On the topic of New Year's resolutions

It is that time of year again. The time where everyone takes stock of their life, feels badly about themselves and makes a promise (usually one they know they will break) to themselves to be better. Don't get me wrong, I am all for positive changes in a person's life, but I have always been a little perplexed by why people pick this one day in the year to decide to make big changes. So, I decided to delve into the topic a little more.

Where did the New Year's resolution begin?
Let me first preface the rest of my article with this statement, "I have done some research on this topic, but it is in no way an empirical article. Where I could (in less than five minutes), I have gathered info from reliable sources. Where I couldn't, I used the internet."Now, onto the fun.

The first known New Year's resolution has been credited to the ancient Babylonians (the one's with the hanging gardens and tower of babble). Supposedly their resolutions centered around giving back borrowed property (something I could resolve to do). Some sites report most borrowed items were farm equipment.
In addition, some have credited the Chinese with starting their own New Year's resolution tradition of cleaning their house. I don't need this tradition as I live in a small box in Denver, that rarely needs cleaning. However, a noble quest non-the-less.

So it would seem that even the ancients felt that resolutions were a good idea. Also, the Chinese invented fireworks, so anyone who can do that must have some credibility. 

What do people resolve to do? 
So what do modern Americans resolve to do at the beginning of each year. Well a researcher a U of Pitt (the number one grant fund grossing university in the US) has compiled a list of the 10 most common resolutions (convenient)!. Here they are:

1. Spend time with family
2. Improved fitness
3. Lose weight
4. Quit smoking
5. Enjoy life more
6. Quit drinking
7. Get out of debt
8. Get a job
9. Help others
10. Get organized

All of these seem like very worthwhile endeavors. I think it is commendable that anyone would take on these tasks. However, there is a problem, there is a significant failure rate on resolutions.

How often do people keep their resolutions?
 Maybe it is because people make unattainable resolutions, maybe it is because people make resolutions at 11:57 while intoxicated, with bleary eyes and foggy minds, but it seems that we are not great at keeping our resolutions.
 According to the Quirkology Study:

• 52% of people who were studied were confident that they would achieve success in their resolutions. Not so promising to begin with.
• Sadly only 12% of people who made resolutions actually reported that they kept them. I applaud the 48% of people who made resolutions and were honest enough to admit they wouldn't keep them.

It would seem that resolutions are a bit ill-fated. However, there are some things that can aid in achieving resolutions.

• 22% of men who made small goals en-route to their ultimate goal were successful. This means that if you want to get a new job, you should set a goal to have your resume revamped by Jan 15th, have searched for new jobs by Feb. 1st., etc.
• 10% more women succeeded when they told people about their goal. Peer pressure can be positive.

So how does it all add up?
Well, I am no expert on resolutions. I am just curious about why people feel the need to take one day out of the year and place the pressure of one large goal on themselves with little to no support to obtain the goal. However, if I were going to make a resolution here are a few things I would do to ensure I could obtain it:

• Be serious, if you really want to achieve something you are more likely to achieve it. Conversely, if you go into a major life change with half effort, you are almost certain to fail. 
• There is no time like the present. Back to my question, Why New Years? I think New Years is such a popular date because we can look forward to it, and promise ourselves we are going to change sometime later. I have been told plenty of times, that the hardest part of any task is getting started. I am not sure if that is totally true, but I agree getting start can be a battle. There is no time like the present. 
• Find strength in numbers. If you want to lose weight, find friends who can work out with you, join classes at a gym, make friends in those classes, split a personal trainer with a friend. I find it infinitely harder to skip BJJ than running. Why? Because some of my best friends are in BJJ. When I don't show up, I get texts from them, the next time I show up people ask where I was. When I don't go running, no one cares but me. 
• Let people know you are going to make changes. I hate being proven wrong, so it is exceedingly motivating for me to tell someone I am going to do something and have the fear that I will not finish driving me. 
• Set mini-goals. If you want to spend more time with family, make small changes. An hour with your gandpa here, a ten minute phone conversation with your sister there. Next thing you know, it will all add up. It is much easier than 10 hours of family togetherness at one time (no one should be subjected to 10 hours of straight family time). 

So those are a few of my ideas. What are yours? Have you been successful in your New Year's resolutions? Have you resolved to do anything this year? Please let me know.

As for me, my New Year's resolution is to become a better blogger, starting right now by ending this rambling post.  
I hope everyone's year is better than the last.

Quick Picture

I thought I would add this picture as an addendum to my earlier post about graduating. It is of my parents and I before graduation (I am in full regalia, I do not wear that outfit everyday).

Have a nice day.

Hennibaughs take Vegas and then Christmas!

I am finally getting to rest a bit after my whirlwind last few weeks and decided I should post quickly before I am off to JJ in Iowa. To recap, I drove home from Denver, had a day or two at home where I worked and took care of some other things, went to graduation, went to Henninger Christmas, went to Vegas, went to family Christmas, went to Burke Christmas, and then Gross Christmas. All and all it went pretty well.

