2007 GOALS
I know it's almost February. You'll get over it though. I've been trying to come up with some good goals for this year and I also wanted to hold off announcing one of said goals until I was at least 75% sure I could make it happen. I only have 3. I feel like I should have more. Especially since one of them will be over by the middle of May. But I guess 3 will have to do. There are of course other things I would like to accomplish this year but I don't want to commit myself to the point of having it in writing. So here goes ... in no particular order ... unless you consider least important to most important a particular order.
1) Learn to like coffee.
-I hate coffee. Absolutely hate it. I wanted so much to like it in college just for the caffeine, but I couldn't stomach it. And it's one of the coolest drinks in the world I think. I would place it second behind beer in a list of coolest drinks. It's practically universal. Can you tell me a place on Earth you can go and not get coffee? Like beer it is always referred to by its name and not by its brand. It's simple. And it's timeless. And for some reason I hate the taste of it. Everyone says you have to fight through the bad taste until you acquire a taste for it. I used to think this was horrible advice but I have experienced this process with root beer and with regular beer and now I am a believer in the acquired taste theory. So I will give it my all. I've tried coffee with sween 'n low before. I've tried mochas. Never tried it with cream or milk though. Does that make it better? Thoughts on this?
2) Learn to cook.
-another thing I'm not so good at. This is definitely an underappreciated skill. My grandmother always makes it look so easy so I figured there wasn't much to it and anyone could do it. I was wrong. I think my problem is I just dabble in it and never really commit myself to any one dish or any one meal. Plus I'm usually just cooking for one which is hard to get motivated for. So there are 12 months in the year and my goal is to learn to prepare and cook 12 different meals. Not 12 items. 12 meals. I think that's a good mix of challenging and reasonable. And that will give me a nice arsenal of options.
3) MS150
-this is the one I was holding off on until I was at least 75% sure I would do it. Let me give you some background. On a purely physical level ... I've been running more lately and I began to have thoughts of training for a marathon or maybe a half marathon. You see, everyone gets so freaked out by the 26.2 miles, but the part that gets you and that really sets people apart is the training. It's tough. And it takes a long time. Unless you're just some freak of nature who can get up off the couch and run that far. I had a friend that ran one back in October and I remember in the months leading up to the race I would often ask her what she was doing the next day and she almost always responded with something like, "I'm running 20 miles to train for the marathon." All that to say, I decided to opt out of marathon training. I did however have the desire to train for some sort of physical activity so I began looking in other areas. I used to mountain bike in college. Loved it. But it's been a while since I've done it. I talked to my college roomate Quincy a few weeks ago and he was telling me about how he's gotten into road biking. I had been thinking of this for a while and then it all of a sudden hit me that I should check into the MS150.
Now let me give you some personal background. For those of you who don't know ... the MS150 is an annual bike tour who's purpose is to raise money and awareness for multiple sclerosis and specifically for the Lone Star chapter of the National MS Society. Within the past several years I have had two very close family members diagnosed with MS. The fight to find a cure for this disease has become something that is very close to the hearts and minds of everyone in my family and I couldn't think of a better opportunity to continue to be involved with and in support of the vital research that is being done.
I will try to update very regularly on my progress in preparing for this. The tour takes place on May 5-6 here in the DFW area so I have several months to prepare ... and I have a feeling it will take every bit of that.
So there you have it everyone. I know there are only 3 goals, but I like them and look forward to the challenge. Here's to the beginning of what I hope proves to be another wonderful year. It's my 30th one you know, so I want to make it a great one.
1) Learn to like coffee.
-I hate coffee. Absolutely hate it. I wanted so much to like it in college just for the caffeine, but I couldn't stomach it. And it's one of the coolest drinks in the world I think. I would place it second behind beer in a list of coolest drinks. It's practically universal. Can you tell me a place on Earth you can go and not get coffee? Like beer it is always referred to by its name and not by its brand. It's simple. And it's timeless. And for some reason I hate the taste of it. Everyone says you have to fight through the bad taste until you acquire a taste for it. I used to think this was horrible advice but I have experienced this process with root beer and with regular beer and now I am a believer in the acquired taste theory. So I will give it my all. I've tried coffee with sween 'n low before. I've tried mochas. Never tried it with cream or milk though. Does that make it better? Thoughts on this?
