I don’t make New Year’s resolutions.

For the most part for the same reason I’m not very adept at giving up things for Lent.

If I was, I would have stopped cursing long ago. As anyone who spends any time in our newsroom can tell you, that is not the case.

Still, it is the last day of the year, and I suppose it calls for some kind of review of the past 365 days.

Here’s mine: Good riddance!

In case you have not realized it, I work in the newspaper business. This year has not been kind to us. We all too often found ourselves writing and reading stories about our industry. Not many of them were positive.

The words were repeated again and again: Cuts, layoffs, downsizing, price hikes.

Battered by an economy that was doing its best Titanic imitation, the newspaper industry took its lumps in 2009.

But the economy is showing signs it may have some life in it yet. I think the same will be said of newspapers, especially ones like ours that focus on local issues.

So let’s raise a glass one final time to kiss 2009 goodbye.

See you in 2010.

Please keep reading, both in print and online. We need all of them we can get!