As another year ends...

Once again, we find ourselves at the end of a year--all of us saying how fast it went and that we can't believe it's over. You would think we'd get used to this. It does happen every year, after all.

As usual, I didn't get a tiny portion of the things done that I wanted to get done. So I spent some time thinking about that on my last bike ride of the year. (Side note--I want to thank Mother Nature for making the last day of December the nicest day we've had in weeks!) People are always saying that they don't have enough time to get all of the things done that they want to get done. Or they don't have enough money. Or they don't have enough talent. Well, while pondering this on my ride, I realized that none of that is really true. No, I don't have as much "me" time as I would like, but I do have a lot of time. And I may not be making as much money as, say, Donald Trump, but my husband and I are living pretty comfortably right now. As for talent, I know I have it, I just don't trust myself.

Now, I'm not going to make a resolution because I think that setting aside one certain day a year to decide to try to change your life is stupid. And I'm not even going to set a whole bunch of goals like I've done (and failed to accomplish) in past years. What I have decided is that I need to start making more conscious decisions about my life and about those things I chose, or chose not, to do. I need to make those things I want or desire to do a priority. I need to quit allowing myself to say, "I'll do that (whatever -that- is) in a minute," and start doing those things right when I think of them. Perhaps I'm deluding myself and just rephrasing what I've told myself in past years in a slightly different way, but I really hope I'm not.

So if any of you catch me lounging around saying, "I'll do it in a minute," please give me a kick in the butt. I won't mind. Much.

To end, I thought I'd share one of my favorite pictures from the trip my husband and I took to California this year. (Yes, a trip that almost nobody has seen pictures of except for the paltry few shots that I managed to get on Facebook. See, this is one of those things.)

Thanks, Janice!

Ok, this is probably not going to completely satisfy my friend Ernie who has been on my case to blog more, but this is too good not to share. My friend Janice sent me a link to a blog post that she described as, "This is so you." And it is. So without further ado, I share with you the elusive 'alot' from Hyperbole and a Half. Well, actually, he's not that elusive.

And Ernie, since I just had to get up and remind myself how to turn text into a link, consider your point made. Not that it will change my behavior, but the point is made.

The Annual Biking Update

And I'm even managing to do it before the first month of the new year is over!

The 2009 biking year started good, then got very strong, then fell off of a cliff. Some time in April or May, I started biking before work several days a week, gradually working up to biking 5-6 days a week. Shortly after that, I broke through the mental block about biking to Stone Mountain Park (pushed by a fellow biker I would often see), so my weekend rides started getting even better.

And then the rains of September came. And then I started climbing Stone Mountain with a friend several times a week. And then I started climbing the mountain on my own a couple more days a week. And biking basically stopped. But even with that, I had a decent year.

Total miles for the year were 1599.94 (and had I been totaling as I went, I would have gotten that last 0.06 miles just to make a nice, even number) with 1212.5 of those being actual road miles and only 387.44 being trainer miles.

This year, I've managed two outside rides so far and have been on the trainer a number of times. I'm trying to do a little better job of balancing the biking and the mountain climbing/hiking. We'll see how it goes!