The trip to Vegas turned out great. We stayed at the El Cortez, the room was $27 a night. It was a great room, and for the price I would have tolerated much less. We saw the Hoover damn (my first experience)

Here is a picture looking down the dam wall and then progressively going up. Some day I may photo shop them together.

 Here is my child like collage of the three pictures. It is not totally straight, but I think it looks kind of cool.

Here is Elaine at the dam.

Since we stayed on Fremont we took in all the fun down there. 

 Then we went to the Las Vegas tournament where UNI took home the title. We had great seats (3rd row center court).

And we ate at a buffet and I took pictures next to stuff in the "Orleans".

It was a great trip! Hope everyone's holidays were just as fruitful.

Closing a chapter....

Today I make my final drive (1 hour and 15 minutes) to Iowa State for my hooding/graduation. It is bitter sweet. I am happy I will not have to make that drive unless it is to tailgate at an ISU game, or because I have been asked to come to ISU for professional reasons. But, I will also miss seeing Ames on a regular basis. Many of my college friends still live there. Also, I have made some great friends in graduate school along the way, and not going to Ames regularly means that I will only see them when I have time for them. As opposed to, randomly running into them in the hall, popping my head into their office to ask if they want to go to lunch, or working on projects together. I will miss that.

I will also miss being a college student. I won't lie and say I wasn't happy when I took my final exam, or when I finished my dissertation. However, college course work has always been something that I have completed with an enjoyable amount of effort. I am just now coming to the realization that when I cross that stage today, I am essentially ending my chances of being a college student again (with a few exceptions in mind). With that in mind, here are a few things I remember fondly about my college career (PG-13 rated, in no particular order):

• Beer
• Dr. Lempers, & Wickrama
• Meeting my wife 
• Statistics (404 specifically)
• Pita Pita
• Mickey's
• Welch Ave. Station
• Nancy endless supply of Cheeze Its (until she got pregnant, that baby has really altered by diet)
• Man Salads
• Intramurals
• My undergrad friends
• My graduate friends (Stimpy and Katy actually fit in both of these categories)
• Halloween parties
• Living History Farms race with Stacy and Jen
• Tuesday's with Molly
• Getting up on Saturday to drive to seminars
• Kate and Stimpy's couch, floor, and odd cot in their upstairs bedroom
• Nancy and J's futon
• Ireland
• Stimpy, Katie, Nancy, & J's endless hospitality
• Bowser, Poppy, and Bo-kitty
• Cocoa
• Anything related to Hazel

There are so many more things that have faded with the passing of time, but those stick out the most in my memory. And to end on a happy note, a list of a few things I am excited to get to now that I am a "big boy."

• Long-term employment (at a University as a tenure track professor)
• Statistics (the gift that keeps on giving)
• Knowing I will be living in the same house with my wife for the forseeable future
• Living in a community for an extended period of time
• A steep decline in my driving responsibilities 
• Beer
• Karl, Murphy, and Gus
• Making new friends
• Making new memories

That is it everyone! Have a great Holiday season! I have a feeling 2011 is going to be a great year.

P.S. Here is the ISU fight song.

What does your Netflix queue say about you???

Since moving to Denver I purchased a separate Netflix account from Elaine. This works out well, since I have very little to do here beside work and JJ, I have time to watch movies (I didn't purchase cable when I moved out here). One of the more interesting things I have found out about Netflix instant watch, is that it suggests movies I would like based on my rating of the movies I have already watched. So, with out further delay here are the 3 most recent movies I have watched (with a short review/synopsis) and what Netflix thinks I will love.

National Geographic: Aryan Brotherhood
A movie about the ways and means the Aryan Brotherhood operates in prison. It is short (1h:16m), and talks about prison related things. Very informative, 4.5/5 stars.

The Descent: Part 2
After some girls venture into a cave and get eaten/attacked by cave dwelling monsters, one girl manages to survive and escape. Upon finding said girl, the town sheriff makes her go back into the tunnel with some other people. They are re-attacked by monsters. The major enjoyment of this movie is that the actors are in tight spaces that induce a lot uncomfortable claustrophobia. Watchable 3/5 stars.

Human Centipede: First Sequence
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you kidnapped 3 people, removed their ability to walk, and then sewed them together in a human train (take a minute to think about what I am implying)? Well, wonder no more. This movie is based solely on that premise. It is disturbing and strange as it sounds. Watchable, if only for the sheer morbidity of it. 3/5 stars. 

Here are the next 4 movies I am supposed to watch (that I haven't already seen):

Brick:
When a secret crush turns up dead and the murderer is anyone's guess, teenage loner Brendan Fry (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is forced to navigate his school's social network through intense interactions with thespians, band geeks and druggies (including a grown-up Lukas Haas). This unconventional film noir marked a promising debut for writer-director Rian Johnson, picking up a Special Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Starz Inside: Fantastic Flesh: The Art of Make-Up EFX:
Go inside the world of makeup special effects for movies of all genres, from horror (Scream, The Thing) to fantasy (The Chronicles of Narnia) to sci-fi (Planet of the Apes) as K.N.B. EFX Group shares their techniques in creating monsters, aliens and ... old people. Directors Quentin Tarantino, Wes Craven, John Carpenter and more tip their hats off to the magic makers themsevles, such as Howard Berger and Rob Bottin.


