[quote="Flack"]
Achievements:
Write two books. Release one by April 1st. Release one by November 1st.[/quote]
How large a book do you plan to do? Something like 100 pages, something smaller, something larger?

ICJ: Did you pick an event your going to run?

This inspired the hell out of me for just becoming active a little bit each day.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo[/youtube]

Here are my notes so far. They're not finalized.

Health:
Lose 100 pounds. That's 2 pounds a week for 50 weeks.
Drink more water. (How much?)
Eating: 3 meals a day. 3 healthy snacks a day, if needed. (Fruit or protein bars.)

Achievements:
Write two books. Release one by April 1st. Release one by November 1st.
Read 12 books. One per month. Six should be historical.
Read this list every morning.
Podcast: 12 episodes.
Getting rid of DVDs?
Achieve Certified Ethical Hacker
Declutter.
Sending cards, making phone calls for holidays and birthdays.

If anyone wants to run laps around my neighborhood, the price is $5. All proceeds will go toward buying Twinkees.

Er, health food. Damn.

Run Denver Super Bowl 5K - $30
Freeze Your Buns Off 5k - $25

http://www.runningintheusa.com/race/List.aspx?State=CO

[quote="Flack"]How much does it normally cost to run in a marathon?

Only in America can people charge other people to run. I suspect on the plains of Africa, people have done it for free for generations.[/quote]

I am guessing that the city of Denver has their palm out when it comes to closing streets for an hour or two. (This makes it seem like the city of Denver is more corrupt than all of Africa, and I'll go with it this morning.)

[quote="Flack"]How much does it normally cost to run in a marathon?[/quote]

The Boston Marathon charges $150, and a quick survey of various 5k events, show that they range from anywhere between $25 to $75 with the majority being charity based.

How much does it normally cost to run in a marathon?

Only in America can people charge other people to run. I suspect on the plains of Africa, people have done it for free for generations.

That's cool. It gives me a personal deadline. Right now I can do running in chunks of seven minutes with no problem. Well, it's a huge problem, but you know what I mean.

Just to be safe, because it's so frigging cold in Denver these days, why don't I shoot for the weekend of March 3rd, 2012. Basically two months + the rest of this week.

I'll try to find where there is a 5K in Denver and sign up after I get paid at the end of the week. (No New Taxes.)

[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]I'm already going to get fitter and run a 5K. That's a given.[/quote]

Were both slowly working on the milestones of the Couch to 5k work out regiment, correct? If so, I'll add a third resolution...

3) Run a 5k near or before ICJ's own personal deadline to run a 5k.

If you provide a month and a general estimate of when (either the first or last half) within that time frame, I'll join you in your [b][i]QUEST FOR HEALTH[/b][/i].

[quote="RetroRomper"]I'll give two anyway..

1) Learn and memorize the process of properly tying my helmet in place.

2) Spend $0 on entertainment.[/quote]

God, I was looking back on what I spent this year. I have thrown so much money at eating out and arcade stuff. I gotta knock that off.

When (sometimes-poster) the Milker got hired where I work, I knew we'd go out to lunch often. It's a great way to break up the day. I have been spending between $200 and $300 a month on restaurants the last three months. Some of that is because I have taken my girl out, but Jesus: it's just too much.

The whole thing I do where I buy circuit boards and can't play the games has to stop as well. And yet I would like a pinball, you know?

I spent something like $12 and got three new games over Steam's holiday sale. THAT is the sort of entertainment expenses I ought to be having. Not $650 for Marble Madness.

So that is my resolution. These are my resolutions. I'm already going to get fitter and run a 5K. That's a given. These are the things I want to do:

- No more than $100 a month eating out. (Meaning, if I take my gal out to a $50 dinner, well, that's 5 times I can't eat out at lunch)

- No solo entertainment expenses over $20 for the first six months. At least.

[quote="Tdarcos"][quote="Flack"]Feel free to share yours as well.[/quote]
I hereby fucking promise, with all my goddam heart, not to use any cocksucking profanity or otherwise motherfucking swear, or any of that shit. On December 22, 2012 or after.

