New Year's Resolutions

It is a popular thing to do this time of year, post resolutions to rid oneself of bad habits and replace them with good ones in the new year. I like to do this and have had more lists than I can keep track of in my lifetime that urge me to throw away my vices and become a better person. Now in the year 2010 I find that I have a few resolutions that I can put out there and will probably be willing to keep throughout the year. I don't know about giving up my vices (red wine, coffee, paper books, and hair products) but I do know that there are a few areas of self-improvement that I must try and hold myself accountable to.

The first one would be finding time and space to write more often and maybe in shorter bursts. I plan to tackle the project of shopping for a small, portable computer that I can call my own (i.e., one that I don't share with the rest of the family) hopefully as soon as this weekend. Ideally, it would be nice to be home to write, but in reality I am rarely ever home, at least not during the day and at night I am just to damn tired. So a quick and portable method that does not require paper and pen is most likely what I need to make this goal a reality. At present I do write. It just comes in short and prolific bursts whereby I produce copious amounts of non-quality written work.

Planning a fitness regimen and diet is always a popular one. I have always worked out in one form or another. It was a habit that I started in high school. The difference between me then and me now is caloric intake. Before I started heading towards dreaded middle age, I could eat any amount of whatever I wanted and burn it all off quickly with a five mile run. Now I really have to watch what and how much I eat or there is literally no workout in the world that will help me get rid of the extra pounds. So, I resolve this year to continue doing my workouts as always AND to monitor what goes into my mouth more closely. I have had to become more diligent regarding this if I don't want to weigh 300 pounds, but I still think that there is room for improvement.

I am going to start making coffee more often at home. Yes, I do live in latteland and Howard Schultz resides somewhere in a nearby neighborhood, so by going to Starbucks almost daily I am supporting a local business, right? Well, that may be so, but the support is expensive! I have already started doing this and found that I have been missing steaming, home brewed coffee especially at this chilly time of year.

Other areas that I could try to do better in include the following: Remembering birthdays, I am truly rubbish at this. I don't really hold my own birthday in very high or special regard, so I am not always that great about honoring the birthdays of others. Perhaps it is time that I become a bit less egocentric about this. I also need to tie up loose ends in my personal life. Sometimes I have terrific amounts of difficulty saying "no." I don't seem to have this trouble at work, mostly just in personal situations. There are definitely some personal situations that I need to resolve. I must become less passive-aggressive this year and become slightly more comfortable with a wee bit of conflict here and there. The last thing that I must do on a very regular basis is learn how to relax. We went away over the holiday and I got so relaxed that when I came home I forgot about a number of things that needed doing, including renewing my professional license which I was able, thankfully, to do on-line. I am now thinking that if I relaxed a little and more often, maybe I wouldn't fall into such a pit of laziness and confusion when returning from a restful vacation. The great news here is that my sleep issues are finally being resolved and I am now able to get great sleep most nights without medication.

That's all for now! I will try to update progress WHEN it happens.

How to Guide: Changing a roll of toilet paper

Contrary to the popular belief of some people, new rolls of toilet paper do not levitate into place, no, someone actually has to change them. It would be tempting to blame this phenomenon on men, but I have a sneaking suspicion that some women are guilty of being "non-toilet paper roll changers" as well. Here is a simple, pictorial guide to educate those unfamiliar with toilet paper roll changing etiquette:

Lo and behold! an empty toilet paper roll!

Look! some kind person actually went to a store and purchased some new toilet paper.

Hmm....Is this where the roll belongs? This makes for too much grab and drop to be considerate, let's try again.

It would be tempting, I know, at this point to leave the toilet paper roll empty and simply remove the new one, use what you need and then put it back where you found it. But...

The really considerate and proper thing to do would be to take the center bar out of the roll holder, put it in recycling and replace it with a new roll. Ta Da! Now the next person who comes along can easily access their toilet paper and that is a little act of kindness that makes everyone happy.