Happy 2011 - The First Post of the New Year

A belated Happy New Year to everyone!  I haven't been able to post for the last couple of days because I was out of town and I didn't take my computer with me.  So today is my first post for the new year!

There are many things to think about at the beginning of a new year.  In some ways I just love the start of a new year in other ways I have a bit of a hard time with the new year.  The negative points about the start of a new year are definitely outweighed by the positive points.  For me the biggest negative point is just that the start of the new year signals the end of the holiday season and it means you have to go back to being focused on work and all the mundane activities of day-to-day life.

There are many positive aspects of the new year.  The key positive aspect for me is that it gives you a fresh start.  You can wipe the slate clean of all the things you did in the previous year and feel like you can start fresh.  This is particularly the case for me - the man of many lists.  At the start of each year I start my lists all over again.  I keep several lists from year-to-year that I maintain in Excel workbooks.  With the start of each year I close out the previous year's spreadsheet in the workbook and start a new spreadsheet.  I have kept these spreadsheets for the last 12 years - it provides a very interesting look at my life. So at the beginning of the year the spreadsheets are clean and empty and ready to track the all the things I do the entire year.  (I track stuff like how much exercise I do, how many miles I run, how many sodas and alcohol I consume, how many times I donate blood, what books I read - etc.)

I also use the spreadsheets to set specific goals for myself of things that I am going to accomplish during the course of the year.  I won't call them New Year's Resolutions or anything like that.  I call them my goal sheets.  I tend to set the goals high and frequently I don't make them for the year.  But I would feel like I was going through life rudderless if I didn't have my list of things to do every year.

I'd love to hear the kinds of plans any of the people who read this blog make for themselves at the beginning of the year.  If you are so inclined please leave a comment and tell the plans/goals you have for year - I'd love to read them.

On a totally different note, the puppy Finnegan has really found his voice.  Up to this point he hasn't really barked that much.  For whatever reason today he really discovered that he can bark.  He has been sitting here in the kitchen next to me barking for the last 10 minutes.  To me it seems like he is just barking to hear himself bark.  It is very cute and very funny.

Zack returned to school today after 2 weeks off.  He had a good day at school which is somewhat of a miracle given how much anxiety he was experiencing over the last 4 days.  He got so bad at one point he last all privileges which made him even more anxious.  I can't wait for the day when he has finally beaten his anxiety monster!

I return to work tomorrow as today was the "New Years" holiday for my company.  We got today off since New Years Day fell on a Saturday this year.  I already have a bunch of work that I need to get done ASAP tomorrow so I know it will be a busy day for me.

I hope 2011 has started well for you all.  I hope the promise of the new year can be fulfilled for you and families as this year progresses.

Thanks for being my readers over the past year.  I hope my writing in 2011 will continue to improve and provide you all reasons to continue to read my blog.

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.

FYSRD!