New Year's Resolutions

Published Jan 5, 2006

There’s nothing better than belated resolutions! Well, technically there was an extensive discussion of resolutions on New Year’s Eve, but I chose not to rush from dinner directly to an Internet cafe to share them with you. Not that I don’t love you, just that I was far more focused on getting loaded. But, in a tradition reaching back two years, here are my resolutions for 2006.

Last Year’s Resolutions Reviewed

1. Set aside specific, scheduled time, several days a week, to exercise. Let’s be more specific than last year, and so hopefully accomplish more.
   Did well at this for half a year, then my feet gave out. No more running for me!
2. Get, and stay, on a diet that helps me eat right. One hard thing about school is how often I grab what I can and in what quantities I can. I will get and stay on a diet that works with reality but helps me make the right decisions.
   Did well for most of the year but then used butter for evil
3. Take a Spanish class.
   Actually, my Spanish is better than I expected; I just need to speak it more!
4. Update my wiki more often. It’s a tool for me, a place where I can write down stuff I need to keep track of. I need to regularly use it as such. Maybe a daily “wiki time”?
   Done!
5. Call my grandmother more often.
   Done!
6. Keep better track of my finances. My existing system, which had worked well for several years, just didn’t survive contact with the enemy — b-school is too time-intensive to spend three-quarters of day a month keeping everything up-to-date. I need a better system.
   Good for the first half of the year, then Quicken blew up on me. I give up on Quicken. I’ll figure out a solution when I’m out of b-school
7. Use my Sur La Table card for cooking classes. I can do this during the school year if I pick the right days!
   Spent it on something else
8. Set up a monthly drinks or dinner group with my friends. Especially my school friends need to not talk about class all the time.
   Too much of a nerd for this!
9. Set up a monthly or bi-weekly poker game with my friends. I’ve been in this poker game put on by some friends at school but the time is basically impossible for me. I need to start my own at a good time for me.
   Too much of a nerd for this!
10. Doveryay, no proverya.
    Done!
11. Network. I probably need to set aside time each week to do networking things.
    I’m apparently pretty good at this, although it’s always good to redouble one’s efforts on a topic like this.

This Year’s Resolutions

This year I have fewer resolutions but hope to keep more of them. We shall see…

1. Travel travel travel
2. Learn a new language (or actually make my Portuguese useful)
3. Start swimming
4. Start a second, tightly-focused, well-edited blog to complement this amorphous, occasionally well-written, occasionally abysmally-written site
5. Lose 7 lbs
6. Try to find a new martial arts studio, so I can get back into that hobby
7. NaNoWriMo
8. Do something with the restaurant club, or some other collective eating project
9. Network!

Not a bad list. I hope, in 12 months, we can see most or all of these checked off the ol’ list. Any good reoslutions out there? Anything you think I need to resolve to do?

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