Highlights of 2011

Well well well.... my previous post on the low lights of 2011 sparked some concern among several of my friends. No, it wasn't meant to be all doom and gloom kinda post. There were and lot of positives in 2011 for me. To correct the balance, here's a post on the highlights of 2011.

- MBA: A big commitment and a tonne of work but --- a lot of fun. I enjoyed the experience and the learnings. Made quite a few close friends. Invaluable.

- Job: While not at the final frontier, I did make a big jump and became a product Manager (skipped TME and ditched testing). While QA was my passion but over time I yearned for something more but didn't want to go be a TME. Fortunately the MBA knowledge helped and persistence paid and I became a Product Manager. It has been a fun experience so far. When one of ex-directors recently asked "Any regrets?" the words that automatically came out of my mouth "Not at all". :)

- GND Alumni: This year I finally got back in touch with my engineering college friends and we had a couple of great reunion events. It is great to be back in touch with these buddies and relive the old times and more.

- GAP: I talked about the MBA but the GAP (Global Access Program - 6 month consulting project) deserves a special mention. It was an amazing 6 months which broadened my horizons in so many ways. Traveling to China was an experience in itself, the learnings from primary and secondary research, exploring a completely new field and writing a business plan.... wow. Mind blowing.

- Family: Kids and wife have been healthy this year. Kids doing really well at school. Wife has a great job.

- Travelling; Finally got to travel (other than LA) - China, 2 trips to Vegas, Austin (TX), Philly (PA), Willmington (Delaware), Pheonix/Scottsdale (AZ) and more.

More changes are in the making.... looking forward to 2012 when dreams come true. :)