I hope 2009 brings much joy and happiness to the CUBE community as well as their families and friends. I would like to write about New Year’s Resolutions this time. This is usually translated in Japanese as shinnen no houfu (新年の抱負) or kotoshi no houfu (今年の抱負) but I think there is a significant difference between the two terms. In Japanese, the term houfu means hopes or aspirations. So we are talking about our desires or dreams for the new year.

In English, resolution is more like a firm decision to do something. Resolution (決心、決意) is stronger than decision. Thus, New Year’s Resolutions deal more with the actions we plan to take to achieve our goals. I think it is important to have hopes for the new year, but they will probably be more difficult to realize without a firm action plan.

The above difference may seem small, but I think small differences like this will make a big difference in the success we can achieve at CUBE and beyond. In a previous posting, I talked about the mission statement and vision statement. A vision statement outlines our hopes and intended destination (more like houfu) and the mission statement is more of a concrete plan for how to achieve these goals/objectives. Again, both are important and they have a close relationship.

Anyway, I hope you all achieve both your visions and missions for the new year. My resolutions for 2009 are to work closely with the students, staff and faculty at CUBE to make our inauguration a huge success.

Until next time,
Brent