Archive for January 2014

It’s twenty two days into the new year, just when you thought people were done talking about and already breaking new years resolutions, along comes mine. Booyah!

  • GET A NEW JOB One that has more pay, better benefits and more vacation.
  • BIKE MORE Once a month go on an all-day ride. Ride every Saturday morning for at least an hour. Would like to ride the Delaware Canal this year and finish the last bit of the C&O.
  • HIKE MORE Start hiking the Horseshoe Trail with the ultimate goal to hike it all. Take Charlotte on some gentler hikes in Valley Forge, Fort Washington and Evansburg.
  • BLOG ABOUT IT Need to take my camera with me, shoot lots of stills and videos and
  • SHARE WHAT I LIKE TO DO ON YOUTUBE and not just hiking and biking stuff, but also videos about camping, cooking, trains, and perhaps make an animated cartoon or two.
  • COOK MORE Especially in my Dutch Oven and grill.
  • PRINT WHISKEY FALLS VOLUME ONE and start the prep work in printing volume two.
  • GET MY MODEL TRAINS RUNNING This year I want to have all bench work done, track laid and wired and the scenery started. All before November.
  • LEARN A PLETHORA OF NEW SKILLS I have to enroll in Lynda.com or take more one shot classes at the community college.
  • PAINT I miss painting so much. I want to make painting a primary focus to Blueberry Arts.
  • HAVE BLUEBERRY ARTS MAKE A DECENT PROFIT I really need to figure out what works and what doesn’t and create a business plan for the future.
  • GET THE EBAY BOX EMPTIED Seriously, that box is OLD, If it isn’t all sold by August, have a yard sale. What doesn’t sell at the yard sale goes to Goodwill.
  • HAVE A DADDY/DAUGHTER DAY Every month.
  • EDIT THE VIDEO AND PICTURES FROM LAST YEARS BIKE RIDE ALREADY C’mon!
  • MAKE A BUDGET AND STICK TO IT
  • TRY TO KEEP HOBBIES NARROWED DOWN TO:
    • HIKE/BIKE/CAMP
    • COMICS/ART
    • TRAINS/MODELS
    • GO CAMPING More than once.
  • MONETIZE WEBSITES BETTER
  • GET TO WORK ON TIME
  • TAKE CARE OF MY SHOES

Twenty thirteen is now over and done with. I got a new Kindle last year which put me back on the track of reading again. I managed to get eight books read! The following is a list of those books:

  • SLEEPWALK WITH ME –Birbiglia: I’ve enjoyed Mike Birbiglia’s comedy on shows like The Moth and This American Life, so reading this book was a natural for me. While a lot of the book was redundant from his stand up (and the movie of the same name) there were a few laugh out loud moments. 4 out of 5 stars.
  • THE HOBBIT –Tolkien: A classic! If you haven’t read the Hobbit, you need to. I originally read this in college after having  seen The Fellowship of the Ring in the theatre. I reread it in 2013 after seeing the new Hobbit movie. Still a good read the second time around and I hope to read it again.
  • A STUDY IN SCARLET -Doyle: There has been a lot of Sherlock Holmes going around lately and for the most part, I have enjoyed it. But I felt guilty because, GASP, I had never read even one sentence of the stories. So I bought them all for my kindle. I had to of course start at the very beginning and read A Study in Scarlet. Other than the weird transition to Utah in the middle of the book, I was hooked and devoured the fantastic first adventure of Holmes and Watson.
  • DEEPLY ODD -Koontz: What can I say? In this the latest adventure of Dean Koontz’s supernaturally gifted fry cook I was once again on the edge of my seat and dragged along for a wild ride and barely put the book down. Whoah.
  • THE SIGN OF FOUR -Doyle: Onwards to the next Holmes book. Another full length story that while I have to pause every once in a while to look up a word in the dictionary, pulled me right through. I actually want to read it again.
  • THE GREAT GATSBY -Fitzgerald: Another one of those classics I should have read but never did. This wasn’t even inspired by the movie to read this (since i have seen the Redford film, but not the new one) my wife had read it and recommended I do the same. I enjoyed it and it was a quick easy read and an entertaining little story.
  • THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES -Doyle: Now I’m into the first collection of short stories. Some stories are fantastic, while others have been ho-hum.
  • MEMOIRS OF THE CRIMSON DWARF -Taylor: A book written by a good friend, so I am biased a bit. But I enjoyed following the Crimson Dwarf on his journey and look forward to the second book set in this world (coming soon in my 2014 reading list.

Well that’s all folks. The tales I read this year spanned several fantasy realms, explored a frightening supernatural parallel universe, solved murders and mysteries in late 1800’s England, partied in 1920’s New York and discovered the awkward humor in uncomfortable situations. I’m looking forward to what I will read next.

Today I turned thirty three years old. Here is a fun music video from when I was in high school called Thirty Three.