Trivial Matters

As of writing this, I’m about 90 minutes from next year. Actually, it’s 90 minutes and an extra second since they have to adjust the atomic clock to account for orbital wobble.

I’ve been thinking hard about the goals that I want to set for next year, and I’m not sure I want to set a goal for December when a lot can happen in the 11 months between now and then. So, instead, I’m going to limit my goals to just the first three months. Come March, I’ll check back, see how they came out, and adjust fire as neccessary. That being said (typed… whatever), here we go…

January

• Score above 240 on my PT test at the next drill. I’ve done this before, back in May, and then slacked off for six months so that when I had to take it again, I put up my worst score ever: 183. (For those unfamiliar with the Army PT test, there are three events at 100 points each. You have to score at least 60 in each event to pass. So while 183 can be a passing score, it wasn’t in my case.)
• Start on a draft of the Acuff response paper I said I’d write during my History of the Middle East class. Basically, we read a paper about the “Cultural Revolution” in Iran and how that was the only applicable model to use to describe a revolution. However, the author failed to apply that reasoning to any other revolution in history, and I proposed that his model relied too much on previous models to stand alone. I also tried to incorporate a “divine catalyst” for revolution, which I want to work into a fifth revolutionary model.
• Finish the HP Graphing Calculator series that I started for Bright Hub back in November. They’re retooling the site right now, and I want to get back into it as soon as they are up and running with the new system.

February

• Average at least 20 unique visits per day on Trivial Matters. I think that once I start my training/fundraising the numbers will go up. The blog averaged just under 10 UVs per day for December, so I don’t think doubling that in two months is all that unreasonable. I also know that I’ll have to step up my writing if I want to keep readers comming back.
• Have a new apartment to move into. I’ve had to push it due to financial reasons, but I should be able to get a new place by February.
• Get back into a regular pub quiz routine. Mostly Confused hasn’t made a strong showing in several months now, and I don’t know how busy they all will be in January. I made sure to request Tuesday nights off from my new job on campus so I can make the Bridgeport game, and I just have to get the rest to join me.

March

• Be ready for the Portland Half-Marathon. And by “ready” I mean actually running 10+ miles in the weeks leading up to the race the first weekend of April. I have everything I need except someone to run with on a regular basis, and that is my biggest motivating factor because I always run slow when I run alone. My hope is that there are enough TNT teammates in the local area to do a few regular runs each week.
• Finish all of my classes with an A. Surprisingly, I’ve managed to get a 4.0 in the last two terms which has drastically improved my pre-military GPA that got carried over. If I can do it for the rest of the year, I might be able to raise the GPA enough to get an additional $1000 scholarship for Pacific U.
• Be back into a regular meditation routine. Part of this relies on my having a new place when I can set up an appropriate space to meditate, but it’s mostly a discipline issue. Ironically, meditation helps me gain discipline in a catch-22 sort of way.

So those are my goals for the next 90 days. I suppose you could call some of them “resolutions” with a little bit of rewording, but I always think of resolutions as being to vague to be of any use. “I resolve to be a better writer.” “I resolve to get in shape.” Um… yeah… sure.

Feel free to share your own goals/resolutions here. Perhaps you’ve set similar goals and want to help me keep a check on mine, then by all means. Part of what will make this better blog is to get feedback and create a sense of community that I can write for.

And now there is 60 minutes (and 1 second) remaining on the West Coast. See you on the other side.