Countdown to 2009

Okay, friends. What I have here is my list of goals for 2009. A lot of people make resolutions, but I prefer goals. And I have a lot of them. Just to be realistic, however, you should know that I have no aspirations of actually completing ALL of these, especially as some of them are counter-productive to completing others (such as #4 and #23). Other goals are simply ridiculous in their scope (such as #8) or so unbelievably unrealistic as to be virtually unobtainable (such as #5). Still, as long as I "shoot for the moon and land among the stars," I'll be happy with the results. So, for the year 2009 (drum roll, please...), I present my goals:

1. Read the Bible
2. (completed) Secure a well-paying job
3. Pay off debt to Mom
4. Pay off credit card debt
5. Learn to speed read 120 pages an hour
6. Finish first draft of my novel
7. Learn Spanish
8. Learn electrical engineering
9. A+ certification (computer technician)
10. Network + certification (network technician)
11. Learn Calculus
12. Learn webpage design
13. World of Warcraft character to level 80
14. Run a 5k race
15. Buy a house
16. Adopt a schnauzer puppy
17. (completed) Join a Bible study home group
18. Learn to draw
19. Start a small business
20. Read all the books I own
21. Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist certification
22. Learn C++ programming
23. Take a vacation to Sandals Royal Bahamian
24. Build my own desktop computer
25. Go to my first Fantasy / Science Fiction convention
26. Visit family in Michigan
27. Visit family in Minnesota
28. Visit friends in Virginia
29. Shoot 45 on a round of golf
30. (completed) Learn to change a tire on my car (added 01/13/09)
31. Learn to change the oil on my car (added 01/13/09)

I should add that this is not an exhaustive list, and I will be adding to it as I think of new things (ooh, I just thought of one now. #29, golf...). And on a final note, I should add that most of these goals have some sort of emotional string tied to them, and in the next few weeks I will probably try to explain why a few from this eclectic bunch made it on my list.

Happy Holidays, everybody!

-Sailor Matt

Delicious and Nutritious

I took an adventurous path today and decided to make myself a home-cooked lunch. I pulled a recipe for sweet & sour chicken off the Internet, ran out to the store to pick up the ingredients, and set to work crafting a home-cooked meal. Even preparing the rice was an experience, as I literally pulled the rice steamer out from its unopened box for the first time today (we've owned it for like six months). Well, the meal was completed without incident, except for one hectic moment when the smoke alarm went off and I didn't have a hand to spare for fear of burning my chicken (except that the alarm going off was a tell-tale sign that perhaps I'd already burned the chicken). With assistance from the wife, I was able to silence the alarm and finish cooking, and ended up with a very delectable dish:


Mmm mmm good!

-Sailor Matt

Getting Back Into the Groove

The last few weeks have been just crazy. Not crazy in a busy way, but crazy in a I-don't-have-a-routine-and-my-world's-completely-upside-down sort of way. Our furniture arrived without complication, and was actually a day early. It was a long week trying to find a spot for everything, and there's still a few things laying out, but our place is probably now more organized than our old apartment was. One major setback is the fact that my wife HATES the living room setup. Here's what we're looking at:

To set the scene: I'm standing in the dining area as I take this picture, and there's a narrow path on the right between the couch and the wall to get to a small foyer and the front door. The couch is as close to the fireplace as we dare get it, and the kitchen is on the left. The door you see leads to the back patio.

Anyway, my wife says that the fireplace ruins the room. Ideally, the couch would go on that wall, and the TV would go up against the kitchen wall on the left. We can't put the couch against the kitchen wall facing the TV and fireplace for fear of something spilling on the kitchen counter and pouring onto the couch. The way we have our couch now kind of makes the room smaller (by way of the little path we have to leave to the foyer).

My solution was to buy a giant plasma TV to mount over the fireplace. It wouldn't help the room arrangement any, but we'd be happy we had a plasma TV. My wife reminded me that I don't yet have a job, and suggested I think more economically.

On the plus side of things, my wife's making upwards of $50 a week selling crocheted baby booties on the internet, so technically we DO have some money coming in. Maybe I should learn how to crochet.

-Sailor Matt