“Give a Little Bit” in 2010

I resolve the following in 2010:

To blog a little bit more, just a little bit.  I once had a cat named Little Bit, a bit psychotic was Little Bit – frightened of everyone, of anything that moved, especially of Oliver, our other cat.  I averaged 7.3 posts a month in 2009.  I’ll shoot for 8 a month in 2010.

By the way, speaking of resolutions, Resolved is an excellent documentary on high school debate, particularly for anyone who has ever been involved with organized debate at some level.

To reduce my carbon footprint.  Unfortunately, I’ve gained a little bit of weight.  I once had a cat named Little Bit…wait, I already said that.  “Give A Little Bit” is one of those great catchy Supertramp tunes of the late 70’s. I definitely need to exercise more – so more walks in the Arboretum, less junk food…good bye ice-cream until the summer.  No more cheese doodles, cheese dip, blue cheese. Oh the madness of the proposal.

I’ll try to conduct a paperless life, that is a life with less paper,  but not totally free of paper.  Paper or plastic.  Paper…actually, neither, but that’d put the bag boys and girls out of work.  I once tried to unionize a group of baggers…tried.  We have some reusable bags that I’ll try to reuse more.  We (meaning me and the family) need to stop buying bottled water.  I have a BPA free bottle and a filtered tap at home, but we buy Poland Spring water and cases of  Crystal Geyser…Natural Alpine Spring Water from New Hampshire.  The label says don’t refill.  I wonder if this is a subtle hint to the dangers of  plastic.  Speaking of dangers, I don’t drive much.  I take a hybrid bus near my house and walk to work from the bus station everyday and I will continue to do this.

Recycle.  We do extensively at home.  I need to figure out a way to recycle more at work.  My colleagues are committed to it, so it’s just a matter of putting a collective plan into action.   One thing I can do is stop printing so much.  I print e-mails too often out of laziness, like when I need an address, or meeting time or phone number.   I should just write these things down instead.

I buy a lot of books, but could easily find those books in the library.  The thought of community book sharing via the public library system is appealing.  Rather than buy books, I could look for a book swap situation.  And while I have found it difficult to read for long stretches of time on-line, I do get all my news electronically; I no longer have a paper newspaper subscription.  And I will try to read more novels and poems electronically on Project Gutenberg.  But I’m not ready for a Kindle yet…not just yet.  And  I’m not ready to completely give up on paper books, just as I have not been able to give up my albums and CDs just yet.   Digital, paper or plastic?  This is the question for 2010.