2011 Wrap-Up Post and Resolutions for 2012
The year that just passed was a particularly difficult one for many people in our country. My own family was not unaffected by the shaky economy. But despite our economic hardships, this year was undoubtedly one of my best on the planet.
We started the year off by bringing Homer, our shiny new minivan, home from the dealer. Over the course of the next twelve months, I finished my last semester of grad school, passed my exams, found a job in a completely unexpected field, ran and completed my first timed half marathon (plus two more for good measure!), got paid to be a freelance writer and our little boy was born. This list wasn't in chronological order, of course, nor in order of importance. Well, maybe that last bit, making it last to emphasize it. No matter how you add it up, all of that wondrousness makes for a good year.
And lots of wonderful things happened this year, big and small. A lot of them revolve around the Munchkin, which is only natural. Babies tend to take over the lives of their parents. Which is an excellent segway to my Resolution Report.
I was not terribly successful with many of my 2011 resolutions. I can blame/give credit to the baby for a good deal of it. In one case, a stupid hurricane derailed my plans. But no matter. Time for the reckoning.
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Success:
Earn my Master's Degree - Check!
Run at least one timed 10k race - I ran three half marathons, which is just over 21k. Check!
Go on at least one family vacation (weekend or longer) - Relaxacon! Check!
Apply to at least two academic conferences - Applied to two, accepted to both. Check!
Go to at least three cons this year that aren't TBC - Arisia, Relaxacon, Pi-Con. Check!
Get at least one piece other than a book review published (Fearless Press does not count) - Demand Studios, Examiner.com and Yahoo! News all published my work this year. Check!
Partial Success:
Run at least ten timed races - Only made it to eight. I'm marking it partial because we had economic difficulties that interfered with this goal. Plus, I totally ran races I never thought I'd run in 2011.
Read 25 books for pleasure (and count them this time!) - Partial because I more than met this goal but again forgot to record them. Finishing grad school was good for my "must-read" pile.
Make at least one new blog post per month on Poly Living for Fearless Press - Partial, because even though I didn't achieve this, it was partially because the site is on hiatus.
Write at least three more book reviews for the Journal of Massachusetts History - Partial, because I am still working on the last bit that will fulfill this resolution.
Failure:
Break 30 minutes in a timed 5k race - Nope. Need to work on speed.
Visit at least one new state highpoint - We had hoped to visit High Point, NJ, this year. Never managed to find the time or monies.
Visit the remaining county highpoints on Long Island - see above response.
Visit at least ten new county highpoints - see above response referencing above above response.
Climb a peak higher than Mt. Mansfield (4393ft) - see a pattern yet?
Visit at least two more VT county highpoints - Aimee and I had planned a trip to Vermont over Labor Day weekend to go hiking and highpointing. Two weeks before, Hurricane Irene tore Vermont to bits. A lot of the roads and trailheads we wanted to use were inaccessible, and the trails themselves weren't likely to be any better. Our friends up there, who we had planned to stay with, advised us to stay home. So we visited some county prominence points in MA instead. More about that later.
Find at least 100 more geocaches (1213 finds as of 1/24/2011) - Geocaching has almost completely fallen off my radar. Aimee's, too. Highpointing is wayyyyy more fun and challenging.
Break 450 total membership for TBC 2011 - Nope. Topped 300 paid members, and 350 total through the door. Good, but not the goal.
End the year with my weight below 210 lbs - Never got close.
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Not too bad, now that I actually thought about it. This next part will be a bit repetitious. My resolutions for 2012 are as follows:
Run at least once a week.
Run at least ten timed races.
Break 30 minutes in a timed 5k race.
Set a Personal Record at the half marathon distance in a timed race (2:41:05)
Visit at least one new state highpoint.
Visit at least two more VT county highpoints.
Visit the remaining county highpoints on Long Island (2).
Visit at least ten new county highpoints.
Climb a peak higher than Mt. Mansfield (4393ft).
Complete the county prominence points of Massachusetts.
Write in my own journal at least once a week.
Produce more copy for Yahoo News.
Finish a novel-length story of my own.
Read 25 books for pleasure and blog about them.
End the year with my weight below 210 lbs.
Thoughts and musings:
I really am enjoying my new job. That isn't stopping me from still looking in the history world, though.
I am very glad that the Downstarians moved here. It's worked out on so many different levels, it would take an entire post of its own to explain. So that's for another time.
Let me explain the whole "prominence" thing. It is a mountaineering term. Prominence is the height of the mountain or hill's summit by the elevation between it and the lowest contour line encircling it and no higher summit. Think of it like this. Suppose that the sea level rises to the lowest level at which a particular peak becomes the highest point on an island. The prominence of that peak is the height of that island. Follow? Mostly, my interest in prominence is only that it gives us another list of places to visit and hills to climb that aren't multiple hour drives away.
I have definitely enjoyed getting to know some of our farther-flung friends better this year. Particularly the other poly families (all of whom know who they are). I hope this trend continues in 2012.
Definitely loving the parent thing.
Regarding Yahoo, I was recently given the option to write for them on a daily basis. I've been bad and not taken full advantage of that. So that's what my resolution above means. Not to write for them every day, but definitely more often than I have been. Since I can, it's fun and they pay me.
