Saturday, January 01, 2011

All the Ones

It's 2011-01-01 or 1/1/11 as the Americans write it. New Year, new resolutions. No loopholes. Short and sweet. Ruthlessly and objectively assessable.

In 2011 I will:

  • run or cross-country ski five hundred kilometres. Score out of 500, one point per kilometre.
  • do strength and flexibility exercises at least three times a week. Score out of 200, one point per workout, minus one for each week without a single one.
  • create, back up and maintain a contact information list of people in my life, and I will exchange communications with everyone on it at least once. Out of how ever many end up on the list.
  • make a list of twelve things I don't do merely because I am afraid to, and I will do one every month. Out of 100: four points for making the list, one point for each attempt, and up to seven points each for how well I do them.
  • make and keep a weekly flight sim date with myself, and I will learn to like it. Out of 100: one point for simming and up to one point per day for doing it well.
  • convince City Hall to paint a crosswalk on my street, for people to get to the bus stop. I score a hundred points when the paint is dry.

11 comments:

Matthew Flaschen said...

"create, back up and maintain a contact information list of people in my life, and I will exchange communications with everyone on it at least once. Out of how ever many end up on the list."

Sure there's no loophole there? (I contacted everyone on my list! John, Mary, and Dan) ;)

In all seriousness, you set clear and admirable goals for yourself, and you have a great track record of going a long way towards meeting them.

grant said...

You need to make this a video RPG! And for you I'll even make this a link - though it's a pain in the butt. You know you could cut and paste into your browser window ... I'm just saying...

click here

Man, that took at least fifteen seconds of my life and I had to almost concentrate... sigh...

Aviatrix said...

Grant, that's awesome. Your HTML skills and application recommendation are both appreciated. It is hereby my first purchase of 2011.

5400AirportRdSouth said...

As a compromise, if setting up MSFS is too cumbersome, maybe try an online flash simulator.. I'm working on my instrument rating right now and I found these ones exercised my brain a bit, without all the "extras" in Flight Sim.. Maybe too basic for your needs, but I found them neat nonetheless.

Selkirk College Approach Simulator
click here

This one is neat, but only for the basic stuff like hold entries;

Luiz Monteiro VOR Simulator
click here

Both of them have a few different simulators, ADF, VOR, etc.

Happy New Year and thanks for another year of great blogging!

Aviatrix said...

Airport Road South: what I really need is the overall exercise of putting all the parts together, as in the real airplane, but it's not a bad idea to have a hold simulator to play with instead of PacMan or Bejewelled. Can anyone recommend one for the iPod?

Sarah said...

Good Evening & Happy New Year!

I doubt you'll find anything finer for the iphone/itouch/ipad than Xplane. That game/sim includes a "6 pack" screen option and a (small) set of real approaches.

Well, so the X-plane web page says. I haven't actually used any but the desktop version - which is good for proceedures practice.

Jim said...

I like your resolutions - they are superior to last year's well-intentioned list, in that they are much more specific and measurable.

This is an olde chestnut, and there are several variants of this acronymn: SMART objectives are
- Specific (lose 20 pounds. not "lose weight")
- Measurable ("fly more" isn't readily measurable)
- Attainable ("run a 3:35 mile")
- Realistic ("become an AC 777 left-seater" ain't gonna happen within a year - for me, anyway)
- Timely

Have a terrific, safe and happy New Year

Aviatrix said...

Jim: Someone else approved my resolutions with respect to the SMART acronym, but he called the A Actionable as in something I can do something about. In yours, what is the difference between Attainable and Realistic?

Maybe I'll add "Become 777 Captain" to the list. :)

Jim said...

@Trixie: Actionable vs. Attainable - that is, I assume, just one of the permutations.

Someone invented a Really Good Way to ensure goals were well-designed -- and then others improved on the plan.

Wikipedia has a pretty good article on SMART goals.

I need some of my own.

Have a great year. Swing by Ottawa longer than is required to jump into an airplane and fly out of town under the limits of your duty day.

Michael5000 said...

I teach SMART goals as "Specific, Measurable, and whatever you like that begins with A, R, & T. Specific and Measurable are the important ones."

Half-facetious question: Why do you want to do things you are afraid of? I actively avoid doing things I'm afraid of. That way there's less fear in my life.

Aviatrix said...

Because some of them are things that need to be done to gain positive or prevent negative consequences, and some of them are things I'd like to be able to do.