Resolutions…..resolved?

Friday, 6. March 2009

Well, it is the beginning of March, let’s take a look at the success of February’s resolution!  ….let’s see what that was….Oh yes!  Weekly blog/comics posts!  ….well, shit.

Last post, last week...?

Last post, last week...?

Procrastination is partially to blame for my failure….but also my success!  It has been only little more than a week since I last posted, mainly because I procrastinated on posting my Valentine’s day rant for almost a full week.  This was no manipulation on my part, though, trying to squeeze two week’s of posting out of one week of events (Darwin Day and V-Day).  No, I am just bad at hitting the “publish” button!

So I would say the resolution has not been completely achieved, however, I did a better job than I thought I would!  Out of the two resolutions I’ve made, I would give myself a 1.25 out of 2!  Whee!

Since last post, several things have happened – I have gained one apartment and let go of another (in that vein I’ve lost half a security deposit and gained a lawsuit), I’ve gained and lost a cat, gained three teaching sections, and lost bits of my body!  The last part was through a routine (but painful!) procedure, on which I will say no more (please, say no more).

I’m still slowly, very slowly, settling into the new apartment.  I am also slowly, very slowly, sending out resumes.  Likely by the time I get settled into this apartment, it will be time to move again.

Fingers crossed, anyway.

Revising Resolutions – part 1

Saturday, 10. January 2009

I realized today the resolutions outlined in my last post are quite self-centered!  This makes sense as I am, at my core, an incorrigible narcissist.  However, just because something makes sense doesn’t make it okay!  To offset my self-centered resolutions here are four resolutions that are less self-centered, and shows consideration for others albeit still ultimately driven by self interest.

1. Reduce!  Reuse!  Recycle, too!  ….with emphasis on the reducing and reusing.  At a conference I went to recently, where the topic often was brought back to renewable energy and wind power, sparking many a person’s interest, one individual wisely cautioned all of us that “we cannot eat renewable energy deserts until we’ve eated our conservation vegeatbles.”  The idea of renewable energy is, of course, very sexy (these urban windmills are super sexy!), but we also need to be aware of ALL the costs in a system, not just the most obvious.  One study recently showed that there are a group of parents in the UK that buy cloth diapers instead of disposable diapers.  By cleaning and reusing these diapers, there’s a belief that the waste or carbon footprint produced by these parents is lower than those parents that buy and toss out disposable diapers.  However, this was not the case.  Disposable diapers present an obvious waste.  Washable diapers have a cost as well.  There’s a water and electricity cost between the washer and dryer machines.  There may even be a gasoline cost as well, if a drop off/pick up service is being used.

I’m going to be more aware of my impact on the environment and work to reduce it.  There was a man who kept all his trash and recycling in his house for a year, to see how much trash he actually produced.  Considering I live in an apartment where the landlord does montly inspections and complains when I have a month’s worth of just recyclables in my closet, I doubt keeping garbage in addition to recyclables would not go over well.  However, this man’s also started a site with conservation tips, and other items of interest.  It’s worth checking out.

Now comes the task of defining my goal.  As a scientist, I have to be able to quantify data and say, “x will increase by y%!” so as to better evaluate my success.  Unfortunately, floating through the world in a willy-nilly fashion as I do, I have to beome more aware of what I am doing wrong before I can figure out how to fix it.  So for the rest of this month, I’ll probably just observe some of the green and not-so-green aspects of my life and how I can fix them.

Til then!

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Monday, 5. January 2009

While at work I came up with a post, and it even included a witty title!  But I’m home and so it has left my brain!  I did very few of the things I’d wanted to while back in New Jersey and since my boss volunteered me to work on a project during our spring break, it will be a while before I go back.

Ah!  I have recalled the title, but not the post that went along with it.  It was probably something horribly depressing about how I dislike my new home!  At some point, I’ll review my trip.  Perhaps this will be done on my way back to NJ in the summer.

Another year over, and a new one just began.  I’ll be celebrating my birthday soon, so the end of the official year pretty much marks the end of another year of my life.  As always, I’ve decided to make New Year’s Resolutions.  As always, I plan to aim high and achieve my resolutions!  Will I?  …probably not.  But!  If I shoot for a low goal, such as “drive around in my car” or “chew food” or “make rambling blog posts”, it’s highly improbable I’ll fail!

I’ve decided to make twelve resolutions, one for each month!  Sweeping generalizations are easy to accomplish during every month, but this way I can report on one at the end of each month, whether I’ve achieved it, abandoned it, or am partway to achieving it.  So here they are:

January -Finish a comic

February – Make weekly blog & comic posts

March – Exercise more/lose weight/become healthier

April – Read more

May – Learn the guitar

June -Write “thank you” letters to all the people who deserve them.  And actually mail them.

July – Learn the piano

August – Learn Japanese

September – Start novel

October – Paint

November – Save $5000.00

December – Eliminate $5000.00 of debt

So there you have it!  I hope I can achieve them!  I totally will!  Especially because I count the fact that I obtained a guitar, a real, non-living guitar, as halfway through May’s resolution already!  Explanations for these are behind the cut.  If anyone’s reading this, you should send me your resolutions, and we can resolve to become resolution revolutionaries.

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