Goals work. Commitments work. But resolutions. Not so much.

All that to say, here are my goals, my commitments for 2010:

I'm going to post here again. I miss it. No one reads it so no one misses it, but I miss it.

I'm going to dial in some quite time. This is not Quiet Time like Bible reading and prayer. Not that I'm not going to do those things, in fact, I'm going to focus on doing those things more and better, but this is different. I'm talking about having time where I am quiet. Time with no noise, radio, tv, phone, computer, etc. Quiet. I'm not sure what i'm going to do in these times, but that'll come.

My iPhone is going to stay in my pocket more. Less "checking facebook and Twitter." Less games. I'm on the phone fiddling and wasting time way, way too much.

Back to the gym and better on the diet. I haven't weighed myself yet, that'll be Monday. But the goal will be to lose. That I assure you.

I'm going to compete in something physical. At least a 10k.

That's all I've got for now. I'll post more later.

Well, that's not entirely true. I've needed the break. Pure and simple. Around the Summit I was almost always checking Twitter and Facebook and lots of other social sites too. It was fun, exhilarating. But it was exhausting too. Ever notice how those things tend to go together?

It was fun because people were talking about the Summit, about what we were about to go through together, but it was exhausting because I always felt late, behind. Like I was playing catch up.

So, I unplugged for a bit. I've enjoyed the break but if I let it go too much longer I know that I'll go nuts. Either that, or I'll forget about those things all together and then I really will be behind. I plan to get back on this week, if for no other reason than the distraction from the truly mind boggling amount of work ahead of me for the next few weeks. But also, I miss it. I miss the conversations and connections. 

I never thought I would think of status updates and tweets as conversations, but they are. I can't wait to get back into it.

Plus, seriously. I have so much work to do. It's scary really.

Whatever.

Anyway, I started listening to classical Music (how's that for a compromise. By the way from now on we'll just use CM. Cool? Cool.) as background music while I worked. Slowly but surely it's become my favorite genre of music. Don't get me wrong, it isn't for every occasion. The gym for instance is not the ideal time for CM. But writing, or cooking or reading or any number of other things? Yes please.

Yesterday I found that I've amassed 3 1/2 days worth of CM in my iTunes library. I have no idea how that happened. I'm going to try an experiment, I'm going to listen to all three and one half days worth of music in a row. No, not without a break, but if I'm listening to music, then that music will be classical. 

To be clear, I'm not sitting in a dark room with headphones really studying the music (although that doesn't sound half bad. Can I get paid for that?) I'm going to listen to it a work and the car and at home. (You're welcome kids!)

At the gym, nope. Right now I'm listening to some opera. This is not my favorite kind of CM but I thought I'd give some of the standards a shot. It is very pretty and in a different language. It is kind of challenging because it's just so opera, you know?

Anyway, I like it and it's great to write to. I'll keep you posted on the experiment and if I blow it and end up listening to something not Classical but still music.

Then something so great comes along that gets me right back where I belong. Tonight that thing was the show Wipeout. Oh. My. Goodness. I love this show. I love the obstacles, I love the commentary, but mostly I LOVE watching the contestants make fools of themselves and fall. The harder, the funnier.

I have to wonder what some of these people are thinking because, man, this show looks hard. I love that my wife laughs with me too. 

Such a great show and a great way to bring me back to my roots. Now, who's up for some fart jokes?

Anyway, Merlin has an idea (system?) called Inbox Zero which is very popular. It's all about processing distractions out of your life so you can get to the business of creating. I love it. A lot of the stuff he talks about has found it's way into my head and onto this blog. I don't think I've outright stolen anything from him, but I do want to give him credit for getting me thinking about writing and being creative. 

That is all.

I have, like most Americans my age, grown up on a steady diet of fast, processed foods. This has never bothered me much until this past year. As I got sicker and sicker and grew more and more tired, not to mention rounder and rounder, I began to think that my food may not be doing me many favors.

