Thursday, December 30, 2010

High Resolution

For this last post of the calendar year, let's check my New Year's Resolutions for 2010, and see how I did:

* Do a better job at my new job, which looks like it will be a whole lot better than my old job: Real estate brokers are very tough to work with.

I guess I did well, because not only do I still have a job, but I got a raise. Not a big one, but a raise nonetheless. On a scale of 0 to 10, this is a 7.

* To continue to enjoy being Ashley and Rachel's uncle.

Definitely doing okay there, although I need to work on not favoring one over the other. I'm not going to say which one appears to be getting the favoring, but the other one does seem to be trying a little harder to get my attention, so I have to make sure it works, so that it balances out. This is an 8.

* To get to a few more Yankee games at the new Stadium.

Only got to 2 in the 2010 season. Which is as many as I've been to in each of the last few seasons. That's not enough. I did "complete the circuit," going to all 3 local parks (Yankee Stadium II, Citi Field, Citizens Bank Park), and I did go to a road game this season (Yanks vs. Orioles in Baltimore). But that's the minimum requirement: All 3 locals plus one Yankee road game. And since Fenway is almost impossible to get into, especially for Yanks vs. Sox, and Baltimore is the only other AL city that's within a 9-hour Greyhound ride, Baltimore is usually the one. I've seen the Yankees in Cleveland and Toronto, the 2 next-closest. I'd like to make Detroit and/or Chicago next season, but with the stupid Interleague schedule, the Yanks almost always go there for midweek series, so that might not be doable even if I have the money. So this is a 4 at best.

* To come up with the money to make a trip to Europe. It's about time I visited. It's also about time I stopped talking about Arsenal, and watching them only on television from 3,500 miles away, and actually saw them in person.

Not by a long shot. I got no closer to London than Boston. Which is closer to Dublin, both literally and figuratively.

(Not that I dislike Boston. It's a great city. I hate its sports teams, though. The Red Sox, the Celtics, the Patriots, even the New England Revolution. Not so mad at the Bruins or Boston College, although the University of Connecticut basketball programs, with both men's coach Jim Calhoun and women's coach Geno Auriemma being Sox fans, are de facto Boston teams.)

I did get to see Arsenal play at some new bars, but not in any new cities/metro areas, let alone States. I did get to see several Red Bulls games, including one on the road in Boston/Foxboro, but that's not the same thing. But the New York Gooners now seem to have accepted me as one of them in this, my Season 3 with the club. Still, on a scale of 0 to 10, this was a 2, maybe.

* To treat people better. I don't regret many things I've done, but I do regret many of the things I've said. (Not on this blog, though.)

I don't think I made much headway here. But I don't think I've slipped, either. So, 5.

Total, 26. Divided by 5 resolutions, that's a 5.2. Not very good.

*

New Year's Resolutions for 2011:

* Again, do a better job at my new job, unless I can find a better one.

* Treat Ashley and Rachel equally.

* Get to a few more Yankee games -- home and away.

* Come up with the money to make a trip to Europe, or at least to Britain.

* Call right-wingers out on their lies and ignorance. I think I already do a good job of this, but it must be done, perhaps more than ever. The 2012 election is less than 2 years away.

Happy New Year, and don't celebrate too hard.

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