Last updated on November 7th, 2020 at 06:56 pm
Last Updated: November 7, 2020.
It’s the third of 10 posts for my end-of-year wrap-up for The 2013 100, where I tell you all about the past 365 (or so) days, what I managed to pull off, which plans were a flop, and what I’ll try to do again in 2014.
In retrospect, 2013 was insanely busy. It isn’t until you sit down to do a series of posts like this that you really start to understand just how much you try to cram into your days.
There’s probably a lesson in here somewhere about overachieving, but I’m too busy to learn it!
And without further ado, on to the list!
Previous Posts:
- DO ALL THE THINGS: The 2013 100 Wrap-up 1-10: Driving, Drawing And Dining
- DO ALL THE THINGS: The 2013 100 Wrap-up 11-20: Birthdays, BiSC And Blogging
The 2013 100, Items 21-30: Social Media, Stocks and a SHEvolution Gone Wrong
- Merge my past 10 years of blogging into one site
- Start a tweetchat
- Start a podcast
- Dabble in video
Get a local doctorGet a local dentist- Make some money in the stock market
- Get ahead of schedule with the Man Lessons
- Create a schedule for regular website maintenance
- Start the SHEvolution
21: Merge my past 10 years of blogging into one site
Few people know I’ve blogged since August 2002, jumping sites until I landed here at CaseyPalmer.com in late 2011.
Though my writing’s grown since the days on LiveJournal, Blogger and Posterous, there’s still some gems in my past decade of blogging that deserve re-visiting.
Over 2003, I went through more than 2000 posts and 8000 comments, leaving only stuff that was still relevant and/or entertaining. It’s sitting on the development site now, as I add tags, featured images and other SEO-friendly elements.
Expect to see some of my blasts from the past next year!
STATUS: On to the next year!
22: Start a tweetchat
While I’m not done with Twitter, I don’t use it like I used to. Over 3 years, I’ve seen people move on, move away, move to smaller social circles to evade unwanted attention—the allure of Twitter was good as long as I wanted to party, but as the party grew increasingly virtual, having my life revolve around being at the computer at a specific time each week eerily reminded me of those whose lives revolve around their TV shows.
Life’s too short.
STATUS: Ain’t nobody got time for that!
23: Start a podcast
One thing that’ll set you apart from others when you share content on the Internet is the quality of your work. With blogging, it’s how well you write and the image quality behind the photos you use. And with videography, getting a high-definition camera will do wonders for your video’s appearance. With podcasts, though, a solid microphone is what stands between amateur hour and repeat listeners.
I hit Canada Computers’ Black Friday sale and got Blue Microphones’ Yeti USB mic, complete with three condenser capsules and four directional modes to help you get the most of any recording situation you’re in!
I’d love to push the envelope with content in the coming year—I actually considered starting a podcast later into 2013 à la Zach Bussey Show (but, you know—with less swearing and more interviews), but between finding a venue, shifting priorities and an insane workload at the 9-to-5, I decided to ease off.
Oprah didn’t land her own show ’til she was 32, though, so I’m not giving up yet!
STATUS: On to the next year!
24: Dabble in Video
Nothing can tell a story like a video can.
Though I only got halfway through the month, I participated in August’s VEDA—or Vlog Every Day in August, by recording with my Canon 60D and sharing on YouTube!
Definitely enjoyed it—We Blog, We Vlog is a fun group, and I’d love to do it again in 2014. It’s also made me think about how to do video better than just sitting in front of the camera and talking to my audience.
Video’s an interesting realm—Justin will be the first to tell you that more vloggers get rich from YouTube than any blogger ever did from their blog. So since the blog’s not doing so well as a medium these days, I look forward to experimenting with other ways to get my ideas across.
STATUS: SO done. / On to the next year!
25: Get a local doctor
STATUS: SO done.
26: Get a local dentist
STATUS: SO done.
27: Make some money in the stock market
Gotta spend money to make money, but I haven’t gotten to sitting down and really sorting my options out for playing in the stock market. Sarah and I invest in a number of mutual funds, but dabbling in pure stocks is a plunge I haven’t seriously considered yet.
I’d like to do it with my “play money”—anything I earn in the 9-to-5 is “kid money”, the money to give him everything he needs; any extras from birthdays, contests, etc. is “play money”, i.e. the money I can use to do whatever I want.
My Mom has an interesting idea, though. She’d mentioned wanting to choose some penny stocks for DoomzToo—something that could potentially pay off for him in the future.
I’d never even thought of it.
So in 2014, I get organized and see about starting to invest in the great stock market game.
STATUS: On to the next year!
28: Get ahead of schedule with the Man Lessons
With Mansformation’s hiatus came a hiatus for my daily Man Lessons. After several months, I found I just couldn’t write unique content anymore—in what may come as a surprise to my female readers, men only have so many problems.
In a similar fashion, I started posting a Question of the Day on my Facebook for a while later into 2013, but it only lasted so long before I felt compelled to do something else.
What did I learn? That with a constant, steady stream of content you can build a great audience—if the content doesn’t suck. In the event that your content does suck, please stop creating it immediately. No one’s going to look at it, and the Internet’s full of enough crap already.
STATUS: Ain’t nobody got time for that!
29: Create a schedule for regular website maintenance
While having your own Internet real estate gives you the freedom to do almost whatever you want with the space, it’s a huge pain in the butt when things aren’t working right! Even now, I’m sorting some load balancing issues out, as CaseyPalmer.com grows in size and complexity.
Part of making your site run smoothly is doing regular site maintenance. Websites can get bogged down with junk data all too easily, and making sure to clear out unnecessary files and that everything’s running right will save you from later headaches.
Facing major site issues in December, I got rid of some unnecessary test sites, cumbersome WordPress plugins and automated processes that had my web host ripping their hair out. While I didn’t adopt a maintenance schedule in 2013, here’s hoping I can get on top of it in 2014!
STATUS: On to the next year!
30: Start the SHEvolution
One of the main arguments I got while developing Mansformation is that men weren’t the sole reason for all the issues out there in the relationship world—there are plenty of problems stemming from how our female counterparts can interpret situations.
So I started working on a program to help women better themselves called SHEvolution.
The plan was to get other prominent female writers in Toronto’s social media community to help pen “Daily Lady Lessons”, and eventually be regular contributors at a sister site to Mansformation.
But ultimately, I wasn’t passionate about Mansformation and its associated properties, and will leave this project for someone who wants to do it. Like Cosmopolitan or something.
STATUS: Ain’t nobody got time for that!
30 down, 70 to go! Join us next time when we talk Toronto, why I haven’t got off of my butt to run a 5K race, and curbing the hoarding tendencies which seem to run in my bloodline.
Adios amigos,
