On Jan. 1, I laid out 11 goals for the year ahead: Some professional. Some personal. All worthy of my attention. To make sure none get lost in a time-goes-by haze, I pledge to check the list at the end of each month, and grade my performance to date.

Starting with the professional goals:

1. New OtWP Blog content every weekday. So far, so good on this one. Look for more pop-culture reviews and toons new and old in the month ahead. Grade: 4 (out of 4)

2. An expanded offthewahl.com. Most of the work has been under the hood, but solid progress is being made. Grade: 3.5

3. A new editorial cartoon every week. Four for four in January. Bonus: I even like all of them! Grade: 4

4. Publish two book collections of my editorial cartoons. I’ve started scanning and touching up cartoons for the first volume, “When I Grow Up: Editorial Cartoons From the Last Millennium.” But I’ll need to pick up the pace to have it out by spring. Grade: 3.3

5. Launch a Web comic that will become my first graphic novel. I did some advance tech work and brainstorming, then decided to shelve this project till summer when I can meet a more regular schedule. Grade: Incomplete

6. Produce a 24-hour comic. Haven’t thought about this one yet, and probably won’t till a date is set for 24 Hour Comics Day. Grade: Incomplete

7. Complete my first year of grad school. It’s taken me a while to get into the groove of distance education, but the early results are promising. Grade: 3.8

And a few personal goals, too:

8. Spend more time with my little one. I’m getting Katja ready for school and helping her with her homework Monday through Thursday (my lovely bride Stacy lets me sleep in on Fridays). Katja’s liking it, and so am I. Grade: 3.8

9. Get down to 265 pounds. I lost one pound. That’s better than gaining one pound, but still. Grade: 2

10. Get basketball back in my life. I watched a lot of hoops. Even dreamed about it a couple times. But play? Grade: 0

11. Walk the damn dog. We went for one walk, on Jan. 2 — and Maxwell got hit by a truck. He was fine after a couple of days, but I used that as an excuse the rest of the month. Grade: .7

Professionally, things seem to be going well. On the weight front? Not so much. Work to be done. Onward to February!

I spent a good chunk of the day adding new “Cartoons From” pages to the main Web site. There are now sections built for 1987, ’88 and ’89, though the content currently consists of little more than bio info and the handful of old editorial cartoons I’ve shared in recent posts. More toons will be added soon, and I’m hoping to add pages for ’90 and ’91 during the next week.

Left for dead more than once, John McCain seized control of the GOP primary race with a tough-fought victory in Florida today. If this were still 2000 — before eight years of kowtowing to the Bushies, and before his unwavering support for a misbegotten war — I might care. Back in 2000, McCain’s brand of straight talk was a breath of fresh air. But now the best thing he’s got going for him is that he’s not Mitt Romney. Sadly, that makes him the “Fresh Face of the GOP.”

Links: Buy a hand-signed, 11×14 print of this cartoon | On the main site: “Fresh Face of the GOP” [Archive No. 0804]

Today’s new old toon is “The Price is Right,” a piece I created in 1989 after a day stocking shelves at a drug store in Seattle. It would later be published in the Everett Community College student newspaper, The Clipper, and would earn a second place award in the 1991 Washington Press Association Excellence in Student Journalism competition. More importantly, it was part of a portfolio of cartoons I drew in Seattle that helped me land my internship at The (Everett, Wash.) Herald, launching my professional career.

Links: Buy a hand-signed, 11×14 print of this cartoon | On the main site: “The Price Is Right” [Archive No. 8918]

Work continues on scanning and remastering some of my earliest editorial cartoons. Today’s offering is another toon from my days on the Lake Stevens High School student newspaper, The Valhalla. “A Society in Hiding, Deadly Silence” was my first cartoon dealing with the AIDS epidemic, and one of the first times I utilized comic-book style panel manipulation in an editorial cartoon.

Links: Buy a hand-signed, 11×14 print of this cartoon | On the main site: “A Society in Hiding, Deadly Silence” [Archive No. 8803]

I’m in the process of digitally remastering several old editorial cartoons for possible inclusion in a print collection I’m working on. I hope to have that book, “When I Grow Up: Editorial Cartoons From the Last Millennium,” ready for a spring release. In the meantime, I plan to share a few older toons here as I get them ready for my digital archive.

First up is 1987’s “Driving in the Land of the Free.” It was done when I was a 17-year-old cartoonist working for the Lake Stevens High School student newspaper, The Valhalla. I was protesting an age-based ban on cruising passed in nearby Everett. I thought it was unfair them, and, at 37, still do.

Links: Buy a hand-signed, 11×14 print of this cartoon | On the main site: “Driving in the Land of the Free” [Archive No. 8701]

If there’s going to a sequel to the Hill ’n’ Bill show, Mrs. Clinton is going to have to do a better job of dealing with “The Bill Factor.”

Links: Buy a hand-signed, 11×14 print of this cartoon | On the main site: “The Bill Factor” [Archive No. 0803]

Exciting news, though details are still being finalized: Several of my toons are set to be included in a exhibition of political cartoons being planned for The Burnley Gallery on the campus of The Art Institute of Seattle. All I know right now is that the show is set to run Feb. 25 through March 31, with an opening reception on Friday, Feb. 29. Should be a lot of fun. More details here when I learn more.

In the flurry of recent activity — leaving The Wenatchee World, starting grad school, etc. — I forgot to mention that one of my toons again made the cut of Pelican Publishing’s annual “Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year” series. The lucky toon, appearing on page 70 of the 2008 edition, is “This Surge” (B&W version), which I’ll also reprint below. If you’re interested in purchasing a copy of the BECY, it’s available in bookstores everywhere, including Powell’s Books and Amazon.com. (Note: If you buy from one of the links below, I’ll get a kick back.)

Links: Buy from Powell’s | Buy from Amazon | On the main site: “This Surge” (B&W version) [Archive No. 0709a]

People in Michigan can, apparently. In celebration of Romney’s big primary win, the lucky fellow gets to be the target of this week’s toon, “Mitt on Change.” I was pretty happy with my caricature of this flip-flopping fool, especially for an initial effort. (With any luck, I won’t have to draw him for much longer!)

Links: Buy a hand-signed, 11×14 print of this cartoon | On the main site: “Mitt on Change” [Archive No. 0802]