Old Resolutions

At the beginning of the year, I set out a bunch of goals to reach by 2009. Some of these I achieved with flying colors, and others were forgotten. Here's a look at what I intended to accomplish vs. what I actually did:

• Design and build a line of power kites

(I designed a couple kites, but I never got around to building any. I need a good sewing machine!)

• Finish the 13 remaining Colorado 14ers on my list

(I finished all of the 14ers the day before my 21st birthday this year)

• Climb 5 14ers in the remainder of the winter

(I managed to climb 3 or so during the winter. I guess I didn't have a lot of time for climbing this last winter)

• Reach 100 skydives, or maybe even 200

(I have a total of 85 parachute jumps a this time. I got close, but the crazy Colorado weather sometimes keeps me grounded)

• Walk the lost arrow spire highline in Yosemite

(I rigged and walked the spire highline in Yosemite this summer. I onsighted the line and walked it 36 times! I was incredibly surprised by this, but it was a good accomplishment)

• Rig 5 new highlines in Colorado

(I walked 5 new highlines in Colorado: (1) Little Bird Rock Highline, (2) Terry's Backyard Highline, (3) Coors Gap Highline, (4) Golden Spire Line, (5) Royal Gorge Line.)

• Begin writing a book

(I've begun writing a book about slacklining that I will try to publish sometime in the next year or two)

• Get a job with an engineering company

(I've been working at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) since May)

• Help Mary train to climb 5.12

(Some things didn't work out the way I wanted, but I'm happy for the experiences that I had)

• Climb Castleton Tower

(Every time I made it out to Moab, I ended up leaving all the climbing gear in the car and just walking slacklines)

• Rig and walk 3 highlines in Moab, UT

(We rigged 2 old highlines, the birthday gap and the doghole, and then established 6 new incredible highlines at the Fruit Bowl in Moab, which we had up simultaneously. That makes 8 new lines in Moab for me)

• Teach myself to kite-ski
  

(Didn't end up doing the skiing part, but I did plenty of sliding around on the snow with my kite)

• Get published

(I'm now publishing content on a regular basis on slackline.com, and am working on a big project that will help me get published even more frequently during the next few years).

In all, I would say that I did pretty well. I had lots of dreams, and many of those dreams came true. Some of those dreams were put on the back burner a little bit, but they will certainly make an appearance during the awesome year of 2009.