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2008 has limped to a close, and as the snow falls outside our window in Riga I look back on a busy year, full of uncertainty, and look forward to a 2009 which promises even more change. Let's recap what's happened. Last year at this time I was sitting in Berlin convincing myself to move to Riga. Now I'm here. Last year I was desperately looking for a way to stop teaching English, and I'm still teaching English, although doing it in Riga is much easier than in Berlin. Last year I was cajoling myself to do some writing, now I've given up calling myself a writer. Last year I was pushing myself to find good investment opportunities and I still am, but I'm also patting myself on the back for staying in cash as the financial world crashes down around us. Last year I focused on figuring out a five-year plan for me and Baiba and we did, but now a lot has changed and it looks as though we need to tear up the plan and make it anew.

How to evaluate a year like this? The same as always, by going back and reading my grading scale. Although many of my goals became obsolete, how I feel about my progress is still pretty easy to measure. First, let's look back at the 2008 goals and grade the year, then, turn to 2009 guidance.

Note: owing to an extremely prolonged attack of lameness, the first two quarters of 2008 lack quarterly reports.

2008 Goals:
Time to shake things up! I'm not sure I've taken the Berlin project as far as it can go, but I don't feel held here anymore. Now I have to reach for the next level, combining income and fun seamlessly into a solid groove. This won't happen without my Baiba. Job number 1 is bringing us closer together (geographically speaking) next year.

Practical Considerations:
1)Stop losing shit!!! OK, this is getting ridiculous. Although I haven't lost another ipod, I've lost a lovely scarf, a gore tex jacket, and the belt to my overcoat, all on the bus or tram in Latvia. When will I learn to take care of my shit?? A little carrot and stick is in order here. If I lose nothing in 2008, or at least nothing of consequence, I get a treat, to be determined. If I lose anything valuable, or have it stolen because I was being an idiot, I add an extra year before I can replace my laptop. Deal? Deal!
Third quarter comment: I'm still losing shit. Let's see, what was it? A debit card, a cell phone, and a front bike bag with a bunch of stuff in it. That's it, no treat, no new computer!
Fourth Quarter Comment: My losing streak as slowed to a trickle, but it's not over. I lost a mitten that Baiba knitted for me, but someone found it and put it in the „faculty lounge“. I did get a new computer, however, that is to say I installed Ubuntu on my box and I'm having an interesting time with it. I owe myself a blog entry concerning how valuable my laptop now is, that is to say it's old and it doesn't really matter if it gets stolen. Still can't get Skype working properly, grrr....

2)Get real health insurance for 2008/9 and clean up any lingering health questions, like my teeth. It will cost more, but this is really basic penny wise and pound foolish stuff. Extra points for getting this all set in Q1, so there's no desperate race for the deadline.
Third quarter comment: I switched to a reliable ex-pat insurance, and even got my money back after the fly by night firm I'd been using for the past year double charged me for a renewal that I had canceled. My teeth still need attention, and the prosthesis is still uninsured. Given that it is leaking again four months after its last repair, this is a really serious situation. I have an email concerning the guarantee in with the office in Berlin.
Fourth Quarter Comment: what a nightmare! I received good news from Berlin that my knee was still under warranty and all I had to do was fly in to get it swapped out with a different one, then return when mine was ready. That would effectively give me a good head start on 2009 with a freshly repaired cylinder. There was only one problem: Easyjet, my low cost carrier of choice between Riga and Berlin, stopped operating here during the fall and winter. That put me on Air Baltic to the tune of $200 per trip. Jesus! Now I've spent about $2500 on prosthetics alone this year, and I still have one more trip to Berlin to retrieve my original knee.

3)Manage all upcoming issues with the condo, which includes the ongoing water hassle
Third Quarter comment: There are new tenants, and the rent was raised $100 a month, so that is the good news. The bad news is that there was a $1,200 painting bill and the water issue is still unresolved. There were high water bills through the summer.
Fourth Quarter Comment: The condo appears to be stable for now.

