Kicking off the New Year

Happy New Year! It was like my body knew that the holidays were over and it was time to get to work today when after weeks of sleeping ridiculously late, I woke up at my usual "work day" time -- actually even a little before. I might not quite hit my full quota of work time today since I have a dentist appointment and a few errands to run along the way, but at least I'm up and at my desk and have already dealt with one item on the to-do list.

Last year ended nicely, at a party with friends, where I had a lightsaber duel with a four-year-old while watching Doctor Who (I think that says something cosmic about my life). Then I started the new year (the after waking up from the night before part, since it doesn't really feel like the new year begins until I wake up the next day) by watching the Tournament of Roses Parade on TV while cuddled under the electric blanket, before I headed to a friend's house to watch the outdoor hockey game and the Christmas and New Year's Doctor Who specials.

While I'm sad to see David Tennant and the Tenth Doctor go, I'm already rather intrigued by the new guy. I seem to have fickle tendencies, so that almost every time I've been disappointed about a character (or actor) leaving a show, I end up liking the replacement far better. As a result, I've learned not to moan and whine about the departure because then I'll just look foolish in retrospect when I become the biggest fangirl ever for the new person.

So, now that the parties are over and it's time to really buckle down and work, I'm actually enthusiastic about the year to come. Of course, that's true almost every year, but I really mean to make things happen this year. They had a special feature in the newspaper on Sunday with the sayings that various local business leaders use to motivate themselves, and I loved the one from Roger Staubach about how there are no traffic jams on the extra mile (yeah, I know, the rest of the world probably knows him mainly as a famous quarterback, but while he is also that around here, he really has become known as a business leader, as well). My goal is to go so far out on the extra mile that I'm in a class of my own.

Now, before I take on the world (look out, world!), I leave you with a surefire cure for a bad day. I'm mostly putting this here so I can always find it, but I give you the snowboarding bulldogs from the Rose Parade (this was the best video I could find of this). I grinned until my face hurt when I saw this on TV. I can't look at a bulldog without grinning like an idiot, anyway, but seeing them snowboarding takes it up a notch, and they look like they're having so much fun. If I ever need a smile, I'll just have to watch this.