Black Dynamite:
Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White) is the only one strong enough and brave enough to take on the baddies who murdered his brother. What's the former CIA agent to do? Expose a conspiracy that leads straight to the White House. Providing plenty of hilarity and sexy, slick action, Scott Sanders directs this homage to classic 1970s blaxploitation flicks. Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Arsenio Hall also star.


Mother:
A murder rocks a South Korean town and suspicion quickly falls on a reclusive, mentally challenged -- and alibi-free -- young man (Bin Won). When an inept public defender botches the boy's case, his mother (Hye-ja Kim) sets out to prove her son's innocence. Acclaimed director Joon-ho Bong (Memories of Murder) explores the lengths a mother will go to protect her child in this atmospheric crime thriller.

I think it is safe to say the instant watch knows me like family.

Bill-out.

A quickie...

I have decided that some of my traffic ends up on this blog because of the titles of my posts. As a result, I am excited to see what turns up after this one ;-) Also, this should be a quick post.

ON to other news. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Elaine and I met up in Albuquerque for Thanksgiving with her mom and step-dad. Most importantly we got to see the Bodies Exhibition while we were there. Anyone who knows my wife can only imagine how excited she was to go there.

Elaine at exhibit

I think this photo adequately demonstrates her exuberance. I must say, it was pretty cool. If you ever get a chance to go there, it is not something to be missed. Below is a picture of us in post Bodies marital bliss.

Shortly after we returned from the "Pickled Bodies" (this is what Elaine's step-dad referred to them as), I got a cold and felt pretty horrible the rest of the vacation. However, I still had a great time and was glad we got to see Elaine's family.

Now I am back at work and have decided I need to adjust my work habits to be more productive. My first order of business has been to write a list of "to-do" items every night before I go to bed. This way when I am at a loss for what to do, I just consult the list. In addition, I feel like it will be easier to stay on task with the list. I have been neglecting to keep good track of what I need to get done (mostly relying on memory) since I defended my dissertation. I surmise this is because I was officially a doctor (not the kind that helps people mind you) and felt I could and should work however I wanted. Kind of like the first two weeks you moved out of your parents house and didn't clean or shower just to prove your point. I was being fairly productive, but I really need that organization. If nothing else for my sanity. However, I undershot on my list today and am done with all my tasks. The list will obviously need some calibrating. So, I decided in the name of productivity to blog about it to the 4 Americans, 1 Thai, and 3 Spaniards who read this blog.

How do you all stay on track at work? If you have any tips please let me know.

Have a good Monday.

What's in a name???

Someone asked me the other day where I got the name for my blog. As I was explaining it to them I realized I had never explained it on my blog. So, here it goes.

One of my favorite sayings in the world is, "If you give a monkey a typewriter and infinity, he will write the Bible (you can insert great book here as to not offend a religion)." I love this quote because it really makes several interesting statements. At it's heart it is a comment on probability. Basically saying that if you try at something long enough you are bound to succeed...no matter how deficient you are. It is the basis of science, failure begets failure, until we learn enough failures that we are able to succeed, and I love science.

I also feel like this statement reminds us all that we shouldn't get too impressed with our abilities as a human race. We are not so far away from that monkey clunking away on the typewriter. Yes, we have invented many wonderful things. But, we have also participated in some horrible wars over odd things, excluded and hurt people simply because they are different, and created general mayhem on the environment. Despite the Parthenon, Shakespeare's sonnets, and our religious tomes we are just one small incident away from becoming monkey's chucking spears (or poop).  The image should keep us all humble.

So to the task at hand. I often feel when I am authoring a blog that I am trying to create something meaningful that will, at the least, entertain people. Associated with that feeling, I often feel like I am flailing miserably. However, I shall keep hacking away, hoping some day probability prevails and I write something meaningful. In the event I do write something worthwhile, I hope I am level headed enough to remember my second point. If not, the five of you who read this blog can feel free to remind me.

And what about keyboard being spelled key-bored? Aside from the fact I utilize the English language like a dog would handle a paintbrush, bored refers to the emotion that usually precedes my writing, boredom. Get it? It is my attempt at being clever and deep.

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

Rocky Mountain High

This Saturday my postdoc bosses were nice enough to take myself and Amanda out to snow shoe/hike near Vail pass. It was great to have people who know the area take us out and show us around. Also, they had snow shoeing gear, so we didn't have to rent it. They brought their dogs along and they were very entertaining. It was a beautiful day (50ish degree Fahrenheit) and I think we were pretty fortunate we got the experience. Below are some pictures of the day. We had to push one of the cars out which was an adventure. Then we ate at the Alpine Valley Health foods store. I had the vegetarian sandwich and it was great. 

Getting ready to hike

Hiking

View from trees after I went to bathroom

More picturesque hiking

P.S. taking in the scenes and a sandwich

Walking back to the car. B.S. and Sunny trudging away.

Driving home down the muddy slick road.

View out the window

More downhill driving

Mike and Abby pooped out after the adventure.