Post your New Years Resolutions
Read more books. Less time on the internet. Gonna really do it this time
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maybe you have enough on your plate for one year tbh
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Let’s see how I did last year…this is what I posted in the POG resolutions thread on 22:
[X] read at least one new book a month
Did it. These were the books I read this year:
Idiot America by Charles P. Pierce
Twilight of the Elites by Chris Hayes
A Colony in a Nation by Chris Hayes
We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Road Less Taken by Kathryn Bertine
Troll Nation: How the Right Became Trump-Worshipping Monsters Set on Ratfucking Liberals, America and Truth Itself by Amanda Marcotte
Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt
Everything Trump Touches Dies by Rick Wilson
I’m Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High Times in Stand-Up Comedy’s Golden Era by William Knoedelseder
The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno and the Network Battle for Late Night by Bill Carter
Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis
The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal by Naomi Klein
[X] run a sub-1:00 10k
I’m counting this as an accomplishment, even if the time was too ambitious for someone who’d never completed a 10k. I ran 1:06 at Ottawa Race Weekend at the end of May, and more importantly, ran the whole thing without stopping to walk.
[ ] strength training at least 2x a week
Nope. I do have a plan for this, though, it’s going on the list for next year.
[ ] start working out in the pool
Still four days left to start, but I’m counting this as a no.
[ ] climb Gatineau Parkway to Champlain Lookout at least once
By the time I’d gotten into shape to do this, I suffered a grade 2 ankle sprain and was mostly on my ass for the next month, then got one of those frankencolds (complete with ear infection) that knocked me out for another month. By the time I got back on my feet, it was three weeks before eye surgery, the good cycling season was just about over and my window had shut.
[ ] get down to 220 lbs. and/or under 20% body fat
Again, too ambitious. But I did manage to get down to 238 before my ankle sprain, which is the lowest I’ve been since just after I graduated university in 1997. (I’ve since gained twenty back — see above.)
[ ] declutter the apartment
Meh. Shitty goal with no target. I’ll rethink this one for 2020.
[X] enjoy Northern Europe this summer 
Boy, did I 
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This might be an odd question to ask, so do excuse any ignorance that may come of it.
Since you’re married, is your relationship open/inclusive of your bisexuality or is it monogamous?
If the latter, what do you hope to gain by coming out as bisexual? I’m not discouraging it, just curious if it isn’t something that plays a part in your day to day life.
I don’t want this to be judgy, but I’m not sure how else to ask it, and I really am not judging, just genuinely curious.
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I’m not sure I’ve ever done a New Year Resolution, but I’ll go for it…by the end of the year I resolve to have a modest income from stuff I can do anywhere with internet access.
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I’m going big this year.
*yoga everyday
*1600 calorie limit per day
*lose 30 kg
*grow 70 % of my own vegies (excluding potato)
*start a blog
*go to bed with the kitchen clean EVERY night
*plant 6 fruit trees
*be kinder to people (including myself)- the exception is in the walrus!
*spend more time with friends
*visit 12 places I have never been before
*get my blood pressure and cholesterol into normal ranges
*only eat beef/lamb/pork once per week. Not one serve of each just one serve for the week
*keep working on ways to reduce my plastic waste
*start swimming weekly again
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Ok, makes more sense then. Gl gl
You and me both sister, this one is a pain in the ASS
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lmk what you come up with. I’ve given myself a little over 2 years to accomplish roughly the same goal.
Ones I made last year:
- Diet - I had an atrocious diet for 2018. So, changes need to be made:
A. Reduce sugar/fat intake - Had a snacking problem towards the end of the year. Either need to switch to fruit or avoid snacking all together. I also need to reduce my use of butter.
[X] Accomplished. Had some slip ups but overall did well.
B. Reduce size of meals - I only had two meals but they were pretty large. I need to reduce my meal size drastically and go to 3 meals.
[x] Accomplished. Still have 2 meals but they are smaller.
C. Cheat day reduction - I normally treated my cheat day as a time to go nuts on food I couldn’t eat the other six days. That cannot happen.
[? ] I don’t have cheat days anymore. Though my time in America has been basically a long cheat session.
Lost about 20 pounds since this time last year so I’m not sad.
- Alcohol - I’ll be drinking a maximum of two drinks per week and only when going out. During 2018, I started drinking nightly as a way to calm down after doing some work on my dissertation and was doing it alone.
[x]Accomplished. Had a few times where I went to 3 drinks but went weeks without alcohol several times to offset that.
- Exercise - Need to do more cardio, less weight training, and need to go more often. I also need to restart core exercises. When weather permits, I will resume krav maga. Would like to resume yoga but not sure if there’s enough room in the flat for it.
[ ] Pretty big fail here. Did exercise periodically like this but not throughout the year.
- Sleep - My sleep schedule was horrible for most of 2018. Went to sleep and woke up way too late. I need a nighttime sleep routine and must stick to it. Also need to wake up at the same time every day even if I have no commitments.
