That's how a friend I hadn't seen in over a year greeted me at a party during the holidays.

Harumph!

I'm not making any promises for the long term. Assuming I start doing this blog thing again, there will be some changes. For one, I've grown tired of this whole "No True Bill" charade. Nobody knows what it means, everyone assumes my name is Bill. Sometime soon there will be a massive rebranding, complete with a domain name change. I'll keep you posted as this happens.

Also, since a defined purpose causes me to blog far more frequently (see "Rock Star: INXS" for proof), I intend to have a couple of set agendas on which to report updates. First, I need to lose a lot of weight. And by "a lot" I mean over 100 pounds. I've been to the doctor, I belong to a gym, I see a nutritionist and I'm a member of Weight Watchers. I've pretty well backed myself into a corner on this one, and I need some public accountability to give me another push. I recently looked at some pictures of myself from my healthier days, and at the risk of sounding a bit cocky, I was a helluva a good looking guy. Did I know it then? Did I use it to my advantage? Nope. But I want to be that guy again, this time with confidence.

Also, apart from getting healthy, I made an ambitious New Year's resolution: I will read 52 books in 2008. I used to devour the printed word. When I was in grad school I always had a stack of books on my nightstand that I systematically worked my way through, and when I was in law school I read as many non-assigned books as I could to prevent myself from actually reading for class. Since I finished grad school in mid-2004, however, my reading has slowed to an embarrassingly slow pace. I rarely even pick up a book, and when I do I usually can't get past the first 10 pages. I jump from book to book to book, and actually finishing one is cause for celebration. Hell, on my Facebook profile I have three books listed that I am currently reading, and none of those is the one I'm actually actively reading right now.

Part of this inability to finish a book can be attributed to sleep apnea. I am always exhausted, and I have a hard time concentrating on just about anything. Reading sometimes makes me dizzy, gives me a headache or simply puts me to sleep. With some relief hopefully on the way for my sleep disorder, this should be less of an issue.

So with 2008 underway, I am currently trying to finish book number one: The Ruins by Scott Smith

Just a quick personal bit of bragging...

On Saturday I celebrated my six-month anniversary as a non-smoker. Actually, I completely forgot about it over the weekend, so I'm celebrating today.