A for effort

After my last post, someone asked me what the other 2008 resolutions were. Here's most of them, along with the varying levels of success. 

1. Write something, anything. Also keep journal. The "something, anything" is this blog. Posting is a bit sporadic but it's still more writing than I have done in years. Never got around to keeping a journal depsite carrying around a forever blank notebook with me. 

2. Gym: three times per week, minimum; 4. More veggies. Less cheese. For me these go together under the Jimbama 2008 health initiative. Not unlike the futility of carrying around a blank journal, for years I paid for a gym membership that I never used. Finally frustrated with that, I joined the swanky gym across the street from my office. Cons: Triple the price of the gym I never went to, occasional awkward encounter with co-workers in locker room.  Pros: I go a lot (good), they have towel service and nice showers (awesome and not to be underestimated), and I can go during work (amazing). On the nutrition side, it became clear that I really needed to do something about my cheese consumption when I would walk home from the subway every night thinking about the Triscuits and block of sharp cheddar waiting for me. Sometimes when I went food shopping I would unload my cart to pay out and realize that I was buying 4 types of cheese- shredded mozzarella (for english muffin pizzas, of course), sliced deli cheese for sandwiches, sharp cheddar for the previously mentioned Triscuits, and a package of those little individually wrapped Babybel cheeses for snacks. It is important here to note that I live alone. It had to end. I'm not completely on the wagon but no more blocks of cheddar, no more Babybel, and less of the english muffin pizzas (I'm not willing to give up the deli cheese). Still could use some work on the veggie side but that one will carry over to 2009. 

All in all, resolutions 2 and 4 have resulted in losing somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 pounds, so I consider this one a success. 

3. Read: minimum of one book per month.  This is not a lofty goal at all but one I have not found success in. I blame my iPod. Reading time on the subway has now given way to podcasts- between Meet the Press, This American Life, Radiolab, and the Onion News Network, my commute time is almost completely filled up, and I never seem to find time to dedicate to reading otherwise. 

5. Invest money. Never got around to this, and not too disappointed considering the the way things have gone for the past few months (not to mention what I lost in my 401k last year). 

6. New job.  Put in a ton of effort on a few very good opportunities, but none worked out. If I need to be positive about it I could say it provided me with some character building experiences:
1) Having a surprised interviewer look at my resume and ask "what makes you think you would be at all qualified for this job?" To my credit, I suppose I came up with a good answer because I wasn't qualified, but I still got called back for a writing test and another round of interviews. The job went to someone who had something like 15 years experience at the Wall Street Journal. Clearly, I should have been the one asking what made them think I would be qualified in the first place.
2) Sitting at work in Texas and hitting "print" on the thank you note to the above mentioned interviewer, and immediately realizing that my printer was still set to Boston. Still don't know if I was able to cancel that in time or if someone in my office picked it up. 

Anyway, my company is laying off 1700 people in the next month, so depending on how that goes, this one may not technically be a resolution anymore anyway. 

All in all, not too bad- this was the first year I put detailed resolutions on paper and came back to them throughout the year, and I'm happy with the result. As for 2009, the resolutions are a bit bolder and more specific, and I've followed my friend Steve's advice and added benchmark dates for each one. We'll see how it goes.