Daddy and Julia in Mar Vista/Venice area of Los Angeles on December 31, 2008.

New Year's Resolutions for 2009


THE COUNTDOWN:
A new year and a new start!

Rich Geib's 2009 New Year's Resolutions!

What should I do? Where to go? How to live?

“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.”
Benjamin Franklin

YEAR OF 2009

  • SAME AS LAST YEAR: TENNIS AND THE WEIGHTS

Same as last year's failed resolution.

  • CONTINUE BEING THE BEST FATHER AND HUSBAND I CAN BE

Takes just about all my post-work time and energy...

  • CONVERT TO BLU RAY

Sony BDP-S350 unit for blu-Ray so as to continue the Bravia Theater Sync.

  • LEARN FROM YOUR BETTER HALF

Social isolation and physical inactivity is not what your wife has done: learn from her positive example

  • DR. WHITE

Get HMO situation under control

  • POTTY TRAIN JULIA

My God, will this be a blessed thing!

  • PLAY MUSIC LOUDLY!

You have an uber-expensive sound system downstairs, but never make the time to use it (or find the time when wife and daughter are not around).

  • GET BRENT AND BARICH ONTO FACEBOOK

    Fight the lonliness of weakened scattered nature of the contemporary American life in way you can.

  • MOVE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE TO ITS OWN DOMAIN

    Important task in long-term but much short-term tedious grunt work. Get it done.

  • LONG AND LAZY AFTERNOONS AT THE GETTY VILLA
  • Lounge about for hours among the artifacts of antiquity in Malibu and read deeply of the ancients during summer break.

  • RSS FEEDS TO NON-MARQUEE CLASSES

    The last five yards after so much earlier hard work. Get it done in 2009-2010.

  • MAKE SOME KIND OF DENT IN THE "TO READ" BOOK PILE --

    Here is the lineup at this time:

  • First Rung:

    • "The Forever War" by Dexter Filkins
    • "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?: Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith" by Studs Terkel
    • "Hope Dies Last: Keeping the Faith in Troubled Times by Studs Terkel
    • "Facing Unpleasant Facts” and “All Art is Propaganda” by George Orwell, complied by George Packer
    • "Mother on Fire: A True Motherf%#$@ Story About Parenting!" by Sandra Tsing Loh
    • "Of Plymouth Plantation" by William Bradford
    • "Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System" by Roberto Saviano
    • "Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America" by Jay Parini
    • "The Strongest Tribe" by Bing West
    • "The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time" by Jeffrey Sachs
    • "Enough" by Bill McKibben
    • "The Reader" by Bernhard Schlink
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Abstinence Teacher" by Tom Perrotta
      • (DID READ)
    • "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" by Barack Obama
    • "Tess of the Durbervilles" by Thomas Hardy
    • "The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861" by David M. Potter
    • "Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief" by James M. McPherson
    • "Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877" by Eric Foner (read in December 2009)
    • "The Conquest of Gaul" by Julius Caesar
    • "Mystic River" by Denis Lehane
    • "Anabasis: The Persian Expedition" by Xenophon

    Second Rung: On the radar screen but longer-term goals:

    • "Power of One" by Bryce Courtenay
    • "The School on Heart's Content Road" by Carolyn Chute

  • MAKE SOME KIND OF DENT ON THE NETFLIX QUEUE --
    • "Darwin's Nightmare"
    • "Downfall"
    • "The People vs. Larry Flynt"
    • "Beaufort"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "Lawrence of Arabia"
    • "American Experience: The Rockefellers"
    • "The Wobblies"
      • (VIEWED)
    • "I've Loved You So Long"
    • "The Seventh Seal"
    • "This Film is not Yet Rated"
    • "Friends of God: A Road Trip with Alexandra Pelosi"
    • "The Edward R. Murrow Collection"
    • "Dying Young"
    • "Lorenzo's Oil"
    • "Deliver Us From Evil"
    • "Harlan County, U.S.A.
    • "Bra Boys"
    • "Mongol"
    • "Body of Lies"
    • "Enter Les Murs"
    • "Quantum of Solace"
    • "Battlestar Galactica: Season 4"
    • "Phillip K. Dick: The Penultimate Truth"
    • "Chicago 10"
    • "Commune"
    • "Waltz With Bashir"
    • "The Wrestler"
    • "Valkyrie:
    • "The Reader"
    • "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
    • "Revolutionary Road"
    • "The Reader"
    • "Quantum of Solace"
    • "JCVD"
    • "I've Loved You So Long"
    • "Gran Torina"
    • "Hamlet"
    • "Gomorra"
    • "Frost/Nixon"
    • "Entre Les Murs"
    • "Defiance"
    • "Slumdog Millionaire"
    • "Changeling"
    • "Body of Lies"
    • "Austraila"
    • "The Shield": entire series

PAST YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS:

Year of 2008

Year of 2007

Year of 2006

Year of 2001

Year of 2000

Year of 1999

Year of 1998

Year of 1996


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