4)Understand and pay my German (and American) income tax.
Third Quarter comment: Taxes in both countries were submitted, and I owed nothing! I will have to file German taxes again for 2008 because I worked there during that year. On a related note, I have a bank account open in Germany that is costing me a service charge every month. If it drains the 20€ I left in the account, there could be trouble with the German credit agencies, so I need to get it taken care of.

Fourth Quarter Comment: I do not anticipate owing any German or American taxes for 2008. The Latvian government takes about 30% out of each paycheck, I need to see about getting some of that back. On my next trip to Berlin I need to take care of Dresdner Bank and get a German W-2 from the language school.

5)Continue the cycling, add upper body work
Third Quarter comment: I cycled through the winter and into the spring in Berlin, and finished it off with a great bike trip from Berlin to Riga, the first time I'd toured in years. I was in really great shape when I arrived here, but since then my ass hasn't touched the saddle once and it's really starting to show. There are problems. Riga isn't a bike friendly city. We live in a fourth floor walk up with no parking downstairs, and there is no covered bike parking at work. All of that said, I'm on track to be a fat-ass again this winter if I don't find a solution, so I'd better get something together.

Fourth Quarter Comment: I have gotten nothing together, and, as predicted, my ass is quickly fattening. No real solution to the bike problem other than buying a beater for around here, but the roads are really icy this week and the idea of riding just doesn't appeal.

6)Really take a stab at looking for non-language teaching related work in Berlin
Third Quarter comment: I utterly failed at this goal, but largely because I decided to move to Latvia. I wish I had taken this goal more seriously, but having a good reason to stay in Berlin would have been an impediment to moving.

No Fourth Quarter Comment needed, perhaps, see comments below...

7)Get on some kind of schedule for learning Latvian
Third Quarter comment: I'm now taking classes two days a week and not paying for it! I need to do better speaking at home.

Fourth Quarter Comment: My Latvian is not improving fast enough and it's all my fault. If I spent as much time studying as I did trying to get the microphone to work in Ubuntu on my laptop I'd be writing literature by now...

Financial Issues:
1)Continue to drive costs for travel down, especially to Riga
Third Quarter comment: Well, now that I live in Riga, I guess that's handled. The larger issue is making travel less expensive in general, especially trans-continental travel.

Fourth Quarter Comment: This issue may make a big comeback in 2009 because we may be doing some extensive traveling (see above). I no longer need to commute between cities, but we need to start discussing under what conditions we are prepared to travel and how we plan to live when we are abroad.

2)Drive daily living costs down while not depriving myself of cultural opportunities
Third Quarter comment: although I envisioned doing this in Berlin, we have been working on the same project here in Riga. We have instituted a weekly food budget, which is helpful, and I have budgeted a certain amount per week for culture. It is difficult to see how all this is working with my budget because I don't yet really have a handle on monthly earnings.

Fourth Quarter Comment: Well, at the moment we are a one income family, so things are quite expensive, but on a day to day basis I'd say we are doing the best we can. Latvia is an expensive country, and I only want to eat potatoes twice a week. The real hurdle to seeing cultural events is not the money but my schedule. I teach until 7:45 every weekday, and most concerts start at 7:00, blah!

3)Research cheaper places to live. I'm not sure if moving is in the picture, but it's becoming increasingly likely owing to pressure on the dollar.
Third Quarter comment: I moved, but not somewhere cheaper. If anything, Riga is more expensive in real terms than Berlin. Now attention turns to trying to make Latvia sustainable.

Fourth Quarter Comment: As I wrote above, this change may now be coming faster than I had originally planned. As things stand now there are three obvious paths to bringing the operating capital (as it were) up to acceptable levels in the short term:
1.Stay in Riga and teach more. If I make a concerted effort to teach more private students and Baiba gets a job, we should be able to live here comfortably and save enough to travel in the summer.

