I am not actually sure if LiveJournal is a blog or a journal.  To be honest, I am not even sure I understand the difference between the two.

Anyhoo, I wanted to give what I guess has become a monthly general update.  I post these in LiveJournal mostly because:
1) What I post here goes directly into Facebook as a note; and
2) It allows those who don’t have access to Facebook to keep in touch with me

Since I last wrote, I am pleased to report that nothing overly exciting has happened.  That doesn’t mean that it hasn’t been busy, but it just means that nothing adverse or overly positive has taken place.  And it is nice to have an unventful period of time for awhile.  I am starting to keep in touch more with my family back in the US, and I have kept my goals for working out and eating better and I feel healthier than I have in a long time.  March and April are about bringing that healthy attitude to the next level to show results 😉

Work is going along okay.  And really my heart goes out to all of those who are so negatively impacted by this crisis.  We feel this crisis in Sweden as well, but not as acutely as you feel it in the US.  The job continues to be really interesting and the learning curve has been very steep.  But I am now over the hump and positively contributing to the team (I hope) and look forward to a good continuation.

Jag kan prata och skriva svenska nu.  Men, jag gillar inte att prata på svenska.  I will really struggle the next 5 weeks with my new level of Swedish class, but at the end of the it, I will be successful.  Mostly because it is time to take the Swedish courses seriously and to keep at it.

Well, I wish I did have more to write about it.  Turns out that when there isn’t happening other than the usual, it means that there is less to write about.  But I hope that this post finds everyone in great spirits and still excited for the year ahead.  We are almost one-third of the way through the year…time flies eh?

Until next time…hugs to all.

//Rodney

So the end of January seems to be a good time to write one of those open letters reviewing the year.  2008 turns out to be a mixed picture, with world events playing a disportionate impact on many of the issues.

In my professional life, what started out as a great year went down a rocky path towards the middle of the year and then recovered nicely by autumn.  In the first quarter of the year, the business unit I worked passed a really big audit successfully.  It was an important psychological victory that demonstrated that we run our business in a controlled manner.  And certainly it make the long hours put in worth it.

Towards the middle of the year, I was asked to move to new opportunities.  Perhaps a bit sad at first, it was difficult to remain downbeat.  I had already decided with with my boss at the time (in December 2008) that fourth quarter 2008 was the right time to move to new opportunities (I have a habit of not staying in jobs more than 2 years or so…a benefit of working at such a large company like IBM is the ability to grow and develop in different areas).  So with the support of mentors and colleagues, I moved out of the direct security, risk management, and business compliance areas into a business operations role.  The transition from a mostly technical role to a business role has been bumpy, but essential.  Both for the new learning opportunities it has presented and for the new challgenes it has brought with it.  Additionally, because I also truly believe that too few technical people fail to understand that business and technology intersect each other, not run parallel to each other.  So I remain excited about what 2009 will bring and the new initiatives that come along with it.

Personally speaking, it’s also been a very mixed bag.  Let’s take the positive sides first.
Relationships – In November, Alex and I celebrated the time we first met 2 years ago.  I get on very well with his family and like every relationship it is work, but well worth the effort.

Travels – I got the opportunity to visit a new country last year, Cyprus, adding to the list of countries I have visited.  Alex and I spent 2 great weeks there and came across great new best friends (Zoe and Phil), whom we hope to see in Stockholm or London this year.  We also made new friends from the Netherlands (Pelle, Brian, and Mario), whom we’ll visit on Queens day.

Personal Interests – My Swedish lessons are going great.  To the point where I can understand 95% of what everyone says.  And now with my professor I am working on writing and speaking.  I expect to increase fluency in both aspects by the end of the summer (I need to work on my shyness).  I have also completed the outlines of a book I am writing with a goal of creating the first draft by 2010.  I have yet to copyright the book title and concept so I can’t share much other than it’s a book about business and life.  The publishing process is quite intensive I have learned, so I have been moving slowly.  I was also elated to see a democrat win the election (I acually preferred Hillary but Obama is an acceptable alternative).

Health – I exited 2008 just as healthy as I had entered it, with the positive exception that in the fourth quarter I incorporated regular workouts back into my routine.

On the negative sides (let’s not dwell too much on those), I haven’t kept in touch with my entire family as frequently as I had set out to do so I need to re-focus my energy on that.  A planned trip to the US to visit family for Thanksgiving had to be cancelled, but I will correct that with a new planned visit in July.  The health of my family is important so I want to keep a focus on that as well.  And of course, I think the recession that we are in has impacted all of us in one way or another.  So far my friends and loved ones seem to be weathering the storm okay, and my hope is that they continue to do so.

So, let me close this out by saying thanks to all of my friend near and far for being a part of my 2008.  And I wish you and yours nothing but happiness and success for 2009.

