Coding and other stuff

At current my job mostly involves coding in C++ for Windows. I've done some Linux work and also some stuff for Windows CE as well, but again it has been in C++.

There is nothing really wrong with this as I really enjoy C++, however I'm now beginning to feel that I should start broadening my range of programming languages.

Some of the guys at work are doing some AJAX web based stuff in their spare time and it has begun to interest me. Some of the stuff that can be done with it is pretty impressive. I've seen videos on the net of AJAX based applications that look just like everyday desktop apps. So I've come to the conclusion that I should probably be learning this as well, as it seems to be reasonably up and coming and at the same time something a little different to what I already do, so it would have a kind of fresh feel to it.

Other things I've been looking into include assembly and embedded systems. I like the idea of putting something custom together and coding at a really low level to get things up and running.

I'm trying to make myself read at least one technical book a month. Yes I know a month is a long time to read a single book, but at the moment I'm also quite busy doing an Open University maths course, and beings as I'm useless at organising my personal time at home, I always seem to be that little bit further behind than what I'd really like. After this months book I'll have to get myself some new reading material on a new language/technology and get started on that.