I am so glad to be back role playing regularly I cannot even begin to describe it. And both of my groups are great!
May all of your endeavors be successful in 2012!
We started the year off by bringing Homer, our shiny new minivan, home from the dealer. Over the course of the next twelve months, I finished my last semester of grad school, passed my exams, found a job in a completely unexpected field, ran and completed my first timed half marathon (plus two more for good measure!), got paid to be a freelance writer and our little boy was born. This list wasn't in chronological order, of course, nor in order of importance. Well, maybe that last bit, making it last to emphasize it. No matter how you add it up, all of that wondrousness makes for a good year.
And lots of wonderful things happened this year, big and small. A lot of them revolve around the Munchkin, which is only natural. Babies tend to take over the lives of their parents. Which is an excellent segway to my Resolution Report.
I was not terribly successful with many of my 2011 resolutions. I can blame/give credit to the baby for a good deal of it. In one case, a stupid hurricane derailed my plans. But no matter. Time for the reckoning.
----------
Success:
Earn my Master's Degree - Check!
Run at least one timed 10k race - I ran three half marathons, which is just over 21k. Check!
Go on at least one family vacation (weekend or longer) - Relaxacon! Check!
Apply to at least two academic conferences - Applied to two, accepted to both. Check!
Go to at least three cons this year that aren't TBC - Arisia, Relaxacon, Pi-Con. Check!
Get at least one piece other than a book review published (Fearless Press does not count) - Demand Studios, Examiner.com and Yahoo! News all published my work this year. Check!
Partial Success:
Run at least ten timed races - Only made it to eight. I'm marking it partial because we had economic difficulties that interfered with this goal. Plus, I totally ran races I never thought I'd run in 2011.
Read 25 books for pleasure (and count them this time!) - Partial because I more than met this goal but again forgot to record them. Finishing grad school was good for my "must-read" pile.
Make at least one new blog post per month on Poly Living for Fearless Press - Partial, because even though I didn't achieve this, it was partially because the site is on hiatus.
Write at least three more book reviews for the Journal of Massachusetts History - Partial, because I am still working on the last bit that will fulfill this resolution.
Failure:
Break 30 minutes in a timed 5k race - Nope. Need to work on speed.
Visit at least one new state highpoint - We had hoped to visit High Point, NJ, this year. Never managed to find the time or monies.
Visit the remaining county highpoints on Long Island - see above response.
Visit at least ten new county highpoints - see above response referencing above above response.
Climb a peak higher than Mt. Mansfield (4393ft) - see a pattern yet?
Visit at least two more VT county highpoints - Aimee and I had planned a trip to Vermont over Labor Day weekend to go hiking and highpointing. Two weeks before, Hurricane Irene tore Vermont to bits. A lot of the roads and trailheads we wanted to use were inaccessible, and the trails themselves weren't likely to be any better. Our friends up there, who we had planned to stay with, advised us to stay home. So we visited some county prominence points in MA instead. More about that later.
Find at least 100 more geocaches (1213 finds as of 1/24/2011) - Geocaching has almost completely fallen off my radar. Aimee's, too. Highpointing is wayyyyy more fun and challenging.
Break 450 total membership for TBC 2011 - Nope. Topped 300 paid members, and 350 total through the door. Good, but not the goal.
End the year with my weight below 210 lbs - Never got close.
----------
Not too bad, now that I actually thought about it. This next part will be a bit repetitious. My resolutions for 2012 are as follows:
Run at least once a week.
Run at least ten timed races.
Break 30 minutes in a timed 5k race.
Set a Personal Record at the half marathon distance in a timed race (2:41:05)
Visit at least one new state highpoint.
Visit at least two more VT county highpoints.
Visit the remaining county highpoints on Long Island (2).
Visit at least ten new county highpoints.
Climb a peak higher than Mt. Mansfield (4393ft).
Complete the county prominence points of Massachusetts.
Write in my own journal at least once a week.
Produce more copy for Yahoo News.
Finish a novel-length story of my own.
Read 25 books for pleasure and blog about them.
End the year with my weight below 210 lbs.
Thoughts and musings:
I really am enjoying my new job. That isn't stopping me from still looking in the history world, though.
I am very glad that the Downstarians moved here. It's worked out on so many different levels, it would take an entire post of its own to explain. So that's for another time.
Let me explain the whole "prominence" thing. It is a mountaineering term. Prominence is the height of the mountain or hill's summit by the elevation between it and the lowest contour line encircling it and no higher summit. Think of it like this. Suppose that the sea level rises to the lowest level at which a particular peak becomes the highest point on an island. The prominence of that peak is the height of that island. Follow? Mostly, my interest in prominence is only that it gives us another list of places to visit and hills to climb that aren't multiple hour drives away.
I have definitely enjoyed getting to know some of our farther-flung friends better this year. Particularly the other poly families (all of whom know who they are). I hope this trend continues in 2012.
Definitely loving the parent thing.
Regarding Yahoo, I was recently given the option to write for them on a daily basis. I've been bad and not taken full advantage of that. So that's what my resolution above means. Not to write for them every day, but definitely more often than I have been. Since I can, it's fun and they pay me.
I am so glad to be back role playing regularly I cannot even begin to describe it. And both of my groups are great!
May all of your endeavors be successful in 2012!