I get about 50 pieces of spam a day. That may not be as much as some folks see, but it’s definitely enough for me. At one point in time though, I can remember when I didn’t get any spam at all. It was then that I signed up for a newsletter from a discount travel dealer called Travelzoo (they were featured in a cnn.com article).

See, back in 1998, during my first Engineering workterm, I actually signed up for spam. I know, it is not spam if you ask for it, but I was signing up for a weekly specials list for travel that was not available in my area, so I consider it spam. The reason I signed up for it was the company was offering shares for giving them your email address. This was before the dot-bust, so I figured what the hell, I might make something for it. Well, then the 2000-2001 rolled around, the company hadn’t gone public, and most dot-coms were dying, so I kinda forgot about the whole thing.

By that time though, I was getting lots of spam, and their mailing blended in, so I didn’t cancel it. Last summer, while checking my spam box to make sure I wasn’t deleting real mail, I saw one of their top 10 lists. I decide to check out the company, and found they had gone public and were trading for about $6/share. Nothing to get exited about since I only had 6 shares, but I figure I would add them to my messenger stock watch list. We’ll late last year, the stock started to climb, and I decide to sell. In the end, I was able to sell the stock for a few hundred dollars. Granted, this is not quite like winning the lotto, but from now on I’ll look at weirder marketing campaigns with a different light.

It’s time to say goodbye to 2004 and hello to 2005. This year was a really good one for me. Lori and I got our first pet, April, our loved and very spoiled beagle. I changed jobs, starting with Blue Line Innovations in April, which provided new and interesting challenges. In May, I presented my first peer reviewed paper at CCECE2004 in Niagara Falls. I got married in September, the biggest and best event of the year. We then celebrated our honeymoon in Barcelona in November, a much need and very relaxing vacation. And now we are just past Christmas, and waiting for the New Year.

It is tradition at this time of year to list a set of goals for the New Year, many of which are forgotten by January 2. To help me stay on task in 2005, I have decided to announce mine to the world via the Internet. This way, I can’t deny them later, if I happen to wander off track. So, in 2005, I resolve to:

1. Lose 40lbs. This may seem like I am setting my goals to high, but a couple of years ago I was able to lose 60lbs, I just didn’t keep it all off.
2. Limit greasy fast food to once a week. Hopefully the frequency will be less that once a week, but this goal is reasonable for now. I will be allowed healthy fast food such as Subway and Pita Pit.
3. Find a regular physical activity to participate in by the end of January. I need to be more active, I’m just not sure what I want to do, and so I am giving myself a month to figure out.
4. Finish my thesis in the first half of the year. It just has to be done; the whole process has gone on long enough.

There they are, my major goals for 2005. Check back throughout the year for updates as to how I am progressing.

-Brian