In my weekly column over at the DG, I write about New Year's resolutions and self-improvement.

Here's an excerpt:

"I hate to let big blocks of free time go to waste, and so I decided to travel to New Hampshire for New Year’s and visit old friends and their new baby.

I went to high school with the husband, as well as his four siblings, and at some point I inquired as to how his brothers and sisters were doing. His older brother, I learned, had recently gotten married and had never been happier. But there was a problem. 'We don’t like his wife,' my friend said, and by 'we' he meant 'my brothers and sisters.'

'Why don’t you like her?' I asked, because I tend to be curious about such matters.

My friend ticked off a short list.

She was materialistic, and liked to buy expensive things and flaunt expensive things. She was into schmoozing and social climbing. She lacked depth, and was self-absorbed.

I nodded, with sympathy and understanding. These are all things that annoy me, too. But instead of continuing with his litany of complaints, which I was more than eager to hear, he switched gears. 'I should stop talking about her,' he said, with a guilty look on his face. 'One of our resolutions is to stop saying mean things about her.'"

Click here to read the whole thing.