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Happy New Year!
Well, I've been really lax about blogging over the past couple of weeks. I
had an enjoyable Christmas with my family, visiting my mom, brother and sister
and their families, and we spent New Year's Eve with Mrs. Pete's family. I did
get a bad cold or the flu just before Christmas, so I missed spending Christmas
Eve with Mrs. Pete's family. I felt kind of lonely spending Christmas Eve alone
at home, but I didn't want to expose everyone to my illness. I've just now
pretty much gotten over being ill, after about ten days. It wasn't a really
serious illness, but it was persistent. I'm glad to be almost through with it.
Resolutions
This is the time of year that people make New Year's resolutions. I've made
resolutions in the past, but I haven't been very good about following through
with them. It seems to me that the problem with New Year's resolutions is that
they are very much like going on a diet. Once I "fall off the wagon" in
following through with the resolution, I tend to think "well, so much for that,"
and I don't bother trying any more. That thinking is very defeatist, but I fall
into it quite often.
So, rather than make New Year's resolutions this year, I'm going to set some
goals for myself - goals that I'll strive to reach, despite setbacks. I'll try
not to fall into defeatist thinking, even if reaching these goals is slow.
Here are my goals:
- Lose at least 40 pounds by next January 1st. This will be my
toughest goal to meet, I think, since it will require some serious lifestyle
changes. If I don't get serious about losing weight, though, my health will
suffer. I've probably already suffered some negative consequences from being
overweight, so it's time to start exercising and eating right.
- Read through the entire Bible by next January 1st. Mrs. Pete read
through the entire Bible last year. I've read it all, but not as
systematically as that, so she's inspired me to do the same.
- Get our new house completely in order. We bought a new house last
July. It's quite a bit bigger and much nicer than our old house, and we've
really enjoyed living in our new house, but we've gotten lax about getting all
of the projects done that we want to do. It's time to get serious about
getting stuff done.
- Keep this blog up roughly once per week. If I'm going to do this, I
want to do it "right." Of course, there isn't any set of rules about how often
to write or what to write on my blog. It's entirely up to me, but I figure
that to make it worthwhile, my blog ought to have some new content at least
weekly.
- Be consistent at goal setting and evaluating progress.
One of the things I do as an engineer is project planning. To accomplish
anything, whether it's writing a piece of software, building a house, losing
weight, or just about any other thing you want to do, the most certain way to
be successful it to develop a plan: a complete series of steps that
need to be done to accomplish the goal; a realistic timeline to
accomplish each step; and the resources (people, materials, equipment, and so
on) needed to accomplish each step.
Once you begin performing each step on the way to your goal, it's critical
to look on a regular basis at how you're doing on the way to the goal. Are you
accomplishing each step in the time you thought it would take? Are all the
needed steps accounted for in your plan? Do you have enough resources? If the
answer to any of those questions is "no," then you need to adjust your plan to
account for the discrepancy between your original plan and the reality of how
you are actually doing. There is no shame is adjusting your plan. In fact,
it's an absolutely necessary part of meeting your goals. Once the plan is
adjusted, you continue working toward the goal, using the adjusted plan as
your guide. If you continue working toward the goal this way, you really
can't fail, unless you give up. Planning and working in this way results
in continual progress toward the goal, with results that are measurable and
certain.
I'm writing that previous paragraph in large part to myself. I certainly know
how to plan and run projects, meet goals, and so on. I get paid pretty
good money just for that reason. For many of us, myself included, applying
those principles to personal goal setting is difficult. It really shouldn't
be. The principles and techniques are the same. So, one of my goals for this
year is actually a "meta-goal" - I have a goal to be better at setting and
meeting my goals. Weird, eh? Well, now you see how engineers think. ;-)
Knights of the Old Republic
One of the Christmas presents Mrs. Pete bought me (much to her regret, I
think) is the BioWare and Lucas Arts game "Star Wars Knights of the Old
Republic" or "KotOR" as the gamers call it. I've spent way too much time over
the past couple of weeks playing this game. It's been quite fun, and it's a
visually impressive game. The minimum specifications call for a 1 GHz processor.
My computer is only 800 MHz, so its roughly 20% too slow, but the game plays OK
on it. I'd like to see it on a new, fast computer with a good graphics board. I
suspect it would be nearly cinematic quality. Some of the scenery looks great,
even on my old machine. It uses lots of cut-scene videos that add to the story.
It's almost like you're playing a part in a Star Wars film. It's been a fun
game, but the last battle has me frustrated. I can't seem to get past it yet.
This game is definitely on my recommended list. It's excellent fun if you're a
Star Wars or role-playing game fan, and on a reasonably fast machine with a
decent graphics board, it ought to look great.
Update: January 3, 2004: I finally got past the last battle. The
solution was rather obvious, once I thought about it over night. Duh. No
spoilers here, you'll have to play the game yourself!
The Earthquake in Iran
Finally, let me express my sorrow over the horrendous loss of life in Iran.
The earthquake that devastated the city of Bam was an enormous tragedy. My
prayers go out to all of the victims, their families and loved ones. May God
provide the peace that passes all understanding to each and every one of them.
My prayers, also, that the government of Iran will allow all necessary
humanitarian aid to reach the victims quickly. I am grateful the the U.S. has
provided aid, despite the lack of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and
Iran, and I am grateful that Iran accepted aid from the U.S. Perhaps this small
step will lead to future contact between the U.S. and Iran and can provide
impetus toward democratic changes there. The top priority, though, is to provide
relief to the victims of the earthquake. Politics can come later.
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