My new year’s resolution is to make myself into a better me.  My palindromic rheumatism seems to be in remission.  I’m done with grad school.  In other words, I don’t have any excuse.   To quote Radiohead, I want to be fitter, healthier, and more productive (but not necessarily a pig in a cage on antibiotics.)

Here’s my plan:

1) Cristina and I both have FitBit Surges.  At first I wasn’t sure that I would like it, but now I love it.  The heart rate is pretty accurate, and during a recent trip to Manassas National Battlefield  Park, I was really impressed with the GPS.  Having the FitBit allows us to keep track of our steps.  My goal isn’t as ambitious as Cristina’s, but I do plan on doing some walking and running.  My goal is to do 10,000 steps  a day as a minimum. I also am starting a weight lifting program.  Even though I haven’t had any flares, weights can put a lot of pressure on my joints and cause one.  After doing some research, I decided to do low weight with high reps during my weight training. I would like to lose 20 lbs by the summer.

2)  I plan on reading more.  In the year after we finished grad school, my reading slacked off.  I would read a comic book here and there (which I will write some reviews of on here).  I didn’t really read anything more than that.  No history or regular novels.  I decided to set a high goal on GoodReads and aim for 60 books this year.  Single comic books don’t count; I’m only counting complete stories.

3) I needed more organization.  A simple app, the Reminder app on the iPhone, has helped with this.  It has transformed my work process.  Setting up reminders at certain times of the day helped me work smarter not harder.

4) I never want this blog to be political.  I don’t even discuss politics on Facebook or Twitter.  However, that doesn’t mean I’m not involved and aware of current events.  However, one thing I learn from online political “discussions” is that many people don’t really get deep into the subject.     There are too many sources of information out there from more than just two points of view to have a binary outlook on the world.  My goal is to explore as many of these things as possible.  Thankfully, traveling helps with this.  Seeing different points of view from different areas of the country and the world helps keep us out of the binary zone.

5)  I want to listen to more albums that I’ve never heard.  I want to hear at least five new to me albums a week.  Not just new releases, but older ones as well.  Last night was the first time that I heard Monk’s Dream.  My life is better for it.

Most of my blogs this year will probably deal with these goals.  Of course, I also plan on writing about cooking, eating, and traveling.  In fact, I used my Big Green Egg that my amazing wife surprise gifted me for Christmas for the first time today so expect plenty of blog posts about that. This leads to my last goal: to write a blog every week and have it post on Thursdays.

So, till next Thursday!

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