I haven’t actually managed to make New Year’s Resolutions in a couple of years. I was so tied up in Chaplin being sick last year that all I could manage to get out was this post, a sentiment I’m tempted to share again this year.

For some reason, though, I’m not as angry. Probably helps that Chaplin is sleeping on my feet right now and not in an animal hospital, doped to the gills and recovering from surgery.

Probably helps that I’ve finally made a decision to move forward on getting out of showbiz. Probably helps that I feel like I’m on the right path, trying to learn something new instead of just flailing around.

I also think I’m done with actual weight resolutions – I’ve lost 86 pounds and would like to lose the 14 more that would a) take me to an even 100 and b) put me at a BMI of 25, but I feel like that’s going to be a long, frustrating process that’s not really worth making New Year’s Resolutions over. Better to focus on time goals that, while promoting weight loss, feel somewhat more achievable in the space of a year.

So, in the hopes that publicly stating what I want to do this year will give me some motivation to actually do it, my New Year’s Resolutions:

1. Finish redesigning my damn website by the end of January.

The blog is actually fine – it’s the main site that’s a travesty, not updated since 2003. I’ve taken about four stabs at redesigns that have never actually launched, and I am completely out of excuses for why it hasn’t. Happening by the end of January, dammit.

2. Lower my 10k elliptical time to consistently under an hour.

The frustrating part about this is that my ability to do this varies from machine to machine – I’ve actually done this on a couple of machines, but on the machine I use regularly, I’ll need to cut a minute a mile off my time to make it happen. I think over a year, I can do it.

3. Lower my 2 mile swim time to under 1 hour 10 minutes, and start swimming 4km from time to time.

4km is about 3/4km farther than 2 miles. I want to be swimming 5k’s at some point, but I know I’ve got to get my stamina back up quite a bit from where it is now – having the flu absolutely killed a lot of the progress I made this year in terms of building up stamina. Just got to keep putting down the building blocks.

4. Learn as many new programming languages as possible, with the goal of having a working iPhone application before I go back to school in September.

I’m going to be doing a lot of self-directed learning over the next few months, so I think I need to set a goal to give me some motivation to actually get off my ass and learn things. I think I’ve got a good idea for a program, so we’ll see how it goes.

5. Remember that if my plans and resolutions don’t work out, there are always more plans to be made.

I’m already moving from Plan B (TV mogul) to Plan C (professional nerd), and Plan C has many sub-plans of its own. I just have to remember to keep going with the flow, and try to make enough money to keep myself and Chaplin fed and sheltered in the meantime.

And that’s it. Hopefully everyone has a fun evening tonight, and hopefully 2010 starts off with a nice Northwestern Outback bowl win tomorrow morning, and next year we get into an even better bowl that doesn’t start at eight in the goddamn morning.

Happy New Year!

And now, in honor of the holidays, a slideshow of some of my (heavily, heavily cropped due to all the cars coming through) photos from the LA DWP’s Light Festival:

Full sizes of everything can be found at Flickr – I realize some of the cropping doesn’t make for the best viewing in the slideshow format.

I’ve been rather bad about blogging consistently, so in case I don’t get a chance to post again until after the holidays, I hope everyone travels safe and enjoys the holidays.

Sadly, NBC has C&D’d every copy of my very favorite Thanksgiving video off the interwebs (the Sarah McLachlan/Ana Gasteyer duet “Basted in Blood,” which you can listen to here until the lawyers get to it).

This, however, is a great substitute. Sadly, the video quality is not great, but this entire sequence from Addams Family Values never fails to crack me up:

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

The silliness that the flu can inspire:

More of this goofiness available at Flickr.

Get out, and don’t you even think about coming back, you vile, stupid, wretched, awful year.

To a better 2009, and the setting of a very low bar.

This year, I’m thankful for:

• My job, because it’s nice to have a job I like, let alone any job whatsoever after spending a third of the year unemployed
• My family for being understanding about me not schlepping my ass to the East Coast for a whopping two days of family time.
• My friends, for putting together so many awesome thanksgiving celebrations that I’ve had to bake multiple pies instead of the usual one.
• The fact that there is not a major union on strike shutting down my entire industry (yet).

And finally, a card I was highly amused by from someecards.com, which describes the entire conversation with my father I’d be having had I dragged my ass to Atlanta to get attacked by my 8 nieces and nephews:

Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

I don’t know if it’s been reading about the potential SAG strike or the fact that we’re going to have a double-unit Monday to welcome us back from Thanksgiving, but apparently my problem of grinding my teeth has gotten a bit worse.

And by “a bit worse” I mean, goddamn, the tendons in my jaw are killing me. It started early this afternoon (I thought it was a cavity until I realized I could push on the teeth I thought were affected and felt nothing, but opening my mouth absolutely killed) and has been getting worse throughout the day.

I mean, perhaps it’s a good thing for my continued weight loss attempts that at the rate I’m going I’m not going to be able to open my mouth on Thanksgiving, but goddamn it, I want to be able to eat at least one of the three Thanksgiving dinners I’m stopping by.

Bah.

This amusing headline on the CNN website was pointed out to me by Joel earlier today:

While you are barbecuing various items and drinking yourself silly, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (and whoever cut the CPSC’s video to the soundtrack) would like to remind you to use care with your fireworks this year:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OcIwPx-SCs&hl=en]

Hat tip: Consumerist.