1. Finish a Rev 1 of Benchside – Status: on track; My teammates and I have made significant progress over the past couple of months, both in terms of refining the scope of the project as well as doing the basic coding. Although we still have a ways to go to get a workable tool, I think we are definitely on track.
2. Read Pawn in Frankincense and Checkmate by Dorothy Dunnett  – Status: completed; This is something I’m proud to say I’ve completed, albeit with a minor cheat. I was able to read Pawn in Frankincense, but switched to using an audiobook to complete Checkmate. I’m still going to count that as a victory, and I’ve now discovered that audiobooks are a great way to finish things which are hard-to-read as they handle all the pronunciation for you and allow you to “read” while driving!
3. Meet at least 3 new people per conference I attend – Status: incomplete; In my defense, I haven’t attended a conference, but will try to do so for the second half of the year!
4. Read at least 1 academic scientific paper per month – Status: on track; I have indeed been reading and blogging about one scientific paper a month!

Not too bad if I can say so myself!

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I don’t usually do the New Year’s resolutions thing. But this year, since I’m now publishing everything  to benjamintseng.com, I think the perceived public scrutiny associated with having a public list of goals for the coming year on my own personal domain name might end up being a good motivator to achieve them.

So, without further ado:

• Finish a Rev 1 of Benchside – While I had a wild ride on Xhibitr and learned a ton, I’m hoping Benchside, the  project that I’m currently working on, will end much more successfully. Whereas Xhibitr was an online social network aimed at fashion, Benchside is a software application designed to run on your computer (not the web) which aims to help you change the way you organize the information on your hard drive. While Benchside officially started about half a year after work on Xhibitr went underway, its progress has suffered from a lack of focus on my part. Despite this, I still have strong faith in the team and the project, and I definitely want to see this through. So, by December 31, 2010, I will have a working version (even if its only barely working and cobbled together with voodoo magic and duct tape) of the core Benchside software working on my computer.
• Read Pawn in Frankincense and Checkmate by Dorothy Dunnett – My girlfriend adores Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles. They were an integral part of her identity growing up, and she continues to re-read them today whenever she has extra time (and no new reading or knitting material ). They are also very meaty books full of well-researched 16th century European history and cultural idiosyncrasies. I’ve already read two (Game of Kings and Disorderly Knights – yes, there’s a chess theme in the titles) and despite priding myself in being well-educated, I found them very difficult to follow (I guess that’s why I read comic books?) So why read two more? In addition to my girlfriend wanting me to read them, she’s raved about the conclusion to this series (Checkmate) for years, and given her refined, educated taste in books (although apparently not in men ), I can’t help but want to stretch my own reading ability especially if the payoff is as grand as she has made it seem. Consequently, by December 31, 2010, I will have read both Pawn in Frankincense and Checkmate.
• Meet at least 3 new people per conference I attend – If I have one great weakness, it is that I find it painfully difficult to talk to people I’m not familiar with. On the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test, I rank extremely “I” (as in introvert). But, given my upcoming job in venture capital and my desire to pursue opportunities which won’t be so forgiving of my extreme shyness, I’m going to set a goal for myself to help break that habit. At every conference/industry event I attend in 2010, I will meet and have meaningful conversation with at least 3 new people.
• Read at least 1 academic scientific paper per month – I pride myself on being a science person. In fact, with the notable exception of Xhibitr, my portfolio is full of my old scientific “adventures”.  But, as I’ve dug deeper into the technology and business world, I have unfortunately lost touch with that part of my life. Part of the reason that I still blog about science here and over at Bench Press is a desire to stay connected to those under-exercised scientific interests. This year, to help keep that connection going, and also to help me keep pace with the tech-and-science related news and innovations which give me fodder for more blog posts, in 2010, I will read at least 1 academic (as in journal) scientific paper per month.

I’m sure some of the people reading this list will think that my bar for success is set too low. And, maybe they’re right. But, hey, this is the first time I’ve done something like this, and I’m not about to set myself up for public failure .

Happy New Year to everyone! And best of luck with those resolutions!

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