You say you want a resolution?

To paraphrase the Beatles (they were a band that Paul McCartney was in prior to Wings)...

 ♫♫ You say you want a resolution....wellll, you know...we'd all love to hear your plan! ♫♫

2012 is in the books. For me, it was a pretty good year, a year of transition.

I'm looking forward to 2013. Every once in a while I get the urge to do a lot of  New Years Resolutions, this year is one of those years.

Sooo without further ado, here goes Bob's plan for 2013:

• Blog more. I enjoy writing short-form, blogs are the perfect vehicle for this. I want to make a conscious effort to blog at least weekly. (maybe I should have said "blog at least weakly"?)
• Earn my long-overdue Distinguished Toastmaster designation by May 1st, 2013
• Continue my quest to lose 100 pounds
• I lost 64 pounds in 2012 after I had my stomach sleeved ("stapled").
• 36 more pounds to go. I weigh 266 pounds today, January 1st, 2013. Hard to believe I was 330 pounds on June 1st last year!
• My first mini-goal is 260 pounds on February 1st, 2013. I will weigh less than my father on that date.
• My second mini-goal is 255 pounds on March 1st, 2013. On  that day I will be able to ride a Segway. I was crushed when I found out I weighed too much to take a Segway tour of Washington DC with my daughter last year....that was one of the deciding factors in my decision to have stomach surgery
• My third mini-goal is 246 pounds by May 1st, 2013. On that day, I'll be medically classified as being "overweight" and not "obese". I've transitioned from borderline "Morbidly obese" through "Severely Obese" and am now at plain old "Obese". I'll make a quick trip through "Overweight" to the final destination of "Normal".
• I will begin making motivational speeches this year. I am a very accomplished humorous speaker, and I can do dramatic and/or theatrical speeches as well. Motivational speeches are the one type of speech that is completely out of my comfort zone. Dramatic speeches were out of my comfort zone too, as recently as three years ago. I have a high degree of confidence to deliver any type of speech now, so I'll work on motivational/inspirational speechifying in 2013. I want to give at least 5 of them (if past history is a guide, I'll develop one or two motivational speeches and practice at various Toastmaster clubs.
• Help my "home" Toastmaster club, Cy-Fair Super Speakers, double in membership from 17 to 34 this year. I'm the membership chairman, I've done this before at other clubs.
• Save up for plastic surgery. I'm on track to lose 100 pounds, and realistically I'll need an abdominoplasty to remove extra sagging skin around my midsection. It's $20,000 here in Houston, or about $6,000 if I go the medical tourist route again. I'll probably choose the latter, as I had a lot of success doing medical tourism with my stomach.
• Upgrade my wardrobe..this sounds frivolous, but I have an extensive wardrobe that no longer fits me. I've tried getting suits altered but they have to be completely re-cut to accomodate the new, leaner me. This is going to be expensive.
• Discontinue cardio workouts for the first 6 months of 2013, and focus on weightlifting, particularly upper body. I have strong, muscular legs and a relatively weak upper body. I need to bring my upper body (chest/back/shoulders) in line with my lower body.
• Bench press my weight by the end of 2013!
• Take a "real" vacation. I've got a lot of vacation time saved up...and I want to go somewhere.

As you can see, I have a very ambitious 2013 planned....nothing but good times ahead!