Traffic was great this morning, mainly due to its absence. Except for a slight slow-down near the exasperating 694/Snelling quagmire (Minnesotans know what I’m talking about), the river of cars flowed at about 75mph. I was at work in 18 minutes.

The 5‘s thermometer indicated 38 degrees, the rising sun was bright, and the world was bursting with the crisp optimism of a new day. Beautiful. Unfortunately, I was able to see the sunrise and feel the brisk morning air and note the light traffic because I was going to work, where I work in a climate-controlled, artificially lit building. It is very much the antithesis of the natural world. Ah well. C’est la vie.

I wish that I could convince myself to get up earlier to enjoy all of it, perhaps by going for a run. At night, I set my alarm clock slightly early so that I’ll have time in the morning to do exercise, but when morning comes, it never works out according to plan. Damn you, snooze button! I should make it a goal to get back into a routine of morning exercise.

Every so often, I write about my goals for the coming season. After writing them here, I usually go on to complete a majority of them. I like that system, particularly because it allows me to track everything quite easily (as does this blog in general). In addition to the exercise goal, here’s what I plan to accomplish this winter:

• Snowboard at least a half-dozen times in Minnesota and take a trip out West once. It sounds like the trip to British Columbia’s Whistler-Blackcomb might be happening in February. It would be a bit more expensive than going to Colorado, but I think the benefits outweigh the costs.
• Learn to juggle three balls. This has been on my list for a while, but for the first time, I might be getting close to realizing its completion. I’m really close to being able to juggle consistently. Unfortunately, I’m still losing control after a cycle or two. I know what I’m doing wrong; I just need to make myself do the correct thing.
• Learn to play ice hockey. This, too, has been on my to-do list for quite some time. In the summer of 2003, I learned to play roller hockey, but I never expanded on it nor went back to it in 2004. However, that’s going to change this winter. I’m lucky enough to live in Minnesota, which fashions itself “The State of Hockey.” As such, there is an organization in the Twin Cities that caters to adult recreational hockey players. Part of that organization is a program to teach novice hockey players how to play. It starts in two and a half weeks and runs through March. I’m excited about it!
• Set up an LLC or Type-S corporation. I’ve begun to delve into the world of business. I’ve done some consulting and own some web sites that could potentially expose me to legal liability were something to go wrong. I’d like to avoid that, and incorporation seems to be the answer. An added incentive to incorporation is that it would give me more clout when conducting business; people seem more willing to take a corporation seriously than a sole proprietorship.
• Learn to read and write French. I like France, and when I go back, I want to be able to understand what’s going on around me. Note that I didn’t say that I want to speak French; for that, I think the only viable option would be have significant interaction with a good French speaker. Since I don’t live in Quebec, that probably means taking some courses at the University — an expensive endeavor. Instead, I plan to learn from books. I imagine that comprehending the written word would be sufficient for my purposes: almost everybody in France will (begrudgingly) speak English, but most of the signs, menus, and papers are written exclusively in French. My goal is to be able to understand the language well enough to get my news from Le Monde.

Will I see these causes through to fruition? Only time will tell, but I’ll strive to make the answer “yes.”