2012 Resolutions, 10 of 10

Two years ago, I blogged about ten resolutions for 2011, and posted the entry on the bulletin board behind my desk so I could stare at it all year long.  One year ago, I blogged about how I did on these ten resolutions.  In sum: some B’s, some C’s, and (gulp) some D’s. As for this year (and as for next year, let’s roll over these resolutions and see how I do in 2013):

10. Work – ten quality reports.

I’ll let my clients be the final arbiters of whether my reports were quality, but here are some I did in 2012 that I am proud of and that I enjoyed intellectually: 

Analysis of City of Philadelphia authorized depositories

Analysis of City of Philadelphia utilization of minority- and women-owned businesses

Economic impact analysis of Drexel University

Economic impact analysis of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Three economic impact analyses of proposed corridors of new real estate development

Economic impact analysis of the Philadelphia Auto Show

Economic impact analysis in support of proposed casino development in Philadelphia

Economic impact analysis of new real estate development in Northern Liberties

Economic impact of community development corporations in Philadelphia

Negative impacts associated with capital funding cuts to public housing authorities nationwide

Economic impact of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure expansion in North Carolina

Grade: B. 

2012 Resolutions, 9 of 10

Two years ago, I blogged about ten resolutions for 2011, and posted the entry on the bulletin board behind my desk so I could stare at it all year long.  One year ago, I blogged about how I did on these ten resolutions.  In sum: some B’s, some C’s, and (gulp) some D’s. As for this year (and as for next year, let’s roll over these resolutions and see how I do in 2013):

9. Spiritual – 100 Bible memory verses, one extra hour per week of praying.

Going through my memory verses for a second straight year was useful (it got easier) but telling (it didn’t get much easier).  Prayer improved in quality (desperation and exasperation?) but suffered in quantity (too busy, too distracted).  These are supposed to be my roots, but I’m not sufficiently tending to them. Grade: D.

 

2012 Resolutions, 8 of 10

Two years ago, I blogged about ten resolutions for 2011, and posted the entry on the bulletin board behind my desk so I could stare at it all year long.  One year ago, I blogged about how I did on these ten resolutions.  In sum: some B’s, some C’s, and (gulp) some D’s. As for this year (and as for next year, let’s roll over these resolutions and see how I do in 2013):

8. Self – three hours per week of uninterrupted me time, three personal day getaways.

Could’ve used more recharge time.  Especially lacking were large blocks of time, since my free time has been sliced and diced into increments that can be measured in seconds, rather than hours.  Feeling this deep in my bones as the calendar year draws to a close.  Grade: D.

 

2012 Resolutions, 7 of 10

Two years ago, I blogged about ten resolutions for 2011, and posted the entry on the bulletin board behind my desk so I could stare at it all year long.  One year ago, I blogged about how I did on these ten resolutions.  In sum: some B’s, some C’s, and (gulp) some D’s. As for this year (and as for next year, let’s roll over these resolutions and see how I do in 2013):

7. Mind – read 50 books.

All of my books this year were new reads, which was fun.  Some were forgettable, many were great.  As an introvert and a lifelong learner, I’m fresher for all of them.  Here’s what I got through, with my scores from 1 to 5 (1 being awful and 5 being transcendent). Grade: B.

1 Creative Capitalism: A Conversation with Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Other Economic Leaders (Kinsey) 4

A Force for Change: How Leadership Differs from Management (Kotter) 3

Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World (Hirshberg) 4

The Case for Easter: A Journalist Investigates the Evidence for the Resurrection (Strobel) 2

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In (Fisher) 3

Success Built to Last: Creating a Life That Matters (Porras) 3

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Csikszentmihalyi) 4

The Mustard Seed Conspiracy: You Can Make a Difference in Tomorrow’s Troubled World (Sine) 3

The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress (Postrel) 4

10 Paris to the Moon (Gopnik) 4

Tragedy of American Compassion (Olasky) 3

Nurture Shock: New Thinking About Children (Bronson/Merryman) 4

The Promise: President Obama, Year One (Alter) 4

Thin (Greenfield) 4

Everything They Had: Sports Writing from David Halberstam (Halberstam) 3

The Big Questions: Tackling the Problems of Philosophy with Ideas from Mathematics, Economics, and Physics (Landsburg) 3

All Customers are Irrational: Understanding What They Think, What They Feel, and What Keeps Them Coming Back (Cusick) 2

Panicology: Two Statisticians Explain What’s Worth Worrying About (and What’s Not) in the 21^st Century (Briscoe) 2

The Company Town: The Industrial Edens and Satanic Mills that Shaped the American Economy (Green) 3

20 The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood (Leavy) 3

The Phone Book: The Curious History of the Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads (Shea) 3

Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer (Sanders) 2

Sacred Marriage: What if God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy (Thomas) 3

Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter (Johnson) 4

American Future: A History (Schama) 4

The Scavengers’ Manifesto (Rufus, Lawson) 4

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Sport: How Calvinism and Capitalism Shaped America’s Games (Overman) 3

The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris (Beinart) 4

The Meaning of Sports: Why Americans Watch Baseball, Football, and Basketball and What They See When They Do (Mandelbaum) 2

30 The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football (Miller) 3

Raceball: How the Major Leagues Colonized the Black and Latin Game (Ruck) 3

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (Levitt/Dubner) 4

Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood (Lewis) 4

The Lost Art of Walking: the History, Science, Philosophy, and Literature of Pedestrianism (Nicholson) 2

Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon: A Guide to the Best Time to Buy This, Do That, and Go There (Di Vincenzo) 3

Winners Never Cheat: Everyday Values We Learned as Children (But May Have Forgotten) (Huntsman) 3

Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret ... With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory (Blount) 3

Alphabetter Juice: Or, the Joy of Text (Blount) 3

The Secret Life of Words (West) 3

40 The General Book of Ignorance: Everything You Think You Know is Wrong (Lloyd) 4

The Parent You Want to Be: Who You Are Matters More Than What You Do (Parrott) 3

Libertarianism from A to Z (Miron) 3

The Leaders We Deserved (and a Few We Didn't): Rethinking the Presidential Rating Game (Felzenberg) 3

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (Roach) 4

The Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America  (Johnson) 4

Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain (de Rossi) 3

Saving the World at Work: What Companies and Individuals Can Do to Go Beyond Making a Profit to Making a Difference (Sanders) 2

The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability (Hawken) 3

The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream (Shapiro) 3

50 The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World (Lomborg) 4