New Year's Resolutions

So, it's four days into the New Year and I'm already behind... Qu'elle surprise! That's okay, I'll get there. Anyway, all this New Year's stuff got me thinking about my goals for this year in regards to my various assets.

Last year was a transformative year for me (as they should all be) where I sort of left the listlessness of 2008 and seemed to find some genuine direction. Or perhaps too much direction. One of the things that got lost in the shuffle was The Politico, which sometimes suffered for weeks at a time without an update.

Granted when Guelph Politico started it was as the Guelph By-Election Blog '08 and was intended to last for 6 weeks in the Summer of 2008. But then the By-Election became a full-blown election and 6 weeks turned into 12 weeks. After that I was content to let GB-EB08 become part of the internet tapestry of hibernating sites, but soon after I realized that politics in Guelph are too big for my weekly 600 word Echo column, and thus The Guelph Politico was born.

Well, last year I managed to barely beat the number of posts I did in half the time the year before, which, yeah, is sort of unacceptable. This year, I've decided to change that. It is an election year after all, so if there was ever a better time to get onboard with being onboard, then I don't know what is. So below, I've written a few goals I have for the year. Why? Because unless I write something down, I'll completely forget about it.

1. I'm going to get back to doing the "Better Know a Ward" segments. I got halfway done last Christmas and I still have half a city to go. So if you're a councillor for Wards 4, 5 or 6, be warned. I'll be in touch soon or soonish.
2. Catch up with Federal politics. Apparently Parliament's getting prorogued again (for the Olympics?), but frankly I haven't heard too much about this. And speaking of Frank...
3. I hope to be interviewing Frank Valeriote again soon. It was something I've been meaning to do since the first anniversary of his election in October, but c'est la vie.
4. Along with that, I hope to get a chance to sit down with the other named Federal candidates so far, Marty Burke for the Conservatives and Bob Bell for the Greens, and get to know their stands a little better. At least before an election's called (But if it were up to me, I'd wait one more year so as not to distract from the municipals in the fall. Speaking of which...)
5. I'd like to look at of the issues in Guelph more in depth, particularly transit. Actually, especially transit.
   
6. Hanlon Creek Business Park Part II. I'll be there because you know that as soon as the snow melts, it's on!
7. I'm toying with the idea of having guest columnists on The Politico so that they can talk about the issues that are important to them heading into the election. Actually, it's more than a toy, I'm just working out the logistics. If you're interested, stay tuned.
   

That's all I can think of for now. Of course, odd bits will continue to come up every now and then and I look forward to seeing what this new year has in store for me and, indeed, all of us.