Resolution Roundup #7 - July

So here we go, another month has gone by and we are still living large in South Texas. Actually, it is freaking hot - the hottest month every in San Antonio. I realize I'm smokin' like the Mask but this is a little ridiculous. There have currently been 36 days over 100 and it is not even August (38 breaks the record set in 1998). This reminds me of the deep freeze winters in Montana, where people just don't come outside for two months between December and March. So anyone feel free to send rain this way. Anyway, here is the current status of the resolutions.

1. Volunteer - I'm pretty sure this is going to have to go on the back burner until 2010, work and parenthood are overriding themes this year. I'm keeping my kids off the streets maybe that is my volunteer work.
   
2. Pay down debt - still going well. I also received National Institute Health Loan Repayment Grant - so that will help a lot in that aspect. I will write a blog pimping this program, which is an excellent idea in the near future.
   
3. Be a more patient father - I'm continuing to wake up at walk at 5:30 AM every morning, 7 days a week, plus we found the $1 theater in San Antonio -so even we can afford this.
   
4. Read two books a month - I read four this month, pretty much everything Charlie Huston has written No Dominion, Half the Blood of Brooklyn, Every Last Drop, and Caught Stealing. I'm now waiting for the last in the Joe Pitt Vampyre series, My Dead Body, to come out in October and deciding whether or not to read the rest of the Hank Thompson novel, these are kind of kind of like bubble gum with a healthy dose of violence thrown in.
   
5. Publish, Publish, Publish - Two are out in review, one had a slight snag but is getting ready to be submitted. I had both abstracts accepted for both ASHG and IGES as poster presentations. Plus I'm finishing up a grant that is due on Monday. Then back to the grind and possibly the last two for the year.
   
6. Be a more substantive blogger - Um, yeah right, see the first five and let me know when I have time. I will return but there is a lot of pulp noir to read, plus I started Anathem by Neil Stephenson, which is 1,000 page sci-fi book about cloistered mathmaticians, scientists, etc. (kind of sounds like grad school) to deviate my short attention span. I started this last summer but it took a little more focus than I had while writing that dissertation thingy.
   
7. Take a vacation - So now that both abstracts are accepted it looks like I will be off to Hawaii, somehow I don't think Spencer or Jennifer will every forgive me for leaving them behind. However, just to costly at the moment.
   
8. Find a hobby - As being an overeducated neerdowell isn't hobbie enough. The garden has wilted in the heat, so walking is my hobby at the moment. I walk about 1.5 miles, but I think I need to kick that up to 3.0 miles or so. Maybe I'll start running but walking doesn't require any startup funds and helps me think better - now if they would just do something about the insane pitbulls around here, might need pepper spray.
   
9. Spend one on one time with my kids every week - So C likes me to read to her, and do child directed interaction with her. This is something we picked up with X and S were constantly at each other's throats. I do this with X, quite a bit, mostly we play knights or Expedition Africa. S and I headed out see a movie after his b-day, Monsters and Aliens, which was a lot better than I expected but still can't figure out how it is in 3-D.