So what's up with all these New Year's resolutions anyway? If this sounds like the opening line of a bad Jerry Seinfeld routine, then so be it. I have never been able to get my brain around the concept of renewing, refreshing, and recommitting to everything under the sun once we hit January 1 of each New Year. But goodness knows I will try once again.
I suppose the fact that I have never been very resolute in my resolve to recommit could have something to do with my distain for them. As British playwright Oscar Wilde said, “Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.”
Since hitting the bliss of middle age, resolutions just don't hold the character-building incentives they did in my youth. Entering each New Year since reaching 45, just making sure my waist size stays below my age is accomplishment enough. I figure I am getting a pretty good head start on any weight-loss goals for 2008 by having my gallbladder removed at the end of the month. As a point of self-improvement I have also resolved to exhibit more patience with my teenaged daughter as we teach her to drive. Even if she still insists the gas and brake pedals on my car are not in the same place as in my wife's mini-van.
I have recently embraced the concept of going green for the New Year. I pledge to listen to more Al Green, eat more green leafy veggies and even wear the occasional Green Bay Packers sweatshirt. In that same vein, my commitment to ending global warming will intensify. In a personal effort to lower temperatures around my own house I will have our thermostats switched from Fahrenheit to Celsius. And any time I spot Al Gore on television, I will switch it off to lower my carbon footprint.
When it comes to international politics, I will try to do a better job of understanding alternative points of view — even if I still consider every person who buys their gas at CITGO a moron for not realizing they are supporting the dictatorial government of Venezuela 's strongman Hugo Chavez. One of my closest friends is a large systems integrator in Caracas . Ask him if he thinks Chavez has been good for business — or his family's health.
On the national scene, I'll do my best to be more tolerant of our incumbent president. I figure he is bound to unveil an intelligent border security plan any day now to complement his commitment to his war on terror. Call me crazy, but I don't think the Bush policy of surrendering the Southwestern U.S., and California is going over too well.
There are new beginnings being contemplated in my professional life too. I will stop deleting all the spam-mails I receive each week from China touting their new $50 DVRs and cameras and truly learn to appreciate the ingenuity of a good knock-off technology product. I will exhibit restraint when approached by a security manufacturer eager to explain to me why their “open-architecture solution” resembles yesterday's proprietary cut-sheet. I will stifle a yawn as I wait for the “inevitable” IT vendor invasion promised several years back when we witnessed the launch of IT-CCTV. I will continue to encourage both corporate and IT security managers to make business alignment their top priority before jumping into the technology pool.
Successfully negotiating these resolutions will be my challenge for 2008. I would love to hear what some of your New Year's goals are. If you are so inclined, please email me your number-one resolution for 2008 and we will post them on SecurityInfoWatch.com this month. So I say, stay resolute!
