Sorry to sound like a bad car dealership ad. The Calgary Sport Chek Mother's Day Run & Walk is cranking up again, and I've decided to go whole hog with the fundraising (and my resolutions).

The support I've received for these runs has been fantastic, but I realized that I'm kind of mooching off others, so I thought it was time I ponied up some of my own dough into the pot.

This year, for every $10 you donate, you'll get one entry into a draw I will hold after the run. If I run in my "new year's resolution" time of 25:00 or less, I'll write the winner a cheque in the amount of their donation, up to $100. If I run slower than 25:00, the winner will receive double the amount of their donation, up to $200! The race uses a timing chip, and times are published in the Calgary Herald, so I couldn't cheat if I wanted to.

In addition, all donations of $20 or more will receive tax receipts (applicable in Canada only, so American friends, you may want to make the donation in the name/address of a Canadian relative or friend).

I've had a couple of acquaintances who have given birth prematurely, and this run will raise much-needed cash to help the neonatal intensive care doctors and nurses have the necessary equipment to help parents (and the preemies!) through this difficult time. Here's how easy it is to support this great cause:

1. Make out a cheque (sadly, Sport Chek has not adopted online donations yet) to The Forzani Group Foundation, dated May 9th or earlier.
2. Send me the cheque, along with your full name and address (including postal code-- this is so you can get your tax receipt). If you don't know my address, whip me off an email and I'll send it along immediately. (I just don't want to post it online. If you're not sure you have the right one, a hint is that the street number has two 9's in it, and the suite number has two 4's in it).
3. Stay tuned for the draw!

If you have any questions, drop me a line or post a comment. Thanks in advance for your support, and I hope for the winner's sake that I'm slow as molasses. I sure as hell won't be training very hard.

I didn't even last a week. Three days into my resolution, I logged on to Facebook. In my defense, it was quasi-accidental. Here's what happened:

When I meet new, interesting people, I often Google them to find out a little bit about their background, their accomplishments,
or anything else that might be interesting. These Googlings are surprisingly effective and fruitful.

So a couple of days ago, I was Googling someone, and a link to their Facebook profile appeared in Google's search results. These results are a relatively new feature of Facebook-- in the past, Facebook didn't expose their accounts to Google's searches-- so I was intrigued when I saw the link and knew it would be a good source of information, since it was essentially maintained by the person themselves.

When I clicked the link, I had to login. When I logged in, I saw the person's profile, which I read. It wasn't until I had finished reading that I realized what I had done: I was on Facebook. Fuck! Essentially, I was in my "research" mode, whereas when I usually go on Facebook, I am in "killing time" mode; I connect Facebook with doing nothing productive, so I was unable to connect a legitimate use of Facebook with my resolution.

I logged out immediately. I did not read any mail, check any of my friends' walls, open my notifications, or any of the normal things I do when using the site, so I am cutting myself some slack: I am starting this resolution over again.

So I have finally decided on my New Year's Resolutions for 2008. After spending 2007 without having a drink of alcohol, I feel like I need to do something at least as difficult this year.

To recap, my resolutions last year were:

1. No booze (Check!)
2. Write on my blog every week (Not so much!)
3. Make a concerted effort to meet my future wife (Maybe?)

For 2008, I've decided on the following:

• Health
  1. Flexibility: be able to touch my toes (seriously)
  2. Fitness: bench press my weight 3 times, do 60 situps in a minute, and run 5K in under 25 minutes
  3. Eating: finish half of what I cook for meals and eat out only once per week
• Wealth
  1. Contribute regularly to an RRSP
  2. Consolidate my remaining debt and eliminate 33%
  3. Buy less expensive/used items as much as possible
• Wisdom
  1. Only check Facebook once a week
  2. Take notes when reading important books relating to my masters
  3. Make time to catch up with family and friends

Oddly, of all of these, the Facebook one will be the hardest to keep. I've been thinking about them over the past couple of weeks, and every time I feel the urge to Facebook, I remind myself that I will have to learn to say no. But I don't want to. It is an urge that goes far beyond any urge I ever had to drink alcohol.

Facebook is an amazing phenomenon. Despite its repeated, inexcusable privacy debacles, not only has it survived, but Microsoft recently spent over $200 million dollars to buy a 1% share! It is such a time vacuum that many professional workplaces have blocked it from their computers. In other words, they don't trust that their employees will be able to resist it long enough to complete their work-related duties.

If you don't think this is a serious addiction, note that there are already two websites ready to setup 12-step plans once people realize they can't kick the habit.

It's been over a year, but I finally cranked out another poem. It's been a while in the making, and I still don't know if it's just right, but nothing much ever is.

It's called Correlations.

I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year's Eve celebration, and a great Xmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, whatever. For my part, I managed to spend some quality time with the family and also see a couple of friends while I was back home.

Here are some things I have resolved to do in 2007:

1. No alcohol until New Year's Eve 2007. Seriously. I'm not really sure why I'm doing this, but I've found that the last few benders, social cocktails, and poker game beers, have been highly unsatisfying. And expensive.
2. Post to this blog at least once every week. I've got this week covered.
3. Eat smaller portions. I'm not fat, but I'm not really exercising either, and I've noticed that when I cook for myself, I tend to each everything. Even when the recipe says "Makes 8 servings."

I think that should do it. Post your bets on when each resolution fails in the comments. I will be honest about whether I stick to this or not.