Goals for 2017
2016 was super busy for me and I really am hoping that 2017 is not quite as busy.
I have set some goals for myself this year and am hoping to at least be able to make some progress on them.
Continue to Get in Shape
2016 was a year full of mixed results in my fitness goals. It was the first year since at least 2012 that I didn’t run a single race. No 5k, no half-marathon, no nothing. I was supposed to run a 15k and a 10 miler, but the weather was awful and rainy (I HATE the rain) both days so I just decided to forego the races. In terms of my weight and body fat percentage, I really didn’t make any progress with either, which was my own fault. I never really was able to get my meal plans working. I was able to increase my main lifts though so it wasn’t a horrible year.
I’m going to make a concerted effort to do better with my diet and of course continue to hit the gym and go for runs and bike rides. If I can really push myself to stick with my diet, I think I’ll do better this year. In terms of races, I’m probably going to aim for a couple 5k races and a half-marathon or two. I’d like to beat my 2:15 half marathon record. Maybe I’ll try to do the Philly Half-Marathon this year.
Read More Books
Last year I ended up subscribing to The Economist magazine. The magazine was a fantastic weekly source of news and what’s going on in the world, but its also time consuming to read. It kept my book reading time down and I’m hoping to get back into books. I’m currently on book 4 of The Expanse series by James SA Corey and I have to say it’s a fantastic series, and a good show (the few episodes I’ve seen). I still subscribe to National Geographic, and I haven’t completely ruled out resubscribing to The Economist, but for now, I think I want to stick with books. I recently put together around 30 books I want to read, with many more behind it. I would like to hit 25 books this year so we shall see.
Enjoy the Great Outdoors
Growing up, I was in Boy Scouts and made Eagle Scout as well. But having moved away from my scout troop for college and having settled a little too far to really stay involved in the troop, I haven’t spent much time hiking, camping, and enjoying the great outdoors. I’ve only gone on two hikes in the last 5-6 years. Once to the Pinnacle in Hamburg, PA, and the other to Ricketts Glen State Park near Wilkes Barre, PA. My trip up to Vermont in both July and October made me miss the outdoors so I’m hoping to be able to make it out this year to do more camping trips. I have a lot of the basic gear from my Scouting days so I might see if Lauren or someone else would want to go enjoy the great outdoors. I might look for a local Boy Scout Troop to volunteer with too.
Get Back Into My Side Projects
After college, I started developing OpenVoter as a side project, and while it might not have exactly taken off (not that I was hugely surprised), I really enjoyed being able to spend some of my time working on it. Since then, I haven’t done much outside of my blog and a few little things here and there. I have some ideas for some new projects, so I’d like to spend some time delving into the details and see which, if any I want to pursue. I might also delve more into Node.js and see if it makes sense to use that for anything.
Write More
I didn’t write that much at all last year which was kind of disappointing. That said, I’m hoping to to change that this year. If I can do one, maybe two posts a month, I think that will be good. I have some other things I might want to write as well so we’ll see how it goes this year.
Become a Little More Involved with Politics
I don’t really completely know how to word this one. Anyone who knows me or follows me on Twitter, knows that I definitely slant liberal and do not like the fact that Donald Trump won the presidency. I feel his election is problematic for a whole host of reasons that would be a post in and of itself. My goal this year is to get involved, at least at a local level and as Ghandi put it, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” I’ve made several calls to my representatives and senators to make my voice heard. I’ve never done that before. I sent the occasional email for some issues, but I’ve never been so angry and motivated to make sure my representatives know how I feel (respectfully of course). I’m not sure what that involvement will include at the moment, but I know someone in the local Democratic Party, so my plan is to talk to him and see what I can do.
Disconnect a Little
All too often, I pick up my phone and mindlessly browse Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, or something else. My goal this year is to disconnect some. I deleted Facebook & Reddit from my phone and will hopefully stick with that. I’ve toyed with the idea of deactivating my Facebook account, but for the time being, I think I’ll just stick to browsing it once in a while on my laptop, desktop or tablet. Essentially just get it off of the device in my pocket.
Suffice it to say, I’m going to try to be a little ambitious this year. I don’t know if I’ll be 100% successful in everything, but I figure if I can hit bits and pieces of each one, I’ll be happy.