2021 Resolutions!

      I used to do one of these types of posts every year as a way of keeping myself accountable. However back in the winter of 2017 I started having health issues which culminated in an open heart surgery. As you can imagine this caused quite a disruption in my life and for the last 3 years I hardly had any time to focus my mind on End of Year resolutions, when the only End of Year resolution that mattered for me and my family was "Get better".

    Enter COVID 19. Because I'm considered  "high risk" (Due to my heart problems) I have had to sit in my home for the last 10 months, which gave me a lot of time to return to activities I had neglected since before my surgery. So this year, as 2020 ends I decided to return to my resolution tradition. After much meditation I realized that this year I only care for 1 resolution.

    "I will be more present in the real world."

   You might be wondering what I mean. Well, I noticed that because of my long recuperation during  2017-2018 and the COVID 19 quarantine I  have developed the habit of spending a considerable share of my time viewing online content. Time that I was robbing away from my family and activities that throughout my life have given me great pleasure, like playing classical guitar, reading, blogging and podcasting.  My only online presence during the last three years has been basically emails and Facebook posts. I have decided that in 2021 this is going to change. By "being more present" I mean that I will stare less at screens and will use my time in a most productive way in "The real world" by continuing projects that have more significance to my life and ministry and that will leave a better digital footprint of myself for my friends and family, than just a bunch of funny Facebook posts.  

 
Now, I understand that "being more in the real world" is quite a general statement, so I need to refine the idea a bit more so that it could be applied to my day to day life. So I figure that I could translate this into 4 more specific activities that will help me focus better during this year. They are:

        A. Lurk less.

  Again, I spend an in ordinate amount of time staring at different social media, just to publish a few funny Facebook posts a week. In order to be more present in the real world I will focus on  being less and consumer of pre-processed content. 

        B.  Leave more permanent traces of myself.

  This might sound silly to some (perhaps it was my close brush with death) but for a while I've been thinking, "If  100 years from now one of my great-great-children decides they would like to get to know me better and went to the internet to find any digital traces I have left behind, what kind of picture would they get of me if the only content they can find are just my Facebook posts?". To leave better permanent traces of myself, this year, I will copy and paste less and endeavor to create more. I will focus on leaving a permanent record of my thoughts and significant events in my life. 

        C. Stay honest with myself.

 One of the reasons I have achieved both personal and professional goals throughout my life has been my ability for self reflection and self discipline. I have always thought  that I owe this to my Catholic upbringing, that always calls me to reflect on the consequences of my actions on others lives and to sacrifice comfort and personal pleasure for the greater good. (Fasting and penance are a great way to develop self discipline!) This year I will endeavor to reflect more on how I'm using my time and be willing to adjust my path when moving away from my goals. In short: I will try to be less on "automatic" mode and more on giving my complete attention to every task at hand. After all my goal is to leave a better picture of myself, so I need to pay attention to make sure I leave the best of me.

        D. Improve my skills.

   As I was recuperating from my surgery (2017-2018), I spent a lot of time just sitting on the sofa watching reruns of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, or just sitting quietly and reflecting about the meaning of  my situation. (Back then my prayer to God was "I can't wait to see what good are you going to squeeze out of this mess in which you have put me")  Looking back I realize that this was the only thing I could do while the hole in the middle of my chest healed. Which drove me crazy!  But the situation required me to completely focus on healing my body as well as my spirit. 

   As 2019 ended I was feeling pretty good. I was in the best shape of my life (Or at least since my college years) and was beginning to think of what challenges I could take for the new year. And then the pandemic quarantine happened. During my time at home I was able involve myself in projects that improve my skills professionally as well as personally. I have completed a couple of construction projects around the house and honed my programing skills on Python and R programming. I have began to take a look at the new computer science field of Data Science.  All of my life I had been a student in one field or another, but was forced to neglect this side of myself for two years. In 2021 I will continue to focus my efforts on learning and growing.

