It's another one of those "5" years. I'm now halfway to 90. 90 sounds old, but once upon a time, 45 sounded old too.

The year has not been easy. We lost my maternal grandmother, Ann Woods, in August. I have many good memories of time spent with her up in North Dakota.

My brother announced that he and his wife were getting a divorce. Again, not happy news, but we have to accept it. The end-of-year family get-togethers have seemed incomplete without my sister-in-law.

However, even with those events, this year has been a pretty good one for me.

Professionally, things have been better than usual. I developed Real Professional mobile apps for iPhone/iPad and Android. These apps have over 30,000 users, and they have been well received. Most applications I've developed during my career had only a few dozen users, so this larger reach gives me a sense that I can have some sort of effect on the world.

I've wanted to make iPhone and iPad software since I was 12 years old. Unfortunately, iPhones and iPads didn't exist back then. I'm glad that the devices are finally here, and that they pay me to work with them.

One resolution I've made for the coming year is to spend at least one hour per day working on personal programming projects. I gave up programming "for fun" a few years ago when work was burning me out, but now my interest has been rekindled.

I started meditating almost-daily about 12 months ago. For this, I credit 5by5's Dan Benjamin, who mentioned his meditation practice on several podcasts. I'm no zen master, but I do feel less stress and it's easier to ignore all the little problems in my life. I only have a mental breakdown two or three times a day now.

The optometrist prescribed progressive lenses for me this year. I don't like having old-people glasses, but I'm glad that my corrected eyesight is better. I wish I'd gotten these years ago.

Life with my wife and stepson keeps getting better. Bailey has matured and calmed down a lot over the past year—we actually see him smile once in a while! Pebble hasn't had to spend any time in the hospital this year, which makes us both feel a lot better. Our five dogs are all healthy and happy. Our little cabin in the foothills is still the nicest place I've ever been.

I don't like getting older, but as long as the years keep getting better, I won't complain about it.

The Apple Store is a great place to go if you want to play with new Apple products or get help at the Genius Bar. But if you go there to buy something, the experience is confusing and humiliating.

Everyone knows how the process of buying something at a store is supposed to work:

1. You pick up the product(s) you want to buy.
2. You go to the end of the line at the checkout counter.
3. When it's your turn, you step up to the counter, transact your business, and go on your way.

In contrast, here is how things work at the Apple Store:

1. You pick up the product(s) you want to buy.
2. You stand there like a child who has lost his mommy, looking around for a friendly Apple associate who can help you.
3. As the Apple associates are always busy helping other customers, you pick one and stand nearby, hoping to catch their attention when they are finished with the current customer.
4. Eventually, after helping the current customer, and maybe a few others who are also standing nearby, the associate asks how they can help you. You say you want to buy the things you have been holding. The associate says, "OK, I'll find someone to help you", and goes to look for one of the associates who has one of the magic credit-card-reading devices. You stand there looking lost again for a while.
5. Eventually, a person with a magic device arrives to let you make your purchase. You fumble around, juggling products between your armpits, your crotch, and under your chin while you present each item for scanning. Then you drop all the items while you dig out your wallet and credit card.
6. While you pick up the items you have dropped, the person swipes your card, then hands the little device back to you so you can check some boxes and sign your name. Again, your items have to go into your armpits and onto the floor.
7. While you pick up your items again, the person goes to one corner of the store to get your printed receipt, then to the opposite corner of the store to get you a bag, then back to you. You help the associate put your items into the bag, and then you go on your way.

Wouldn't this all be easier if there was a checkout counter?

Sometimes the old ways are best.

I'm writing this the night before the Oscars, but that is not why I'm writing. I only saw three of the films nominated for Best Picture: The King's Speech, True Grit, and The Social Network. While I enjoyed The King's Speech and True Grit,, I haven't thought about them since I saw them. In contrast, I still think about The Social Network every day.

For some, The Social Network is just a story about how an arrogant jerk became a billionaire by screwing over his friends and business associates. I didn't see it that way. To me, it is a story about the nature of creativity and invention.

Another year past. Highlights of the past year:

We've acquired two more dogs this year: "Blitz," a Miniature Schnauzer, and "Lucy," one of a litter of puppies from our Yorkies Boo and Tweezer. This brings the total to five. We gave away four puppies from two litters this year. One puppy, "Riley," ended up with my parents, and the other three were taken by Bailey's soccer coach.

Stopped working for Scientific Games as a contractor, and returned to TransCore as a contractor.

My wife Pebble went through a couple of surgeries in the space of a few weeks this summer, so that was tough on her, but she's doing well now.

Bsiley started middle school. He has taken up the oboe. I'm happy to hear him practicing it. It's the first thing he's taken any interest in other than videogames, and it's nice to seem him excited about it.

