thinair Boulder, Colorado. elevation 5400 feet.

New Year's Resolutions

This will be a fun experiment. By blogging my resolutions now, next year I will be able to look back and see how I did.

More quick blog entries, less worrying about whether my blog is Important and Interesting. I've been missing the point of blogging. Too much focus on what I think Someone Else will think is interesting. Instead I want to focus on what interests me and let Someone Else decide for herself if she agrees.

Miscellaneous blog chores. Upgrade Movable Type, publish my blogroll, make RSS feeds validate, make a full-content RSS feed for aggregators. Some template and CSS improvements. 'Nuff said.

Update: RSS feeds validate and also include full contents.

Be kinder to myself. In several conversations with Sarah over the holidays, it has become clear that I have totally unrealistic expectations of myself. I like that I haven't lost my youthful enthusiasm and the belief that I can change the world, but self-doubt (also known as fear) has twisted that belief into an expectation. There's no evidence I can provide The Angry Management that I am "meeting or exceeding expectations." Self-doubt twists into self-abuse for failure to change the world. That particular twist is incredibly self-destructive and incredibly arrogant. Sarah said something like this: "Honey, I love you. But you need to get over yourself." It was much more compassionate than it reads. To be kinder to myself, I will release the arrogant expectations and judgmental self-abuse and re-emphasize the belief in self.

Spend more time with people. Dance regularly. Go to the dojo more consistently. Attend the local user groups: COMUG, XP-Denver, BJUG. Ski with friends. Participate in some of the Boulder Food Co-op community activities.

Take a more active role in my communities. Do a presentation for one of the user groups. More work on Turbine. Help with Aikido Summer Camp in the Rockies. I subscribed to community@apache.org on Saturday. More quick blog entries.

I also got a head start on some of this year's resolutions. I bought another ski pass and have had more early season skiing than in any previous ski season I can remember. Sarah and I joined the food coop yesterday. I've been going to the user groups for several months.

Time will tell how well I adhere to these resolutions. :-)