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It’s pretty simple. For the new year I’d like to do the following:

1. Eat smart

2. Step up the confidence in my beliefs and my abilities (sappy, I know)

3. 30-minute workouts 5 days a week!

4. re-launch a foodie blog with video

5. cook dinner at least twice a week (pre-made frozen stuff doesn’t count)

6. Organize my home office

7. learn how to use my new DSLR

8. laugh A LOT

I may add more, but that’s what I got for now.

I don’t know about you, but I kinda like this. What got me was the video. Crazy town!

Happy New Year!

Here’s the Top 25 songs according to Billboard:

Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain – Low
Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love
Alicia Keys – No One
Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major – Lollipop
Timbaland Featuring OneRepublic – Apologize
Jordin Sparks Duet With Chris Brown – No Air
Sara Bareilles – Love Song
Usher Featuring Young Jeezy – Love in This Club
Chris Brown – With You
Chris Brown – Forever
Ray J & Yung Berg – Sexy Can I
Rihanna – Take a Bow
Coldplay – Viva La Vida
Katy Perry – I Kissed a Girl
T.I. – Whatever You Like
Rihanna – Disturbia
Rihanna – Don’t Stop the Music
Natasha Bedingfield – Pocketful of Sunshine
Chris Brown Featuring T-Pain – Kiss Kiss
Ne-Yo – Closer
Colbie Caillat – Bubbly
Mariah Carey – Touch My Body
Madonna Featuring Justin Timberlake – 4 Minutes
Pink – So What
Finger Eleven – Paralyzer

EMW Dinner at Camino Restaurant from Eileen on Vimeo.

I thought it would be fun to get a little video of our meal, since we’re always rating each place we visit. Although, I find it hard to both document and eat at the same time. Getting those natural reactions was really tough. I’d put the camera down and someone would say something good. I’d pick the camera up and — nothing!

So this is my first attempt at documenting our weekly “after the show” meals with Roger, using only my small Canon PowerShot SD750. Of course it was dark and somewhat loud and I just wasn’t ready to breakout my Sony HandyCam. Maybe next time…

About the meal – Hands down one of the best food experiences I’ve ever had. The pork shoulder was my absolute favorite. If you are ever in Oakland, you must get reservations to Camino Restaurant.

You can see some photos of the meal on my flickr photostream.

This conversation took place during my yearly doctor’s checkup a couple weeks ago. To be fair, my doctor is really patient, calm and encouraging. I believe she is a little more concerned that I am not getting enough exercise and it’s the first time she’s been this stern with me. Honestly, it kinda freaked me out. For years, I’ve been able to eat whatever I want and not really worry about my heart, enormous weight gain, etc.

I’m getting older and my lackadaisical eating habits are starting to catch up with me. My Mom had high blood pressure and my Dad has both high blood pressure and cholesterol. So there’s cause for some reevaluation.

My point is that I really feel I need to get my act together, think about my eating habits and get to the freakin’ gym that is located less than a mile from my house! I know, it’s pathetic that I haven’t gone in two weeks considering I could walk to the gym.

On the verge of the New Year, I will do my yearly Resolution right now. No gimmicky, unrealistic goals either!

To stay healthy:  A) I will pay attention to what I eat, and B) step up the workouts. Seriously, 30 mins a day on the elliptical machine is nothing. No more excuses E!

That regimen will start after the first of the year. Now back to the chocolate and fried chicken

This week I thought I’d look back at my favorite new artist of 2008 — Meiko.

I first stumbled upon Meiko, back in January, through one of my all-time favorite music discovery sites: The Sixty One. She even wrote a message on my wall when I complimented her – sweet! Ok, maybe she only wrote “Thanks”, but at least she took the time to respond .

“Reasons to Love You” and “How Lucky We Are” and “Boys with Girlfriends” are probably her most popular songs. But I also really love “Sleep”.

She’s an emotional singer and that’s probably the biggest draw for me. While she’s singing about heartache and pain, I find some calmness when I listen to her music. My only regret is that I missed her at the Great American Music Hall, TWICE this year.

I’m curious to see where her career goes. There are a TON of female singer-songwriters in the music industry these days, but I really think she stands out in the crowd.

I’ve been playing around with 12seconds.tv over the past month and I’m starting to really like the short video burst format. Today my sister and I recorded a greeting with a planned pop-in by Tom, but an unexpected one from my dad (audio only).

My Dad (a die-hard Lakers fan) watches the annual Christmas day game featuring his favorite  team. He’s just a bit passionate for the game of basketball, and decided to watch the game upstairs. It’s very faint, but I think you can still hear him, no?

Merry Christmas from our family on 12seconds.tv

Anyone in your family yell at the TV while watching their favorite team?

Our “Professional” Holiday Video 2008 from Eileen on Vimeo.

Strangely enough I rarely talk about work, but it does take up (approximately) 60 percent of my time and life, and I’ve had quite a year — to say the least.

Working at a small startup company is something that I haven’t done before, and I’ve learned A LOT so far. The ups, the downs, and the reorganization is just a part of the experience. I know I’m one of the lucky ones who continues with full-time employment in this time of recession and uncertainty.

But let me quickly change the tone of this post. The brighter lining involves one of the shows I produce and its definitely something that I am VERY proud to be a part of.

A little over a year ago, I was asked to shoot a pilot on “magic and scams” in a bar. I really had no idea what I was in for, but was intrigued after reading the show pitch and treatment. Little did I know I would start a new journey into comedy, foolery, and yes, intelligent entertainment with a guy sporting spiky hair.

I remember meeting Brian on a chilly afternoon on Market Street in San Francisco, and thinking “Ok, this will definitely be interesting”. Brian, Jonathan (his right hand person at the time) and myself, grabbed some pizza and ran through shoot prep. Later that evening we shot for about 4 hours and quite honestly I wasn’t sure if we accomplished what we needed.

Our very first attempt at shooting an episode was “The Short Change” (which we re-shot almost a year later). The bar yelled at us for shining a bright softbox light on the main downstairs area, thus rushing our shoot and not getting what we really needed. We were banished to the upstairs area of the bar and shot the rest of the episodes. Asking people to be on-camera was NOT easy. We also rarely use that softbox on shoots anymore.

About two months later I edited “The Human Chimney“, “The Puzzle” and “Bang Your Head“. I played around with the music and pacing and really had fun with the footage, with absolutely no idea if anyone would like the final product.

Then the feedback came in, and it was overwhelmingly positive! I think a few people were surprised that the pilot episodes were good (including myself). Most of all I was really happy to get the seal of approval from Brian. While I wanted the show to be entertaining, it needed to match his vision as the show is Brian’s brand and content. And the rest (as they say) is history and Scam School was born.

Earlier this month we got a little surprise as iTunes announced its “Best of 2008″ and we were on the list as one of the Best Video Podcasts of the year! How’s that for the little show that no one knew could

I like our positioning next to Morningstar and The Pentagon Channel

It’s been a great year, and look out for more hilarity and scamming in 2009!