Tabula rasa...!?

An alien orbiting in a spacecraft last night would have observed a series of unusual celebrations occurring at about the time a particular locality finds its zenith pointing out into space away from the Sun. In all other particulars, however, nothing will have changed. The speed of light has not varied (despite reported recent refinements in relativity theory), roses smell as sweet, and car payments loom as menacingly as before. And yet, in many parts of the world, people feel as if they have been given a new start - the proverbial blank slate - with which to start afresh in the New Year.

It is, consciously or not, perhaps one of the most healthy delusions we suffer, even if most people soon find that despite their declarations and resolutions, nothing much seems to have changed. This is because for some people, things will have changed in a positive direction as a result of their conscious decisions to improve their lot.

Last year, I posted a set of affirmations, adding the phrase "without getting into the nitty-gritty implementation details." While that in and of itself was not a mistake, I feel that the reason I fell short in a number of areas had to do with not ever having filled in those details.

I don't plan to fill them in here and now, either. I need, however, to keep in mind that what I choose to do this coming year should, to the extent possible, push me in the direction of the kind of person I want to be.

Enough maudlin sentimentality. Here is a rundown of what kind of person I envision myself to be in 2003:

• I maintain a positive attitude with regard to life and the resolution of life's problems.


• I spend time with my wife, including intimate time, time spent talking, and time spent doing nothing at all... just being together.


• I provide unlimited love and moral support to my children and grandchildren.


• I am a charitable person.


• I demonstrate financial acumen by setting up some kind of savings program for my grandchild.


• I maintain friendships on a regular basis, and take an interest in the lives of my neighbors and acquaintances.


• I exercise regularly and take care of my health.


• I take time off from work to recharge my spirit, and find ways to optimize my income without overworking.


• I consume a healthy diet, refrain from eating within 3 hours of retiring, and refrain from eating junk food.


• I maintain and improve my properties to preserve their value and enhance their environment.


• I file all business-related paperwork by established deadlines.


• I keep meticulous financial records on an ongoing basis.


• I am always aware of my financial position: of my net worth, of my debt, and other important data.


• I act in a manner that is consistent with reducing my debt.


• I am aware of how tax laws affect my life.


• I constantly improve my knowledge of accounting practices.


• I contantly expand my boundaries as a wordsmith.


• I constantly simplify my life by organizing my possessions and/or discarding them to reduce clutter.


• I am a competent, professional linguist who enjoys peer recognition.


• I constantly improve my written Russian.


• I constantly improve my knowledge of Spanish.


• I am a competent administrator who plans and meets deadlines.


• I am an efficient planner who improves work flows.


• I am an effective marketer who lands new clients.


• I am an innovative entrepreneur who finds ways of improving customer satisfaction.


• I record my life and thinking in a journal.


• I avoid petty vexations and useless political discussions.


• I write at least once per month to my parents.


• I improve my mind by reading serious books; at least four this year.

* * *Last night's visit to Mike and Karen's house was very nice. They live in a house that was built by an artist in the days before the phrases "planning commission" and "building code" were known in Archuleta County. Another couple, John and Pat, were there; I missed what it was he did, but learned that Pat has a polysci background, worked as a legislative researcher, hosts a weekly radio show here locally, and is very sure in her beliefs. :^)

We took our leave around 10 pm and drove up a short distance to the kids' place, whereupon they left for a New Year's celebration downtown and we settled down to watch the lobotomy tube.

I think we both fell asleep well before midnight.

The kids got back around 1:45 am, and we elected to go back to sleep (on the couch and living room floor). Bright and early at 6, Galina woke me up and made it clear she needed coffee. Now. As I couldn't find any coffee in the kids' pantry, and as I figured they'd sleep in, we left and had coffee at home. Drew called around 8-ish and we agreed to have dinner over here later this afternoon.

The black-eyed pea soup is simmering. :^)

I hope everyone had a good celebration last night, and I wish everyone the very best in the coming year. I have a feeling it's going to be a great one!

Cheers...

Waiting for a shoe to drop...

...or for the pudding to set.

Earlier in the day, I installed the 120-MB hard drive in what used to be the store computer, but the system hung when doing its POST. A little research shows that the BIOS is too old for such a high capacity drive, and since I plan on installing Red Hat 8.0 on the machine, the software that came with the drive to enable it to be used on Windows systems with antiquated BIOS settings is of no help.

I was referred to a site that took the BIOS identification code and promised to get back to me within a day or two regarding an upgrade. No price was posted on the site, so I'm figuring it's more than $30, but less than $100. We'll see.

My order of a CD and DVD drive for the two Dells I bought two years ago is still languishing in Dell. They've committed to a January 7 ship date, with one day service, but this order is taking significantly longer to process than the original order. The good news is that the Airborne Express call tags arrived at the store, so I ought to be able to send the wrong hardware back tomorrow.

Drew dropped Huntur over earlier in the evening, to allow him some time with Shannon. We had a great time. One of Huntur's favorite pastimes now is to have me stand her on the counter in the corner of the kitchen, just next to a lazy susan spice rack, at which point she will pick bottles and hand them to me to unscrew so we can both smell them. Surprisingly, I find I have infinite patience with this procedure.

I decided to make some "instant" pudding, but used soy milk instead of the Real Thing. That's probably why the pudding didn't harden within the advertised 5-minute period. I sneaked a taste of the liquid pudding, and it's perfectly good vanilla, but even after refrigerating it for a couple of hours, now, it's more of a milkshake than a pudding.

Oh, well. Live and learn.

I'm off to see Galina, sip some Korbels champagne, and rub a pair of feet.

Cheers...