Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. – Benjamin Franklin

I was thinking about what my 2009 resolutions would be and I thought it would be smart to focus on what I’d like people to say about me at my funeral. This comes from Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — the habit called “Begin with the end in mind.” If you are at the end of your life, looking back what would you like to have accomplished? What kind of person would you like to have been?

2008 was quite a year and knowing at least some of what 2009 will likely entail should make it a really interesting year as well (but hopefully much more positive).  At the start of 2008 everything was going great, mid 2008 about as good as it can get but then at the end of 2008 it fell apart.  I think most people only have one resolution but that isn’t really my style so below are my 2009 new year’s resolutions:

Health Resolutions

• By the end of the year be able to do 100 consecutive push-ups.  I’ve been trying forever (still at 27). 
• Run a mile in under 6 minutes, thirty seconds.  My treadmill in the garage has been getting more use these days.
• Remember to eat.  When I’m stressed I don’t eat, or at least not much.  My little brain gets wrapped up in what is going on around me and I either forget or don’t want to.  Yeah, not eating is probably not a good thing.
• Eat at least one vegetable a day.  Last night I had broccoli.  It’s a start…

Relationship Resolutions

• Spend more time with family and friends.  Remember to tell them how important they are and how much I appreciate them.
• Be a good dad to Tyler and son to my parents.
• Read at least one self improvement book a month.  Right now I’m reading The Marriage Fantasty which was loaned to me by a friend.  By the way the book isn’t saying marriage is a fantasy but rather people have unreasonable expectations about what marriage is and how to make it last.
• Attend church every week (unless I am really sick or something like that of course)
• Try to forgive and forget (might have to forget before I fully forgive…haha)

Career & Hobby Resolutions

• For JeremyPerson.com I am at a 115 visitor daily average so I met my 2008 goal of 100.  For 2009 I’d love it if the traffic would double to at least 200.  Everyone likes to be heard and I am no exception.
• Work hard, play hard, and remember what is important
• Watch at least one movie a week.  These days I am lucky if I get one movie in a year.
• Launch at least 3 new websites (I have lots of ideas)

Random

• Make the bed every day (random I know)

Happy New Year’s everyone!

For Christmas one of my gifts to my nephew was an RC helicopter.  I thought it actually flew but I guess that would be a little dangerous for a two year old (huh, go figure).  Meanwhile Tyler enjoys the simple things in life.

Interesting article from Yahoo Health today about diet soda.  I love soda but I know it is terrible for me so I stopped buying it for home because if it is in the house I’ll drink it.  If I am at a restaurant I usually drink it but I’m trying not to as much as possible especially with diabetes being a problem in my family.

I think this was my favorite fight of the night if you didn’t get a chance to see UFC 92 yet.  I think it was my favorite because it didn’t turn out like I expected it to but I am glad it turned out the way it did.  I’m going to be very interested to see who wins against Brock Lesner next year.  The Cheick Kongo fight was definitely the most brutal of the night so check that out if you want to.  I know I have MMA readers so anyone who wants to comment on the fights you know I can talk for hours about it.

A few weeks ago I took Tyler and the two dogs for a 5 mile walk around our community (quite a feat) and took these pictures.  You have to love the golden hills of California.

You have to love the reaction from the kid in the middle.  I was excited to get a Wii but geeze…

The Discovery HD Channel has a great TV show called Chasing Classic Cars (Gary I know you would love it being a car buff).  I love cars and can’t get enough of the show.  Be sure to check out this episode on turbo.com which I just finished watching about a Bugatti found in a barn that ends up selling at an auction for a ton of money (I won’t ruin it for you).  If you like the show you can check out when it will air here.  I would love to own an old Porsche some day (if it happens great, if not that is fine too) so they also have an epsiode called “Porsches, Porsches, Porsches” which I loved.

Give it a try, very funny.

Kevin helping a guy with his Twitter account.