This Year, I Really Mean It

January 2003 - Here we go again. The start of a New Year and the start of a whole new set of resolutions. Or, if you're still working on the ones you made last year, maybe it's the start of a whole "old" set of resolutions. Either way, good luck keeping them. Because you'll need it!

For as long as I can remember, one of my yearly resolutions has been to lose weight. The fact that it's a yearly resolution should tell you how successful I've been. So, this year, I resolve to not resolve to lose weight. I mean, New Year's Eve is a Tuesday. New Year's Day is a Wednesday. And, who in the world starts a diet on a Thursday? No one. Proper dieting etiquette requires that you spend the weekend eating up all the junk food in the house and then start fresh on Monday, right? Well, by that time, what's the point? You're already a few days behind and a few pounds heavier. It's a recipe for resolution disaster. So, this year, I'll just leave that whole losing weight resolution off the list.

Despite resolving to not resolve to lose weight, I will, however, make a resolution to not gain weight. I'll also make sub-resolutions (a) to exercise more and (b) to eat a few more salads and veggies. But, I also need sub-resolution (c) to go get fast food if I want some, and sub-resolution (d) to not get carried away with sub-resolution (c). At the end of the year, if the scale reads no higher than it did at the beginning of the year, I'll be happy. And, should it actually read a little bit less, well, you won't see me complaining.

Finally, I'm going to go out on a limb here and make yet another resolution. Here and now, and I expect you guys to hold me to this, I resolve to take a vacation. And I don't just mean the kind of vacation where I take time off from work but end up staying home and doing stuff for work anyway. I mean a real vacation. The kind where I actually leave my house, travel outside Pennsylvania and stay someplace that's not my house. By my count, it's been almost four years since I've gone anywhere just for the sake of going. So this year, I'm going. I don't know when; I don't know where. I just know that I'm going.

If I start coming up with lame excuses not to go (you know, too much work, not enough money, no one to watch the dog), I expect at least one of you to escort me to the airport and make me get on a plane. But, don't worry. It won't come to that. Taking a vacation is one resolution I definitely plan to keep. And, I think I can find my own ride to the airport.

So, Happy New Year, everyone! Now, get out there and keep those resolutions!