Happy New Year!

I write this from Amarillo, TX; I've been relegated to a desk in the rear of my in-laws' house to make way for Whitney's bachelorette party. A justified use of what I will term "feminent domain".

My headphones pipe the Camera Obuscra album that I recently purchased, drowning out all but the regular click of an online poker game. The game sits on another desktop, and informs me whenever my turn has come. This is perhaps an ideal poker playing situation: nothing but a glass of wine, some new music, and a rambling blog post to distract me from raw statistics. I'm up roughly than 5:1 right now, which is pretty decent in my opinion.

I'm excited for 2008. If everything this year goes as this mortal has planned...

• My first child will be born in July. This takes the cake by far.
• I'll max out my IRA.
• There will be myriad opportunities for backpacking.
• iLike will continue to grow sigmoidally.
• I'll finish 12 of the Harvard classics — one a month is a good goal, especially since I read a bunch of other books alongside.
• A few of the ideas I've been knocking around will actually come to fruition.
• I'll continue biking to work, and my soccer team will actually achieve the glory we deserve.

Excerpts of Proverbs 16, however, are jumping to mind with every item I add to my yearly wishlist:

¹The plans of the heart belong to man,
    but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD
²All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
    but the LORD weighs the spirit.
³ Commit your work to the LORD,
    and your plans will be established.

⁵Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD;
    be assured, he will not go unpunished.

⁷When a man's ways please the LORD,
    he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
⁸Better is a little with righteousness
    than great revenues with injustice.
⁹The heart of man plans his way,
    but the LORD establishes his steps.

So in 2008, what I'm really looking forward to is a benediction:

That the Lord would bless us and keep us. That the Lord would make his face shine upon us, and be gracious to us. That the Lord would turn his face towards us, and give us peace.