Monday, December 31, 2012

New Years Resolutions

I figure I ought to offer up a few resolutions for the New Year. I am trying to better myself, for what it's worth.

1). I resolve to spend less time comparing liberals to Nazis. Using the Nazi comparison all the time tends to make it less effective, especially when they actually are acting like Nazis.

2). I resolve to spend less time comparing democRat leaders to Hitler. This is quite unfair. Hitler was only responsible for about 20 million deaths through attempted genocide and the war itself. With around 54 million dead from abortion alone, liberal numbers are much closer to Stalin and Mao.


3). I resolve to lose weight. Easy to say I now, but I've lost about 16 pounds a year over the last 2 years, and I figure that if they will hold off for another 10 years or so, I will be ready to fight in the next Civil War, new American Revolution or Zombie Apocalypse, whichever comes first.

4). I resolve to increase my walking mileage over the year just past. In 2012, I walked over 750 miles over the course of the year. I hope to hit 800, or maybe even 850 in 2013. Not only is walking good exercise, and helps get you in shape, but with the price of gas likely to skyrocket, along with energy costs on general, I guess I ought to be better prepared to take a long hike.

5). Speaking of long hikes, I resolve to increase my number of long hikes. I had three of greater than ten miles in 2012. I ought to be able to double that, at least, maybe more. If there is a breakdown in the Union, I want to be prepared to head south and west, to Texas or Oklahoma, where I'll be among similar minded people. And, assuming a Zombie Apocalypse, I want to be able to walk to Alaska. Zombies hate cold, you know.

6). I resolve to buy an assault rifle. Not only am I jealous that my wife is better armed than me, but I want a weapon that will make liberals cower in fear at the slightest thought that I have it. Wouldn't even have to pull it out, I suspect, just say, "Hey, wanna see my AR-15?" and watch the fun begin.

7). I  resolve to live within my means. If I believe the government ought to, then I ought to as well. Currently, my annual outflow is about 105% of my gross annual income, with a revolving debt of about 12% of that figure (I'm not counting mortgage and car in this figure. They are figured into the monthly budget as fixed expenses, not revolving credit.) Shouldn't be too hard to pare back, although the Obameconomy makes it more difficult. Also, a horrid lack of self-control that would make a congresscritter blush.

8). I resolve to throw liberals' Alinskyite tactics right back at them. Ridicule? Got it in spades. Make them live by their own rules? You bet. If they want to fling mud, let's make sure they get muddied in the process.

Anyway, that's eight. Does anyone out there have any good ones? I'm up for hearing them.  Have a happy and safe New Year, and see you next year!

28 comments:

  1. I am *so* with you on these, except for the walking thing. I'll have to get my bike fixed (it's a "knees" thing). The rest of your resolutions; spot on!

    Oh, and you'd be welcome in Texas.

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    1. I've thought about getting a bike and mixing the walking with the biking, but as a bike costs money, I'm more likely to stick with the walking.

      I liked Texas the few times I've been through. Spent a week in DFW, which would have been more fun if I hadn't been sequestered in a hotel at the airport. But they took us to do fun stuff in the evenings after our classes, so some good stuff. Staued a night in Junction, because I was too tired to go any farther that night, and went through the Alamo, saw the Astrodome, and drove through Houston at rush hour (okay, that part kind of sucked).

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  2. I drove just shy of 900 miles yesterday, and that is a LOT of walking! Congratulations! I assume you wear a pedometer, and you didn't hoof all that at once . I took up zumba a year and a half ago and have lost 35 pounds. I'm at my goal weight, but love the dancing so much, I'm going to keep out up with a belly dancing focus for 2013. It's so much fun I'm sure someone will want to start taxing it somehow.

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    1. 754.1 was the final tally, and no, not all at once. I did it one step at a time. I measured a few different street loops so I could use them repeatedly, which I did, and Akron/Summit County has one of the best Metropark systems in the country. I've walked every trail in the system except the bike/hike trail, which is 31 miles or so. I've walked parts, but not the whole thing. We also have the Cuyahoga Valley National Park with some decent trails, and the Ohio and Erie Towpath trail, which I've also walked parts of. Mygoal is to walk the towpath from the lake in Cleveland to downtown Akron in one day (about 35 miles). That will be in a few years.

      Almost every walk I made was measured by the park systems, or with the odometer of my car. A few times I had to count steps (2000 is considered a mile, which I verified on a treadmill, so I counted 2100 per mile just to be sure, and only for short distances to keep the length of my stride consistent.

      On another topic, where did you drive 900 miles? I don't think I've done that many miles in a day more than once or twice, and that includes each leg of my trip from California to Ohio, which logged about 5000 miles over 2 weeks. Heck, I can get to almost any city east and north of the Missouri and north of Orlando in less than 900 miles. Hope you had an awesome trip.

