I have seriously been slacking getting this out, but that doesn’t neglect the importance of this note.

Like many others, I am sure, 2009 has really been a pain in the dick.

However, I need to make clear that 2009 has also been one of the strongest years.  While an emotional and stressful year, my friends and family have really been there to support on many levels.  If it weren’t for that support, I’m pretty sure the year would have been a big waste.

Most, all of you should know by now that I went back to being self employed this year. There came a point where I had to choose between a

9 to 5 and being on my own, as doing both was draining my spirit and energy. Leaving steady income to do contract and consultant work is about as scary as things get, even without this economy.

The experience, as a whole, has been thoroughly awesome and a tremendous growing experience.  Not to say it has been easy, quite the contrary it has been some of the most stressful work I have ever done, but I have made it through the year pretty much unscarred.  I’ve even been able to get some really good inspiration from my clients for my own projects.

While it would be nice to say that the year went without hiccups, this is also the year our landlord let the bank take the house. Naturally, this just added to the stress of everything else, however it is all over now and we are moving forward without looking back.

Speaking of looking forward, 2010 is looking optimistic, in the first part of the second quarter I am hoping to have enough clients to justify major server upgrades. As of now, my schedule is TBD, however as I set the road map for my projects I will have a better idea of what lies ahead.

Thanks to the inspiration of a few, I’m moving forward with a couple major projects. The relentless and continued support is always appreciated.  Being as it is such a huge step, I am continuously nervous about the outcome and irrationally doubting my talent and ability.

Never the less, my friends keep pushing me to evolve and continue pushing forward and striving to do better.  Even my newest friends and colleagues push and inspire me to involve myself further and grow both with knowledge and experience. To everyone who has supported me in 2009, I am extending my deepest gratitude.

My parents, while always supportive, have really been there as emotional and mental support when time got stressful.  There are no words powerful enough to express my gratitude for keeping me rational.

Normally, I wouldn’t review a news application, however I chose to review USA Today because I really like how it is organized.  Typically, I have my news in RSS readers on my phone or computer, however I have to say that USA Today brings a lot to the table for a news application.  Most of what I’ve seen has been one browser based ports of news sites, but what I see here is the perfect migration of presentation and interactivity.

In my opinion the key to a good application is ease of navigation and quality interaction.  I think this is where USA Today has its strengths.  Splitting headlines, sports and weather really gives the user quick grasp of what they want.  There’s even a section for USA Today polls, concurrent with the site.

Last Thursday I was busting my ass with Nick, Drew and Nate to get their site live.  After about 16hr’s of continuous work, the site was born. The preceding Thursday, I was busting my ass on my own sites making so much progress that I felt the need to brag about it.  Today, however, I have hit a wall interms of productivity.  Because I work with people when they are off, I typically use Tuesdays to slack off, so naturally I’m feeling a bit guilty doing meaningless tasks right now.

I think I should jump on my dad’s suggestion and “just do it already” since I have a considerable amount of work ahead of me.  Instead of heeding his advice, I’m writing this article and moving files among my hard drives trying to make my life even more convenient.

Note: My photography gallery is up @ http://gallery.michael-lipson.com/ if you want to laugh at my amateur goodness.