A Formal Welcome To Spring

With today's 50-plus degree weather, the people of Chicago are getting their first glimpse of an otherwise elusive Spring. I'd like to formally welcome Spring to Chicago, especially if such formalities will hasten the arrival of Summer as well.

Soon you shall be made anew

I'm not sure if New Years resolutions serve much purpose in Chicago. January and February are terrible months for folks to push themselves to get out and be proactive. Rather, the inhabitants of the northern Midwest would be far better served making Spring resolutions. I know I always have a decent list of resolutions and plans floating around in my head as soon as the first hints of warmer weather come this way.

Here's what I have so far:

• Learn about and use my new camera (a Canon EOS Rebel T3i, my first "real" camera). I've been frustrated with grainy, point-and-shoot photos for years and I'm finally going to do something about it.
• Bicycling. This isn't really a new activity for me, but since I won't be training for a marathon this year, I'd like to divert some of my time away from running and into bicycling. This meshes well with my plans to participate in more triathlons this year, including an international distance triathlon (1 mile swim, 24 mile bike, 10k run).
• I'd like to strengthen my design skills. I feel like I have a decent enough eye when it comes to identifying good design, but building a well-designed product is HARD WORK.

These are only a few of my plans for the warmer months and the list tends to grow as the temperature rises.

And to all the Chicagoans, get out and enjoy the weather this weekend!