Rodney

P.S.  For those of us more technically inclined, besides e-mail, I am reachable the following ways as well:
Facebook – www.facebook.com
Twitter – http://twitter.com/RodneyCornelius
LiveJournal – http://rcornelius.livejournal.com/
Skype – Shared on request
MSN – Shared on request

Well I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a very happy new year and best wishes for a terrific 2009!  Heaven knows the world needs a lot of positive changes this year after a dismal 2008!

Warm Regards, Rodney

P.S.  Some of you wrote back that you weren’t registered in LiveJournal, aren’t registered in Facebook, etc, etc.  So for 2009 you can now also follow me on Twitter at the following link:

http://twitter.com/RodneyCornelius

So I guess that to you this picture looks like it was taken late at night.

However, this was taken at 08.12 in the morning in Stockholm. It’s 11.00 now and it looks like the dawn is shining through. But in fact, it’s midday and the sun will start to set soon!

So welcome to winter in Scandinavia 🙂

It feels strange that we are so close to ending yet another year.  I think that 2008 went by very fast this year.  It has been an exciting year to be sure, but also a very tiring year.  This will soon end my second full year as a permanent resident of Sweden, and is also almost 2 years that I have been in a relationship.

I am still not sure what is going on in terms of New Years Eve plans.  I think we still stay in around in Stockholm, but I am not sure yet what we will be doing.  So I think that I will have to make some plans pretty soon or else I will end up doing nothing and that would not be cool.

This weekend was another strange weekend, but alsoa  good weekend.  Matt finally made the plunge and moved from Paris to Stockholm.  My weekend was relatively calm, and I spent most of the weekend not doing anything of significance.  Also managed to do some shopping for some small things that were not very important (like a door mat, a candle, etc, etc).

Anyway, I just wanted to give a short update.  Hope that everyone is doing well and keep in touch! 🙂

So I realise that it has been another long time since I have written. The problem really isn’t that I don’t have anything to say because I have a lot to say. Rather, it has more to do with the fact that I do keep myself fairly updated at Facebook, so I often don’t post here a whole lot anymore. But for those still readying, I think an update is long overdue 🙂

The Election
Obviously I can’t contain my happiness at the election result.  I am glad that Obama won the election as you can read from my other posts.  For those of you who might recall, my permanent website at RodneyCornelius.com hadn’t been updated in 4 years when I was really shocked at the Election result.  Well I made an update now 🙂  I think with a better Vice Presidential candidate and if John had tried to stay true to his center values, he would have had more of an opportunity.

Vacation
We’ve decided on vacation plans for next year, and that includes 3 weeks in the USA during the summer.  We’ll visit NYC, my family in Boston, and then spend some time somewhere else in the US.  We haven’t figured it all out yet, but I’m really excited to be going.  After all, it’s a good use of frequent flyer miles and to fly in Economy Extra class the fees and taxes were only $120 for both tickets.  You can’t get better than that if you tried!  Now just have to make good use of the hotel frequent guest points.  At least whilst these hotels and airlines are hopefully still around.

Work
Work is continuing to go very well.  I have really gotten into my new job and all of the challenges that it brings with it.  I’m so focused on trying to absorb everything and be good at my job that I guess I haven’t even noticed until today that I have been in the job for only 4 months.  But it feels like forever and I guess that is a good sign towards getting comfortable.  I have 2 great managers and a very nice team I work with so I can’t complain.  I guess I could complain if I tried really hard, but there is no point as if you have to look hard to complain, then there is nothing to complain about.

Friends
So this section is dedicated to my friends.  I had a breakthrough last week in which I realised that I have done a very very bad job at keeping in touch with people.  It was especially disappointing as some of those people reached out to me and I don’t think I responded in the best way (just short sentences promising to write more soon but never following through).  So in some level, I am not surprised that my communication with my friends has dropped to such low levels.  So for those friends of mine reading this I’ll make you a deal.  Let’s not wait for the other one to reach out first…let’s reach out together.  For some of you, the time and the distance has been too long, and I think we still have lots to talk about!

Well on that note, I’ll cut it off here and wish my US friends a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and seasons greetings to everyone around the world, no matter what you’re celebrating in coming days and weeks!

Hugs, Rodney

That’s it! I’m moving to Bulgaria to pursue my dream of singing fame. If this woman can do, then I’m a shoo-in to be Bulgaria’s Next Top Model…I mean singing sensation…

Jack Welch offers some good insight on the financial crisis and underscores the importance of action and flexibility to resolving the crisis.

It has been one of those weeks I guess. The kind of week where no matter how hard I try I can’t get no sleep. I think a bunch of things are bothering me really. I just don’t know what all of those things are.

But I guess that I should not complain too loudly. Things could be worse and there are others with concerns more serious than mine.

But enough about me! i wish all of you a very happy weekend and more until we meet on here again!

Hugs /Rodney