New Year's Resolutions for 2010


THE COUNTDOWN IN LAS VEGAS:
A new year and a fresh start!

Rich Geib's 2010 New Year's Resolutions!

What should I do? Where to go? How to live?

"Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past."
Henry Ward Beecher

YEAR OF 2010

  • WORK HARD AND EARN MUCH

Full-time teaching job; teach five APU classes at night; teach 3 weeks of summer school.

STATUS: I worked my ass off in 2010 and made lots of money. The good: made wife's maternity leave doable. The bad: just left me feeling frazzled and spent.

  • KEEP EVERYTHING TOGETHER UPON ARRIVAL OF NEW BABY!

    • You will barely sleep until June, but a person can endure anything for a few months.

    STATUS: The only good thing I can say about last year is this: I survived. Touch and go at times and some issues arose that I saw not, but 2010 is behind our family and Elizabeth Anne has a strong toehold in this world at approaching one year -- and the family is approaching something like baseline normality. I survived. The ship of state is still upright.

  • BUY AND MOVE INTO A NEW HOUSE

    A bigger residence for a growing and enlargening family.

    STATUS: A new baby and a plethora of other concerns/crises put this one onto the back burner. One can only undergo so much change in one year.

  • EXPAND, MATURE, AND SOLIDIFY APU POSITION

    • New Capstone class, in addition to EDUC 515, in addition to EDUC 526.

    STATUS: Total success! Hurrah!

  • KEEP PRESENT WORKOUT SCHEDULE, IF AT ALL POSSIBLE

    • Cursory and constant, if not lengthy or comprehensive, workouts.

    STATUS: Total failure. No time to workout. Too busy taking care of everyone else. Haven't been this weak and out of shape in some time... but next year should be better.

  • BE AS HEALTHY AND AS DECENT A HUMAN BEING AS POSSIBLE.

    • Daughther Julia is increasingly aware and watching: our example is the loudest teacher of all.

    STATUS: Doing the best I can. I lived up to my responsibilities to everyone else, except perhaps myself. I was there for daughters and wife -- maybe that is what it means to be a good father and husband with young children on board? (But not a good or healthy long-term lifesyle?)

  • HAVE AN AIM AND FOCUS TO YOUR FATHER AND HUSBANDING

    • Don't settle for mediocrity of just "letting it happen."

    STATUS: Partly just keeping my head above water, but partly working on the plan for the future. I have some thoughts kicking around in my head for long-term action.

  • GET A FEW NEW RECIPES

    • Add to those of last year! Some Thai recipes.

    STATUS: One ignominous failure during summer. I suck at cooking Asian food. I quit.

  • WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL WITH RICKY

    • Just find the performance and the date and do it.

    STATUS: Do it in 2011. Didn't happen in 2010.

  • PROFESSIONAL PREGNANCY PHOTO SHOTS WITH CAMERON IN LAST MONTH OF PREGNANCY

    • Cameron in early February.

    STATUS: Circumstances beyond my control conspired to make this not happen: baby arrived early.

  • TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IAN's AND LIZ's KIND PRESENTS BEFORE D-DAY (ie. FEBRUARY 28)

    • Before D-Day, February 28, 2010.

    STATUS: Failure. Baby arrived early.

  • EACH DAY ENJOY A BEAUTIFUL POEM OR PIECE OF MUSIC -- JUST FOR SELF AND NOT FOR WORK

    Give some piece by Mozart or Beethoven the thirty minutes absolute concentration it requires.

    STATUS: Total failure. Perhaps this was not the time of life for unhurried enjoyment of art.

  • MAKE SOME KIND OF DENT IN THE "TO READ" BOOK PILE --

    I did surprising well in this category. Where did I find the time?

