If I were Stuart Scott on ESPN and I had to use some overly fancy adjectives to assess my performance and life in 2008, I’d call this my “breakout” or “reawakening” year. Most importantly, for the first time I found a sense of solidified purpose in my life (which is much different than faith). It’s shifted my outlook and gives me motivation daily. While I know this type of blog post may seem like just plain silly string — I can attest, when I finished writing this blog post, I felt confident I can obtain achieve each of these goals (and more) in 2009.

Things I’m proud of from 2008:

• Found a new sense of “purpose” in life
• Finally launched www.ramseymohsen.com, posted 121 entries
• Connected even closer with my family than every before
• Recorded and posted 85 friggin’ awesome video blogs
• Set the foundation for a successful annual benefit party, and raised $7,125
• Achieved several professional milestones @work
• Finally embraced being a photog as a “real deal” hobby

Things I want to achieve and do in the new year, 2009:

• Learn from brilliant people (and share what I learn)
• Continue to improve on my weaknesses @work
• Play more golf
• Improve upon my Project Management and planning skills @work + @home
• Create/edit/shoot more video blogs (and try new things with it)
• Stop trying to do it all myself
• Spend more time with my family
• Plan and organize an even better Ugly Christmas Sweater Party
• Listen
• Improve upon my photog skills from others and on my own
• Continue to discover my personal passions in life (and share them)

I’m pretty sure Oprah probably would read this blog post and tell me writing this is a healthy way to start 2009 — but what do you think? What’s your take on 2008? Are there things you are proud of and are there things you need to improve upon?

I highly recommend blogging yourself about it (email me or link it in the comments below) or just go through the process of thinking through it.  It’s worth it, trust me.

We become who we believe we are.
…bring it 2009, I’m going to knock it out of the park.
–

A local publication here in Kansas City contacted me in regards to a feature in their magazine — it’s called My Essentials. The writer asked me to provide her with “10 Things I Can’t Live Without”. I’ll admit, it was fun to force myself to trace my steps and daily habits to figure out what it is I must have (note: my iPhone, iPod and computers are given so they are not on this list).   I’m not sure when it’ll be published officially, but here’s the list I emailed her:

**UPDATE**
I failed to mention that the publication also said “the rules” are that these things must be tangible.  This is so other people can feel like they themselves could purchase or obtain them if they wanted to.  So things like people (sorry Mom and Dad), emotions, or things that are intangible can’t be included on the list.

1.) The Internet
I am a 100% Internet addict. I live, work and play on it. I can’t imagine life without it. I’m fortunate enough the place I consider “play” is also the same place I conduct “work” on. There’s not denying that living without it would be tough.

2.) Canon 40D DSLR
I’m a huge fan of photography — and do some shooting of my own with my Canon 40D. I consider it “my baby” and love that I’m learning something new every time I use it. I’m especially a big fan of capturing “people” and “emotion” shots.

3.) Flip Video Camera
When I shoot my video blogs, this is my gadget of choice to record them with. Why take a picture when you can take video!

4.) npr (National Public Radio)
Every morning on my way to work I listen to NPR. It’s the best start to any day to get caught up on the world and local news before stepping foot in the office.

5.) My Red Nike Running Shoes
I’ve had a pair of red Nike running shoes ever since Freshman year of college and I still run in them. While they’re obnoxiously “loud” in color, they still remain my favorite shoes to run in.

6.) Bose Tri-Port Headphones
I used to DJ in college (University of Kansas) at the bars, now I DJ here in Kansas City at weddings and parties for my friends. These headphones I swear by and love them for both work and just jamming out at home.

7.) Pinot Noir wine from Willamette Valley (Oregon)
ANY wine from this area of the country that’s a pinot noir, consider me a fan. It’s my favorite type of wine to cheers at happy hours and on the weekends.

8.) Twitter.com
Twitter is social networking site is a daily addiction that allows me to keep informed in real-time with everyone — including my friends, thought influencers and other people in the Internet industry.

9.) Brooks Brothers Slim-Fit Dress Shirts
I know, I know — not really a cool things for guys to admit certain clothes are a “must have”, but for the slim-fit shirts Brooks Brothers has can’t be beat. I love everything about how they’re tailored and the material they use.

10.) Orange Gatorade
Easily my favorite drink of choice!  This perfect blend of orangey citrusy electrolytes is awesome.  Nothing in this world beats the plain original Orange Gatorade drink.   It’s my gas station “go to” every time.

I was asked to come check out the new grocery story that’s opening up here in downtown Kansas City. I know, I know — typically a grocery store wouldn’t be that big of a deal …except, here in KC, we have no grocery store downtown so this is HUGE news. Everyone is curious on what it will offer and all the logistics around it.

I’ll say, I was pretty impressed overall. Lots of attention to detail was put into designing this store. I’d heard the rumors and talk about all the money being put into this project and it really is impressive when you see it, especially for a grocery store. I myself live downtown — and I’m STOKED that this will be opening in January. Can’t wait!

Watch my video blog of the store setup.

Here’s some photos of the store.

