Before I took the great leap of faith into retirement, I used to love this time of year.  Not that I’m that much of a holiday guy, but things sort of progressively slowed down as the end of the year approached and people were generally just a little nicer.  So, it was a time to get caught up a bit and to work under a little less pressure than usual. Plus, with all the people out of the building on vacation, lunch lines in the cafeteria were shorter.

Yet another reason I like this time of year is it’s when the ‘Best of….” lists are published. I wonder every year, though, how the authors of these lists have any credibility left at all. They seem to always get it wrong. I mean, everyone knows The Suburbs by Arcade Fire was the best album of 2010, and Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes was the best book, right? Well, rather than getting worked up about the past, another end-of-year tradition, creating New Year’s resolutions, is something I personally find more productive. If you haven’t finished your list, I have a recommendation for you.