I really like that quote.  It asks some good questions.  Questions that I have thought about over the past year but haven't really done anything about. This time of year, like every new year, is a good time to clear my mind, if you will, to get rid of the clutter and start over.  Because a cluttered desk is a cluttered mind, or something like that.   So I decided to make some goals, or "resolutions," for the new year that will allow me to look at my life and the world around me in different ways and decide what's next.  Some are more personal, while others are an effort to make some sort of impact on society while also improving myself and my outlook on life.  So, without further ado, my goals for 2010...

• Go on a road trip with Matt.  I do a lot of traveling.  A LOT.  But it's either for work or to visit my family.  Matt and I haven't ever had a chance to just go away together, with no ulterior motive other than to have some fun in a new place.  The circumstances of last year really tested our relationship, and although we've gotten through it, there are still many challenges ahead.  It would do us a lot of good to get away from it all for a little while.

• Read the news.  I really don't know as much as I would like about the state of our nation and the world, so this year I have decided that it is important for me to learn about what is going on and think about what I could possibly do about it.  (If anything... there has to be something, right?)

• Join a volunteer organization.  This is something I've been wanting to do for a while but I haven't been able to decide what kind of volunteering I should do or what type of organization I should join.  I'd like to do some research in the near future to help me figure this out.

• Train for and participate in a 5k race.  (Or some other kind of racing-type thing).  I'll have to see what's out there, but whatever it is I end up doing, I really need to get in shape this year, not only for myself, but for my job.  Last field season was rough, and I think the main reason for that was how hard it was for me to hike up mountains and other tall, rocky geography.  I figure having a concrete goal to work up to will make it easier for me to achieve it.

• Ride my bike down the tramway trail.  I've ridden my bike about one time since I moved here.  This is sad.  The Tramway trail is close and paved and (relatively) flat.  Seems like a good place to start.  I'd like to do the Bosque trail as well, but I don't want to get too ahead of myself.

• Do yoga at least twice a week.  I really like yoga but I've kind of failed on doing any at all since field season started last spring and I had to stop going to the gym during the week.  A couple new opportunities have come up recently so I'm going to work on that.

That's probably enough, eh?  I would like to use this blog as a means of documentation and communication about what I am doing to achieve these goals.  As I (hopefully) achieve these goals, I plan to post about what I've been doing and what I've learned.  I don't know what's going to happen or how well I will do at achieving these goals, but I'm going to try, and hopefully I'll come out of this year a better, more informed person, and maybe you'll learn something too.