New Year’s Resolutions for 2019

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.”

Hal Borland

YEAR OF 2019

“Even though the future seems far away, it is actually beginning right now.”

Mattie Stepanek
  • Keep up the intense reading. Last year was a total success: keep this up. “Turn off your smartphone and read one more book per week.” Amen!
  • Use the expensive rowing machine that you own and is in your house! Rediscover your music playlists, get the adrenaline flowing again, and start seriously sweating in at home workouts.
  • Compete against better tennis players, and lose to them. But get better yourself in the process, and learn what it takes to win at that level.
  • Jula workouts: she is growing up, so help her take it to the next level.  HIIT, spin classes; and “Boogey Nights” 5km runs with Mary J. and her daughter.
  • Do a ride-along with VPD. Ask those handful of questions only they can answer; regular practice and Florida license.
  • Chromebook Assimilate the new Chromebook into the smartphone, tablet, Chromebook, and desktop computer lineup, from light to heavy computing needs. Buy an external monitor?
  • Make a will. Just do it finally.
  • Use the Rowing Machine Copiously. HIIT workouts that get the adrenaline and the sweat flowing. Not longer than 30 minutes; spring intervals, not endurance.
  • Read Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows and The Hobbit to Elizabeth. She seems to be outgrowing daddy-daughter bedtime reading as did Julia before her, but get these last two done before letting it go.

Here is the reading lineup at this time:

  • “The Stranger Beside Me: The Shocking True Story of Serial Killer Ted Bundy,” by Ann Rule
    • DID READ
  • “The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism,” by Yuva Levin
  • “Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010,” by Charles Murray
    • DID READ
  • “Sex Money Murder: A Story of Crack, Blood, and Betrayal,” by Jonathan Green
  • “Lincoln in the Bardo,” by George Saunders
    • DID READ
  • “Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It,” by Chris Voss
    • DID READ
  • “Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion,” by Emile Coué
    • DID READ
  • “The Demon Next Door,” by Bryan Burrough
    • DID READ
  • “Mala,” by Melinda Lopez
    • DID READ
  • “DoNotDisturb: How I Ghosted My Cell Phone to Take Back My Life,” by Jedediah Bila
    • DID READ
  • “The Last Days of August,” by Jon Ronson
    • DID READ
  • “The Book Thief,” by Markus Zusak
    • DID READ
  • “I Will Find You: Solving Killer Cases from My Life Fighting Crime,” by Joe Kenda
    • DID READ
  • “Ego Is the Enemy,” by Ryan Holiday
    • DID READ
  • “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose,” by Joe Biden
    • DID READ
  • “Mornings on Horseback,” by David McCullough

Watch the following movies —

  • The Mule
  • A Private War
  • The Rider
  • Green Book
  • Tully
  • The Captain
  • Free Solo
  • First Man
  • They Shall Not Grow Old
  • The Death of Stalin
  • Roma
  • First Reformed
  • A Star is Born
  • At Eternity’s Gate

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