Hard and Fast Rules

Run 25 29 miles between now and Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is the ultimate holiday. Entirely centered around great food and being with family. The one drawback is the Turkey hangover. Weeks of prep and looking-forward to one meal and then you eat it and you are dead tired and stuffed to the brim. To combat this feeling, I am going to do some serious training in anticipation of the feast so it feels deserved.

UPDATE: Ran 5.25 miles so far. Upped the goal to 29 miles, because it's a 29 pound bird on Turkey Day.

Launch muteNoise on December 1, 2009
muteNoise is kind of the culmination of two great fascinations of mine: new music and web development. The amount of effort that has gone into this has made me think it has to be perfect. Once I come to terms with this (and I think I can say that I have) I'll be ready to roll it out. December 1st, it's finally going to happen.

Finish the Book of Basketball by New Year's
It's a 700-page book and by no means a chore to read. But the act of reading is something that usually loses out to watching sports, playing video games, or anything else I can think of. It's like a pre-New Year's resolution, which I just invented.

Start Investing by New Year's
I just opened up an Individual Brokerage Account with Scottrade (like E*TRADE). However, you need an initial deposit for $500 to start wheeling-and-dealing. I thought it was just 100 bucks when I opened it. And I'm not going to be overly aggressive or anything but I don't really have 500 smackers to blow on a whim. So I'm going to save it up and then invest conservatively.

Prepare for 2010 Winter basketball league
The Chicago sporting club has a weekly league in Wicker Park that peaked my interest. I miss playing basketball and I think weekly competition is a great way for me to work on my game and not let myself slip. It starts in min-Jaunary.

Save $1100 for a new PC by June 2010
My Macbook Pro is what it is. I'm going to keep it around but I'm excited to get a new HP with a huge monitor and Windows 7. I think that Windows has ripped off Mac enough and is so much cheaper, than they are the run-away winner for my business in this area. I'm already started saving.

Be a Better (Morning) Person
I went to bed at 2 AM last night. I watched the Kansas game (that started at 9), watched the Daily Show, and listened to a bunch of podcasts. I was almost late to work and I don't have to be at work until 10 AM. Enough said. I am going to reward my early-worm-getting-ability with exercise and coffee and maybe some muffins.