    First Rung:

    • "Disgrace" by J. M. Coetzee
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Forever War" by Dexter Filkins
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Strongest Tribe" by Bing West
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" by Barack Obama
      • (DID NOT READ)
    • "Tess of the Durbervilles" by Thomas Hardy
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861" by David M. Potter
      • (DID NOT READ)
    • "Crazy Heart" by Thomas Cobb
      • (DID READ)
    • "Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town" by Nick Reding
      • (DID READ)
    • “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh: A Novel” by Michael Chabon
      • (DID NOT READ)
    • "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education," by Diane Ravitch
      • (DID READ)
    • "Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919" by Ann Hagedorn
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Flat World and Education: How America's Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future," by Linda Darling-Hammond
      • (DID NOT READ)
    • "Ill Fares the Land" by Tony Judt
      • (DID READ)
    • "Pompei," by Robert Harris
      • (DID READ)
    • "Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome" by Robert Harris
      • (DID READ)
    • "Conspirata: A Novel of Ancient Rome" by Robert Harris
      • (DID READ)
    • "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe
      • (DID READ)
    • ""The Jungle Book"
      • (DID READ)
    • "Open" by Andre Agassi
      • (DID READ)
    • "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goodwin
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Abyss" by Margaret Yourcenar
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine" by Michael Lewis
      • (DID READ)
    • "George Washington" by Ron Chernow
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Golden Mean" by Annabel Lyon
      • (DID READ)
    • "Ill Fares the Land" by Tony Judt
      • (DID READ)
    • "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goodwin
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Idle Parent: Why Less Means More When Raising Kids" by Tom Hodgkinson
      • (DID READ)
    • "Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime, and Complicity" by Ken Armstrong
      • (DID READ)
  • MAKE SOME KIND OF DENT ON THE NETFLIX QUEUE --

For such a busy/overwhelming year, I sure watched lots of movies:

    • "Creation"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Split: A Divided America"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "The Town"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "District 9"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "The Hangover"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "The Young Victoria"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Confessions of a Superhero"
      • (DID NOT VIEW)
    • "The Hurt Locker"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Bright Star"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "The Boys are Back"
      • (DID NOT VIEW)
    • "Up in the Air"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "A Serious Man"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Capitalism A Love Story"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Up in the Air"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Avatar"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Winged Migration"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "The New Americans"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Tyson"
      • (DID READ)
    • "Solaris"
      • (DID READ)
    • The People vs. Larry Flynt
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Facing the Habit"
      • (VIEWED)
    • Frontline: College, Inc.
      • (VIEWED)
    • Frontline: Behind Taliban Lines
      • (VIEWED)
    • Deliver Us from Evil
      • (VIEWED)
    • National Geographic: Inside North Korea
      • (VIEWED)
    • The Seventh Seal
      • (VIEWED)
    • Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Hevletica"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "In Search of Beethoven"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Crazy Heart"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "My Flesh and Blood"
      • (VIEWED)
    • Caprica: Season 1.0
      • (VIEWED)
    • "The Lottery"
      • (VIEWED)
    • Southland: Season One
      • (VIEWED)
    • Brooklyn's Finest
      • (VIEWED)
    • Lorenzo's Oil
      • (VIEWED)
    • You Don't Know Jack
      • (VIEWED)
    • Harlan County, U.S.A.
      • (VIEWED)
    • Frontline: News War
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Life in the Undergrowth"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Gladiator Days: Anatomy of a Prison Murder"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Vitus"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "American Experience: Jesse James"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "John Adams"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Five Minutes of Heaven"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Winter's Bone"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Restrepo"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Moon"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "The White Ribbon"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Frontline: The Warning"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Frontline: Breaking the Bank"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "E-@Thletes"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Pandemic: Facing Aids"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Frontline: Living Old"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Crash"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Invictus"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Tyson"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Lord, Save Us From Your Followers"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Frontline: Digital Nation"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Solaris"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Toy Story 3"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "What Darwin Never Knew: NOVA"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Capitalism: A Love Story"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Up in the Air"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Sound and Fury"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Right to Exit: Kevorkian"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "CSA: Confederate States of America"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Oz" first two seasons
      • (VIEWED)
    • "The Pacific"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "The Prophet"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "The King's Speech"
      • (VIEWED)

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS:

Year of 2020

Year of 2019

Year of 2018

Year of 2017

Year of 2016

Year of 2015

Year of 2014

Year of 2013

Year of 2012

Year of 2011

Year of 2010

Year of 2009

Year of 2008

Year of 2007

Year of 2006

Year of 2001

Year of 2000

Year of 1999

Year of 1996

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