2.Move to Limbazi. Limbazi is the small town in northern Latvia where Baiba grew up and has an apartment. We can live there rent free and very cheaply, the question is: what to do for money? It's too far from Riga to consider commuting, and there are absolutely no jobs to be had in town. The only way to make it work is to find some way to make cash remotely over the internet. Then there's the issue of being bored out of our collective skull in small town Latvia...

3.Move out of the country. Yes, the economic crisis is effecting all of Europe, but only Latvia has the Colonel's special blend of high unemployment, hyperinflation, huge taxes, and utterly corrupt government. Surely life would be easier elsewhere?

4)Once again, it's time to find better investments. 5% is just not going to cut it.
Third Quarter comment: When I wrote this goal, neither I nor anybody else was thinking the U.S. would be going through such a serious and protracted financial crisis. Now it seems reasonable to hold on to what little I have. I was right to shift money out of Washington Mutual before it crashed, and I need to get the last little bit of non-FDIC cash out of a bank as soon as the CD matures. Will probably move the profit to Latvia where they have better rates. More research is needed.

Fourth Quarter Comment: Here is a great example of why you should never take investment advice from therieb. Just as soon as I removed my cash from Washington Mutual, it was purchased by Chase and the FDIC raised the deposit insurance rate to $250,000. At the same time, the largest wholly-owned Latvian bank collapsed and was bought out by the Latvian „government.“ Fortunately, I didn't move any money here, and I don't think that looks like a good idea in the near future.

Creative and personal issues:
1)At least one blog entry a week, no foolin', no excuses!
Third Quarter comment: Well, we can all see how well this is working. I even have about a two month gap in the summer. I couldn't be expected to blog from my bike because the laptop is to big to drag with me, but the blackout lasted much longer.

Fourth Quarter Comment: Seeing as how this is the first entry for December, which may well be pushed into early January, I think it's safe to call this goal an utter failure. What went wrong? I certainly have time to get an entry a week done, and while there isn't always exciting news to report, there is always something to talk about. Often I just don't have the will to do it. A feeling washes over me that is akin to nausea when I think about doing it.

2)I think I need to be on some sort of writing schedule, just like I was on right after I quit Amazon. It's embarrassing to say, but there it is. I want to start with two hours a day, every day that I don't have to work. Let's see how it goes.
Third Quarter comment: It's not going well. I can make lots of excuses about having to work, but here it is Wednesday and I have plenty of time, yet I'm not doing anything serious.

Fourth Quarter Comment: It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to stop calling myself a „writer.“ How can I be a writer in any serious sense? I don't write, either for myself or for others. I have no publications, and my contributions to my own blog are spotty. In a way I've freed myself. I no longer have an expectation that I will produce anything marvelous or even mediocre. Now the question is: what would I like to do? I really enjoyed the persona of the writer but I did nothing to earn it. I bid it a fond farewell.

3)Try to revive the Berlin friends network, make social inroads in Latvia. This latter goal is heavily dependent on learning the language.
Third Quarter comment: Making social inroads in Latvia is hard. It will be several months until my Latvian is good enough to use in social situations, so everyone I meet I meet through Baiba. I hope that will turn around soon, but much depends on my making progress in Latvian.

Fourth Quarter Comment: This is also coming along very slowly. I'm not taking advantage of all of my opportunities. I have met many of Baiba's friends, but I haven't been taking advantage of the opportunities I have. One basic problem is that I don't mind staying home rather than going out. It's a long winter in Latvia. I need to find more interesting people to wait it out with.

4)Stop wasting time!!! Seriously, I'm no advocate of “time management,” but how many games of Scorched Earth do you want to play??
Third Quarter comment: Now that I'm working, I'm doing a little better in this department, but working a worthless job is just another way to waste time, especially if you're not making any money.

Fourth Quarter Comment: I consistently find new and creative ways to do nothing. My latest is changing the operating system on my computer from Windows to Ubuntu. While aspects of the project are interesting, and getting off Windows is the digital equivalent of quitting smoking, there was no particular reason why this had to happen now, or at all. I haven't really learned that much about Linux through this exercise, and if I had been spending all this time with the Latvian language, I'd be fluent by now.

