President’s Message
I never was one for New Year’s resolutions, although I attempt to think up a family health competition every year to try and keep that topic high on everyone’s priority list. I ill-advisedly tried to get a 15 in ‘15 (i.e., lose “15 pounds in 2015”) friendly competition going in October; but apparently the end-of-year holiday events centering around food scared everyone off. Therefore, I have creatively renamed the effort as 16 in ‘16, where the first one to lose 16 pounds this year gets dinner out courtesy of other participants. I have my sights set on enjoying the city landscape from the 30th Floor Bancorp Tower while dining at Portland City Grill, but reaching those heights will definitely require me to put in quite a bit more time down at the Dishman Center (and likely less kitchen scavenging after 8 p.m.).
But, back to resolutions! Despite my past avoidance of using the New Year to make promises that I probably wouldn’t keep anyway, here are several I’ve decided to make public:
This year I resolve to:
- not take the presidential election too seriously. Until summer. I believe a few months is more than enough time for me to make up my mind. (Maybe by then I’ll figure out why, when candidates are supposedly talking to their “base,” they never seem to be speaking to me!)
- when watching Michigan football (a passion since childhood), I’ll remain calm and make my cardiologist proud (please pay no attention to that hysterical laughter coming from my wife).
- not to yell at Portland drivers who refuse to go around someone turning left when there is plenty of room, and to use only hand gestures that convey friendly driving education prompts.
- try to believe the electronic voice that reminds me “your call is important to us,” even after listening to slightly distorted hold music for 45 minutes.
- convert all our old camcorder cassettes and VHS tapes of family memories to modern media storage. (Truth be told, I never sought to be leading edge on technology—e.g., some of those VHS tapes came from converting old 8 mm reels, and we even owned a B/W television for a couple years and used pliers to turn the channels!)
- walk the perimeter of Beaumont-Wilshire neighborhood boundaries. Hey, it’s a start; maybe the Pacific Crest Trail next year. Again, pay no attention to that hysterical laughter.
Seriously, whether it’s around New Year’s or any time of year, I believe a periodic, honest inward look will find that there are always a few personal traits in need of improvement—more friendly smiles and hellos while walking the streets, showing appreciation to others more often with a simple, sincere “thank you.” Accumulation of these little acts will definitely bump the needle on our neighborhood livability index!
OK, I’m off to Redbox to get the DVD and watch “Wild” again.