The Resolutions...

Ya gotta do 'em.

This year I'm not too motivated to change much personally. Minor tweaking, including...

1) - No more wimping out on the commutes. I feel pretty good about the number of times a week I ride to work, and the area isn't exactly perfect for bike commuting, but I could do better and infrastructure is a lame excuse. SO, unless it's raining or colder than 50 when I leave, or there's some meeting or baby issue that means I have to have a car downtown, I'm on the bike.

2) - Hate them before and during and love them after. I got some pretty good advice for promoting my aggression on road rides. Goes like this...Pick something I hate about an individual who's faster than me, even something as mundane as his/her handlebar tape, and kill them for it. Never let them break on me. Suck their wheel until I vomit. No exceptions. After the battle, approach them and compliment something that I specifically liked about their day's work, or their equipment, or hair or whatever. Be genuine, if there's nothing to compliment, then just say something pleasant and sweep away the karma from the day. I don't need to be the friendliest guy on a ride, that's for the 'organizer', and I don't need to be the one to take one for the team and dump off the back to sit in with slower riders to help. I do not need to limit my own development by serving as domestique to the weak. Conversely, I do not want others to be mine. Focus on promoting my own development as a rider, not as a group rider.

3) - Personal weight goals, 185-190 lbs. After dumping off some 40+ pounds over the last two years, I waffle around 195 or so, although I'm at 2 bills with the holidays. 185 would be ideal, and I think I can easily get back there by...

4) - No beer, no soda, no fast food! - Sounds drastic, but let me elaborate... No beer means no beer at home, and no shit beer when eating out or on occasion. If I'm going to have a beer, it's because it's the beer I want and not the beer that's convenient. No Heineken at Dad's house. No Bud Light at the burrito joint on the corner. My 'Mr Beer' home brewing kit Christmas present, however, will get a workout! No soda means no soda, it aint hard to do and I'm not a big 'pop' guzzler anyway. No fast food means no fast food. Again, I'm not a big burger guy, so it aint hard to do, and you'd be surprised how many calories you avoid by just not going to Whataburger with the fellas.

5) and finally Be more optimistic. I put this one every year it seems, and my protestant upbringing means its next to impossible to follow through with it, but I am a grump and not everyone needs to live their life through my pouting.

My professional list is simple...but more drastic to be sure, than my personal list. I've been toying for a long time about changing careers, and it's time to shit or get off the pot. My three possibilities are seemingly completely unrelated, but to those who know me, you'll understand. Those that don't, no giggling. Clearly, some of these are not compatible with others, and I know that, so there! Bitches.

1) - Welding classes at the community college. I working in a shop years ago that fabricated bike parts and other items in metal and I'd like to do more of it. Might lead to a new career, certainly more than watching "Deadliest Catch" will.

2) - Get active in the cycling industry again. Might mean as little as taking one of the local shops up on working one day a week, might mean putting up a website and peddling something (no pun intended) on the Internet. Might mean opening my own business of some type, brick and mortar maybe, web based maybe, both maybe. Might mean using my skills in the industry in another way. But Lets face it, I can sell anything, fix anything, build anything and I know more than many of the local hacks and I'm wasting that knowledge, and I'm brooding more than I should about my lack of involvement in the industry. Change it. Change it or close the door on it forever and be a happy customer in the cycling world rather than a critic of it

3) - LSAT - The big one... I took it about 6 years ago and scored very, very well with little to no preparation, and I was hung over from a night of 'impressing' the ladies, and I was doing that 'impressing' way too much at the time, because I'd met one that I was very much trying to impress. Well, we're married now, and she still somehow wants to hang around even though she knows all the bad habits, so clearly I don't need to be impressive anymore! Besides, I think she'd be most impressed if I started eating better, drinking less, pouting less, and focusing on m my personal development more.

There! Personal list, simple and easy. Professional list, simple and drastic. The new optimist in me points out that 'simple' is in the description of both.