New Year's (non)Resolutions

Here we are again, a new year. It is 6 days in - have you broken your resolutions yet? I am not making any this year; even if I don't break them, the idea of a New Year's resolution in July seems kind of silly. It seems better to just start a new form of improvement or a better habit whenever you think of it, rather than waiting for a specific time of year.

That being said, I did join a gym, sort of, and started a work out plan. We have a community center a half mile from our house that has a pool (outdoor, and only open during the summer), a weight room, a cardio room, a running track and basketball courts. The only thing it is missing, from our point of view, is a racquetball court - we still have to drive to Conway to play. Benjamin stopped by to pay up and get our passes this week, and this morning, I managed to leave my nice warm bed (it was only 20 outside) at 5:20 and go work out. If I can keep it up, I intend to go several mornings a week to work out. Walking Miikka is good, but it doesn't really get my heart rate up (too many stops to check out trash or sniff an invisible spot). I don't need to lose weight (although I won't mind if I do), but I do need to get back into shape - sitting at a desk all day isn't great for one's hiking endurance! And I want to be in hiking form, because I want to do more hiking this year. We were able to go hiking at least once every month (except one, I think) this past year, and would like to do that again this year. Hopefully, we will also be able to add a few more overnight hikes to the day hikes.

Another intention for 2010 is to read 100+ books again. I read 109 in 2009, down from 2008 - but I was unemployed for the greater part of that year. My dad read 91 books, or 35, 296 pages last year. Maybe I should keep track of pages too... Anyway, you can check out his book reading, and see some great pictures, at his website. I have added a link to my web places so you can check up on him.

Last year's resolutions

So, of my resolutions, the only one I filled completely was to read at least 100 books in 2008. The year still has some hours left to it, but I am fairly confident I won't finish any books today, so the grand total is (wait for it...) 121. This total is in large part due to the fact that I was not in graduate school for the first time in several years, and I was unemployed or underemployed for almost 9 months of the year. While I will try to match this total in 2009, I seriously doubt I will be able to do so.

I didn't do tai chi every day. I ate too much. The cats drove me close to crazy. But hey, we moved from New York to Arkansas, we both have full-time, professional jobs, we are all (including the cats) fairly healthy (I say fairly because we both have colds right now). Not a bad year over all.

I'll try to address 2009 tomorrow.