This is the Year You’ll Meet Your Resolutions

Raise your hand and shout out in pride if you held true to your New Year’s resolutions over the last 350-someodd days. You said you were going to slim two inches from your waistline, volunteer time to charity and tell your significant other you love him or her more often.

Funny, I don’t hear that much hootin’ or hollerin’. Nor do my peepers spy too many hands waving high in the North Metro sky. Basically, no one ever follows through with that list of four or five things that’ll make the upcoming year that much better than the preceding one. Yet, each year, come mid-December, we all fall into the same old trap—committing to lose weight, save more money and walk the dog once more daily.

It’s really an outlandish tradition. Must we really wait until the holiday season before setting goals to better ourselves?
Yes, I hate New Year’s resolutions. Yet, I, too, fall into the same charade year after year. It probably has something to do with penning a column during the slowest of news times. For the last few years, I’ve taken to telling others what they should approve upon. I have a pen and an outlet—if perhaps too big of an ego.

It’s all in good fun, though.

Let’s start with Broomfield Event Center big shot Gene Felling, who has given hope to the fledging arena. He tells us he wants to spend more time with his family and enjoy the Colorado lifestyle. Sounds a bit cliché, if not cheesy, but we’ll give him a pass since he’s spent the last few years living in congested Los Angeles while his Colorado-based family likely rubbed it in. We simply hope he continues to lure big acts to Broomfield, giving the North Metro area a claim to coolness.

Longmont City Council member Karen Benker, who lost her bid for mayor in November, says she wants to lose the weight gained while campaigning. We just want her to continue to be a steward for the community and a leader for all those fresh faces on city council.

And let’s hope the state legislature resolutes to come to an agreeable healthcare solution without bloodshed between political parties. We think universal healthcare in some form will work, but anything that makes affordable care more accessible is fine by us.

Every Longmont resident should put on their list a goal to vote during the Jan. 29 election regarding a church’s attempt to build a huge development—it would be sad if a tiny portion of the population decide such an important issue.

Everyone else should drive less, ride the bus, read more of everything and eat healthy food from local vendors as often as possible.

To be fair, I’ll tell you what goals I’ve begrudgingly set for myself. First off, I will run a marathon this year. This is the second time in my illustrious career that I have promised to finish a 26.2-mile run in print. The first time around didn’t turn out so well. It’s a fresh slate in 2008, right?

Beyond that, I’ll continue to work on improving your favorite magazine (not Oprah, dummy, The Yellow Scene); find the means to buy a hybrid automobile so I don’t pollute so much, or at least donate to a worthy carbon offsetting organization; tell my girlfriend she’s the prettiest woman around more often (this mention is a good start); and reduce my stubbornness from a nine-plus (out of 10) to a six.

Make your list, and let’s talk in February to see how we’re doing.