Holy crap, it's 2007 already. (Or, as the kids are saying, "aught-sev.") We're practically done with the turn-of-the-century thing already. It's almost 2010, people. And, seriously, where's my jet pack? Where's my suborbital passenger flight to Istanbul? Where's my touch-screen computer made out of little glass plates that are simultaneously monitors and drives? Where's all the robot prostitutes?

It's The International Heliophysical Year, an international program of scientific collaboration to understand external drivers of planetary environments and universal processes in solar-terrestrial-planetary-heliospheric physics. Most of 2007 will be the Year of the Flourescent Green Pig, I hear. Also, this is the year in which alien invaders will come here from Titan and snatch our bodies, so watch for that.

This was an extra-long meeting, because of all of our New Year's resolutions, so let's cut right to it and try to avoid the tangents and tomfoolery today, huh?

Today is Revolution Day in Burkina Faso, by the way.

First thing, we talk about the newest trifecta of celebrity death: Gerald Ford, James Brown and Saddam Hussein. Noting that, when Reagan died, so did Ray Charles, Chaney predicts that when President George Bush, Sr., dies, so will Van Damme. Please make a note of it.

Hey, hey! Marketing prime ministrix Kelley has just come in to introduce us to our new production intern, Intern Dave, who it seems will spend time working at John's feet. (Meaning that between Intern Dave and Employee Bax, John is just lousy with unpaid or underpaid servants.) Welcome, Intern Dave.

One of our annual traditions here at the White Wolf compound is the List of New Year's Resolutions (Some of Them Funny). Each of us in the department compiles a list of things we want to do better (or at all) in the coming year. You know the drill. In many cases, this is also a list of things we hate about ourselves (I think all but two of us vowed to lose weight this year), but that's how this game is played, isn't it?

Many of our resolutions involve projects we can't yet tell you about. Some are personal or boring ('cause somebody else's resolutions are always more boring than your own). For your amusement, though, we've compiled a sample of each of our resolutions for you. Here they are, together with the rundown of what we're all working on this week:

Rich
You know all those symbols that appear in our books? Those Atlantean glyphs and bloodline icons? Rich does all those. He loves symbols. Right now, he's doing a bunch of them for Scion. Then it's on to contracts and paperwork for upcoming products. He's also helping steer an EVE art book from fantasy to reality.
Resolutions include…
3- Get the Storytelling Adventure System PDF products out in January.
7- Schedule and take vacations.
8- "Be excellent to each other" - Abraham Lincoln.

Aileen
Aileen is doing the boring stuff this week – contracts, paperwork, etc. – before moving on to more arty stuff for World of Darkness: Book of Spirits. Plus, we'll soon see what Changeling really looks like, and I think we're all psyched. But no pressure, Aileen.
Resolutions include…
1. Have as few complaints about Changeling design as I got about Werewolf.
2. Sell a million copies of Changeling.

Aaron
Aaron has the joyous and happy job of revising all of our contracts and company forms so that they still accurately reflect our company data post-merger. He's also going to take all of our glass bottles and aluminum cans to the recycling place today. Aaron gets all the fun stuff. Then he's going to prepare this year's ISBN stuff and tele-meet with the Icelanders about printing and production details on EVE: Second Genesis.
Resolutions include…
1. Learn some Chinese.
7. Read at least 4 books that will help me be a better businessman.
8. Learn to cook at least one dish that will make displaced Icelanders feel at home. Even if it's dried fish. Especially if it's dried fish.

Bill
Bill's early on in the design of the EVE RPG, which puts him in regular contact with the designers of EVE Online. It's too soon to say much about that game, though.
Resolutions include…
2. Get to know our CCP partners in other parts of the world better.
6. Get more exercise -- with help from a Wii, of course.

the matt
matt and his daughter spent the holidays all sick and congested. Now he's tackling the last of the art direction for Damnation City. Earlier this week he sent around his current page design for Scion and it looks totally rad.
Resolutions include…
- push myself artistically, both in illustration and graphic design — i hope to get a web comic up and running by summer
- LeaRN tO uSE thE shIFt keY respONSIbly
- get back into shape to make a return to hockey

Chaney
This week is the inevitable follow-up to the kind of crazy productive week Chaney had before the holiday – he has a million printer's proofs to go through now. He's also designing game components and doodads for Monster Mayhem.
Resolutions include…
2. Keep the booze within tolerable limits. I was very, very, very bad in Iceland.
6. Decide on a beard style and stick with it. Viking or Biker...a tough call. [Editor's Note: Mike, we all vote for Viking.]
7. Spend less time watching TV and more time reading.

Will
I'm trying to get that damn Damnation City out the door. I spent some of the holiday working on other, more long-term projects, like the new development and actual-play site, A Requiem for Atlanta, which goes public today. EDIT: It's live. Want a look at the Vampire chronicle we play here at the office? Check out A Requiem for Atlanta.
Resolutions include…
3. Be a mensch.
6. Develop, and deliver on time, a version of the Rome book that is not just a supplement but an expansion to Vampire.
10. Open my mouth half as much. Write twice as much.

Bax
The book called Oadenol's Codex (I spelled that right, even) is coming together now, in its text phase. Drafts for the second Terrestrial Directions book are coming in. All of this stuff is moving across John's desk these days, too.
Resolutions include…
3. Keep both furniture and food in my apartment for a change.
7. Beat John at Exalted (coup de tat), Beat Brian and matt at hockey
11. Get a girlfriend whose name doesn't embarrass me

John
John is this close to getting Book 1 of Scion done this week. Then he's on to Book 2.
Resolutions include…
2. Increase my stable of writers so it's not such a big deal if I've got several projects overlapping.
9. Play some more EVE.
10. Come up with something new and awesome for Dreams of the First Age that Exalted fans haven't seen before.

Ethan
For Ethan, the whole world is Changeling. He's pretty lucky. Changeling's a pretty cool place to live. We'll be looking at it in the coming weeks as it undergoes the grueling process of company-wide scrutiny and evaluation. I can't wait to see Aileen's graphic design for that game, by the way. The thorn motif is a great start.
Resolutions include…
2. I also resolve to make sure that Changeling continues to kick ass, and to do what I can to keep people excited enough that it sells notably well.
5. Use my organizer book to its fullest. That turned out to be a great help for me organization-wise last year, and it can only help more if I use it more. Also look the online tools that CCP uses as possible aids to productivity (and avoid using them as distractions).

Brian
Brian is going to cowboy the fuck up. He is troubleshooting some of our networking systems for his imaginary friends (also, artists). He's also making new ads for Kelley and getting Craig the materials he needs to do a pretty new map for a forthcoming Exalted book. Art notes for Old MacDonald's Codex are on the way.
Resolutions include…
9. Once #2 starts happening regularly and #1 has kicked in, suit back up in
my goalie gear and play dek hockey one more time before the end of the year.
I want to quit playing on my terms, not have my back make my decisions for
me.
14. Bitch slightly less about ads.
15. Bitch much less about everything else.

Craig
Craig's on his first outing as an art director on a book called Free Council. He's also about to send around his proof layout for World of Darkness: Urban Legends so we can see that book's unique take on the World of Darkness for ourselves. Then he's got to do some map for Brian.
Resolutions include…
1. DRAW! Try to set aside 30 minutes a day to sit and sketch either traditionally or digitally. This also includes finishing paintings I have started.
3. Learn the fundamentals of Maya and Painter
4. Start the losing weight process. (By which I mean, get Will off my back.)
7. Not be called Craiggers anymore.

And with that, we are out of here.

Current Music: Quantazelle, "Pedwards"