Big Projects:
1)Figure out a 3-5 year plan with Baiba. What do we want to do, where do we want to go. We need to figure out what the goals are, how we are going to afford it, medical insurance for us both, and visa issues. The plan should be in place by the beginning of summer.
Third Quarter comment: We are slowly making progress toward this goal. We will be visiting the U.S. in '09, but the more I think about it the more I find myself committed to staying in Europe. Recent political and economic events in the U.S. have only strengthened my opinion.

Fourth Quarter Comment: We actually had this more or less taken care of: spend 3-5 years in Latvia while taking vacations, then everything changed. The economic situation can be fairly described as spiraling out of control. Baiba quit her job and isn't confident about finding a suitable replacement. The immigration office will be a consistent and regular hurdle to my staying in the country. It's also possible that the university will not be able to provide me with enough teaching. At some point, there are just too many negatives, and Baiba now seems eager to live abroad. So it looks like we get to go through the process again.

2)Convene the Star-Chamber of sustainable living to figure out how to keep the party rolling. What are the options? Could we buy a piece of property together to hold down costs? Form a corporation? Has anyone found excellent ways of saving money, investing, or beating the system? Bill, Cheryl, Dave, Bao, Sandra, Jonathan, Carlos, Mera?... let's have a chat.
Third Quarter comment: other than electronically, no movement on this front. Bill has made some mention of a meeting in Buenos Aries next year. Pity that is almost exactly on the other side of the planet. We'll see.

Fourth Quarter Comment: Our trip to the U.S is now in doubt owing to money concerns and my parents' delayed visit. The global economic situation, however, has made the need for collective action even more attractive. I need to find a group of people who are interested in exploring the options. As of yet, there has been no action on this front.
Quarterly grade: C

So those are the hastily put together goals for 2008. Of course, part of the fun is to see how the goals change over the course of the year, but 2008 is a year for big changes. The old world gives way for the new. Here's to it!
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Looking back at the year, it now seems clear that I had three levels of goals: really easy to effect and accomplish, like getting more exercise and learning language, medium range goals like moving and financial planning, and the big whoppers like writing, creativity, and long term Bohemian living sustainability. It looks like I did an OK job on the little stuff, managed the medium difficulty stuff fairly well, and utterly failed to answer the big questions. Looking at my grading scale, I know exactly where to put a fellow like me:

2008 grade: C+


Guidance for 2009:

I think the biggest challenge for making 2009 goals is not to panic. There's lots of bad news out there, both in the world at large and close to home, but with crises also come opportunities, if there is one major goal for the year it's concentrating on the latter and not the former. For me, there is a lot to be positive about. I'm in a great relationship, I live in an exciting city, and even if I really don't like my job, I can point to significant improvements over the previous year. The big question is: do we stay in Latvia as planned, or try somewhere else? The other categories will stay more or less the same, with less emphasis on writing. So if I'm not a writer, what exactly am I? Not a bad question to ponder during the coming year...

Practical Considerations:

1.(The return of) stop losing shit! For real this time. Is it really that difficult to be careful? I hate to make excuses, but I've often wondered if my propensity to lose things has something to do with how I walk. I most often lose things when I'm tired, and walking around or being in pain from walking around makes me tired quicker than most people. Ordinary tasks become more difficult to manage in the places where I'm most prone to lose things like getting on an off the bus or tram, at the airport, at the checkout in the supermarket, etc. Now there's nothing I can do to avoid these places, but I need to train myself to be extra vigilant when I find myself in these situations, and to check myself when I just put things somewhere „for a moment“ because I'm feeling nervous or hurried.

2.End my dependency on my university job for my Latvian residency permit. This is crucial to staying in this country. The university can only offer me a one year contract at best, and that means going to see the jokers at the immigration office once a year, which I'm not willing to do. This is going to mean researching different work opportunities and improving my Latvian, see below.

