January 9, 2009

New Year's Goals

Things I want to accomplish in 2009:

1) Find a job.

2) Lose weight. I had this same goal last year. I started strong, but quickly faded. My goal was to go from 175 lbs. to 150 lbs. by the end of the year. I currently weigh 169 lbs. So I did manage to lose 6 lbs., which isn't too bad, but not as much as I would have liked. My ten year high school reunion is, if the internet rumors are to be believed, sometime in August (Mara, you are planning to attend, right?). By that time, I want to weigh 155. If I could get down to 150, that would be fantastic. But I'm trying to be a bit more reasonable with my goals. I will try to keep track each week on here like I was doing at the beginning of last year, and of course you guys have my permission to kick me in the ass if I'm not losing weight.

3) Get an article ready for publication. You know what? I think these first three goals were also ones I had last year. Wow, 2008 really sucked for me. This is something I really want to do. I feel like my academic mind is atrophied. I've been reading some history books to keep it active, but now it seems to have stopped working. I really want to change this, and get back into an academic frame of mind.

4) Keep the apartment clean. When we first moved in, I didn't have a hard time keeping it clean. It felt really good to do this. But lately, with housesitting and everything going on, I've let it slide. I want to get back on this. With football season coming to a close, maybe it will be easier. :)

5) Begin to read Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative. Note how I said "begin to read," not "read." Why? Because the book is comprised of three volumes totaling 2,836 pages (without the bibliographical notes and indices). The late Shelby Foote was one of my favorite historians, most noted for his appearance on Ken Burns' documentary The Civil War, which was responsible for me becoming a historian. It will take me a while to read it, which is why I want to start now!

Speaking of The Civil War, enjoy Jay Ungar's fantastic "Ashokan Farewell," which was used as the theme to the documentary:

4 comments:

  1. Man, keep things clean. It seems so simple, but when comes time to clean, you'd rather do anything else. That or you start doing it and (A) you realize just how messy everything is, or (B) you get distracted by something shiny and waste hours doing something that isn't cleaning.

    I finally posted my resolutions.

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  2. Oh yeah, I've been there. Usually more B and A in this place. The old place, since it was larger, was definitely more A.

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  3. Eh, I don't know if I'm going to go to the reunion. High school sucked for me, my friend. I think maybe I'll go to the beach that weekend instead and be thankful to be out of that hole. :)

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  4. The beach does sound kind of preferable to spending the weekend in Burbank. Maybe I'll join you :)

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