{"id":17311,"date":"2016-01-28T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/regional\/my-top-10-hamilton-new-years-resolutions\/"},"modified":"2022-11-28T19:04:14","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T19:04:14","slug":"my-top-10-hamilton-new-years-resolutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/hamilton\/my-top-10-hamilton-new-years-resolutions\/","title":{"rendered":"My top 10 Hamilton New Year’s resolutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Making resolutions for the New Year, or even the new month or day, always fills me with positivity, determination, and the heady euphoria people like me get when compiling lists. However, I have found that sometimes I am not great at the follow-through. Over the years, I have put such idiocies on my resolution lists as: stop eating mayonnaise, read War and Peace<\/em>, and pick up any change I see on the ground (!?). For 2016, I am creating a resolution list specific to Hamilton and I can already feel that heady euphoria coming my way. Maybe someday I\u2019ll be the type of person who flosses every night but until then I will be the Hamiltonian who loves her city in the following ways:<\/p>\n

\"BE<\/a><\/p>\n

BE on Barton<\/strong><\/p>\n

I remember a recent initiative aiming to support Barton Street by spending time and money there. I like this idea as it\u2019s a great way to familiarize myself with the gems that exist and make it less of a mental no-fly zone for me. I pledge to get out of my comfort zone, expand beyond 541 Eatery and Exchange, and simply \u201cbe\u201d on Barton Street.<\/p>\n

\"??????????????\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Enter no Walmart<\/strong><\/p>\n

Happily, this will not be a difficult resolution as I rarely shop at Walmart, but I really want to make it a No-Fly Zone for 2016. I always feel awful being in there, like a cog in the corporate fat cat machine, and shopping at Walmart does nothing to benefit my personal happiness or the local small businesses I love.<\/p>\n

\"Exercise<\/a><\/p>\n

Exercise at the rec centre<\/strong><\/p>\n

I live near a rec centre. You probably do as well. Last fall, I decided I should be someone who swims laps. I bought fancy goggles, a Speedo, and even a swim cap but I have yet to dip a toe in the water. This will change in 2016. There are so many excellent facilities and programs that I should take advantage of and most are so convenient. Cannonball!<\/p>\n

\"Read<\/a><\/p>\n

Read the Opinion section of The Spec<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I have subscribed to home delivery of The Spec<\/em> for years (yes, the paper version) and I love it for the local news, particularly stories of lottery winners and miniature train villages. For some reason, when it comes to the Opinion pages, I too often skip past. This year, I pledge to read these submissions and articles and see the stories from a variety of sides to make context king.<\/p>\n

\"Recycle<\/a><\/p>\n

Recycle like a boss<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a child, taking out the garbage was a chore I couldn\u2019t pawn off on my brothers. Now, as a homeowner, I get a sense of pride in a tidy and correctly sorted blue box. That may be the lamest sentence I\u2019ve ever written. Nonetheless, there is a lot to learn about what items go where. I pledge to figure out in which refuse pile fruit stickers and dog hair belong.<\/p>\n

\"See<\/a><\/p>\n

See more live music<\/strong><\/p>\n

Considering the music town Hamilton is, I don\u2019t take nearly enough advantage of the venues and talents in my backyard. I would like to be exposed to more interesting music than what is currently on rotation in my music library. I\u2019m looking at you, Kenny G. Why have I not seen Terra Lightfoot yet?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Stop<\/a><\/p>\n

Stop complaining<\/strong><\/p>\n

As anyone who wants their beloved city to thrive, it\u2019s easy to sometimes focus on the flaws. Obviously, we need to point them out and seek solutions, but I pledge to stop complaining about things I dislike that perhaps don\u2019t truly matter or are an issue for another time. For example: lack of dog parks, no highway Hamilton sign, and that atrocious, half-painted, bright blue building on Main Street.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Use<\/a><\/p>\n

Use Twitter more<\/strong><\/p>\n

To me, Twitter is like the olive in a martini\u2014it has to be there, but I rarely eat it and I\u2019m only in the mood for it once in a while. Nevertheless, I see the benefit to being engaged on Twitter in Hamilton and pledge to make it more of a social media priority (which sounds like it should be an oxymoron). Give me a follow (@WinnieCooperMM) #HamOnt #SorryOlives<\/p>\n

\"Venture<\/a><\/p>\n

Venture \u201cup the hill\u201d more often<\/strong><\/p>\n

Admittedly, my column here is pretty downtown-centric, as this is where I was raised, where I currently live, and where I spend the majority of my time. However, I am often reminded that there are plenty of gems on the mountain and I should make a point to expand my patterns to go find them. I shall start with State & Main Kitchen & Bar.<\/p>\n

\"Write<\/a><\/p>\n

Write my councillor<\/strong><\/p>\n

As many of you did, I found the recent municipal elections finally exciting and engrossing. Now that our councillors are in place, I think we need to support, question, and engage with them. Presuming you know who your councillor is (and really, you should), take a moment to reach out to encourage and challenge them. I would venture to guess that an engaged electorate is what they all want this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Making resolutions for the New Year, or even the new month or day, always fills me with positivity, determination, and the heady euphoria people like me get when compiling lists. However, I have found...","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":17313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8067],"tags":[19,2723,2556],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Enter-No-Walmart-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17312,"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17311\/revisions\/17312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}