A relatively stable one! We stayed in one home, didn’t spawn any more children, and I almost held a job through the year.
Much of the year was spent in typical “parenting toddler” auto-pilot. Wake up at the crack of dawn, get them to school, work our butts off until pickup time, have dinner, put them to bed, have 15 minutes to ourselves before passing out. Rinse, repeat.
The kids are great. Both so intelligent and fun, they sleep well some of the time, love riding bikes, still can’t throw or catch worth a darn and show no interest in doing so, but we’ll get there. Daycare was a challenge for much of the year, but we’ve finally found a reliable setup with both of them going to where Mia has been since we moved here.
Rebecca has continued working part time at the hospital down the street. She really enjoys the work and the flexible schedule affords her a good amount of time to make all our meals and fit in a good amount of exercise. Whether she likes it or not, she became a cyclist this year, although her running is coming back this winter so I worry I might lose her to that again 😉
I had a small operation early in the year that left me uncomfortable for much of the winter. Biking suffered, but I was able to get out snowboarding a few times at the local hill. Despite missing a few months, I ended up having a solid year on the bike, besting many of my times from last year. Work was a big focus for me, having been transitioned to a new career. I learned a ton and worked my butt off, but ultimately my 20+ years in the quality space were better served doing quality work so the company and I chose to part ways. Around this time I also began speaking with a therapist – it was hard for me to not excel at something as I feel I’ve been able to do my entire career. The fact was that this was completely different work that I lacked the background for – giving my all was all I could do, and I needed to be happy with that and let go. If your workplace offers mental health, take advantage, it was helpful in reframing certain fallacies I was holding onto. Being out of work has been a blessing as I finally feel moved into the house, have been able to focus on professional development, and generally catch up on an ever-growing list of tasks.
We got a lot done with the house, but looking at the surface you’d be hard-pressed to see where. The roof is still beat and the paint is peeling away. Not for lack of trying; it’s impossible to get folks to do work or even respond to calls here, even after you have an agreement with them. Digging deeper, I’ve done some light plumbing, replaced a lot of questionable old electrical, Grandma has done a lot of painting and I’ve done a little myself, loads of weatherization and sealing… Gosh… I feel like I do a house project near every day, but coming up with a list at the end of the year is challenging. I do know the home is in way better shape than it was.
On the extended family front, everyone is well. Rebecca’s mom and step-father live across the street so we’re in constant touch. My dad and his partner visited and are keeping active and busy at home. Sister and her family are growing up – my eldest niece is driving now and I think halfway through college at the age of 16? My other niece is loving softball and volleyball. I lost my grandmother and Rebecca lost her aunt this year.
We had a ton of visitors all year, which is hugely welcome as traveling is tough at this age. In the midst of all our summer visitors we also hosted a pair of young soccer coaches from Northern Ireland and look forward to doing more hosting for similar.
The jury is still out on Vermont life. It has its plusses and minuses, which I have been hoping to write about for a few months. Soon! Maybe. Overall, it has been a good change, but has also confirmed I am not a cold-weather person. I suspect we’ll stay here until the kids are on their own, then I get my way and we head for warmer climes or snowbird.
We have found a pretty solid community here between folks with kids of similar age, folks Rebecca knows from growing up here, folks who ride bikes, and more. We have jumped in ourselves – hosting a weekly gravel ride from the local bike shop, I’m webmaster for and a member of our local not-by-car transportation group, and I regularly attend our town meetings. We’re never short on things to do.
Travel
- I visited NYC and San Fran for work. It was nice to get away and eat varied foods, but man, work trips do not leave you returning home rested despite not having to adhere to child schedules. What’s with that?
- Mia and I visited DC for our annual Race For Hope. We were fortunate to be able to stay with friends, borrow a car, and visit tons of folks. A good friend also came up from VA Beach to see us with his family, which was awesome.
- I got to spend some time with family in Philadelphia/NJ for my grandmother’s funeral. Was nice to see a lot of the folks as it has been a difficult place to make time for over the past decade. I rode the train from basically our front door, which was slow, but super cool.
- We spent an amazing week in the Adirondacks with Grandma and Grandpa Ron. New family tradition.
- Rebecca and I escaped to Portsmouth, NH, for an awesome getaway weekend. This was our first time sleeping away from kids since Mia was born. Lovely place that I hope to do again and again. Good food, shopping, hiking, and it happened to be an odd 80 degree weekend in late October.
- We all braved Great Wolf Lodge in Massachusetts for a night. It was just about as expected (a shitshow), but everyone had a blast.
- Mia and I made a last minute trip to NC to visit my family.
We need more long weekends away as a family… Maine and Montreal need to happen.
Wellness
We’ve been better. Rebecca and I are both dealing with seemingly chronic hip issues and my knees are always kind of crappy. This severely limited my running, hiking, and walking, but luckily cycling is unaffected. We also were sick a lot. Given our reduction to a single school we’ve been seeing fewer bugs, but man, norovirus entered the house three times. Absolutely brutal. During one of the norovirus bouts, I literally could not get out of bed and ended my daily exercise streak at around 2500 days. This has been a blessing, actually, as it had become a burden and the habit it served to form is formed.
- Burned 260k extra calories versus sitting on my butt. Same number as last year. Calling this an improvement since I was out of action for at least a month.
- Rode 5400 miles. Up 200 miles. More importantly, I’ve started measuring my riding in time since speeds are so much slower here due to conditions and elevation – there is no flat riding at 22mph. 10% improvement in time.
- Did two real-life “races.” The first was Vermont Overland, which was a disappointment. I register for a redo tomorrow morning. The second was the Circus Ride, which was incredible fun.
- Grabbed a load of local KOMs mostly through sniping; there are faster folks than me around. This kept me motivated and provided much needed speed/effort work.
- In virtual racing, Zwift categories were adjusted, pushing me from top of the pack in “the world of second-best.” I still fared well in smaller races and races in which tactics played a role (I have a lot of experience in the Zwift world). Eight wins, three seconds, and three thirds. The win heaviness tells me I either crush it/do something special or it’s a field sprint and I don’t place.
- Ran… Eight miles. Not a runner. Hip screwed. RIP.
- Hiked 27 miles. Again, hip. Very disappointed by this.
- Walked 219 miles. Hip.
- Snowboarded three days.
Books
Read 34. That comes with an asterisk as seven of them were a graphic novel series, which should only count for two in terms of volume. Five stars to a book about our Adiorndacks vacation spot, one about video game typography, and a Marvel graphic novel. Lots of appreciation for people doing good work on unpopular subjects.
2023 Goal Review
I aimed to be less ambitious this year and succeeded.
- ❌ / ✅ Complete a major house project – A ton got done, but we simply couldn’t get people to do the work on the major projects.
- ✅ Complete a “goal” race – Thank goodness I didn’t say “complete it well.” I did poorly, but put the training in an simply had a bad day.
- ❌ / ✅ Get back down to race weight. I got down to a healthy weight. Peak race weight? No, but that’s probably for the best.
- ✅ At least one big trip with the family – Adirondacks for a week!
2024 Goals
- Figure out this hip situation, get back to all the things I like to do on my feet.
- Land a job.
- Feel good about my Overland performance.
- Get the roof and exterior paint done.
This was my 18th Year In Review in a row. See 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006. Yes, I realize posts from 10+ years ago are broken. There was a web host migration this year, which broke this. Fixing it is not trivial as the old site had security vulnerabilities. Maybe soon? Leaving for posterity.
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