New Year's Resolutions 2015

Physical Goals:

1. Drink more water. Drink as much as 8 cups of water a day. Thankfully green tea counts! 
2. Work out at least 3 times a week. At least two of those times should involve strength-training, and I should feel sore the following day.
3. Brush my teeth and floss after dinner. I went back to the dentist, and they shamed me into flossing my teeth.
4. Eat salad as a meal 4 days out of the week. Load up the refrigerator with salad staples:
   • Southwestern: corn, black beans, avocado, tomatoes, chicken breast
   • Caesar: Parmesan, anchovies, eggs, red onion, tomatoes, green peppers, chicken breast, or salmon
   • Mina's simple “Summer Camp Salad”: tomatoes, green peppers, carrots, ranch dressing
   • Mark's “Sweet” Salad: Blue cheese crumble, caramelized nuts, red onion, green apple, honey dijon dressing
5. Continue to avoid eating trans-fat and saturated fat. Eat more chicken, lean pork, fish and vegetable sources of proteins.
6. Begin to eliminate all aluminum exposure from using aluminum pots and pans. Replace all aluminum pots and pans with ceramic coated, or stainless steel coated pans.
7. Continue to sleep at least 8 hours a day.

Spiritual Goals

1. Travel more and have more fun. This past year, I spent all of my vacation time tending to family matters. This year, I intend to travel somewhere far-flung like Palau for my big 40th birthday! And I intend to plan at least one fun event per month. Here are some smaller fun events I want to plan for:
   • Coachella
   • Monterey Jazz Festival
   • Concerts at Bing Hall Concert hall at Stanford
   • Comic-Con in San Diego
   • Visit to Catalina Island for diving
   • Liveaboard trip to Channel Islands
2. Meditate at least twice a week for at least 15 minutes at a time.

Financial Goals:

1. Be frugal, and stay within my budget, particularly post-kitchen and bath remodel. First and foremost, my emergency fund must be adequate. Secondly, I need to be on track for retirement. Thirdly, I need to create a mechanism for saving for my big 40th birthday trip.
2. Fully re-distribute my IRA investments. I recently moved all of my IRA investments from a financial advisor's control into my own brokerage accounts. I also need to create reminders to evaluate the performance of my IRA's.

Creative Goals

1. Finish my novel. I began a science fiction novel during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) lastNovember. Although I finished writing 50,000 words in the month of November, which is the goal of NaNoWriMo, I fell short of completing the novel itself by about 20,000 words. This year, I intend to finish the novel, and do at least a single-pass edit of the sprawling mess.
2. Make use of the leftover marble tile and Neopolitan plyboo.
3. Make use of the leftover faux fur.
4. Cook more in my kitchen.

Career Goals

1. Be more ambitious. Think bigger. I find myself being too conservative at times from a design perspective. Anytime, I have a design project, I should reach for a goal that is beyond what my superiors ask. And something more challenging than what I could easily accomplish.
2. Take the basic milling class at TechShop.
3. Take the Tormach CNC class at TechShop.
4. Take the basic woodshop class at TechShop.
5. Do not say "Sorry". Sell yourself, sell yourself, sell yourself.
6. Be less reactive. Understand my emotional triggers and take a deep breath and not react whenever these triggers occur.
• Perceived attacks on my competence
• Perceived sexism
• Perceived Infringing over my realm of responsibilities