So the resolutions. Last year I didn’t make resolutions, though I did make them for the beginning of the school year. I take my resolutions pretty seriously. I like the fact that on New Year’s Day, we’re encouraged to reflect on the past year and make plans for the new. Otherwise, I feel like I’d careen through life and not notice everything that’s passing by. This past year has been somewhat difficult. I’ve had some setbacks both professionally and personally. In the midst of those setbacks, however, I managed to write a dissertation. The last few months, especially, have been good ones despite my being extraordinarily busy. I still felt like I hadn’t lost track of what’s important. So here’s what I want to do this year:

• I want to get back to exercising, at least three times a week. I was doing pretty well with this last year, but by summer, had quit keeping up with it. I have to think about when to do this. Right now, either in the morning or at night, it’s dark out. I could certainly do something indoors, but walking is the easiest exercise I can do, which makes it more likely I’ll keep it up. I’d like to do some yoga with that. Once the weather gets better, I can play tennis and do other outdoor activities.
• Along with the exercise, I’m planning to eat better. This past semester has been one of convenience foods. And most of those have been fairly unhealthy. I’m sure there will be a few of those still, but if it’s only every once in a while as opposed to every day, it won’t be a big deal. Mr. Geeky has resolved to cook more, so we’ll see how that goes.
• Reinstitute family game night. We have a ton of board games and got some new ones for Christmas, and it’d be fun to get back to having at least one day a week when we do something together as a family.
• Reinstitute date nights. Mr. Geeky and I were going on a date twice a month, but in December, we just couldn’t get it together since I was working constantly on the dissertation and we just generally had too much other stuff going on. I just don’t want this to fall completely by the wayside.
• Quit complaining about work. I think this is going to be a hard one. I have had some frustrating things to deal with at work. It’s hard not to let that stuff get you down. Plus, two of my favorite colleagues resigned just before the winter break. Mostly, I just want to focus on constructive solutions as opposed to railing against perceived injustices.
• Related to the above work resolution, I want to follow my passions at work. I have enough freedom in my job that much of the time I can pursue my interests as I see fit. For me, that’s going to mean more reading and research and more writing about that research. It’s also going to mean finding a way to share my knowledge and expertise with my immediate community as well as the broader community. And, I want to find ways to connect people who are interested in similar issues.

I think that’s enough to tackle in one year!

Update: One other resolution I had was to make some blog changes. As you can see, I’ve upgraded. Mainly I was waiting for haloscan. Finally, they have got it working with the new blogger. There will be more changes later, but I need to run off to the grocery store for some healthy food.