2012.

Well, '12 is upon us. We'll start by looking at my '11 post and see how I did on my goals:

--PR the following distances this year--5k, 10k, half marathon and full marathon.

**5k-nope

**10k-yes

**half-no

**full-yes

--Run 1000 miles this year. Also to cycle 1000 miles.

**run-yes (1065)

**cycle-no, and not even close

--For 5k, I want to break 24 minutes. no

--For 10k, under 50 minutes. no, but did PR
--For half marathon, under 2 hours. regressed
--For full, just to beat my first race time. by 10 minutes

--I want to get down to 160 pounds. Doing this will make the above much easier.

**gained weight. guh

--I want to learn to hem pants.

**nope

--Pursue further the ability to converse in Spanish. No more classes. Its time to use what I've learned.

**afraid not.

I really stunk on my goals for this year. And it was a tough year all around for me. Closing both stores. No real growth personally. So, let's set some goals for 2012. And I'm going to try to be more specific. First, running goals:

*Run 1500 miles

*cycle 500 miles

*5k--under 25 minutes

*10k--under 53 minutes

*half--under 2 hours

*full--under 5 hours

*I also want to lose weight. 165 pounds seems like a good target.

2012 will also bring about a career change. At this point, I have no ideas. As of writing this, I haven't formally announced closing either store. God led me to the retail path 16 years ago. I've profited from it. I have to believe God will lead me where I need to go next.

Today, I made a major decision. I decided to close both of my stores. This has been hard for me. I hate giving up. And being a business owner is all I know how to be. I guess I felt like it was my legacy to keep Charlie's going. As if ending it would make me a failure. Pure logic and numbers said I should've quit several years ago. I hope I didn't set myself back financially thanks to my stubbornness. We still have to sell out everything, but my life as a self employed guy seem to be over. Millions have to make such transitions in their life everyday. I'm not special in this regard and I just have to approach it with peace and a clear heart. I've had such stress levels this year that it should be obvious this is the right choice. I literally had headaches due entirely to stress. I've been a fool I guess. Anyway, we finish out this Christmas (#16 for me) and do the whole sellout thing. That last day will be very bittersweet.

2011 Reading list

Here we go again. Going to try to beat my total of 35 in 2010.

Protect and Defend--Vince Flynn (1/5)
Mitch Rapp novel. Found some Flynn novels that I missed. Kennedy is kidnapped by Hezbollah. Rapp saves the day. Nice read. Ending wound up a little too easily.

Term Limits--Vince Flynn (1/25)
O'Rourke novel. Was a good read and an interesting premise.

Sophie's World--Jostein Gaarder (2/?)
Not something I would normally choose. Dad recommended it as an interesting read. At times, it was interesting. At other times, it was tedious. Basically, its an intro to philosophy. Took a while to finish, but it was a nice challenge.

Jane Eyre--Charlotte Bronte (3/3)
Next on my list of classic novels. Was a decent read. Much better story than the last "classic" I read.

Wuthering Heights--Emily Bronte (3/14)
Another off my list of classics. A better read than Jane Eyre, but didn't capture me like some others have (LOTR for instance). Hey, one more down.

Backlash--Aaron Allston (3/18)
Book 4 in the Legacy of the Jedi series. I liked it. Flowed well.

Allies--Christie Golden (3/ )

Middlemarch--Elliot (6/9)
Another of the classics. Tough read. Someone will have to explain to me its standing.

The Black Echo--Michael Connelly (6/13)
Mystery novel. Decent read. I'll give Connelly a try for a while.

Hell's Corner--Baldacci (6/15)

Another good read. Next in line in the Camel Club saga.

Blood Work--Connelly (6/19)

Nice read. Not sure if the story tied up as neatly as it seemed. Made some jumps in logic that didn't seem to fit at times.

Heir To The Empire--Zahn (7/3)
Rereading this series. They really should be made into movies.

Dark Force Rising--Zahn (7/6)
book 2

The Last Command--Zahn (7/7 )
book 3

Alexander Hamilton--Ron Chernow (8/10)
A very enlightening read about one of our Founding Fathers. Hamilton is really one of the less well known of the most important FF.

Tim Tebow--TT (8/20)
A biography of Tebow. An impressive young man, but not sure his life is worthy of a biography just yet.

The Last Patriot--Brad Thor (8/26 )
Nice read. Thor is a good story teller.

Portrait of A Spy--Thor (9/12)
A nice read. Thor always delivers

Heaven Is For Real--Burpo (9/14)
An interesting read. Comforting, but I'm still leary that this story is a fraud.

Principle of the Path--Andy Stanley (9/15)
Book we're using for my life group.

The Confession--Grisham (9/16)
ANother good Grisham tale.

The Enchantress of Florence--Salman Rushdie (9/22)
Thought I would get out of my norm. Was a different story for sure. I'll read more of his.

Private--James Patterson (9/25 )
A surprisingly good Patterson novel. Last few haven't been that great.

The Lincoln Lawyer--Connelly (9/27)
Nice read. I enjoy Connelly.

Trunk Music--Connelly (9/30)
Also a good read.


The Kill Artist--Daniel Silva (10/7)
Another good Gabriel Allon novel.

Lost Light--Michael Connelly (10/12)
Was ok. Ending kinda didn't tie together. Maybe I missed something.

The Closers--Michael Connelly (10/21)
Nice read. Ending wasn't great.

State of the Union--Brad Thor (10/27)
Fair read. several things in the story wrapped up a little too neatly.

Blowback--Brad Thor (11/8)
Nice read. Thor has a way of wrapping up big details in his stories a little too quickly sometimes.

Echo Park--Connelly (11/17)
Good story. Didn't see the bad guy at all.

The Last Lecture-- (11/20)
A nice read.

The Sixth Man--Baldacci (11/28)
Typical good Baldacci. Didn't see the end swerve coming.


Angel Flight--Connelly (12/1)

Nice read.

Water For Elephants--Sara Gruen (12/3)

Not quite the story I expected. A good read. Recommended read.

Choices of One--Timothy Zahn (12/13)

Star Wars novel. Nice read. Pre Empire storyline.

The Reversal--Connelly (12/17)
Nice story with Haller and Bosch together. Sometimes got confusing jumping from perspective to perspective. Sometimes took a page to figure out who was narrating at the time.

2011

My first 2011 post, which I will use to put down my goals for this year. I will most certainly need something like this to keep my focused. The first round of goals will be running related:

--PR the following distances this year--5k, 10k, half marathon and full marathon.
--Run 1000 miles this year. Also to cycle 1000 miles.
--For 5k, I want to break 24 minutes.
--For 10k, under 50 minutes.
--For half marathon, under 2 hours.
--For full, just to beat my first race time.

--I want to get down to 160 pounds. Doing this will make the above much easier.

--I want to learn to hem pants.
--Pursue further the ability to converse in Spanish. No more classes. Its time to use what I've learned.

There are certainly more to add, but those will come later.