This year I resolve to...

I am happy to notice that in my little blog there is no mention of resolutions in the first post of the new year for any of the past years.

And I really don't think I should break with tradition. Actually, I've been thinking about it today and really hate that Christmas comes right before the new year. Why not August when there are no holidays? Granted, then there'd be no holidays in December, but the second December ends, you'd got one. (Kevin, if there's a holiday in December that I'm missing, please don't point it out!)

The word "new" always makes us look back and reflect. Because if it's new, then everything else is old. And old is bad. New, good. Old, bad. Often we don't look back as wistfully as we should, instead, we're trained to look at our faults and then resolve to do differently. It doesn't help that it comes after an overly-commercialized holiday chock full of gluttony... you cannot turn around without finding something amazing to eat. Something you will look back at with guilt sometime after the "new" year begins. (Disclaimer: I am riding the exercise bike as I write this. Disclaimer number two: I am drinking a glass of milk and just ate a chocolate chip cookie and one of those graham crackers that are dipped in chocolate repeatedly until the chocolate shell is several feet thick and then has chocolate drizzled on top of it.)

No, I will not resolve to get in better shape. I would like to be in better shape and only time will tell if I can even ride the bike consistently enough to maintain, or if we'll be able to find the time to start walking again. (Days without missing exercise: 1!) I'll keep that pair of 32" waist jeans in my bottom drawer. But, I did recently let Lori buy me a second pair of 34"'s.

Nor will I resolve not to make any resolutions. Because that's funny when you're a teenager but logically, it's just plain annoying.

Goals and objectives, however, are something I can subscribe to. While a resolution is usally vague enough that you can weasel out of or can simply forget about, goals and objectives make sense. While I'm not yet ready to make a goal to lose weight or exercise more, I am thinking about it. We all know every single past attempt have all ended in horrible failure, like the short-lived bigfatdude.tripod.com website, or every other time I've said I was on a diet.

Lori and I sat down for breakfast at a restaurant about a month ago and talked about our goals and objectives. Some were things we wanted to do this quarter, people we wanted to get together with. Some were big expenses that were coming up or events that were happening that we needed to make sure were on the calendar. And the part that I thought was pretty cool was after our breakfast, we returned home and walked through the house room by room, identifying everything we didn't like, everything that was messed up, every place where paint needed touching up, whatever, you name it, it all went on a list. Then we took that list and figured out which things we could reasonable accomplish this quarter. That's now on the refrigerator and I was actually able to knock a few of them out of the park today, or at least get underway. This will be a good year for us. It will not be another whirlwind, this year, the chaos will be managed. Because we have a plan. Not some vague, abstract resolution to be less busy, to be more organized, but lots of lists. And if there's something we do well, it's lists.

But, if I must, maybe I will resolve to be more awesomer than I was last year. I don't know how possible that is, but that's something I can shoot for.