I've gained back ten of the thirty pounds that I lost in 2009. So I'm working on that again.

I don't know what's in store for me this year. I may be offered permanent employment with TransCore. I may start an MBA program in the fall. I'm sure there will be surprises and setbacks.

Anyway, enough for now. It's time for the hourly dog-poop removal.

For the last seven years, I've been working with a company that does gaming-related stuff (lotteries, casinos, race tracks). I worked for a few years as an employee, and later as a contractor. Like all jobs, it's had its ups and downs, but on the whole it was a good experience.

I would have been happy to continue it, but a few weeks ago the company announced a "strategic partnership" with a European gaming company, with the intent of selling that other company's products in the US. That's probably good news for the company and its shareholders, but it's not good news for those of us who develop the products that are to be phased out.

It was pretty clear we would eventually be laid off, but it wasn't clear when that would happen in a few weeks, a few months, or a few years. I started putting out feelers, hoping I'd be able to jump before getting pushed.

I like the iPad. A few friends and acquaintances accuse me of being stupid and easily fascinated by sparkly objects. Rather than have the same argument over and over again, I'm writing all my thoughts and predictions here. I will speak no further on the subject until I actually own an iPad.

Another year older. I'm solidly in my forties now. It's not too bad.

We've had a few additions to the family in the past year: we bought two more Yorkshire Terriers, named Boo and Tweezer. About a week and half ago, Boo gave birth to a puppy whom we've named Sparky. He hasn't opened his eyes yet, but he's growing fast. So we now have four dogs, which is more than we really want, but I doubt we'll be able to part with any of them.

I've lost thirty pounds this year. I'd like to lose another twenty, but I'm glad I haven't regained what I've lost. As a result of the weight loss and diet, I no longer need medication to control hypertension or cholesterol. So I'm healthier than I was last year, and I hope that trend continues.

My wife decided to put a patio in the backyard this summer. The project grew a little beyond its initial scope, but the result is that we have a really nice backyard now. I like to go out there and read on weekends. It makes our little house feel a little bigger. I still really like it in Dahlonega.

I notice in my "42" entry that I said my career was in a rut, and it still is. However, I will have some opportunity to learn new things at work this year, so while it's still not what I want, at least it won't be completely boring.

Usually when I write my birthday blog post, I can review the last year's worth of blog postings to remind me of the things I did during the year. Unfortunately, this year I decided to limit my blog postings to programming- and technology-related topics, so I don't have a record of the really interesting things that have happened. But I do know that I'm happy, and that's all that really matters.

Being the arrogant lummox that I am, I've taken it upon myself to make a list of ten New Year's resolutions for everyone to follow.

1. Be a better parent. Make time to spend with children (even if you have no children of your own).
2. Be a better spouse. Are you the partner you promised you would be?
3. Be a better friend. Your life isn't all about you. Reach out to others.
4. Be a better citizen. Educate yourself about what's going on in your city, in your nation, and in the world. Ask questions. Respect those who disagree with you.
5. Take care of your health. Prepare healthy meals, get some exercise, take your prescribed medications, get a physical exam and vaccinations.
6. Put more into your work, but don't let your work take anything out of you.
7. Correspond with people. This doesn't mean forwarding e-mail jokes, posting your status on a web page, or ranting about what some politician has done. You need to write about meaningful things, and carefully read what others have written.
8. Examine your beliefs. How did you get them? What are they based on? Do they still make sense to you? Can you imagine what it would be like to hold different beliefs? Talk to someone who does have different beliefs.
9. Get rid of what you don't need, literally and metaphorically.
10. Relax more. You really do have the time.

Now you'll have an answer when annoying people ask you what your resolutions are.

Last month, I committed to do a lot of writing. Let's see how I did.

I was going to write one blog entry per day. I actually did 22 entries during the 30-day month of November. Not 100%, but not too bad.

My other commitment was to get a new iPhone app into the App Store. That didn't work out. I did work on an app, but as it progressed, I came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth finishing. So instead of spending that time working on an app nobody would use, I spent time learning about JavaScript.

So, I didn't really meet either commitment, but I'm OK with that. I don't mind letting myself down.

I've often dreamed of participating in NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month, in which people pledge to write a novel during the month of November. Unfortunately, I'm not really a novel-writing guy. I could maybe write a short story or two, but I'm just not enough of a writer to generate 2,000 words of fiction per day.

So, instead of doing that, I'm going to commit to do these things during November:

1. Publish a blog article every day.
2. Get a new iPhone application into the App Store.

This article does not count as a daily blog entry, as it is really more of a meta-entry. The real blog entries need to be programming-related or computer-related.

This is why you'll be seeing a lot of blog entries from me this month. Please feel free to call me bad names if I skip a day.