Category: 2006 Resolutions

If one of the earlier resolutions proves to be unworkable by its scheduled date, you could swap it out with this one, as this is probably the easiest resolution to accomplish that you’ve posted thus far.

— Steve Talley, 8 Jan 2006

Well, Steve, you were right. First I punted on March. Then April came and went, too. I’ve been getting things done, but not at the rate I’d like, and clearly not working this list down.

So, let’s re-adjust, shall we? [As we say at the office, we’ve never failed to meet an adjusted schedule.]
.

• SandraMcCracken.org Launch: I’m slipping this until the end of July. The pressure is off, as squarepegalliance.net is up and running, and Sandra’s album isn’t coming out until August.
• Office Setup: Because I took my vacation early, money that would have gone towards the desk went towards my plane fare. This is going to slide to September.
• New Bookshelves: I’ve laid the basic design out [and I will try to get that scanned in at the office this week and posted here for all to see], but with the office un-done, I haven’t done the bookshelves.
• ShowInfo: I’m pulling this off the schedule. Why? Jeff has built something that will largely do. Will it do everything I want to do? No. But it will do enough, and I’m not going to duplicate efforts here.
• Vacation: Well, I’ve half-done this with my trip to Portland, and the rest of the vacationing I’m doing this year will be done in two more weeks, post-Memorial Day, as I stalk follow the Over the Rhine/HEM tour through the mid-South. Yes, actually finishing one early. I’ve also got some lessons learned to post when this is complete. I’ll be done with this in June.
• Bar Extension is going to slide into September and maybe October with the office completion.
• DirecTV Setup is going to go away unless I somehow get a promotion at the office. Buying an iBook largely took the funds I’d have spent on that. Sorry, Rick.
• Car Buying Plans are still in progress, and I’ll finish the outlines of the task in October. I’ve decided what cars I’m going to consider already and will do test-driving this summer.
• All other tasks remain on schedule.

Due to a variety of happenstances—work being really busy, being out-of-town, a server that upgefuchted on me [causing me two days’ downtime and pushing all the work I’d’ve done last weekend to this onw], and increased church commitments—I’m punting this month’s resolution back to finish in April. I’m subsequently pushing April‘s stuff back in to May, as I can re-work the office and build the bookshelves in the same month.

I’ll get the layout done for the bookshelves today; I’m still trying to decide how to lay the office out. I’m putting a [couch|futon|loveseat] up here, and the bookshelves will either go on the short patch of full wall next to the windowseat or along the angled half-walls opposite. I had just about decided which way I’d go back in January, and then I picked up a much-needed filing cabinet in February, and that’s jumbled my thinking. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

However, with the decision to slip the launch of SandraMcCracken.org made, I’ll rest a little bit easier. March has honestly kicked my ass repeatedly, and I need some time to regroup.

Last month’s resolution was to see if I could get my taxes filed by the end of the month. I had a false start in terms of getting the taxes done the first time, thanks to a bug in TurboTax.com’s deduction module, but I got it finished on 28 Feb. I have a nice, healthy refund coming my way: I plan on purchasing some furniture with it.

You’ll remember that, at the start of my 2006 resolutions, I resolved to have greater fiscal tracking. I’ve got it.

1. Financial tracking software be procured for my home computer as well as my Treo handheld no later than 15 Jan 2006.

   I picked up Quicken 2006 for Mac and Pocket Quicken. Both have been excellent; I find that I only use PQ for realtime balance checking at the moment and not for data entry. I imagine that I’ll use PQ for data entry on business travel and when I’m away from home for more than a day or two. It’s been a good choice—I was already familiar with the software, and it’s working well.

2. Aforementioned software shall be learned and implemented no later than 20 Jan 2006.

   There wasn’t a steep learning curve to it, but I just barely snuck in under the line on getting the stuff in place—no one sold either package locally, and I couldn’t get a download of Q2k6 for Mac, so I ordered both via for postal delivery. The USPS took their sweet time getting me the stuff—I ordered on the 7th and didn’t get my packages until the 19th. I squeaked this one in under the wire.

