Happy New Year! Thinking back over the last year and the prospects for this year - one can't help but get a bit down. Consider our current state of affairs:

A potential preemptive strike in Iraq despite opposition of many allies and our own citizens. Nuclear threats building in Korea. Growing worldwide hatred of America. An ever-tumbling stock market. Increasing invasion of privacy by our government in the name of security. A lengthy drought across many parts of our country. The list goes on. Reading the newspaper is almost invariably depressing. What can we expect in the new year? Who knows.

In spite of all that happened last year throughout the world, I enjoyed some of it. Traveling to Boston, biking across Wisconsin, and finally getting up the nerve to ride a motorcycle made my year a bit more enjoyable. But as I look back I realize this has been one of my less interesting years. For the first time since perhaps high school I did not move at least once. Oddly enough, I haven't met people even though I've been settled in the same spot for the entire year. That brings me to my new year's resolutions. I know - it's kind of silly to bother, but here they are just the same:

• Talk to people, make eye contact. Tougher than it sounds. People love to be in their own universe - even if it means staring off into space or swerving to avoid interaction with others. I myself am an expert at people avoidance. On this subject, Scott has an interesting philosophy. No, I won't be wearing a nametag everywhere, but I think Scott's got a point.
• Try a new sport.
• Get cyclend.com up and running.

On a parting note: today is Sunday. For something to do, I went in search of yet another geocache. This one was hidden in Mandan's Sunset Park, pictured above.