I'm glad that......

updating my blog wasn't one of my New Year's resolutions. I've been pretty good about the rest of them though. Oh, that's right, I haven't really put out my list of resolutions yet. We should probably begin there.

1. Leave my work at work and not think about it when I leave.
I've decided that I'm not paid enough to worry about my job when I'm not there and nothing that I do can change this place anyway. I'm hoping that I'm not too much longer at this place and that I'll move on to bigger and better things soon, which leads to #2.

2. Get myself back into the shape that I desire.
I know that there's not necessarily a direct link between my getting into shape and a new job appearing, but at least I'll be ready when the opportunity presents itself. To this end, I've started lifting weights with a couple of friends twice a week, and I'm hoping to start some cardio work on at least three other days. I've tried to drink less beer (not sure how successful I've been) and to eat healthier and to really keep in mind what I'm eating. I haven't seen too much change yet, but it's still early in the year, and I've been sleeping a lot better since starting to work out again. The weird part is that once I'm in the gym, I have a great time, it's just remembering that when I'm getting up to go that I think is the problem.

3. Clear out all of the clutter in my house.
Now this is an admirable goal, but to our credit, the wife and I have been doing a great job with this resolution. We've filled a couple of garbage cans with random stuff that has somehow made it's way into our lives and have also filled probably a half dozen boxes of items for the Salvation Army. We haven't even made it to the main repository of stuff which is the basement yet. It's amazing how much stuff just accumulates after awhile. We've made some investment into more storage and shelving for the stuff that we're keeping so that if nothing else we're a little more organized. It's been kind of a fun project and the returns have been great just in the aspect of having more space and less crap.

4. Finish the projects I've started at my friend's house.
Now I know that this doesn't directly benefit me, but think of the carmic implications. We have almost completely finished the bathroom that he started last spring break and all the shop needs is some outlets and lighting installed and it will be completed as well. Then all we have to do is put up a small section of wall and then the paneling and the new office/bedroom will be done. Who knows where we'll go after that, maybe putting in some carpet and then off to the landscaping come spring. We'll probably get everything finished just in time for him to sell, but think of how much we'll have raised the resale value!

5. Spend more time with my wife/Appreciate my wife more.
I think that I do all right along these lines, but it never hurts to try harder. Our clean up project started with helping my wife organize all of her sewing/quilting supplies. She was so happy with the result that we decided not to waste the good feeling and to start on the rest of the house. I'm not sure what exactly we're going to do for Valentine's Day, but I think it will be pretty low key and relaxing. I think I just need to remember to not take my wife for granted and to keep her up on the pedestal.

Aside from all of that I haven't really been up to much aside from avoing Colt's fans. That was a tough game to watch, but the Bears apparently didn't want it badly enough. Two weeks ago I attended a week long Internal Tech. Support Specialist class, and I'm almost complete certified now. Just have to retake two tests on Wednesday, so wish me luck on that. I'm hoping that once I gain this certification I'll see some sort of monetary gain, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. I think that the only way I'm going to get a raise around here is to blackmail them with a job offer from another job, but I have a feeling they'd rather let me go than give me the money. I'm sorry about the long delay between posts, but hopefully the political cartoons amused you as much as they did me. Love to you all.