New Year, New Post

It was a quiet New Year’s Eve around the Pope household. With our daughter at her grandparents and a cold, foggy night, Sarah and I just opted to stay in. I cooked a nice dinner. We listened to music, watched the Chick-Fil-A bowl and then flipped between the various New Year’s Eve TV countdowns.

A few random thoughts about those things:

* We were listening to our local “new rock” radio station’s countdown of the 500 most requested songs ever for their radio station. That was infinitely better than the normal playlist.
* I was happy to see Virginia Tech beat Tennessee. I don’t like Lane Kiffen and like Virginia Tech as a school. It’s a very pretty campus. The couple of times I have been there, I’ve gotten a good vibe from the place. It feels a little like Texas A&M in the mountains.
* The TV New Year’s Eve Celebrations were all pretty standard, I guess. I told Sarah that, while I think it would be awesome to visit New York City during Christmastime, I have no desire whatsoever to be a part of that New Year’s Eve crowd in Times Square. Just too many people crammed in there for too long. I would, however, like to see Jay-Z perform in Rockefeller Center. I love how he’s reach such iconic status that he can just show up, perform his one song and his little part of Rhianna’s, then disappear. No hanging around with Carson Daily or working the crowd. He did the same thing (show up just before his performance, then take off right after) for the VMA’s. Hey, he’s a busy man. I saw him on Oprah.

A good New Year’s Eve, even if we missed our daughter. A good 2009, too. Eleanor grew into a full-fledged two-year-old, with all the craziness that entails. My wife ran a half-marathon! Work progressed for me: I had a paper published and submitted another one, served on some committees that may lead to other opportunities, and weathered furlough days. I read some good books and spent some quality time with friends and family.

2009 was fine, but I think 2010 will be better. I’ll run my 5K this year, which is an unfulfilled 2009 goal. I want to continue to grow as a father and a husband. My goals for my professional life have become a little clearer. One big goal is to put together a quality tenure and promotion portfolio, which I’ll have to submit this fall. But I also want to move in a more administrative direction, career wise and there may be some opportunities at Winthrop for me there. I’ve got another paper that needs revision so I can submit it somewhere. That’s the work stuff (along with a bunch of other smaller goals, like revising the service learning component of my courses). I want to be confirmed and baptized into the Catholic Church (I’ve started the RCIA program at our parish). I want to eliminate one of our piles of debt. I want to read 50 books (with no more than 20 being graphic novels). I stole that last one from Rich, so maybe we can help each other out on that one. And I want to blog more, hopefully in a way that will encourage people who don’t know me directly to read and to comment.

Here’s to all of that in 2010!