In which I resolve and stuff

Happy New Year!

I realize that the last day of January is a little late to be saying that, but as usual I'm way behind in my writing, so here I am now.

Before I get to the meat of the entry, I want to report that the Brady Bunch attended their first hockey game the other night. We went and watched the Atlanta Thrashers lose to the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 at Phillips Arena. I was the only one who had been to a hockey game before. We all had a blast and fully intend to go back, either to the Thrashers or the Gwinnett Gladiators (an ECHL team that plays in Buford).

On the way to the Thrashers game


With the New Year comes resolution time. I'm already a little behind on one of them, as you'll soon see, but I wanted to put on the record what I intend to do with my life in 2007. Of course, this doesn't include the "common sense" stuff like being a better husband and father, working hard at the office, and perfecting my Irish accent--everyone has those aspirations, and renews them year after year. My resolutions are the things I intend to do differently this year--the things I want to change about myself.

• Write more often
  
  Every entry I've entered in this journal over the last few months has stated my intention to write more regularly. I've never followed through. I really want to make an effort, though, to write at lest once a week. It's hard for me to keep to a schedule--heck, I'm still two hours behind on 24--but I'm going to really buckle down and try to build the discipline it takes to write on a schedule. It's an outlet that I've always loved, and over the last few years I haven't indulged in it nearly as much as I would like. In 2007, that's going to change.
  
  
• Lose 15 pounds
  
  Even thinking of writing those words leaves one side of my brain saying to the other, "Yeah, ok. Let me know how that works out for you." The other side then responds, "I know you are, but what am I?" and pandemonium ensues. Next thing you know I've polished off a package of Sugar Wafers and gained another pound. I spent quite a while between 212-215 pounds and lately have gotten down to the 207-208 range. Darlene is on Weight Watchers so I'm going along for the ride and am trying to eat better; partly to support her, but also to achieve my own goals. I'd like to get down to 190-192 pounds. My cholesterol was a little high last year and my potbelly, no matter how sexy my wife thinks it is, is starting to bug a little. Both are areas that need improving. We'll see what happens. I'll post updates in my written-more-regularly entries.
  
  
• Socialize more
  
  Since I have been married, my family and friends haven't seen me nearly as much as they did before. They haven't seen much of my wife and kids, either. I want us to plan on getting together with my friends at least once a month, and my family as often as we can. We got off to a good start on this one a couple of weeks ago as Ben and Wanda, Walter and Merry, and Bill and Liz (and Mia) came over for a celebration of Steven's and Sage's birthdays. It was great seeing everyone again, and Walter took pictures out the wazola. I still need to get those from him. Walter: send me a clicky, you goobahed! To my friends--see you in February!

That's really all the big ones. Write more, eat better, and spend time with the people I love. That's the ingredients for a pretty good year, I think. Hopefully they will result in habits that will continue into 2008 and beyond and won't need to be resolutions any more. Common sense rocks.

See you next week!

(Don't you love my optimism?)