New Year's Resolutions 2009

Despite my best efforts, and even tracking my efforts on this here blog, I didn't meet all my New Year's Resolutions in 2008, which were:

1. Lose 10 pounds. Didn't do that. In fact, I gained weight by the year's end. Lose 5 of those 10 by Feb. 15 (I’m heading to Aruba for a wedding the following week.) Only lost 3 ... which I promptly gained back.

2. Drink at least 64 oz. of water a day. (I've already started working on this one. It has increased my bathroom usage by 33%) Sorta lost track. But I drink a ton of water, so I'm good.

3. Run a 5k in less than 30 minutes. Didn't happen. I think my best time was around 33 minutes.

4. Run at least 500 miles total this year. Once again, lost track. But I'm pretty sure I got nowhere near that number. I probably ended up in the 100 range. Maybe more.

5. Reduce emails in inbox to less than 250. Never happened.

6. Email or call at least one friend or family member other than Chris each day. (I’m horrible at keeping in touch with people.) I'm still horrible.

7. Floss daily. Nope.

8. Read at least 15 books I haven’t read before. (Cookbooks don’t count). Started out great, but got stuck at The Iliad. Like, 6 months ago.

9. Pay off credit card debt. I did this one!! I am debt free (well, except for that pesky mortgage, which bring me to...)

10. Buy a house. Done, done, done!


2.5 for 10 ain't so good. So, for 2009, I'm only making one resolution. Well, maybe three.

1. Find a beat.

Not like this, but rather a newspaper beat, but for my personal life. Basically, I need something to be passionate about.

I'm a generalist; I know a little bit about everything. But, outside of work, I'm not really, deeply into anything. In fact, when I'm not at work, I'm either thinking about work, or zoning in front of the television, often watching football, because I was in a football pool at work.

I wouldn't consider myself a workaholic, but I like my job. I enjoy going to the office everyday, and I don't feel a huge urge to bolt for the door at 5 p.m.

But, when I think about my former lives, I used to be a much more well-rounded individual. In high school, I played soccer, went on cycling trips, was active in my church, did theatre, played trumpet in the band, was really into piano, and followed around various boyfriends and their rock and/or punk and/or death metal bands.

These days, other than my backside, I'm not so well-rounded. Next week, I'll start playing soccer with a work team, but otherwise, not too much going on.

The thing is, I don't feel like my life is boring. I don't feel unfulfilled. But, I also don't have that fire about anything. I need some fire.

2. Redesign my Web site. It looks pretty bad. If we're currently in a Web 2.0 world, my site is like, Web 0.5.

3. Start volunteering somewhere. Actually, I'm pretty sure I know where I want to volunteer, I just need to get off my butt and actually make the effort.

Hopefully, by greatly reducing my expectations of myself, I can actually accomplish my resolutions this year. But we'll see.