2) Learn to cook.
-another thing I'm not so good at. This is definitely an underappreciated skill. My grandmother always makes it look so easy so I figured there wasn't much to it and anyone could do it. I was wrong. I think my problem is I just dabble in it and never really commit myself to any one dish or any one meal. Plus I'm usually just cooking for one which is hard to get motivated for. So there are 12 months in the year and my goal is to learn to prepare and cook 12 different meals. Not 12 items. 12 meals. I think that's a good mix of challenging and reasonable. And that will give me a nice arsenal of options.
3) MS150
-this is the one I was holding off on until I was at least 75% sure I would do it. Let me give you some background. On a purely physical level ... I've been running more lately and I began to have thoughts of training for a marathon or maybe a half marathon. You see, everyone gets so freaked out by the 26.2 miles, but the part that gets you and that really sets people apart is the training. It's tough. And it takes a long time. Unless you're just some freak of nature who can get up off the couch and run that far. I had a friend that ran one back in October and I remember in the months leading up to the race I would often ask her what she was doing the next day and she almost always responded with something like, "I'm running 20 miles to train for the marathon." All that to say, I decided to opt out of marathon training. I did however have the desire to train for some sort of physical activity so I began looking in other areas. I used to mountain bike in college. Loved it. But it's been a while since I've done it. I talked to my college roomate Quincy a few weeks ago and he was telling me about how he's gotten into road biking. I had been thinking of this for a while and then it all of a sudden hit me that I should check into the MS150.
Now let me give you some personal background. For those of you who don't know ... the MS150 is an annual bike tour who's purpose is to raise money and awareness for multiple sclerosis and specifically for the Lone Star chapter of the National MS Society. Within the past several years I have had two very close family members diagnosed with MS. The fight to find a cure for this disease has become something that is very close to the hearts and minds of everyone in my family and I couldn't think of a better opportunity to continue to be involved with and in support of the vital research that is being done.
I will try to update very regularly on my progress in preparing for this. The tour takes place on May 5-6 here in the DFW area so I have several months to prepare ... and I have a feeling it will take every bit of that.
So there you have it everyone. I know there are only 3 goals, but I like them and look forward to the challenge. Here's to the beginning of what I hope proves to be another wonderful year. It's my 30th one you know, so I want to make it a great one.
posted by Craig at 2:41 PM
3 Comments:
Many props on the goals. Two pieces of advice:
1) Watch your naughty bits while you're riding on a bike that long. And I don't mean stare at them the whole time, but be aware of their need for protection.
2) As I have been on the journey to like the taste of coffee which you are about to embark upon, I will tell you some things that will happen. You're going to have to waste a lot of money on coffee before you find that one drink that still has the coffee taste to it, but is forgiving enough that you can drink it until you are ready to move on to something stronger. I am in the stage where, when at Starbucks, I order a Decaf, Non-Fat, Grande, Upside Down Caramel Macchiato w/ a little extra caramel.
Now it tastes good when done right, but I feel like a huge dork and total douche everytime someone hears those words come out of my mouth. But that's just part of the journey to being able to say, "Coffee. Black." Then you feel like a total badass.
i wholeheartedly support biking. it's way better than running. go for it, dude.
my advice is not to mix the coffee with the biking.
I have no weigh in on the biking, but totally respect the goal. I look forward to hearing how it all goes down in May (Tiffani Simpson's wedding day by the way).
Good luck with the cooking. I find I have the same struggles (cooking for one). For me, after all the work, it's just hard for me to want to eat it... or maybe I suck at cooking and it tastes bad and I don't want to admit it.
Milk - cream to be specific will make a HUGE difference in your coffee drinking endeavor. After 10 years of drinking it, I can now stomach it black if I have too. I started with those instant, swiss cafe things... and then coffee with cream... Good luck. Maybe we can grab a cup of coffee next time I'm in Dallas/Fort Worth.
Post a Comment
<< Home