New Year's Resolutions

Don't worry. I'm doing something better tonight than blogging, probably involving fondu. Happy New Year everyone!

I don't take New Year's resolutions as seriously as some. I think many people feel they can change their life cold turkey. I like to think of myself as more reflective and gradual, though that may be inaccurate. I don't know. In any case, I always have trouble coming up with goals worthy of the title, "resolution." But here it goes- Resolutions for 2010:

1) Be more consistent in my blogging and journaling. It seems that area of my life has gone on a bit of a hiatus the last few months, but I do miss it and appreciate the insight it gives myself and some others into my life. Also, I'm still not taking an English class, so some writing will do me good.

2) Memorize more. I have been working on this a little with the Westminster Shorter Catechism, but I want to work on my memory more. Again, math doesn't lend itself to this area of my development because it is more important to understand than just memorize, but I think it's an important part of learning. Maybe memorize a passage or a poem every now and again.

3) Vary my reading. As I have mentioned before, I feel like I've been reading a lot of theology and math, which is all well and good, but I want to change things up a bit. Maybe throw in some Jane Austen or Tolken, and the book my uncle got me for Christmas that seems to fit in the sci-fi category (he agrees I need to vary my reading).

4) Establish myself as a geocacher. I think I made the impression from my last post that I am wary of this geocaching thing or reluctant about my commitment. Not at all. I'm all in. I really enjoy this sport/activity/thing and would like to do more. Right now, I've found 14 caches, and I think if I put some effort into it, I could get 50 more by next year. It will just take some time, and hopefully the company of people who would like to join me.

5) Finish my double wedding ring quilt. This will be the only resolution that is pass/fail. I would really like to get it done this summer, but it's going to be the most challenging and large (king) quilt I've done. It's got twists and curves, where all I've really done before is straight lines. Eeek! But I should probably get a good start on it soon. I starting the washing and ironing with Grandma last week, and it's going to be pretty once it's finished!

Geocaching: An Addiction?

In the past I have made the call as to whether I am addicted to something or not by if I can't fall asleep because it is on my mind repeatedly. I am not quite at that point... but I may get there soon with this geocaching thing.

The first one we found was on the way back from a family reunion. It was a challenge. Luckily, there were some fellow geocachers who were also on the hunt and gave us a hand. They were more experienced and we were just digging through a pile of rocks. (If you've ever been to Frank Slide... no further explanation required).

If you don't know what geocaching is, it's a GPS-oriented "game" where other geocachers hide a "cache" (usually a camouflaged tupperware or hide-a-key) and log the coordinates online for others to find. Depending on the size of the cache, there are sometimes little trinkets to trade or geocoins to pass along to the next cache.

Since the first find, I have marked code down. Many a battery has been drained from my iPhone as the GPS and compass features have been utilized. Everywhere I go, they're around! In a way it's exciting, but at the same time overwhelming!

It also doesn't help that I'm not extremely good at it. Especially this last round at them, it was so frustrating. It didn't help that the entire province is under snow, but even some of the ones designated as winter friendly gave us a bit of trouble. Of the nine I have attempted since arriving in Calgary, I have found two. Never the less, they are fun and adventurous. I saw some country that I wouldn't have seen otherwise.

I will share one such adventure with you. On the way back to Calgary from our Christmasing, there was one just off Hwy 1 on the west side of Chestermere. We pulled over (in the dark) and walked along a snow covered road to an inch of wood sticking up. I thought it may be hidden underneath, so we started digging. Then I fell through the snow up to above my knees. We kept digging. Spencer fell through too. Keep in mind, it's dark and we're holding flashlights, digging at the snow along a highway. I'm sure people thought we were burring a body or something (that's the one thing I don't like about this sport when done in public- it makes you look suspicious, like you're making a drug trade or something). Eventually we gave up and got back in the warm car. When I got home, not only did I look up a picture of the location and realize that tree stump is the hight of a small child, but I realized there were two winter friendly caches just meters away. *Sigh* :) It just means I'll have to go back...

People also create ridiculous challenges that are so inspiring I think I may just try one. Like the Texas County Challenge. The goal is to find one cache in each of the 256 Texas counties. It will make for quite a road-trip, but that's what summer vacations are for. And years and years of caching. There are people out there with 3000+ finds though. They must have such good eyes, or an incredible amount of perseverance!