   Now that I have broken down my year's resolution in 4 areas,  I can create a list of real life activities that will make me more present to the world.

Here is my list:

A: Lurk Less

Limit my social media use to 1 hour a day (Ideally 30 ins in the morning and 30 in the evening)

Do not carry the phone around with me when I'm at home. 

Use YouTube for educational purposes not entertainment. 

I will share my entertainment time with my family.

I will only buy a book when I have finished reading 5 al ready in my reading list

I will read 25 a minimum of pages every day

B: Leave more permanent traces of myself 

Resurrect my blog

Resurrect the "Hidden Bible Podcast"

Work on a few writing ideas I have.

Use Facebook exclusively as a way to communicate with friends and family about my life, not as a way to entertain the world.

C: Stay Honest

Post every month how I am doing in my efforts

Develop a schedule allowing a fair time to each activity (Experience has shown me that it is easy to give all your time to things you like to do and very little time to things you NEED to do)

Check with family once a month to see how am I doing.

D: Improve my skills

Exercise 3-4 times a week. (I was doing this before the pandemic; once we were in lock down I have done very little of this. For 2021 I will find ways to replace gym time with other activities like walking the dogs or hiking).

Limit my classical guitar playing to 30-60 minutes a day tops.

Continue improving my programing and data science skills by taking online training and finding ways to apply these skill to my telework.

So there you have it, my resolutions for 2021!

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Resolutions 2017!

   I started writing a resolutions post every year as a way of documenting how I have done in important areas of my life, which in my opinion needed to improve. Last winter, with my Dad's health issues, my mind was on other things so I did not have the emotional stamina to sit and look at how my life had been in the previous year. Nevertheless, I did have a list of resolutions which I communicated to my family as a way of keeping me on track.

  Here is the list and an honest assessment of how I did in 2016:

• Continue eating healthy AND control my sweet tooth - I'm proud to say that this year I have lost 30 pounds, in fact my cardiologist was pretty impressed. I still have a sweet tooth but I try to keep it in check.
• Continue exercising (Walking) and do a multi-day hike either in the Appalachian Trail or the C&O Canal. - I'm proud to say that this year I did 2 multi-day bike rides (Hiking takes too long and I enjoy biking with my bride). In one trip, we did the last 50 miles of the C&O canal and on another we did the first 50. We are planning some more for 2017 and maybe a multi-day Appalachian Trail trip.  We will see! (And I'm starting to feel The Camino tug again)
• Read at least 25 pages a day- I'll say that I mostly did this although I was not as faithful as I should have been in the last 3 months of the year, however I did get to read a number of books I wanted to read. Overall, I feel that I have read much more than I usually do. The picture below is of all the books I read in 2016 (these are JUST non-fiction books)!

• Write at least one blog article a month. - Failed miserably, in fact I wrote less than a post a month! I really need to do better with this.
• Produce at least 10 episodes of my podcast. - Failed miserably, mostly because my mind was not focused on it but also because there was a period in February-March that I was losing my voice so I could not speak into a microphone. Let's see what I can do for next year.
• Increase my Guitar repertoire (And record at least some!) - I'm sad to report that this (at the moment) will not be achievable as I have developed a nasty bout of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both my hands which makes playing classical guitar very painful. It is with sadness that this year I have confronted the reality that my classical guitar playing days are over.
   

Well, that is it for this year and now onto the resolutions for 2017!

• Continue eating healthy and lose 30 more pounds (My goal is 170)
• Continue exercising. I think I will dedicate more time to biking and less to walking as it is a better use of my time.
• Complete another couple of multi-day hiking/biking trips.
• Read at least 10 pages a day.
• Avoid buying books for at least 1 year (Seriously folks, I ran out of places to store books and "She-who-must-be-obeyed" is starting to get annoyed with my piles of books everywhere!)
• Blog more, let's say one homily and one article a month.
• Produce 10 episodes of a podcast (I have some ideas for different podcasts but they are all at different stages of development in my mind)
• Depend less on my phone and more on my computer. (I noticed that I waste the most time on my phone, time on the computer tends to be productive)  
• At least once a week, go to bed before 9:00PM. 
• Be more intentional with my relationships, stay in touch,  love more, be less of an introvert.

