Hi, it's about 8 hours until the end of 2011. it's almost 2012. How scary is that? So I thought I'd do a walk time rant SL update on what's happened in 2011 and maybe what's happening in 2012 cuz it's been a huge year for me and for the blogs. So at the start of 2011 I was as you may know I was working at Altium I was trying to fit the logging on the side and do other stuff and well it was chewing up most of my free time and uh, it was getting very difficult and then as you also may know, Altium went uh, completely nuts Again, no surprises there and uh, I got the ass from Alum and at that point I uh had to decide between finding another uh job or going to, uh, full-time video blogging.

So so that's pretty much what I decided to do I decided to take a Gamble and become a full-time video blogger and well, here I am. As far as I'm aware, I'm probably the only one in this industry anyway who's doing full video blogging as a fulltime living go figure. and I'm probably only one of only a handful of people in this country anyway who actually do video blogging as a full-time living in general. so it's fantastic and hopefully I can continue to do it cuz I'm loving it I'm enjoying it and so that was the first huge gamble to actually uh instead of getting a a real job to uh see if I can make a living from this gig and it's working so far most of the uh, most of my income does actually come from the blog and it was a big gamble not only on my part, but uh uh, part of the family too.

My wife's been very supportive of it and uh, she's not working at the moment because she's uh uh well we both are taking care of. um the second huge thing to happen this year I became a daddy and I've got little San he's such a cutie, he's about 8 months old now. Fantastic! Wouldn't trade him for anything in the world. it's awesome.

So uh, and that it does take up, uh, quite a bit of time. So it's good that I'm doing this fulltime cuz I wouldn't probably wouldn't be able to fit uh, full-time work uh, the video blog and San and other things and family and uh, just having a life in general if I wasn't doing this fulltime. So um, my wife's fully supportive of it and it's great and it's working out now. We had other one other huge uh Gamble this year on uh, our part and that was to, uh, buy the new office SL lab within walking distance of home and for those who have asked and are curious, yes, uh I did actuallyy buy it uh I'm not renting it, it is actually mine.

So that was a pretty big gamble and I hope it pays off. it's working uh well. so far I've only just got it, but things are looking uh, reasonably, uh good. So I hope it uh continues to pay off in 2012 and the future.

So I'd like to say huge thanks to everyone who's uh, supported me in this my um, uh, Forum sponsor Fine Chips, all of the regular advertisers on my Uh website who keep me going. Everyone who donates cuz that helps a huge lot. either a one-off donation or a regular recurring donation. It really does help to pay the bill.

so thank you very much and my wife says thanks too And so does Little Sean So hopefully I can continue to produce. Oh and also thank you for everyone who just a regular Watcher because uh, that's what um brings in the money, people continue to watch, people continue to advertise, continue to get sponsors and donations, and continue to produce content and it all just sort of works. It's great! so thank you for every to everyone who, uh, views and probably got about 3 and a half million views on YouTube I think which isn't much uh at all because um I've done it the old fashion way. Done it the hard way.

I've just continued to produce uh, continuous content. None of my videos have gone viral and uh I just get a steady, you know, 8,000 or 10,000 views per video and it just adds up and you get that linear growth uh curve. It just continues to grow and got about 145,000 subscribers, but as you know, that numberers a bit bunk. I've probably got around 10,000 plus regular viewers or thereabouts.

and uh, that just continues to grow and the forum's growing. If you haven't checked it out, check out the Eev blog Forum Eev Blog.com Forum There's countless people on there, it's going Great guns, there's probably 100 uh I think it's around 100 posts per day or something like that and it is the place to be. trust me. And so that's it for 2011.

Couple of huge uh gambles and well, we'll see if they, uh, pay off. So thanks everyone for uh, supporting me 2012 No plans to anything, but hopefully once I'm settled into the new lab I Can uh produce more consistent content, better quality? I'll have more room it'll be you know? Um, I'll keep everything the same cuz I don't like to change things. everything's working. This is what I do this is I what? I know how to do so well.

We'll keep at it So thanks a lot and we'll see you in 2012 Wao Scary! See you Yeah.