3.Achieve level B1 in Latvian by the end of the year. Christ, it's hard to see a path to the B1 heights from here, the A1 basement, but it has to happen. B1 is the level necessary to get a permanent residency permit in Latvia, and there's a test, so that means a solid B1. It all comes down to discipline. Doing homework, going to class, and forcing B to talk with me.

4.Renew the Residency Permit for 2009-10. If we decide to stay in the country, of course.

5.Fix the Residency Permit/health insurance snafu. As it stands, I have to pay for health insurance annually, but the certificate of insurance shows a date that doesn't cover the last date of the next residency permit. I fixed this problem in December by canceling the insurance policy and remaking it to cover the last date of the new residency permit, but I can't do that every six months.

6.Do some traveling Whether or not we decide to make a big trip to the States this summer or move out of Latvia, we need to at least do some wandering around Europe in order to see where we'd like to move.

Financial Considerations:

1.I still need to figure out some reasonable investments. It's all well and good to pat myself on the back for staying put and not losing money in 2008, but that doesn't change the fact that if I continue to do nothing with my money, my ideal lifestyle will come to an end sometime in my early 50's. Then what? The current economic climate provides some very interesting opportunities, particularly in real estate. I need to have the courage to follow them.

2.I still need to find better health insurance, and not just for me. Baiba will need to be covered if we move anywhere. The university might have an option for me if we stay in Latvia, although I'd probably keep the Interglobal policy for traveling purposes.

3.This may seem like more of a personal goal than a financial goal, but I need to communicate a consistent and effective message about money to Baiba. That means no more temper tantrums about my losing the weekly food money, or diatribes about how expensive Latvia is. These issues are well known and my behavior only serves to heighten worry and increase panic. Knock it off!

4.Continue to drive costs down in Riga without turning into Bill circa 2004. Let's face it, inflation sucks, but counting every penny is no way to live. We need to go out when we want, see exhibitions and friends when we want, and if we burn through my working capital that way by June then we need to leave the country. Staying and living on bread and water is simply not an option.
Personal Goals:

1.Wow, this section is certainly a lot less cluttered now that all of these writing projects that I wasn't working on are gone! What should take their place? I don't want to be the kind of person that is satisfied doing absolutely nothing, and I really can't afford that anyway. If I'm not a writer, what am I? This year needs to be dedicated to finding a direction to pursue and to head off in pursuit.

2.Build the Latvian friends network. The older I get, the greater a separation there is between the person I am and the ideal type of the person I want to be. I want to be social, gregarious, interested and interesting, hobnobbing with politicians, artists, writers and critics, but in the real world I'm the guy who more often stays home and plays with the microphone settings in Ubuntu. Take last night as an example. B dragged me to a party, and I did have a good time, but I was the one who wanted to go home early and I didn't really make an effort to have meaningful conversations with anyone. What I need to understand is that my life alone isn't interesting enough. All of my visions of happiness involve lots of other people, so I need to turn myself into the type of person who wants to go out and meet them.

3.One blog entry a week: While I'm no longer a writer, there is no reason why I can't find something to say once every seven days to the poor people who have nothing better to do than read my blog.
Big Projects:

1.Here's a big project that actually really needs to get done! B and I have to decide what the next 3-5 years are going to be like. Will we stay in Latvia or move elsewhere in Europe? What will we do for work? Most importantly, we need to make decisions about how we want to live in the future and find a path between there and here.

2.I remain committed to some sort of collective living arrangement to aggressively drive down the cost of living while allowing the members of the collective to live more or less the lives they want. I have the feeling that the current economic crisis may make this type of thinking somewhat more popular. I'd still like to get the usual suspects together to explore this option, but I'm unclear on where or when.

So there are the 2009 goals. This is no year for sitting still or resting on laurels, real or imagined. Big decisions lie ahead. How we execute them will determine the success or failure of the year.