As far as resolutions go for the new year, I like to assess my reading from the previous year, and set new goals for the next year.  Other than that, my New Year’s resolutions tend to be limited and short term/measurable.

Last year, I read the following books.  As usual, about 5 books I planned to read fell off my list, and were replaced by others that were more timely.

1. Next Generation Leadership - Stanley, Andy
2. Sudden Impact at the Top - Quandt, Susan
3. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Covey, Stephen
4. Death by Meeting - Lencioni, Patrick
5. A Guide to Christian Ambition - Hewitt, Hugh
6. A Testimony of Devotion - Thomas Kelly
7. The Five Temptations of a CEO: A Leadership Fable - Lencioni, Patrick
8. Velvet Elvis - Bell, Rob
9. StrengthsFinder 2.0 - Rath, Tom
10. Grace Walk - McVey, Steve
11. About My Father’s Business - Campbell, Regi
12. Kite Runner - Hosseini, Khaled
13. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Rawlings, J.K.

My goal was 12 books, and I completed 13! Woohoo!

In 2008, I plan to read at least 15 books.  Currently, my reading plan looks like this:

1. First, Break All the Rules, Buckingham
2. Stone Cold, Baldacci
3. Swim with the Sharks, Mackay
4. Wooden on Leadership, Wooden
5. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Stowe
6. Life @ Work, Maxwell
7. Next, Crichton
8. Bringing Up Boys, Dobson
9. Principle Centered Leadership, Covey
10. Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive, Lencioni
11. Shepherding a Child’s Heart, Tripp
12. Team of Rivals, Goodwin
13. The Practice of Management, Drucker
14. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Maxwell
15. The Bible, God

I’m excited about every book on the list - so I think there’s a strong chance I’ll complete the list this year.

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A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.
General George S. Patton, Jr.

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It has been waaay too long since I last posted.  Life has hit the accelerator and blogging has been the last thing on my mind.  Family is good - Isaac and Kristen keep me busy.  Isaac’s been learning new words practically daily, and amazing us with how smart he is.  I know every parent thinks their child is exceptional - and I’m no different.

Work is good. I’ve been taking on some new responsibilities that are a stretch for me - so I’m glad for the challenge.  Morale is hit and miss.  With our contract wrapping up, there’s some natural uncertainty for folks as to the stability of their jobs.  I think the company is doing the best we can to take care of folks, but there are also areas where we could do better.

Church has been keeping me busy as well.  I’m leading the high school class on Sunday mornings and coordinating all of the small groups and their leaders during the week.  I keep getting asked to help in other areas, but realize my plate is very full at the moment.

Anyway. Drop me an email if you want to catch up.  No promises I’ll publish with great frequency here - but I’d like to get a picture or two up soon.

Later,
~J

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We’re getting ready for Halloween this weekend.  Isaac is almost 2, so I can hardly wait to see how he reacts to all the interesting sights and activities.  We worked on carving pumpkins today - I’ll have to post a picture once I grab them off of Kristen’s camera.  It was lots of fun, and I could tell Isaac enjoyed it as well.

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Just finished HP7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last night.  Took a solid 6.5 hours, but I made it through in three evenings.  It was a great read, and though I’ve heard rumblings of folks who didn’t like the way the series wrapped up, I had no complaints.

All in all, a wonderful epic story by a very talented author can now be called complete.

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A co-worker of mine turned me onto a fun word puzzle game called Seekadoo on live.com.  The game is easy to learn, but can be challenging as well.  The basic premise is that similar to a word search, but instead of being given words to find, you are given a category… and have to determine the correct words to find based on that category.  It is a clever idea and pretty addicting.

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Watching my son grow is an amazing experience.  The past few weeks have been especially interesting as he has begun to form more and more words in the midst of his constant gibbering.  Even more fun is when he knows what the words mean.

A couple of weeks ago he learned how to say, “no.”  At first he just repeated it over and over to get used to the sound.  Then he realized that it meant something.  Now he says “no” all the time, but when he really means it, he’ll say it slowly and in a low tone.  It is very funny to see, and sometimes I want to laugh instead of actually teaching him when it is appropriate to say, “no,” and when it is not.

In the parking lot today, Isaac saw a black Suburban - which looks a lot like my mother-in-law’s car, a charcoal Tahoe.  He pointed and said, “Nana?”  It was too cute.  I’ve heard he’ll see a white Accord and say, “Dada?” when he’s with my wife too.  Smart kid.

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