[?] I improved with my sleep schedule due to my now regular job hours but I don’t have an actual routine nor do I wake up at the same time every day. Got a FitBit for Christmas. Hoping to use its sleep monitor to help me out.
- Anxiety - I started going to a psychologist for it in 2018 but found her to be ineffective. Psychological services on campus were mostly focused on keeping kids enrolled in class and preventing suicide. I’ll need to find one that focuses on cognitive behavior therapy to fix my anxiety.
[x] This one pretty much fixed itself. I’ve always had some anxiety issues but they blew up in 2018 due to working on my Master’s degree. Once I got into a better life situation, my anxiety declined.
- Socialization - Prior to my dissertation, I did well here. Working on my dissertation pretty much destroyed my social life and graduation meant the people I knew here left. I will never see most of them again.
[x]Moving helped a lot. So I did socialize more. Where I was in Scotland at the time was a bit isolated from society. Still got more to improve on but I’ve improved.
- News - The news and politics in general infuriate me. Nearly all of the people involved are stupid. Most of the people I’ve talked to about it are pretty uninformed even if I agree with their overall opinions. Nothing constructive has come of my focus on it. If it wasn’t for the outcome and hype of the 2016 election, I’d be at most minimally aware of politics. Best to remove myself as best as I can.
[x] I have emotionally distanced myself from the events of today while engaging enough to stay informed. So I might be on here a lot but my emotions don’t ride with the news and I’m not into every piece of info like in the past. So I consider this a win.
- Meditation - Ten minutes of mindfulness meditation a day. I absolutely suck at the whole “notice the thought passing by” sort of thing but I have to keep trying. I did some of it in 2017 but stopped it in 2018 for some reason.
[] Don’t think I meditated once all year
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I make close to $1k a month on average doing plan sets for solar. It’s for one client only in Nevada and is certainly not a lock to continue for years, but that business or something else solar related is the easiest thing for me to grow and make decent $/HR.
That specifically may not work for you, but maybe drawing plans for additions or something?
So many good ones in here.
I always tell myself more cardio and less lifting things up and putting them down. A bunch of years ago I trained for the big road race we have in town and ran a sub-30 minute 5k at 245lbs that I was pretty proud of. Plan on training for the 10k version this year in under an hour. Then to continue to the half marathon later in the year. One of my good buddies is a pretty elite long distance runner who throws me a good program that I just have to commit to.
GL to all.
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Not a lot of money there. Most people aren’t willing to pay what it costs for a good set of plans, and arguably don’t really need them. The few who do are already working with an expensive architect who dumps the work on some underpaid intern or cad monkey.
There’s not generally a lot of money in solar plans. I’m overpaid sorta, but I add some value that other plan drawers don’t. (I will work with the imprecise and sparce info I get, I make sure the proposal actually makes sense, I can and will speak directly with the homeowner without effing up a deal or trying to steal it.) Point being, gotta find the right customer. Maybe that doesn’t exist for remodels, but maybe there’s some kind of service you could provide to a home improvement company or someone who could be a regular.
There are a lot of ways people make $5-$15/HR online, but you’re not getting more unless you’re lucky or it’s part of something you have some expertise in.
You’re definitely growing your skills in the sydadmin web service hosting world though. There are big companies that host Discourse sites, right? Maybe there’s a market for consulting there.
Also I could get a gig selling solar equipment pretty much entirely online and on the phone. I wouldn’t like it or be very good at it, but just dealing with people I already know would eliminate the worst parts of sales. Maybe you know enough builders to sell supplies and only deal with people you know?
One other one that the wife and I definitely have is to eat dinner more at the kitchen table. As I currently type this I’m eating my calzone and salad on the couch watching football. So this could use some definite improvement.
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I decided to really enforce this a few months ago and now we eat probably 95% of dinners at the table. Exception being pizza. It has been a much needed improvement in our life.
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As for some new New Year’s Resolutions:
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Learn some Czech - My classes start when I get back. I know some of the basics but haven’t made a concerted effort to learn the language yet. It surprises me to know expats who have been living in Prague for 10 years or more but don’t know a word of Czech. I’m not expecting to become fluent but if people in America demand that foreigners speak English, then I should accede to the Czech’s demand to speak Czech.
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Start a dating profile and actually try dating - I actually have a profile on eHarmony created but wasn’t willing to pay the monthly cost to get going. The second part is going to be the tough part due to pervasive social anxiety issues and general insecurity.
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Try out recipes in new vegetarian cookbook - Went vegetarian while in Prague and it was totally worth it. Dropped a bunch of weight, went down a size in shirts and pants as well. Got a vegetarian cookbook for Christmas. Would be nice to add a bit more diversity to my vegetarianism. As much as I love my stir fry dishes and bean burritos, man cannot live on bread alone.
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Keep flat clean - I am absolutely terrible at this. I really need to take time and put greater effort into cleaning, especially on weekends when there’s some down time. Not that the place is horrifying but it can get bad enough where I wouldn’t want people to visit. Kind of fucks up the whole dating element if my place is too gross to bring a girl over.
A bunch is the same since I failed the last year.
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