A New Year ... No Excuses.

We finished 2011 with a bang.  We had dinner at the Rock Bottom Cafe in downtown Omaha.  I had Chicken Lettuce Wraps, a 12oz New York Strip Steak, mashed potatoes, and a triple chocolate brownie ala mode for dessert.  The Wife had Firecracker Shrimp, 14oz Prime Rib, mashed potatoes, and her own triple chocolate brownie ala mode for dessert.  It was a great meal to end the year with (I was burping chocolate all night).

The weather was a little windy and, as we ate rain started to fall (rain on New Year's eve ... very odd weather we're having).  We worried that this might cancel the scheduled fireworks but, just before 7:00 PM the rain slowed to a light drizzle and the fireworks were set off.  Our table, that we'd reserved a week earlier, was by a window facing the fireworks so we didn't even have to brave the cold drizzle to watch the fireworks.  We invited four girls in a table with no window to join us as the fireworks lit up the night sky (our good karma move of the night).  We'd skipped the fireworks the past two years, not willing to brave the frigid temps.  Now that we know the secret of watching them from inside the restaurant, we will probably make this our annual ritual.  The rest of the eve was spent at home watching the celebration of the new year's arrival on television (and, after the Wife had gone to bed to read, the SyFy channel's Twilight Zone marathon).

So What's in store for 2012?  I won't even pretend to believe it will be as good as 2011.  Since I've been pretty bad at sticking to my plans and achieving my goals I will commit myself to only one major goal:

• Enjoy our month long China/Tibet/Nepal/India vacation.  I hope to document it in pictures and I will write in the journal my Mom gave me for Christmas (and post on Homer's Travels when I get home of course).

This isn't my only goal but experience has taught me that if I put plans in writing, especially plans that require effort on my part, they will inevitably be followed by a post explaining why I couldn't meet my goals.  Therefore I am keeping these goals, three or four of them, to myself.  As I complete them, or at least come close, I will share them with you ... I promise.

One lesser goal that I will share with you, at the risk of having to explain next December why I couldn't meet it, is to post more regularly on Homer's Travels.  For the first three years of Homer's Travels I managed over 200 posts each year.  2010 and 2011 witnessed a decline in my posting.  Some of this may be a result of Facebook.  Some of this may be a result of my lack of creativity.  Some of this may be a result of my depressed mood (in 2010 at least).  Whatever it was I want to return to the long form posting that Facebook cannot accommodate.  I want to rekindle my creativity.  I want to strive for a an optimistic outlook conducive to a good mood.

No excuses.