New year, old resolutions

I may be slightly behind the curve in posting a list of resolutions, but then I've had other priorities over the past week.

That being said, it was time for some housekeeping. I removed the widgets from my sidebar that were cluttering up the page and weren't adding much value to any casual user.

I've ditched the long blogroll and links to magazines, neither of which represent what reading these days. Instead, I've simply added the feeds of friends, near and far. For those interested, my linkblog and shared delicious bookmarks are still there to be explored.

Other resolutions:

• Exercise more
• Volunteer
• Tell my family and friends that I care about them more often
• Write daily with passion, precision and pithiness
• Pursue creative outlets in woodworking, painting, photography and Web design
• See the dentist, now that I've dealt with the doctor
• Better prepare my truck for offroad use and learn to get myself out of sticky situations in the backcountry
• Be a better editor, whatever the medium -- sound, video or text
• Read more, watch less.
• Fish smarter and earlier
• Be greener
• Become more involved and invested in social media
• Most of all, love myself and those around me; karma comes around.

I know that if I can persevere through the past year's challenges, 2008 will be a cinch. Here's to the year ahead.

I hate resolutions

Ok, that's not quite true. I love making lists, and, in their own way, resolutions are lists. The trouble is that, invariably, I'm reminded of the list I made the previous year at this time and often how much of what I wrote down remains undone.

{sigh}

You'd think that a few crossed off items would make a difference. Get a new job that I love -- check. Score health, dental and vision insurance -- check. Put something away for retirement -- check. Write more, work out more, reconnect with nature more -- check, check, check. You'd think I'd be able to rest on some laurels. Not so much.

I have more of the same goals now, with a new layer on top. Such is life, I suppose, but there's a part of me that simply wants to burn the yellow legal pad I pulled out on New Year's Eve.

The trouble is that I simply love to paint in big, bold, dramatic strokes. Themes, with just a touch of grandiosity. Write a decent piece of short fiction and submit it to a publisher. Get much better at editing video and start producing features over IPTV. Take pictures and write every day. Renovate the house, starting with finishing the back porch window sills and then getting into the kitchen cabinetry and bathroom. Establish an IRA. And there's the really broad resolutions: Learn more. Be Happy. Be good to my friends and loved ones. Take better care of my body and mind.

Good lord. I'd probably have been better off resolving not to make lists any more.

It's not that I don't think all of the above is possible in a year. The year is young, just eleven days down, and I've taken steps towards all of the above. I've even started the process of renewing my passport. It's time to invest in a copy of GTD and get rolling. Get a PCP and take care of any health issues. Start writing more and gaming less. Cut reality TV out of my diet entirely.

Whoops. There I go again with the lists. Forgive me, friends. I hope I see a lot more of you, too, over the coming year.