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    2. Wow. If you don't tally all of your steps on a pedometer (like all the ones to and from the car, and around the house, etc.) and all of your miles are actual "walking" miles, that's even MORE impressive. I like walking too, and have been doing it for years (haha), but dancing is different every time and keeps my interest better. I can get
      easily bored.

      My trip. I live in Wisconsin, and my parents and oldest daughter live in Montgomery, Alabama. Circumstances were such that we had to be in Alabama this Christmas (long story) even though I'd have preferred spending it at home. My daughter attends Auburn University and lives with my parents. I have made the trip many times, but this is my first time with my kids without another adult. It was somewhat daunting. We do it straight through in about 14.5 hours, only stopping for gas twice. I pack lots of food and activities to keep the natives from getting restless. In the past I have read and slept...but being the only driver this time, I thought it best to change things up :) Let's just say I feel awfully glad to be home.

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    3. Sounds like a fun trip. I wish I was in Alabama. It would be much warmer, and no snow, which I hate (the snow, not the lack of snow).

      Did you know the toothbrush was invented in Alabama?

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    4. Um no. How did you learn such a useful piece of trivia?

      Alabama is lovely at Easter. I don't like it much any other time of the year. We spent an entire evening huddled at the bottom of the stairs hoping the tornadoes wouldn't hit us. And the bugs and the humidity,and snakes...not my favorite.

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    5. I'm a font of useless information.

      Actually, my birth mom in Georgia told me about the toothbrush being invernted in Alabama, because anyplace else, it would have been a TEETHbrush.

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    6. P.S. Is that an actual picture of you, or did yousteal one off the web like I did?

      Just curious.

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    7. Haha about the toothbrush! Thankfully, I'm not from Alabama. I was born in Utah.

      Yes, it is a picture of me from last fall. Are you suggesting I trade it in on a better one? Geez.

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  3. No, I'm not suggesting you trade it in, I just wanted to pay you a compliment and tell you that you are horribly pretty. I just feel dumb saying something nice and then getting told "Oh, I stole that picture from such and such a website."

    I like to say something nice, if I can (and I could, so I did), especially from the warm safe confines of my secret lair.

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    1. :) Well that's the nicest thing anyone has said to me this year. Ok ok in much longer. Thanks.

      At least I think it was nice. I'm not sure about the "horribly" part. Does that mean you think I'd make a sexy zombie or something?

      And how did you get a secret lair??? No fair.

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    2. I like to use 'horribly' as an intensifier. Most people use 'awfully,' but I like the way 'horribly' sounds better. Much more conspiratorial.

      Anll you have to do to get a secret lair is move your computer desk somewhere no one else really wants to go. Mine is in the attic. The door is in my son's room, and he's afraid of it because, you know, ghosts (and we do have ghosts), so the dresser is in front of it,and I have to move it to get to the attic. It would be even more awesome if I had a secret lever to move the dresser, but as yet, nothing.

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    3. I moved all the dressers in the house to no avail. :(

      Why do you have to be in a safe warm secret lair to say something nice, anyway?

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    4. I don't know. And it's not really all that warm, anyway: for whatever reason, the heat from the furnace doesn't really get up there. I have to wrap myself in my Browns blanket, which is cold comfort come January, let me tell you... Nor is it all that secret, considering I just published the location on the Interwebs. Safe enough, though,except maybe in a tornado or an earthquake.

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  4. Suggestion. Electric blanket. They make "throws" that are just the right size for one. That's what I choose whenever I'm feeling chilly...which is frequently. I like to snuggle under it before I fall asleep.

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  5. It's actually not too bad. The attic may not be well insulated, but I am. I actually enjoy cooler temperatures, to a point (It's the snow that I hate). Staying cooler means burning calories to keep body temperature up, and I need to burn all the calories I can.

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  6. Sounds kinda miserable. I'm currently snuggling my horrible prettiness under my toasty warm blanket to watch...idk, something on my laptop. Suggestions?

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  7. Cloverfield. It's one of the greatest monster movies of all time, if you can handle the portable camera POV type cinematography. Only one bloody scene that takes place behind a plastic sheet, so not too graphic, and, on the theory that less is more, you just get tiny glimpses of the monster through most of the movie.

    It's really intense. It actually kept She Who Must Be Obeyed quiet for a solid 80 minutes, except for random exclamations. And that NEVER happens: It's always "why did they do this?" and "why did they say that?" and, "What's going on here?" and "Pause it, I have to pee." So, a good one.

    Unless you don't like monster movies.