While I was DJ’ing my friend’s wedding this weekend — I read this great quote on the sign-in book. This quote is pretty powerful. In my opinion, fate only takes you so far. It’s up to you to make something of the opportunities you get in life …and sometimes they only happen once.
–

What started as a dream, a vision, a “what if” — is now more than just a reality. This year’s 4th Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party is in the books and I thought I’d take a look back at to recap everything and give everyone the whole story start to finish. I feel since we threw such a successful party that exceeded all expectations, it reiterates my firm belief that it’s important to have the passion and patience to dream and dream big.

Here’s the story behind the party:
The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party began in 2005, as a small holiday gathering hosted by a group of friends (me +2 roommates). While cleaning up in 2007, we decided to turn all of our hard work in to good for others, and raise money for a charity.

We chose Operation Breakthrough as our beneficiary because of the great work they do with kids in the Kansas City area. During our first visit to OB, we met with the children who benefit from their programs. That was all it took for us to become a supporter. The organization is truly amazing in all of its efforts and causes it achieves!

A steering committee of 15 volunteers made time to plan this party. We aren’t affiliated with any one organization – we’re just a group of friends who want to give back to our community.

Our goal is to make a positive impact by donating as much money and toys to Operation Breakthrough as possible. Our vision for the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party is to make it the biggest and best annual holiday fundraiser in Kansas City!

What’s amazing to look back on the entire effort in organizing this party, is all the wonderful things we accomplished:

Money. This year, our first year in organizing the party as a benefit, we raised $7,125.50 to give back to Operation Breakthrough! Yes, you read that right — $7,125.50. In my wildest dreams (and our Excel spreadsheet that had our estimated financial goals) we never even thought it was possible that we could raise this much in the first year. This pleasant surprise really validates a lot of the long nights and hard work myself and the entire steering committee put into planning this party.

Awareness. I’ve had more than a handful of people tell me they are now volunteering at Operation Breakthrough and had no idea of their existence until they heard about our party. How awesome is that!?! Furthermore, it’s great to see my friends engaging in the community and actively wanting to participate. Planning this benefit party really has made me realize there’s a lot of people out there that sincerely want to do good in this world, they just don’t haven’t had the right opportunity to do it.  We were also fortunate enough that two major local publications here in Kansas City published content about our party! Lawrence.com featured us on the COVER of their December issue.  Inkkc.com featured photos and a mini-story about our party as well!

Foundation. At the very first meeting with the steering committee I told everyone that the vision for “The Ugly Sweater Christmas Party” is to become the biggest and best yearly holiday fund raiser in Kansas City. We certainly have a long way to go in becoming the “largest” — but now that we have laid the groundwork, we’ve got great momentum going into next year’s 5th Annual. We reached out on our Website (www.kcsweaterparty.com), Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube to connect with our audience — and there was GREAT reception in online the community.  Much more than we projected.

Watch my YouTube video blog from this years 4th Annual party:

Here’s some pictures (taken by Zach Cobb, a professional photographer who donated his services for the party!):

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks.  I know it’s been a while since I’ve dedicated my time to my blog — but shortly my time will be free’d up so I can invest it here again.  Stay tuned. For those of you who were worried (I know that’s a lot of you), I’m still here. I’ll be back soon.

All these emotions describe exactly what I’m feeling in regards to the benefit party I’ve been planning. What started as a dream, a vision, a “what if” — is now more than just a reality. It’s a powerful truth that has reiterated my firm belief that it’s important to have the passion and patience to dream and dream big.

I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve already got choked up given the out pour of support we’ve received. In addition, my friends, who ARE

the entire steering committee — I’ve got a huge sense of pride thinking about the fact, we’ve all just donated our time because we want to give back to the community. It’s also a totally different context, relationship and experience you share with your friends when you are “working” together.

I’m extremely happy to share that there have been two local magazine publications that have given us some great exposure. What makes it even better is THEY contacted us!

Lawrence.com’s featured us on their December cover story.

And we were featured in inkkc.com in their latest print issue as well.

We’re in the homestretch planning the rest of the party. Like I said — I’m anxious. excited. proud. and ready to rock!
–

I was reading an article describing that the “end of online anonymity is here” — and I couldn’t help but think, there’s something I’d like to share about the value of the presenting the “real” you on the Internet (these are thoughts outside of my ideas regarding Personal Branding).

Let’s take the case of Facebook. I’m a huge proponent of keeping your Facebook social graph “clean” (I could care less about MySpace, the whole friending organizations and bars really screws the idea of a social graph).

What I mean is, if you only accept true friend requests (online and offline relationships) the site holds much greater value. I truly wonder how people like iJustine, Mitch Joel, Robert Scoble even can bear to login to Facebook since they’re friends with so many random people they don’t know. Facebook truly must be a PR machine for them to utilize.

The power and enjoyment of Facebook is driven by user-created content. Therefore, logging in when you’ve only got true friends represented ensures your experience on Facebook is genuine. I’ve always told people that social networks can standup on their own. I think it’s OK to friend people you’ve interacted and have only an online context. However, when you actually know the person outside of the online context (meaning you’ve met before or are friends already) — social networks then augment the relationship. It gives you a medium to interact when you can’t be face-to-face.

Furthermore, your identity on FB is much more rigid as a social graph than all those username and passwords you toss away here and there for other sites. Much of the reason why I’m excited for Facebook Connect.

My point is that if you manage your identity online as well as you likely do when cleaning up your resume for an interview — it holds much more value and utility.
–