2017: Here we go!

I don’t usually resolve things, but last year I let some good habits slip away, and this year I want them back. So by publicly declaring them here, maybe I improve my chances.

  • Writing:
    • Write SOMETHING (almost) every day
    • More detailed character descriptions
    • Settings are characters
    • It ain’t worth squat if nobody reads it
  • Health:
    • Bicycle more miles than I drive (road trips excluded)
    • Improve commute pace by 3mph
    • Resume the no-beer-until-weekly-weight-target-reached regime (starting tomorrow)
  • Life:
    • Productive procrastination — use idle time better

The health ones are all things I have done well in the past. I didn’t have to wait for the new year to restart them, except that having a week off from work and being surrounded by excellent cooks would have doomed any attempt. Bicycling was improving in December, now I have to regain that momentum.

My average-speed-during-commute goal would put me back to about the speed I was going when I was in a state the fitness experts call “not potato”.

“Use of idle time” includes fixing the terrible Patreon plugin for WordPress, continuing to improve my Swift skills (especially on Linux), coming up to speed on photo editing and workflow options to replace Aperture, and keeping the Honey Do list short. The list of “productive” things will of course change over time.

But right now, I need to go play a game on my phone.

Edit to add:

Starting numbers for mileage challenge:
Bike: 7740 miles
Car A: 151968 miles
Car B (driven by two people): 6099

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9 thoughts on “2017: Here we go!

  1. I can relate; Let’s hold each other accountable!

    “bike more miles than I drive (road trips excluded)”: that’s a great one, and one that is help tremendously on both sides of the equation by commuting to work by bike. I hadn’t thought of it, but I bet I already do this.

    Beer: definitely trying to cut back to only a couple of dinners a week. Helps both weight and budget. I only had two on New Years.

  2. Updated with data: my car had 5500 miles on it in 2016 and my bike(s) 5096. I’m going to claim some miles on road trips to Orange County and some miles driven by children, and declare I did bike more miles than I drove (alone) in 2016.

    • Nice! I’m pretty confident I rode more than I drove in the first year I owned the bike (4800 miles on bike, had to get a trickle charger for Car A because I drove it so seldom, < 2000 miles by both drivers on Car B).

  3. Okay, judgment day. Strava says I biked 6336 miles this year. My own manual count was 6285. Checking the practical Ford Focus odometer tonight… (2017) 32859- (2016) 28112 = 4747 miles. I made my dual goals of 6000+ miles biked and biking more miles than I drove my car, without even any subtraction of miles the boys drove my car. Woohoo!

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