I might have goals. (Geoff Herbach)

So, I’m sitting here in San Francisco, where I don’t live (I live in a colder place in the upper-Midwest). Whoa. San Francisco is pretty nice. I’m in a Japanese Hotel (manga-themed – I’m serious -- check out Steph with our room's deer mural with a city in its tummy). This place has nice furniture. I’m thinking: hmm… I like all this little furniture. I have space to walk around in between this nice furniture. Why is my office back home so filled with crap? Answer: I pile paper on paper. Mail is under my students’ work, which is under my lunch plate and soda cans and newspapers, and all these books I’m in the middle of reading are scattered across the plates and papers and essay exams. Gross. I do have a goal: In 2012 I will act as if I live in this Japanese Hotel in San Francisco. There is no paper piled on the furniture here, because the furniture is too small to hold piles. I’m going to buy some new furniture and maybe do some recycling.

I think I have some other goals, too...

Do you guys ever wake up in the middle of the night? I do all the time. I’m generally awake from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. For most of my adult life I’ve thought I don’t sleep well because I have so much on my mind. Responsibilities and big ideas, you know? But you have stuff on your mind, too, right? Most of you sleep okay. I drink about sixteen cups of coffee a day. No biggie, except I read an article on the internet recently that said caffeine over-consumption can make a guy jumpy. True. I’m a freaked out monkey man and I don’t sleep very well. Could it be the coffee? Maybe. We’ll see. Goal two: drink less coffee.

Because I once was a cigarette smoker, I now exercise a whole lot to try to improve my unhealthy body. Exercise works. I’m pretty fast (I know because I race a lot of moms at the track at the YMCA, and I defeat most of them). Unfortunately, exercise makes me really hungry. I’m never hungry for broccoli or bananas. I’m really hungry for Dino’s pizza and sometimes Pagliai’s pizza. So I stop off at one of these restaurants quite often and then I eat a lot of pizza. It doesn’t make me fat, exactly. I’m just getting these massive, powerful thighs from exercise and pizza. My thighs don’t fit in my pants very well. All of my pants are exploding in the groin area. That’s trouble. I teach college. Try teaching with your pants blowing out. Not easy. Goal three: stop eating so much Dino’s and Pagliai’s pizza (or stop exercising).

Did you know I live in a log cabin? Seriously. I’ll show you a picture.

I got married this year to my favorite person in the world. She lives in the cabin with me. Another goal for 2012 is to be a really nice person to my wife, Steph. I am going to turn this cabin into the greatest, sweetest place in the world. That seems like a good goal.

San Francisco is pretty great. Tonight we’re meeting up with a big pack of college friends. We’re going to a Russian restaurant where we’ll toast each other a lot and laugh and probably high-five each other (because we are old nerds). It should be fantastic. Sometimes I forget there’s a nice, big world outside of my computer. Yes, I want to keep writing a ton. I love writing. I love my computer. But I want to remember how excellent real people are, too. I want to spend a lot of time in 2012 with people I love. That’s my final goal.

The last two goals are the most important.

Yes! I do have goals!

Hope all is well with you!

Geoff