Things To Do In 2012

As 2011 draws to a close, as pretty much any year draws to a close, people start making resolutions for the new year. The most popular, by far, is to lose weight with other contenders such as quitting smoking, drinking less, furthering education, etc. rounding out the top 10.

I don't do resolutions. Resolutions are often not specific enough and fall into the category of things we say to ourselves on a daily basis as we look at ourselves in the mirror. "I really need to lose weight," or "I really need to quit smoking," or "I really should..." They're often ideas, not goals, which only sets us up for failure. How many of you have formulated a specific resolution like, "I will lose 20 pounds by March 31 in order to look my best for my sister's wedding in May."? Anyone?

The second reason I don't do resolutions is that they are often forgotten or put aside by mid-February. We don't hold ourselves accountable. We don't go back to those resolutions periodically to ask ourselves, "How am I doing?" If that's the case, why bother?

The third, but not necessarily final, reason I don't do resolutions is that they are often singular. Hey, we don't want to make our selves crazy by resolving to lose weight, quit smoking, drink less, further our education AND blog more. That's way too much to work on at once,

This year, I decided that I would do something similar but different. I have a few long-term projects I want/need to work on and a few things I want to learn. With that in mind, I decided to come up with a To Do list for the new year. So, without further adew, adieu, adoo, delay, I bring you my list of 10 Things To Do in 2012.

1. Get the new design/CMS for my celebrity photo site online.
• As I was originally designing the new look and readying to transfer to a new Content Management System, I decided I wanted to re-crop, resize, and watermark all of my pictures. Because of my glasses at the time, I ended up leaning in to the monitor and tilting my head back as I worked... for an entire day. I got a lot done but I was hurting for over a week after that and haven't really picked it up since. It's time to Git 'R Done.
2. Complete one "Book of Me" entry per month
• Part of the reason I keep a blog is to collect my stories. I want to do more with that so by the end of 2012, I should have at least 12 new personal stories collected here.
3. Watch 3 classic movies I've never seen
• I love movies. Plenty of people know that and I will often find myself in a discussion about movies. Many friends have told me I need to see The Usual Suspects. So this is the year I will do that. But why stop there? Let's make it 3 movies I haven't seen.
1. The Usual Suspects
2. Network
3. The Trouble With Harry
4. Finish transferring my dad's Beatles albums to MP3
• I've had the records for about 2 years now. It's time I finished that project.
5. Sort out at least 25% of my "2 Sort" music folder
• It's a collection of music I have acquired that is mis-tagged, mis-labeled or just not sorted into a genre or artist folder yet. It's time to get it knocked out a little bit.
6. Unsubscribe from email lists I don't read
• My inbox is a MESS. It always is. I need to reduce some of the clutter and noise so unsubscribing from lists and newsletters I don't read is a great way to at least accumulate a little less.
7. Leave myself notes to find/look for/open in 1 year, 5 years and 10 years
• I saw this on a list I found on the internet. It actually said to leave yourself a note in a library book and look for it 20 years later. I don't want to invest that kind of time (although I may do it just to leave a note to the finder).
8. Make a short movie, just to say I did it
• This is another one I found on the internet. It said it shouldn't be a YouTube video but an actual movie, with a story. This may be the most difficult to accomplish but it sounds like fun.
9. Learn how to photograph people
• I love photography but I'm not too great at it. I have a camera-shy wife and no kids so most of my photos are landscapes and animals. I'm slowly getting better at that but I suck at portraits. I have a few friends who are professional photographers so I think I'm going to hit them up for some pointers. Now, if I only had a test subject. Anyone want to volunteer?
10. Earn an engineering-level technical certification
• I had a hard time with this last one. I wasn't sure what I wanted to put on the list. I'm not even sure I want this on the list. The fact of the matter is, however, that in order to progress in my job, I need an e-level cert. I have a hard time putting forth the effort for self-study, for various reasons, so I have had a lot of false starts. But here it is, my public declaration that I will do this. I will do this within a year.

So, that's the list. I will type it up neatly, post it where I can see it, refer to it throughout the year and give regular progress reports.

Oh, before I go, I should tell you my resolution for the new year is to take better care of myself. I'm starting to get a little fluffy.