I hate New Year’s resolutions; I always thought they were stupid.  Anyway, it is the end of the year so I’m going to try to be positive and do a roundup of my nearly 2-year quest to scratch things off my list of happiness.   The most recent update can be found here, so I won’t bother covering items that are already done and focus only on what has been accomplished since October.

Short-term goals that have been met:

Eat at a nice restaurant at least once a month.  Done for December for sure, but I also consider the time spent on Sunday’s with my friends when we all cook and shoot the shit to be just as good as going out.

Make it to the gym at least twice a week.  This is very much done; I’ve been averaging better than 16 times per month.  With winter here my cycling outdoors is done and I’ve transitioned nicely to working out indoors.  It also helps that three of my friends, all whom I cycle with, joined the same gym as me.

Stop eating after 9pm.  I’m calling this one done as well, with one exception.  Sometimes I don’t get back from the gym till after 9pm and need to get some food in my system so I’ll eat a box of raisins, but overall I’ve stopped eating late at night.

Wake up 20 minutes earlier every day.  This is one I’m also calling done.  While it might not exactly be 20 minutes, I wake up with way more time to enjoy a short walk in the morning with Bella and not feel so rushed while going to work.

Short term goals that should be completed but aren’t:

Start taking my camera with me everywhere again.  I still don’t, but will really be working towards this; I forgot how much I truly enjoy shooting.

Continue to spin records.  This is being taken off the list, as I will be selling the turntables shortly.  I just don’t enjoy it as much as I used to and don’t devote time to them.  They’ve been sitting idle for far too long and will be up for grabs shortly.

Home remodeling.  Again finances prevented some of this, along with me waiting for 2009 to get a tax rebate for getting new windows.  Hopefully by summer I can afford the new windows, possibly a new sliding glass door too.

Two items left on my short-term goals list, originally 17.  I’d say that’s moving forward.

The second half of the article from October listed out some of my future goals, mostly cycling related.  I still want to compete in a sprint triathlon however the one I was looking at towards the end of May 2009 won’t happen this year.  I simply don’t have the time to train for it properly, as I’m just now starting to get into running and feel I have at least 2, if not 3 months of work ahead to run a 5k in 30 minutes or less.

Looking forward to 2009, I am in talks with friends about doing at least two charity rides, the first would be an MS ride similar to the one I did in September but in central Pennsylvania, and a double century.  That is to say, ride 100 miles the first day, sleep and ride 100 miles back the second day.  The second one would be a Livestrong cancer ride in Philadelphia in August, 100 miles in one day.  I’ve lost more than 50 pounds since I started cycling at the end of July 2008, and I’m only about 7 pounds away from my target goal weight of 180.  Over the next 3-6 months I plan on actually thinning out a little more than that but more importantly, focus attention on reducing my total body fat percentage and increasing my core strength and overall fitness level.

I still need to bite my tongue a lot more, think about what comes out of my mouth before it leaves my lips, not after.

Read more, while audio books are nice, I’m starting to find reading fun again, or for the first time, considering I’ve never been much of a reader.

Enjoy life.

Many people have helped me reach these goals; most have had no clue that they even had any part in helping me.  To anyone who knows me, Thank You.  Thank you for putting up with me, encouraging me, talking to me, listening to me, pushing me, hating me, loving me, holding me accountable, depending on me, and overall, being there.

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