New Years Resolutions 2008
I have been thinking about New Years Resolutions for a couple of days now. Here is a start:
Be more honest with myself and with others. While I rarely lie outright, too often I purposefully mislead people with innuendo and subtlety. I would like to do this less, and generally be more straightforward with people.
Graduate Cum Laude. If present trends hold, this means I’ll have to achieve at least a 3.71, a notch above my current 3.70.
Be accepted into UW CSE‘s new 5th-year Masters program. Whether I accept is to be determined.
Fully heal my right knee by consistently following physical therapy suggestions and regular workouts.
Participate in a triathlon.
Get a six-pack. I have a $250 wager going with Maneesh on this one.
January 5th, 2008 at 06:35:19 pm
My mission president down in Brazil was a lawyer. He would ask questions that often required a yes or a no. For some reason, I tended not to answer that simply, especially if the answer was no. Rather than say “no” I would give alternative solutions that might work, or give excuses that needed to be fixed before it would be yes.
When I started down one of these trains, he would stop me and say, “Now Elder Medsker. You didn’t answer my question.” And he would repeat it a second time, word for word. That shocked me enough to stop that behavior and give simple yes and nos when they’re asked for. I can imagine how traumatic that could be to someone who was trying to skirt the issue instead of just communicating poorly like me. Wonderful lawyer tactic, but it worked beautifully to straighten me out, too.
Oh, and he was a lawyer by trade. In case you couldn’t tell.
January 5th, 2008 at 11:00:24 pm
Nothing like $250 to motivate the crunches