Personal running recap for the year 2022 (and 2021)

Personal running recap for the year 2020

Personal running recap for the year 2019

Personal running recap for the year 2018

A recap on new albums released in 2017.

A slightly belated summary of books I read in 2017.

Running recap for 2017. Covers races, training, stats, and plans for 2018.

Final part of Yearly Mix, a song mix where every track represents a single year. This part covers 2000-2016.

A continuation of Yearly Mix, a song mix where every track represents a single year. This part covers 1977-1999.

First entry on a new "yearly mix" I created, with one studio album track per year. Covers 1959 through 1976.

A recap of my first ultra-marathon race, the Sybil Ludington 50k.

A recap of my training progress for my first ultra marathon, through the halfway point of a 16 week program.

Running recap for 2016

A recap on new albums released in 2016

Now that we're well into the season of end-of-year lists, I thought I'd revisit my first half reading list and add books I've read since then.

Running recap for the first half of the year.

A mid-year recap of music I've been listening to of late.

June feels like a good point to reflect on various things for the year, so I thought I'd do a quick post on books I've read this year.

Random observations of my neighborhood

I don't normally venture into the world of programming on this blog, but what the hell. These are interesting times. There's no shortage of things to geek out over: virtual reality (even if it's been hyped since the 90s), robotics, AI, big data, 101 dalmatians (I mean JavaScript frameworks), Microsoft purposefully embracing open source and linux, and of course the fact that your average person walking down the street has the equivalent of a super computer burning a hole in their pocket (in some cases literally; read reviews before buying a new phone, folks).

Wondering why current MLB managers don't mimic the approach my little league coach used with starting pitchers.

A walk rediscovers a childhood connection with a small wonder in nature

This was the first year in well over a decade that I had a real drive to push myself running. I thought it might be interesting to walk back through the year to review how things went, along of course with plans for next year to build off the progress made.

A look back at some choice leaf forts built during childhood

I made the trek up to Minnewaska to get in a nice long (and hilly) run. I brought my camera along to get some scenic shots along the way.

I'm a big fan of fresh mint. Thankfully it grows like a weed at my parent's house, so it's readily accessible. I'll occasionally buy it from the local farm stand (and failing that, the local super market). I can't help but try to grow it, although apartment living is not a prime location for growing anything at scale. I'm not one to put all my eggs in one basket. When I get a new crop of mint, I take a few tried and true approaches.

Beautiful fall weather, so decided to do another exploratory long run. Maybe a little lost this time, but a PR for distance as a result (11 miles).

The weather sprinted ahead of Spring today, but thankfully I saw the forecast and loaded up my new inexpensive 3L pitcher with copious amounts of oolong leaves for iced tea. At one point it was near full, but I didn't have the foresight to snap a quick picture. Since tomorrow will be another relatively hot one, I'm planning on changing up the recipe later today once the pitcher's contents are tapped out.

It was near morning and I was someplace between being awake and sleep. My eyes were closed and my breath was slow, but I was aware of my thoughts. A poem escaped my lips, words forming of their own accord. The cadence and rhythm worked well together in my ear. The lines lengthened and flowed together. Soon I grew worried that it was veering from insight and depth into tackiness, but at its close I brought it back into the fold.

While it's not technically spring yet, we did have our first nice day of the year the other day (sunny and high 60s? woot!). While the temperature fell back to normal over the weekend, at least it's been sunny. About six years ago one of my neighbors gave me one of her potted plants. Supposedly it flowered, but she had yet to see it and had given up hope that it ever would.

A short story looking back at someone I met in college, and unrequited something.

A coffee mug is settled on my desk. It is mostly empty, except for a tea bag and tea-like liquid, both uncomfortably on the closer end of room temperature. The tea bag actually contains no tea leaves; it's nothing but random herbs thrown together with the aim of providing taste and no caffeine. I'm living a lie. A non-tea tea from a coffee cup. There's something wrong with me. I even bought a Mac just so I could install Windows on it.

There was something about the way she looked at me. That is, when she thought to look at me at all. I hate thinking about her. I know to my bones that she rarely, if ever, thinks of me anymore. Why do I torture myself so? There was something about the way she looked at me. I could be quite clever, charming, and dashing, but never any of those things around her.

Introduction This year was my first time attending the Clearwater Festival, even though it's held nearby. I missed it in the past due to two reasons that are hard to argue against (or for): 1) the lineups did nothing for me or 2) I didn't know it was going on. Perhaps a month ago I first heard some of the initial lineup on WFUV and made a mental note to follow up.

There is a pair of red-tailed hawks that frequent the air space (and occasionally high tree branches) outside of my window at work. This is not about them; I just mention them because they are really fucking cool. The first time I saw one of them he was on a light pole in our parking lot. He was shredding a squirrel while people walked to their cars below him. That was actually kind of gross.

I see London, I see France (but not in that order); or, How to Make a French Doctor Blush. Some may say it makes sense to avoid places out of season in bad weather, but where's the fun in that? I was in Daytona once for a few days during the off season. The weather varied from good to bad, but so long as it's not horrendous every day I kind of like living through a good rain storm on the beach.

So, I'm thinking… being taxed is a good thing. It means I made enough money that someone wants to take it from me to put through the wood chipper. Well, maybe I shouldn't go for Fargo imagery. The point is, if I didn't have a job I'd have no cash. So, while it'd be nice not to pay taxes at all, I think I'll take the whole self-sufficient angle instead.

The rain came down; it didn't fall from buckets or look anything like cats and dogs. However, it also did not resemble a pleasant mist or a fine drizzle. It just rained. I walked along with my umbrella at my side. It would have preferred to open up to its full height and majesty, but it was not to be. I was only 20 yards or so from my car, and it just didn't make sense to put forth the effort.

I haven't posted here in awhile, although I have no good reason as to why. I've still been writing, albeit primarily in analog form. I guess I just sort of forgot about it. I'll try to do better in the future, baby. You know I love you. I'm pretty tired. It's not very late, only 10pm or so, but I've stayed up past 2am the past two nights. I need sleep.

It's not unusual for my best offensive games occur early during the course of a season. I have less sense of fear and am more worried about learning and getting in shape. People are also more likely to give you a chance. Our ultimate season is winding down. It's been pretty odd lately. In the A league I'm in, I think I played all of 5 points the last two games.

The clouds rolled in, darkening the sky, my soul, and my cubicle. The first game of the season was scheduled to begin in less than two hours, and yet I was looking into the face of an early summer thunderstorm. I checked the web site for the league, and they claimed that the storm should pass through before games would begin. I was not so optimistic, particularly when the rains began to fall and dance down the nearby windowpane.

I held off from using any pay-for-music-download sites for the longest time. I rarely, if ever, used the “free” ones, either; I don't like the idea of the artist not getting anything in return for their efforts. Instead, I would buy a lot of CDs from amazon and occasionally from other sites (or, once in a long while, in an actual real life store). For the past few months I did not buy any new albums.

It's getting late and I'm still up, again. In the morning I'll wake up (sort of) and fall asleep, again. Eventually I'll roll out of bed and berate myself for staying up late, again. I'll tell myself that this night I'll go to bed early. It won't happen, forever and ever, amen. That may be the first time I've used that word since breaking out of a thirteen year stint I served in a couple of Catholic schools in my youth.