2011 kicked off sitting on the couch with Sophie, and my roommates Kyle and Camille, drinking a bottle of champagne in Golden, Colorado. Sophie flew back to London within a week to start working on her university projects. I headed off to Las Vegas for Affiliate Summit West on January 11th with my brother John. I returned just before my last semester of college began in mid-January.
In February I skied quite a lot since I had a season pass to Loveland Ski Area. In mid February I played in the Pabst Pond Hockey Tournament in Silverthorne with John and a bunch of his friends. It was an awesome 2 day tournament. The following week I went to Colorado Springs for a cubing competition, which also happened to be on my 22nd birthday. I broke a few personal records, won the competition, and enjoyed an awesome cube cake (thanks Helena!).
In March I took the 8 hour Fundamental Engineering Exam (FE) (and passed it), enjoyed more skiing, went to a Colorado Avalanche game, and celebrated my last E-days (Engineering Days at CSM) . I was also featured in the last segment of a video on the Mines International Progam – I talked about my experiences while living abroad in England.
In April I bought a cheap motorcycle on Craigslist. It has been a childhood dream to own a bike, and after getting my license in November, 2010, I finally purchased a bike. I also went golfing for the first time. In May I graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Although it often seemed to be a burden, I thoroughly enjoyed university. The last semester proved to be one of the best of them all.
Sophie flew back to Colorado in June to spend the summer with me. Throughout the summer, we hiked Mt. Bierstadt (my second time) with my brothers Ron and John, hiked around the mountains near Golden, went camping, boarded the Great Sand Dunes, attended a few Colorado Rockies games, attempted to eat a 6lb calzone, and we also road-tripped California for 2 weeks. During the summer I also moved out of my apartment and into Lakewood with my brother John and his friend Scott. Sophie left back to England in early September to begin her third year of undergrad.
In October I launched an online puzzle shop and began working on e-commerce. It has long been one of my interests, and has so far proved to be a great learning experience. In late October I helped my brother Ron move from Denver to Salt Lake City, which was a great experience. In November I flew to England to spend time with Sophie and my old friends from when I lived in England (2009-10). I celebrated Sophie’s 21st birthday at her house in Leeds, and the following weekend took a train south to Bristol to attend the UK Open 2011. It proved to be one of the best competitions I’ve ever attended.
In early December, Sophie and I flew to Budapest for 4 nights to relax and checkout the city. In mid December we drove to the Lake District to celebrate the 21st birthday of Emily, one of Sophie’s university friends. It was a great time. Around Christmas we drove to Watford (north London) to celebrate. I met a good portion of her family and spent an excellent week in London, including a day trip to St. Albans to checkout the Verulamium Museum (ancient Roman ruins), and a trip to an aircraft museum in northern London.
As a write this from Leeds, England, 2011 is about to end and 2012 is about to begin. I expect 2012 to be bigger and better than ever before.
Goals
Every year I try to set goals and then recap. Here is my 2010 Year in Review post . I set goals to prevent procrastination and to give me something to work more hard for – a motivation if you will.
Here is a recap of my goals for 2011 and their outcome:
- Graduate from CSM with an Electrical Engineering degree – DONE
- Go to graduate school in England – FAILED – Got accepted, but unable to get sponsorship to secure funding.
- Travel more – DONE – went to Las Vegas, California, Salt Lake City, England, Hungary
- Expand my company, expand to more consistent niches – DONE – expanded quite a lot, but still have a lot more to go.
- Take the GRE – DONE – it wasn’t necessary, but did complete it.
- Attend Rubik’s US Nationals 2011 – FAILED – was road-tripping California.
- Get better at ice hockey – DONE – played in a few more leagues and tournaments.
- Sell house in Southern Colorado – FAILED – was taken off the market.
- Develop more websites and expand current ones – DONE – launched some exciting ones and others grew nicely.
- Learn more German – DONE – put in many hours, but plan to do much more in the future.
- Attend Rubik’s US Nationals 2012 in Las Vegas
- Complete first series of Rosetta Stone German.
- Travel more.
- Learn to play the harmonica.
- Learn to juggle 5 balls.
- Get into better shape.
- Complete at least 2, 30 day challenges.
- Write more, take more pictures.
- Become a better Chess player.
- Read at least 4 books related to one of my hobbies.
- Expand current websites and ventures.
- Stabilize PJK Media.
- Stock up capital.
- Launch at least 1 additional venture.
- Make a profitable mobile advertising campaign.
- Attempt to complete each item on my to-do list.
Patrick
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