Before joining in, I think it's very important to remember last year's resolutions at a time like this, a scorecard of sorts:

-Quit smoking (done)
-Lose 30 lbs (half done, and I am on regular exercise)
-Learn Mandarin (a wee bit of improvement, but not yet fluent)
-Pay off all non-capital (mortage, car) debts (DONE! miserable credit cards are history!)

So, I've got 2 carry-overs, the whole health/fitness things and learning Chinese.

To this list, I'm going to add 2 new ones:

-Be an optimist. I'm tired of worry, fear, doubt and anger... I'm going to spend one year looking at the bright side of everything (even Democrats) and see where that takes me. If I'm wrong, well, I can return with a vengance in 2007, just in time for the next presidential election.

-Get my temper in check. I'd like to see 40 (which will be my baby's 5th birthday) and if I don't ratchet down a notch or two at work and in debates, I'm skeptical on my odds. Without getting into too much detail, I've learned in the past few months, my problems with sources of angst (work, the backroom) stem from me. Thus, I'm going to follow Beirut's lead and stay up front where it's a little warmer for a while.

Happy New Year everyone.