Taking our new dog, Sweet Pea, for a walk late at night on December 30, 2014 in frigid weather.

“To have made any progress will mean looking back on who we were last year with a degree of embarassment.”
Alain de Bottom

New Year's Resolutions for 2015

"Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed."
Cavett Robert

Celebrants record fireworks over the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. on December 31, 2014.

YEAR OF 2015

“To have made any progress will mean looking back on who we were last year with a degree of embarassment.”
Alain de Bottom

Rich Geib's 2015 New Year's Resolutions!

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

  • Clean the palate of all the bad that happened in 2014.

    The minor car crash, the death of Chris and resulting serious disturbance to inner emotional life, hand and shoulder injury -- the prolonged string of bad juju must end. Perhaps the new year will do just the trick?

    STATUS: Mixed bag. Transitioning into new stage of life?

  • Recover from shoulder injury and make a home among local 4.5 tennis players in USTA Leagues.

    Find a niche here so you can enjoy competition at this level for next decade until you qualify for "super-senior" leagues and play with other oldsters. You worked hard to get to the 4.5 level and never will be a 5.0, so maximize your potential where you have been promoted to now until age does what it does to everyone. Enjoy it as much as possible.

    STATUS: I recovered as much as I could without surgery. But competitive athletes will always struggle with injuries, and it is time to focus less on improvement and "getting to the next level" and try to just enjoy social tennis at the level I am on -- and to be healthy enough to teach daughters how to play tennis properly. Keywords for tennis in 2016: "sustainability," "social," and "injury free."

  • Lose, on a semi-regular basis, tennis matches.

    But lose by a respectable margin. Play well. Grow and mature as a player. "If you are not ready to lose, you are not ready to grow." You won too much in 2014, Richard, and this must mean you were not playing up enough. No bueno. Time to lose.

    STATUS: Failure. Had some great victories this year, but injury kept me from really enjoying tennis that much.

  • Simplify gym workouts to what is necessary and helpful.

    Get rid of everything else. Sell weight bench and the weights themsleves. Make sure you have enough recovery time. Occasional sports massage for "body maintenance." After three years of hardcore working out, you know what you need to now.

    STATUS: Succes. But injury. Nevertheless, still getting great workouts to earn an appetite and good night's sleep.

  • After a year of tennis lessons in 2014, time to get Julia playing matches in VCJTA tournaments.

    It is not really about any one match or tournament; it is all about learning to compete --to deal with challenges, rise to the occasion, manage storm and stress, enjoy hard won triumph, lose with grace and resilience, and show grace under pressure. "Sports don't reveal character, they build it." So it is about growing up healthy and hearty in mulitple aspects of life, not just in sports. Even more so for girls than for boys, this is crucial in an upbrining -- do not forget this. Sports as a metaphor for life.

    STATUS: Success, and much improvement with Julia usually playing girls two years older than her. The process in underway: "It is not whether you win or lose. It is about improving." With constant improvement (and a few year's more maturity), Julia will be winning more.

  • Vastly reduce social media diet

    Did you see how few books you read last year? How many good movies you failed to view? What is the BEST way to use your precious time and energy. It is probably not the black hole known as Twitter or Facebook...

    STATUS: Somewhat success. Learned how to use social media better and more efficiently to add value to life, not to creat a black hole that sucks time and energy to no gain.

  • Move from newspaper to digital apps for daily media consumption

    The prices keep rising in an unsustainable newspaper market for home delivery of daily paper. Go digital and start using the app; save money and get with the times.

    STATUS: Bought an iPad Mini 4 to save money and consume digitally, but this will be a process to transition from paper to digital while getting the same value.

Here is the reading lineup at this time:

    • "The General in His Labyrinth" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
      • (DID READ)
    • "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail" by Cheryl Strayed
      • (DID READ)
    • "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte
      • (DID NOT READ)
    • "The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life" by Rosamund Stone Zander
      • (DID READ)
    • "Wonder" by R. J. Palacio
      • (DID READ)
    • Harry Potter Seventh Book
      • (DID READ)
    • "Macci Magic: Extracting Greatness From Yourself and Others" by Rick Macci
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Wright Brothers" by David McCullough
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Martian by Andy Weir
      • (DID READ)
    • Coming of Age by Andy Murray
      • (DID READ)
    • Letter to a Man in the Fire: Does God Exist and Does He Care
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Mindful Athlete: Secrets to Pure Performance" by George Mumford
      • (DID READ)
    • "All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid" by Matt Bai
      • (DID READ)
    • "Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age" by Sherry Turkle
      • (DID READ)

    Note to self: List is atypically short for a reason: stop reading so much and start WRITING again!

    Make some kind of dent in the Netflix queue --

    • Selma
      • (DID NOT WATCH)
    • The Imitation Game
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Wild
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Fury
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Birdman
      • (DID WATCH)
    • The Theory of Everything
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Foxcatcher
      • (DID WATCH)
    • American Sniper
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Ender's Game
      • (DID WATCH)
    • The Martian
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Best of Enemies
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Mad Max: Fury Road
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Interstellar
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Before Midnight
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Frontline: The Suicide Tourist
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Whiplash
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Ex Machina
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Seven Pounds
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Train Wreck
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Inside Out
      • (DID WATCH)
    • Best of Enemies
      • (DID WATCH)

PAST YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS:

Year of 2021

Year of 2020

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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