If you have followed my blog recently, you know I participated in Gwen Bell’s Best of Blog Challenge 2009 in December. I tried to recap my year thru the 31 topics she laid out for the monthlong blogging challenge.

The highlights of my year include:

• Watching Barack Obama be sworn in as President of the United States and knowing my daughter was in attendance.
• Learning to kayak and joining my friends on 6 different rivers in Middle Tennessee and taking the rope swing of my life.
• Going to Barcamp Nashville 2009 and attending some mind-blowing sessions.
• Really starting to use Twitter and understand the utility and reach of it.
• Making new friends based on my attendance at Barcamp.
• Discovering new blogs that are changing my life: Zen Habits, My Wife Quit Her Job, Gwen Bell.
• Learned about Kiva.org and even used my 45th birthday as a catalyst for helping others have a better life.
• Created a website dedicated to helping other people achieve their dreams: The Dream Shepherd
• Joined Postcrossing and sent 68 postcards around the world and received back 64 postcards for a combined travel distance of almost 1 million miles!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsGZHoAImY

These are the highlights of 2009 for me.  2010 will see these things continue and expand.  My goals for 2010 include:

• Meeting many of my Twitter friends so that I can make them real life friends, including: Lauren, Nikki, Joi, Mirjam and Gail.
• Expand on my Kiva activities with a year long birthday celebration.  I want to turn up the giving by a factor of ten.
• Expand my new website and create a “store” to start  secondary income stream.
• Keep control of my weight.  I lost 50 lbs in 08 and it’s starting to come back.
• Do better to stay in touch with friends and family.
• Mostly, just try to stay positive and work to make life better for others.

So, stay tuned to my blog.  You’ll not only see my progress, but you will also help me stay focused on my goals.  I’ve learned that doing things completely alone isn’t the best way to succeed.  Your support and well wishes do much to keep me motivated.

Peace!

But, the one thing I started doing this year, correspondence wise, was that I joined a website called PostCrossing.  As it is explained on the site “About” page:

The project

The goal of this project is to allow people to receive postcards from all over the world, for free. Well, almost free! The main idea is that: if you send a postcard, you will receive at least one back from a random Postcrosser from somewhere in the world.

The idea is that you start by sending up to 5 postcards to random Postcrossing members and as each of the postcards arrives at their destinations, your address is thrown into the hopper to be scooped up by a Postcrossing member to send you a card in return. The thing is, it’s all random and you never know who is sending you a card, or when, except that you know you’ll get a card back after you get the acknowledgement email saying one of your sent cards was received by the intended member. And, as you send more cards you gain the ability to have more than 5 cards traveling at any given time.

I have found Postcrossing to be an incredible hobby. To date, I have had 67 postcards reach their destinations in the past 11 months. I have sent those 67 cards to 19 different countries including Finland, Germany, Taiwan, Japan, Brazil, China and Russia and I have received postcards from 26 countries including Finland, Germany, Macau, Malaysia, Poland, Australia and China. I have also learned that Finland is the most prolific PostCrossing country. I have received and sent more postcards from/to Finland than any other country with 26 sent/received.

What is really cool about Postcrossing is that you never know who or where you will send or receive postcards from. For instance, I have sent postcards to several children around the world. I have also sent postcards to men and women of all ages.

Another cool aspect of Postcrossing is that you are supposed to fill out a small profile where you can include any special requests (i.e. what kinds of postcards or stamps you are collecting) or other special instructions so other members will know what types of postcards you want most to receive. Many members also ask to get some words or phrases in the sender’s language so they can learn about where the card is from. I have even had one member indicate they were interested in receiving “post secrets” where you include a secret about yourself that you’ve perhaps never divulged to anyone before.

For me, having these random “surprise presents” delivered to my door each month is simply awesome. Getting postcards with a few words of greeting and perhaps an brief explanation of either the card or the sender always gives me a sense of connection that is different from connecting with people via Twitter or Facebook. Reading their messages in their own hand just makes the connection so much more personal and friendly. I highly recommend Postcrossing as a hobby for yourself or your kids or even as a class project if you are a teacher. Trust me, you will be very happy once you join this world-wide family.