3. A basic budgetary outline [mortgage, house-related expenses, groceries, entertainment, vehicle maintenance, etc.] be completed no later than 31 Jan 2006.

   It’s in place. I’m reviewing it every two weeks—when I get paid, of course—to see how I’m doing. This is a constant revision process, but with some fixed expenses to be sure. I’m liking how I’m doing—the greater visibility has made me far, far more conscious of my spending, and that alone has been a huge benefit.

This has been a great exercise for me to undertake. I’m really happy with how a bottom-up approach has helped me to see the forest and the trees. Personal and professional experience has hammered into me, repeatedly, that bottom-up approaches are how I work best. [I argue that they should be the norm, but I’m also wary of magic bullet solutions and blanket statements, so I’m trying to stay me-specific and not put my foot in my mouth too often here.]

See y’all back here in four weeks.

A RESOLUTION to Lose 50 Pounds in 2006

WHEREAS I’m really out of shape, and

WHEREAS I’d like to not be so bad next year, and

WHEREAS It’s just a pound a week,

THEREFORE Let it be hereby resolved that I will lose 50 pounds in 2006.

THEREFORE Let it be further resolved that I will tell you how close I got to that goal sometime in January 2007.

RESOLVED on this, the thirteenth day of January, 2006, by the Board of Directors of GFMorris.com, Geof F. Morris, Resident Fatass, presiding.

A RESOLUTION to Finish My Christmas Shopping by the End of November 2006

WHEREAS I’m your prototypical last-minute Christmas shopper, and

WHEREAS Such practices typically result in poor financial decisions, and

WHEREAS The main failure in finishing Christmas shopping early is simply a failure to plan ahead, and

WHEREAS this entire series is about planning ahead,

THEREFORE Let it be hereby resolved by the Board of Directors of GFMorris.com that I will finish my 2006 Christmas shopping by the end of November 2006.

THEREFORE Let it be further resolved that a report on the success of this effort be made no later than 2 Dec 2006.

RESOLVED on this, the twelfth day of January, 2006, by the Board of Directors of GFMorris.com, Geof F. Morris, Resident Truck Drivin’ Man, presiding.

A RESOLUTION to Develop a Plan to Buy a Car by 31 Oct 2006

WHEREAS I nearly totaled my beloved 1995 Nissan pickup truck three-and-a-half years ago, at which point I drained nearly all of the resale value out of the vehicle, and

WHEREAS I’ve told myself each of the last two years that “when October comes around, I’ll think about buying a new car,” but never have, and

WHEREAS I really probably would have done it in 2005 if not for that whole house-buying thing, and

WHEREAS I’m doing enough capital improvements around the house this year that I don’t expect that I’ll suddenly have the sizeable down payment I’d want to drop on a car just materialize out of thin air, and

WHEREAS I really don’t have any idea what I want in a vehicle right now, and

WHEREAS Darlene is still running in good shape and is still under 200,000 miles driven, which concerns only my parents, really,

THEREFORE Let it be hereby resolved by the Board of Directors of GFMorris.com that:

1. A plan be devised for saving up the down payment I want on a vehicle by 30 Jun 2006.
2. A plan be devised for timing the purchase of a new vehicle by 31 Oct 2006.

THEREFORE Let it be further resolved that a report on the success of this effort be made no later than 2 Nov 2006.

RESOLVED on this, the eleventh day of January, 2006, by the Board of Directors of GFMorris.com, Geof F. Morris, Resident Truck Drivin’ Man, presiding.