That is it! Let's see how I do in the next year!

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Closing the 2014 Year!

Well, another year is in the books! I have to say that this has been quite a year for me. Among the highlights of the year I embarked in a new form of ministry with my podcast (The Hidden Bible). I began a new ministry helping Spanish speaking  divorced Catholics seeking a Marriage annulment. I spend a fantastic vacation time with the family back in the "mother ship" (AKA the beaches of Puerto Rico). I met some fantastic friends, (I'm talking about you Rose Sweet!). I fulfilled one of my childhood dreams by honoring the Camino the Santiago and earning the Compostela (A certificate which declares I was a real "peregrino" in the Camino). And I dropped 20 pounds! Quite a year!

Now last Year I posted my resolutions for everyone to see, as a way of holding myself accountable. I think it is only fair to see how I did... so here they are with an honest assessment for each one.

• Eat better - I have to say that (with the help of my bride) I was able to cut on my caloric intake, although I still have a weakness for sweets.
• Walk more - Boy did I met this one! I trained heavenly for my trip to northern Spain, and there I walked 200 miles in 2 weeks, and after this I continued taking regular walks.
• Spend more time reading -My goal was 24 books, and I have to say I fell short. I only ended reading 18. But I read quite a bit of articles and technical papers so those should count for something right?
• Spend less time on line - This one failed miserably mostly because I do heavy use of Google productivity tools such as gmail, drive and calender. However I also did a fair amount of wilffing.
• Increase my guitar repertoire - Here I have to say that I was doing quite well until I got a nasty bout of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, which forced me to stop my guitar playing for a couple of months. I did however come up with a pretty good guitar practice program, which I will pick in the new year and see how my wrists hold.
• Record more of my music - Big goose egg  here, mostly because of time and the bout of CTS.

All and all a pretty good year!

Ok, with that out of the way, here are my resolutions for next year!

• Continue eating healthy AND control my sweet tooth.
• Continue exercising (Walking)  and do a multiday hike either in the AT or the C&O Canal.
• Read at least 2 books a month.
• Write at least one blog article a moths (In addition to my homilies).
• Produce at least 10 episodes of my podcast.
• Increase my Guitar repertoire (And record at least some!)

So there you have it, the year in review and a plan for the next year.
May the new year be filled with many blessings and see you next December to see how I did!

"Viva Cristo Rey!!"

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Here are My 2014 Resolutions!

     Since the end of 2013 is upon us I think this is a good moment to list my next year's resolutions. Normally people keep these lists private, but as a way of making myself accountable...Here they are in no particular order.

• Eat better - I usually try to eat healthy but many days I just eat what I can find in the small cafe at work. I will make a better effort at eating a more balanced diet at work.
• Walk more - I had knee surgery this summer, so I was a bit inactive for the second half of the year. I'm planing a couple of multi-day hiking trips this year in preparation for a 2 weeks pilgrimage in a couple of years so I have to train and build up strength on my knees.
• Spend more time reading - I'm an avid reader but acquire so many books that I hardly have any time to keep up with my queue. I commit to read a minimum of 12 books on paper and another 12 on tape. This will make it a minimum of 24 books in 2014, a goal I feel is easily achievable.
• Spend less time on line - One of my time wasters is my "second-life" (I.E internet persona, which includes facebook, tweeter,etc,  as well as on-line gaming). It is very easy to disconnect your brain and spend hours just paging over completely useless information. With my limited time, I do not have the luxury for these.
• Record more of my music - I need to make an effort to record my music so that i can share it here in the blog.
• Increase my guitar repertoire - this is something I'm always doing, but I need to be more structured about it.

   So there you have it, my new years resolutions for 2014. Lets see how much I can accomplish this year!

"Viva Cristo Rey!!"

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