Back Online and a New Year's Resolution

I am finally back from an intense trip to Beijing, China for work.  Needless to say, not much time for blogging, as I had suspected.  In any event, I am glad to be back and am ready for an interesting year ahead as we commemorate all that happened in 1861.  Work contines to be busy, but I am determined to keep up posting twice weekly. 

As the new year gets underway, I have made the usual resolutions -- lose weight, exercise more, etc.  Of course, I may not have the willpower in 2011 any more than I did in 2010!  There is one resolution, however, that I am determined to keep -- to learn more about the Western and Trans-Mississippi Theaters of the war.  As an Easterner, and long-time resident of the DC area, I naturally have gravitated to the Eastern Theater.  Many of that theater's bloodiest battlefields took place right in my back yard for that matter!  To start the year right, I am going to read an overview book that I received for my birthday entitled, Decision in the Heartland.  After that, I will see where my interests lead me.  Because this blog has a decidedly Eastern and DC metro-area focus, I probably won't be posting too much here on the West and Trans-Mississippi.  But I look forward to expanding the scope of my Civil War studies and to sharing a thought from time to time.