A RESOLUTION to Get My Home Theater Set Up by 1 September 2006

WHEREAS I regularly visit a local sports bar to watch Cincinnati Bengals games, and

WHEREAS these visits usually run me $15-20 between the food and beer, money which would be better spent getting my own NFL Sunday ticket package, and

WHEREAS this sports bar is run by Pittsburgh Steelers fans, and

WHEREAS I’ve really come to hate Steelers fans as a group in the last year, and as such, I’ve got little desire to give them any money, and

WHEREAS Rick watches the NFL, too, and would probably chip in on my DirecTV Sunday Ticket purchase as long as it meant that he got to watch Saints games, and

WHEREAS my nice new bar will be done by the end of September, and

WHEREAS the 2006 NFL season will start early in September, and

WHEREAS I have a huge, huge wall in my living room on which to project an HDTV image,

THEREFORE, Let it be hereby resolved by the Board of Directors of GFMorris.com that:

1. An appropriate HDTV-capable projector be priced and selected by 15 Jul 2006.
2. Said projector be procured by 15 Aug 2006.
3. Said projector be installed by 20 Aug 2006.
4. Necessary room alterations [thicker drapes, shortening the chain on my ceiling fan] be completed by 22 Aug 2006.
5. An HDTV-compatible DirecTV system be procured and installed by 29 Aug 2006.
6. NFL Sunday Ticket be procured by the start of the 2006 NFL season.

THEREFORE Let it be further resolved that a report on the success of this effort, including photos of the debauchery that this implement inspires, be made no later than 15 Sep 2006.

RESOLVED on this, the tenth day of January, 2006, by the Board of Directors of GFMorris.com, Geof F. Morris, Resident “Who dey?!” Shouter, presiding.

A Resolution to Build the Bar Cabinet Extension I’ve Been Dreaming of by 31 Aug 2006

WHEREAS I will have liberated my nice piece of butcher block from its pedestrian service as a computer desk by the end of April 2006, and

WHEREAS I have a nice wet bar in the nook under my stairs and the master bathroom, but that counterspace is wholly inappropriate to actually, you know, serving drinks, and

WHEREAS I have no desire to have a traditional dining room arrangement while I am still an unbridled bachelor, and

WHEREAS putting that slab of maple butcher block at bar height, building a cabinet underneath it, and finishing it out as a traditional bar would be great fun, and

WHEREAS I’ll have honed my woodworking skills by building the shelves in May,

THEREFORE Let it be hereby resolved by the Board of Directors of GFMorris.com that:

1. An estimate of the weight of the butcher block slab be made no later than 15 May 2006. “Damn heavy” is not an acceptable estimate, although it’s probably the one that Jon and Rick want to give it when they think about moving that damn thing.
2. A sketch and materials list of the cabinet box be developed by 31 May 2006.
3. Manufacturing of the cabinet be completed by 15 Aug 2006.
4. Finishing of the cabinet be completed by 22 Aug 2006.
5. Deployment of the cabinet be completed by 31 Aug 2006.

THEREFORE Let it be further resolved that a report on the success of this effort, including photos of the debauchery that this implement inspires, be made no later than 2 Sep 2006.

RESOLVED on this, the ninth day of January, 2006, by the Board of Directors of GFMorris.com, Geof F. Morris, Resident Norm Abram Disciple, presiding.

A RESOLUTION to Take a Vacation in July 2006

WHEREAS I have worked for Teledyne Brown Engineering since August of 1999, and

WHEREAS I have, in six-plus years at TBE, only had two weeks where I charged no time to a contract, and

WHEREAS both of those weeks were spent on mission trips for youth, so they really weren’t vacations in the traditional sense, and

WHEREAS I’m unlikely to take a full week off of work unless I tell everyone that I’m going to do it and get the plan in way in advance, and

WHEREAS I really have no idea where I’d go on a vacation at present,

THEREFORE Let it be hereby resolved by the Board of Directors of GFMorris.com that:

1. I’m going to take a vacation in July 2006, come hell or high water.
2. A plan for taking said vacation—what to do, where to go, how to get there—will be devised by 30 Apr 30062006.

THEREFORE Let it be further resolved that a report on the success of this effort be made no later than 2 Aug 2006.

RESOLVED on this, the eighth day of January, 2006, by the Board of Directors of GFMorris.com, Geof F. Morris, Resident Workaholic, presiding.