(I can get away with this because the Mayan calendar and Nostradamus predicted the world ends on December 21, 2012. This promise is retroactively revoked if the world doesn't end on that [i]date certain[/i]. If it does, I'm going to be really pissed!)

Oh, but what about [i]The 11 days[/i], did anyone take that into account?[/quote]

This isn't funny.

[quote="Flack"] Needless to say, I was surprised at how out of shape I was. I could barely kick waist high, and standing in those deep stances killed my thighs and calves.[/quote]

After my body rebelled at being pushed into practice six times a week, I took two weeks off and discovered that I lost 2/3rds of my conditioning when I returned. The next three months consisted of me nearly blacking out thrice, being physically exhausted after warmups and routinely falling behind in class. Finally, I decided to take the remainder of the year and work on basic conditioning as opposed to "body strength through practice."

For the past two months I've been running, lifting weights (and losing the more physiological kind), and going to yoga regularly. I'm feeling much better in a general sense, though after trying to chain yoga classes together, I discovered that there is still the possibility of burn out. I need to maintain a "every other day" routine for any defined, major activity otherwise my body doesn't have time to recover and I require a period of rest.

So... Lesson learned.

From my parents I inherited a high IQ, a smart mouth, and a slow metabolism -- a combination that can lead to years of schoolyard ass kickings. Fortunately they realized this pretty early on and enrolled me in "American Karate". I took lessons under 9th degree black belt [url=http://www.nationalkarateinc.com/staffmore.asp?staffid=167&page=1&id=30385Jim Butin[/url] at Black Belt Karate Association for roughly 8 years. I went from being a white belt to being a semi-competent brown belt (our school would not allow people under 18 to be a black belt). I would not say I was a bad ass by any stretch of the imagination, but I held my own in a couple of scuffles.

When I turned 16 I got my driver's license and discovered girls and pretty much quit going to Karate.

About 10 years later, I got re-interested in martial arts and decided to look up my old school. Turns out they were having a tournament that weekend, so I drove up there, found Jim, and said hello to him. I mentioned starting back up lessons and he said that would be great and mentioned the fact that I would have to start over on the belt system.

What? ME? A WHITE BELT? I don't THINK so. I was truly offended by this. To show him that I wasn't kidding around, I decided to go home and do some of the moves I remembered (trust me, after performing Chung-Gi 9,000 times, you don't forget it). Needless to say, I was surprised at how out of shape I was. I could barely kick waist high, and standing in those deep stances killed my thighs and calves. I was so embarrassed at what I had become that I never went back to his school.

If there is a silver lining in this cloud at all it's that I got really fucking good at Street Fighter IV, for what it's worth.

That martial arts thing has to be the toughest. I knew a guy at work that was into teh karate. I went with him to the dojo one time, just to check it out and I must say it ain't no Chuck Norris walk in the park. I could never do it.

THE
APPLAUDING
AARDVARK

Anything that is superfluous to my existence: internet / e-mail access is more or less a requirement for me (some of my work involves remote desktop management and script editing, simplifying the debate), but the only borderline elements that I've allocated money to for the new year are...

Year round expenses:

1) Gym

2) Martial Arts (and only half so far as I did last year)

Selective pursuits:

3) My book list

4) SCA Armor

Its partly out of a desire to be less distracted, partly out of the fact that I spent far too much time and money on trivialities this year, but the defining factor is if something isn't an extension of a continued pursuit, I'm eliminating it.

I need to focus.

Wow, that second one is a biggie. What is your definition of entertainment? Movies and video games, sure, but what about things like Internet access?

I'll give two anyway..

1) Learn and memorize the process of properly tying my helmet in place.

2) Spend $0 on entertainment.

Personally, I don't see a difference between a New Year and a new moment, as they both let you mold and shape a habit, thought or idea... And instead of holding off and cultivating guilt when a resolution doesn't progress when an arbitrary marker is reached, I normally implement an idea and enjoy seeing how it changes, how it twists, mutates, and develops as opposed to being a static implementation.

So, right... Not a big fan of New Year Resolutions.