2009: looking back, looking forward

Happy New Year everyone! I realise that it's a little late, but it's taken me a few days to get adjusted to the fact that it's now 2009.

The start of the year seems like a good time to look back at the last 12 months and think about the things that I would have blogged about at the time. Some of the nonsense that I got up to included cycling 90 miles across the Pennines from Warrington to Chesterfield with my friends Ronan and Charles, and driving 140 miles to Cardigan Bay in Wales to take swimming classes with Swimming Without Stress. As a result of the swimming classes, which are based on the Shaw Technique, I also started taking lessons in the Alexander Technique. Aside from that I went swimming outdoors for the first time (if you don't count the sea): two swims in Hatchmere Lake in Cheshire (the first in May involved a 26-mile round-trip cycle ride from my house and back, the second in September was with a friend and the water was chilly to say the least). I also made a trip out to Nantwich's outdoor brine swimming pool at the end of the summer, and watched the demolition of the Tinsley cooling towers near Sheffield.

And of course, I have this great opportunity to make an extended visit to New Jersey to spend time with Kyle, which has been really fantastic and which included our two-week vacation in Hawaii (which, um, I have still failed to blog about, although some pictures are available if you're interested). It has been and continues to be great to be able to spend so much time together. That adventure goes on!

Of course as well as looking back, New Year is also a time for making resolutions and setting goals for the next 12 months. I don't usually bother with any of that stuff, but over the last few days I thought about a few changes that I'd like to make in life. Many of them are quite simple and small but I think that they could make a big difference to me if I keep them up. They include resolving to talk to people at the swimming pool when they join my lane and then start swimming around apparently at random. I'd also like to stay more focused on finishing projects that I start (sort of "doing less with more"), and remember that saying yes to one thing often means saying no to something else. I'd also like to cut down on my consumption (I was particularly inspired last year by Kyle's last year resolution to reduce her bottled water consumption).

There are some other things that are a bit more specific. I'd like to find ways to enjoy my swimming more again, and to get back to practising my Alexander Technique exercises more regularly (as well as taking the lessons again). I want to answer my emails more promptly (already doing ok with that) and be more spontaneous with my blog postings (that last one's going to be tough I'll admit - this post has already taken seven days to write). I'd also like to try boxing (but more the training than actually fighting with another person) and to finish and deploy the web application that I'm (sporadically) working on right now.

I realise that most of these aren't really tangible goals yet with, y'know, real deadlines and stuff. But then this is life and not project management. And I know that research indicates that both writing things down and publicising your resolutions makes it more likely that you'll stick to them. And since one of my resolutions is to blog more spontaneously, I'm going to end there for now - and simply wish you all the best in your own attempts to make the world a better place in 2009.

Good luck!