New Year Resolution Resolved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

January 1 marks the end of month-long holiday debauchery. Weeks and weeks of socializing, drinking, partying, cooking, baking, shopping, wrapping, decorating, sending out holiday cards (they're still not finished. So if you're reading this and you haven't yet received your annual holiday greeting from the Brodnicks, here's a blanket wish to all: Merry, happy.)

Which brings me to my resolution for 2012. I am going to stop using exclamation points. Words alone should communicate the levity of a sentence. If your sentence needs a lift, try throwing in a capped word, but chuck the "!". For example:

"I will not be burdened by the thought of Sarah Palin running with Newt Gingrich!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"I will not be burdened by the thought of SARAH PALIN running with Newt Gingrich."

The second sentence sends the same message without the graphic redundance. When you think about it (and am I the only one who is? You can say it ...) exclamation points are extraneous. In actuality, they are so 2011. (We'll get into the discussion of italics later.)

Much more blah-blah, yadda yadda yadda to come, but for now, I close by wishing you a "Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Rather, "Happy New Year."