    Our current TV show is "Big Bang Theory," which is cool because the characters are smart social misfits like us. We usd to watchDVR "Red Eye" on Fox News and watch it when we got home from work, but our shifts are different now, and I have to take Dummy (the dog) for a walk every night when I get home, so we usually watch BBT, because it's 1/2 an hour and it's funny.

    What sort of stuff do you watch, usually?

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  8. No monster movies. The ONLY reason I would ever watch anything scary would be as an excuse to cuddle next to someone ( with my eyes closed of course) I hate scary, and since I'm alone...

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  9. another friend suggested Downton Abbey so I tried it last night. I like that kind of thing. I also like psych and white collar and the Mentalist and funny chick flicks. I don't like violence or potty humor our anything nsfw.

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    1. We're kind of horror buffs here. When we finally saw the trailer for the "Evil Dead" remake, she said "Wow. Of course we'll have to see it. Compare and contrast." My collection is almost all horror, action, naughty comedies and, oddly, Disney movies, most of which predate the kids.

      However, if you are looking for something in a more historical type vein, my dad was a huge fan of the Sherlock Holmes series of Mystery on PBS, with Jeremy Brett as Holmes. I've seen a few, and they are entertaining and faithful to the source material. My dad was distraught when Brett died before completing all of the stories. I've seen a few, and they are well done and entertaining. If you're looking on your laptop, they should be available somewhere. I don't have Netflix or Hulu, as yet, so I wouldn't know for sure.

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    2. It seems like you two are well matched. I think that's wonderful.

      Thanks for the Sherlock Holmes suggestion. It sounds fun. I'll check and see if amazon prime has it. The only thing that worries me is that people keep suggesting things to me that their PARENTS like. ;) Maybe I'm just an old soul. Or, perhaps, the biggest goody goody that ever lived. At least old people like me :)

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  10. Don't worry, I think you're around my age, is not somewhat younger. My dad was just a huge Sherlock Holmes fan. I do believe I have his Complete Annotated Edition in my basement. I haven't seen Downton Abbey, but I gather it's a period piece british drama, so I suggested one that I know to be similar and of high quality. If you like British humor, Monty Python is, of course, the gold standard. However, Time Bandits and Brazil (By American Python Terry Gilliam) are fun, though with Brazil you have to get the longer Director's cut to get the good version.

    Do you read much? I got a Kindle for Christmas 2011, and it is my ever present companion. I think it's the most important invention in literature since the Gutenberg press. If you want some recommendations about what to read, and have a Kindle, I can steer you to some amazing low-to-no cost trading that I have come across, in many different genres.

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  11. Haha you think we're the same age, huh. Hmm. We'll have to see.

    I checked and the Sherlock Holmes movies are on Amazon instant streaming but they're not free with prime like many others. :( I have a little amazon credit, so maybe I'll try one when I'm finished with Downton Abbey.

    My best friend gave me a kindle for Christmas 2011 as well. I LOVE to read but in my current situation (long story) I have been watching movies rather than reading for entertainment. I think I may have caught ADD from someone who used to live at my house. Or perhaps, parenting alone, I am just too BEAT at the end of the day to focus. I'd love to hear your suggestions, anyhow. If they're AWESOME maybe I can give reading a whirl again. Geez. That sounds pathetic.

    P.S. You are awfully kind and helpful to a complete stranger. :)

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  12. Okay, here goes: I like thriller type stuff, among other things,so an author I've been talking up a bunch is Dani Amore. She's an independent author, and her stuff is as close to perfect as I've found for a light, enjoyable read. Start with "Death By Sarcasm." It's a murder mystery, and full of rotten jokes, and reminds me of my extended family. It's a lot of fun. If you like James Patterson, Amore's "The Killing League" is written in a very similar style, but better, I think.

    Since you like historical fiction, there is a series of books out, starting with "The Hangman's Daughter," which are murder mysteries set in medieval Germany. They are entertaining and based somewhat in fact, as the characters are actually the ancestors of the author. There is a new one out right now, so you might be able to pick the first two fairly cheap.

    If you like sci-fi, There is a series called "Wool," by Hugh Howey which is kind of a sensation at the moment. Get the Omnibus Edition, which contains the first five books. The first is a novella that goes exactly where you think it's going to go, then goes one step further. It's pretty good, but the stories get better as they go.

    I also very much liked the "Shift" trilogy by Zack Mason, which is light sci-fi set in the present and near future and distant past. They were fun and took a bunch of unexpected turns. The third book is a little long and repetitive, but overall the series entertains.

    More later.

    P.S. You;re not really a complete stranger anymore, even if you are Anonymiss :).

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  13. Thanks for everything. Thank you so much.

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