Happy New Year

It's another new year. How long will I still write "2008" when I'm supposed to write "2009"? That will be my first New Year's Resolution. Last year, I think I still used "2007" until some time in March!

This is the year I cut down on eating Doritos. I eat too many so if I can just cut down, it will be a good thing. I'd like to just stop them entirely but I'm not going to set that as my goal. Last year I cut way down on the coffee I drink and I feel much better for it. Of course, I was able to do it because I switched to tea. My parents both drank tea and it was natural for me to drink it, too. I only started to drink coffee when I worked on construction jobs in the summer between years at college. I wanted to be "one of the guys". Plus, being the youngest and least experienced of the workers, it was my job to get the coffee for the rest of the crew. So, I'd drink a cup during the break. I sort of dropped off the coffee wagon when I got my first real job and switched back to tea. Then, I got a job in the Marine Geology branch of the US Geological Survey and went to sea on research cruises for months at a time. I usually got the 12 - 4 watch (12 noon to 4 PM and then 12 midnight to 4 AM) and it was tough getting through the midnight to 4 AM part without a boost so I started drinking coffee again. After that, I was hooked. I was drinking up to 6 to 8 cups of coffee a day. Not good for sleeping at night. For some reason, even though some studies show that tea has as much or more caffeine as coffee, tea doesn't affect me as much as coffee.

So, here's hoping that eating fewer Doritos (with their salt and spices) will help me feel even better in 2009. May we all have a better year this year than last year.