So I decided to do some research. This has been what they call an eye opener. 

I've discovered some very disturbing things about the food I eat and what we serve our kids. The kid part really got me. I decided to do something about it.

Things like: 

• No more fast food. That includes anything with a drive through. This has been harder than I thought it would be.
• No more diet soda. I love Diet Coke. I love, love, love Diet Coke. Every once in a while I've relapsed on this one. Don't judge me.
• Less red meat. Notice I said "less." I am in no way a vegan or vegetarian. 
• Organic fruit and veggies when possible. That means when I can find them and when I can afford them.

I've felt good about those changes and some of the smaller ones I've made too. But now I find that I'm supposed to eat locally grown fruit and veggies too. This is because eating locally means the fruit and veggies will be fresher, it supports the local farmer and it takes less fuel to transport. All good things.

Thing is, it isn't easy. In order to find local produce means I have to shop at Whole Foods or Farmer's Markets, which I love, but can also be much more expensive. But we're trying. We've researched CSAs and are checking out local farms and Farmer's Markets. 

I'll keep you posted on this and the other changes too.

Oh, by the way, if you want to do the same reading I did get these books:

1. Fast Food Nation
2. In Defense of Food
3. The Omnivores Dilemma 

 And see this movie, now, it's in theaters: Food Inc.

They're awesome. Disturbing, but awesome.

Same with Twitter. At least 5 tweets have died early, meaning I wrote them, had the mouse hover over the submit/post/send button and then decide to erase it. 

I guess I've been editing. Which is good, I mean, you most likely don't want to read everything I've managed to delete. I've saved you from some real drivel. But it can be bad too. Bad for me I mean.

I really need to get over this editing thing. Like I've said I need to get writing. Lots. And editing is in some ways the opposite of writing. Editing for me is delete, delete, delete. It's finding the words that aren't quite right. It's finding the sentences that don't make sense or flow and changing them. And that's good. Editing to make a good thing a better thing is a good thing. (How's that for a sentence that doesn't make sense?) But the editing I did today isn't so good.

Today I edited to make sure I didn't sound stupid or boring. I didn't want to sound like I didn't understand something basic, or ask a question in a way that sounded like I was bragging. For instance, today I had a problem with an app for my iPhone. I wanted to ask twitter if anyone else had that problem too. That's a great use for twitter because so many people on there are techies and some of the people I follow even work for the company that makes the app. But I didn't end up asking the question because it was about an iPhone and I didn't want to sound like I was bragging about owning an iPhone. So guess what, I'm still having the problem with the app and I don't have an answer. And, really, is it bragging to say I own an iPhone? Really? Lot's of people have them.  Hours later and I still don't have the answer to this question. All I know is, I really need this app to work. It's one of those tools I talked about helping me get more organized and efficient.

For some reason this blog has become my say what I want to site. I guess if you choose to read this you have to put up with posts that may be stupid or boring or whatever.

The point is, if I'm ever going to write things that are interesting, that aren't boring, that have any style or substance I have to stop worrying so much about what other people think about those things.

But that's hard, you know? 

Good, because I know mine. Here's the thing about my so called skills, they're intangible. I'm not good at lots of stuff that anyone can point to and say, "Oh, look, Johnny did that." 

I'm not what you would call handy. Don't get me wrong, I can do some stuff. I can put together most IKEA furniture. Most, not all. Doors for example render me completely useless. In fact, when we first got married my wife bought an IKEA side table with a door. Almost 10 year later and that thing never has worked.

But when it comes to more intensive tasks, I'm no good. Hanging shelves? Only if you want them to be crooked. Fix a sink? If by fix you mean make worlds worse, then yes. Change a spark plug? Only two questions: What's a spark plug and how do I change them? Oh, and why? (Oops, three questions.)

So I am at the mercy of my friends that are handy. But how many of them can do what I can do?

Oh, all of them? 

Awesome.