This past year was certainly unique in all my years as an aquarist.   It was atypical in my aquarist life; it was atypical in my personal life.

I began the year trying my hand at software consulting. I was thinking that consulting would give me the freedom and flexibility of schedule so that I could pursue my other interests: a practicing aquarist, photographer, writer, and speaker.

But life is more complicated than is a weekly schedule and an annual calendar. Yes, I had lots of flexibility, and I could open my schedule to lots of things. But being a successful consultant requires I focus on marketing. Finding my own work was so demanding that I seldom felt relaxed enough to spend time in my fishroom or on writing, photography, and developing talks.

A company for whom I was consulting began to negotiate with me about working as a permanent employee. I remember driving to the ACA convention feeling a sense of peace. I knew this job was right -- for both pragmatic and spiritual reasons. So as summer ended, I returned to the regular job, and consequently I returned to regular hours in my fishroom.

As I just wrote, life is more complicated than one's schedule. Being an aquarist is a hobby. It has to fit comfortably -- not just within a schedule, but also within one's day-to-day situation; else, the hobby is not going to work.

My number one thing I did right in 2003:   I returned to a regular job that allowed me to return to regular hours in my fishroom.

I took that job at the close of summer. Although taking this job seems to involve just my personal life, it gave me a life situation that enabled me to resume life as a serious aquarist. What follows are the aquarist things I did right in 2003. With the exception of the first item, all occurred after I took that new job.

• As a follow-through on a 2002 commitment, I developed a new talk: Patterns for Breeding the Scatterers. I delivered it first at the NEC convention in March. Paul Loiselle was in the audience, and after hearing it, he offered me a slot in the Marineland speaker program.
• I connected my regional air systems to a linear pump. The linear pump is virtually noiseless. By having my regional air systems in place, the connection of the linear air supply was almost as easy as connecting tinker toys.
• I finally completed my drain system, so now I can drain water from within my fishroom without a python.
• I began construction of a new automated water changing system. It will be fault tolerant of electrical outages (no water overflows). I estimate that most of my display tanks (from 20 to 40 gallons each) will undergo a change of about 3 gallons per day. While this project has yet to be completed, I list it here. For it has been during this past Fall that I developed the concept, made the commitment, and recruited an engineering student to help me.
• I invested in a digital SLR camera, the Nikon D100. The cost was quite a bit more than what I had spent on the earlier digital cameras (as I pioneered digital aquarium photography five years ago!), but now I can move on to the next level of aquarium photography.
• I attended the Aquatic Gardeners Association's 2003 convention. That weekend was inspiring and educating. It is pleasing to gather with serious aquarists who emphasize the visual beauty of this hobby. I hope to return to the 2004 convention.
• I invested time in studying aquascaping and dollars in plants and lighting. As part of my renewed interest in the "visual aquarium," I'm turning up the knob on all things involved in aquascaping.
• I joined a mentoring program in the National Speakers Association. As an apprentice, I am learning from and being inspired by professional speakers. This program is helping me to find my calling and to develop my answer to it.