Wow, 2009 seemed to fly by, but things here in South Texas are still entertaining/less hot so here we go with the status of the resolutions for the year that just ended .
Volunteer - So I signed up with National Lab Day - however, while there is some interesting people interested in the Sciences, most of them lean towards the physics/engineering side - which is my weak side. I don't mind math and if they want to learn about anthropology or genetics I would be cool - maybe in the near future as this takes off it will become broader here in South Texas.
Pay down debt - If you have student loans, this is a lengthy daunting process but things are starting to move back towards black again so that is good. This will continue through the next couple of years as we dig out of the hole dug while we were in graduate school.
Be a more patient father - Sometimes, I think I have to give the kids a little slack, even C who lives up to here namesake with some daunting Homeric insensitive statements. that often hit home. Maybe I should revel in their honesty and curiosity. Of course this ends when there is the possibility of personal injury to themselves or others - which is a concept that eludes them at times. Also, this is one of those resolutions that is so ambiguous that it makes it difficult to actually follow through on. Scratch this one for next year.
Read two books a month - This was by far my most succesful resolution this year. So I hit a new record this month, with a grand total of six books. I read the now somewhat misnamed Berlin Noir trilogy by Phillip Kerr, which is basically spy novels set in pre and post WWII Berlin/Vienna. These were rousing good reads and am now working forward to the next three in the series. I also read the Temple and the Stone by Katherine Kurtz/Deborah Harris, which is kind of a historical account the Knights Templar and Scottish Indpendence - with a good amount of Scottish history thrown in. While being a descendent of Picts myself - they got the short end of the deal in this book by being the bad guys the book gave a much more accurate picture of the fight between the English and Scots for Indpendence between King Edward and William Wallace and eventually Robert the Bruce. Plus, it is isn't too far (with the excpetion of the Demons and out of body experiences) as after Philip of France persecuted the order a number of them fled to Scotland and were known to fight for Rober the Bruce.
I also read Living Dead in Dallas (is there any other way) by Charlaine Harris - oddly this may be one of those cases where the TV show is actually better than the book. The finally I read the Paris Vendetta by Steve Berry - while I'm not happy about the outcome of this particular book it was still a pretty good read mixing Napolean, Egyptians, and modern financial conspiracy.
Publish, Publish, Publish - So this quite work out as well as I hoped, there is a good chance for two and maybe some more in 2010 but I think slow this process down. I also have a crap load of data to work on so something should come out of that. Both my abstracts for HBA and AAPA were accepted so it will be off to New Mexico in April and of course Lawrence in March to present a talk on Mennonites.
Be a more substantive blogger - I suppose this is an up and down prospect as family and work life intervenes, although the Friday Five and Saturday Summary should keep my fans updated.
Take a vacation - We went back to Kansas for graduation this year and I went to Hawaii for meetings so we will see what next years.
Find a hobby - I've been informed that recreational reading is a hobby so that at least counts as one. Gardening is another - of course finding a happy medium to grow anything but weeds here in Texas is challenging as we still haven't completely adjusted to the climate. Although J's worm experiment is working splendidly.
Spend one on one time with my kids every week - This was hit and miss but we are working to expand this. Parenthood is an ever evolving exercise for us as L begins to walk, C stretches her boundaries and X and S begin homeschool. S did well and now knows his alphabet and sounds, but needs to work on his math - he can count to 100 easy enough but the recognition of numbers is sometimes difficult. I would also like him to begin to read. X should pick up things up fast enough as long as he can get over his need for perfection, which often causes him to stall out and freeze up. Hopefully he can learn to live with some mistakes.
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