Cornell Finch

Welcome to 2007

And my first post of the year. Many bloggers seem to be doing their “Review Of The Year”. I’m going to break the trend and not do one. If you’re that desperate to know what happened last year then there’s always the archives. There’s no point in looking back, that’s just depressing. What I’m going to do is define my aims for 2007.

1. Get the Mini on the road.

I have now got the engine running with the help of our local Mini expert. He has changed the head for me, overhauled the cooling system and tells me that the engine should go for another 20,000 miles before needing a complete strip down and rebuild. That’s about 4 years worth of driving going by previous experience. I now need to weld up the passenger sill, weld up the rust in the boot and make a proper inspection to the rear subframe to see if it needs replaced before I take the car for MOT.

2. Get my photography head back on.

I took nowhere near enough photographs last year. I keep a very careful eye on what others are doing and the one that inspires me most right now is Daze. In just over six months he’s gone from a digital compact to a 400d with L glass. I know the equipment makes very little difference, but if you look at some of the images he turns out are just awesome. Have a look at his Flickr account and you’ll see that he can make a bottle of wine look good!

3. Do more than 1500 miles on the Harley.

Most of the mileage this year was to and from work and that’s not a good thing. Biking is supposedly about being free, experiencing the country away from the cage and just enjoy it with no stress. It will be better once my wife has passed her test and we can get on the motorways. Sticking to A roads it takes ages to get anywhere.

4. Do that parachute jump.

I still want to do it, but it’s reliant on completing number 5.

5. Get my weight down.

Clinically I am classed as obese at 17.5 stone. Whilst I don’t feel too bad in myself I am very conscious of my weight. I need to be a maximum of 17 stone to be able to do number 4 and I want quite a bit of leeway on that parachute! I need to get to 16 stone (or less) because my parents got me a rallying experience day for Christmas which also has a weight limit.

6. Finish the photoblog theme.

It’s pretty close to a first version release, it just needs a couple of minor tweaks and then I can release it for public derision.

7. Find a miracle cure for depression and/or anxiety

It’s been over three years now and it’s really really getting on my wife’s (and my) nerves. I would dearly love to find a way to help (other than “just being there”) so that we can get on with our lives.

8. Sort the house out.

It’s a mess. We have half a bathroom, no carpet in the hall or dining room and everywhere needs decorated. We also have far too much “stuff”. Some can be sold (hello eBay!), some needs to be dumped, all of it needs to go.

That lot might not sound like much, and to be honest it probably isn’t to some. While the above are in no particular order, I really should put 7 and 8 somewhere near the top as they are the priorities. I might update the list if/when I can define more aims for the year. In the meantime I’d be interested in what you are planning for ‘07 too…