. The Royal Tenenbaums
4. Dumb and Dumber

Four places I have lived:
1. Wentzville, Missouri
2. Cullman, Alabama
3. Grand Island, Nebraska
4. Evans, Colorado

Four places I have vacationed:
1. Estes Park, Colorado
2. Chicago, Illinois
3. Arches National Park, Utah
4. Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. London broil
2. Tam’s Noodles with Savory Beef and Shrimp
3. Macaroni and cheese
4. Chocolate chip cookies and milk

Four sites I visit (almost) daily:
1. Seth Godin’s blog
2. Make
3. Digg
4. Flickr

Four TV shows I love:
1. Battlestar Galactica
2. The Office (the American version)
3. The Simpson’s
4. MacGyver

Four Places I’d Rather Be Right Now:
1. College
2. Outside taking photos
3. On a mountain riding my bike
4. The local record store

Four bloggers I am passing the torch to:
1. Kadavy
2. Polyfro
3. Frank
4. Bennett and the rest of the group