2013: The Great Beyond

I have spent the last two years getting myself into a great place with a new job and active lifestyle, so 2013 will be all about enjoying the fruits of my labor. A few of my most-anticipated happenings in the new year:

Camping, Traveling, and The Great Outdoors

As I look forward to the challenge of the Appalachian Trail in 2014, I will be spending much of 2013 preparing myself physically and mentally. Once a month, beginning in January, I will be embarking on significant hiking, backpacking, canoeing, and camping trips. January will see a significant hike in the Northwest Ohio area. In February I am heading to the Wayne State Forest / Hocking Hills area for two days of hiking. In March I will head to Michigan. April will see me in in Kentucky. I will be building up to a fall vacation on the Appalachian Trail as a section hiking (most likely West Virginia).

Along with my weekly routines of short hikes and jogging, I hope to be in great form for my 2014 hike.

New Projects at Work

A team of three developers does not allow for much wiggle room in responsibility, and I would like to think that I have shouldered a pretty solid workload in the last six months. Being a meaningful team member by exercising my talents (front-end development, photography, writing) has allowed me to take on direct responsibility for some unique projects. January kicks off with a website project that will consume the entire month. If all goes well, February will start with another major, multi-year project to keep me employed for quite some time.

Entertainment Blogging

Posting every Sunday on Critically Correct has worked well for me in the past year, but in 2013 I am going to expand my writing a bit. I hope to post a regular entertainment-based article at least once a week. Sundays will still be my usual personal ramblings, but I want to have a weekly outlet for more creative, educational, or informative work: creative writing, short-form essays, and If nothing else, this will keep me writing an a much more consistent basis than I am now.

Shiggs Photography

My Canon T3i ended up being my favorite technology purchase of 2012. In 2013 I am going to offer basic photography services in the Toledo and Bowling Green areas. I plan to start simple - offer my services strictly as a cheap alternative to pricier professionals - but still put out some quality shots. By not offering advanced services or physical products (I only give out the "digital negatives," not final prints), I can focus on affordable, creative photography while expanding my abilities as a photographer. My intentions down the road are to do photography as a semi-pro as a supplemental income. Hopefully my slightly-off business model is a success.

Oh, by the way, I'm calling it Shiggs Photography.

B3 out.

2012 In Review

I knew it would be a challenge to top my fantastic 2011. Although I did not always try, I can safely say that 2012 has been a good year, if not great at times. While some of the awesomeness of 2011 has faded this year (or up and left altogether), I have been fortunate throughout the year and made the most of many great opportunities.

This is my 2012 Year In Review.

Winter

Theoretically 2012 started off on a horrible note. Having a good, close friend in Aryn re-enter my life was one of the pillars that made 2011 so good. Less than two weeks into 2012, then, was when she delivered some less-than-exciting news that saw us split back apart as if we never knew one another. What made this worse? This all occurred while I was otherwise having a great time at CodeMash 2012. I took the news hard at first, but this was definitely a second chance coming to a hard, brutal close.

CodeMash was the launching point for my interest and career with responsive web design, a concept best displayed on my website (resize your browser to see how content changes to fit). I have spent all year making RWD a major focus of my web development career and plan keep improving my skills with it.

I finally took the plunge into photography in January with the purchase of a Canon T3i DSLR. I have been growing my collection of equipment, investing plenty of money in new gear, and practicing all kinds of photography in my free time. As you will learn soon, I plan to go places with this.

Spring

In early March I upgraded my old Linux web server to a Windows-based box with the purchase of several new computer parts. I took this opportunity to mix-and-match parts from my desktop machine, and after several key component upgrades, ended up with a powerful web server and a top-of-the-line desktop PC. I have generally aim for an "affordable" desktop PC, but this time I went all-out and have a PC that should last me for years as a top-end machine.

Another staple of 2011 came to a close in early April, when my weekly love affair with O-Deer dDner ended. After visiting the ice cream shop twice a week for a full year, I finally moved on - much to the benefit of my health. I still stop in for the occasional sundae, and I love the peeps that work there, but I have definitely been tempering my sweet tooth this year.

Early January saw me in concert at Frankies to see one of my favorite new bands, The Trews. Early May saw me at Frankies again to see... The Trews again. While the first concert was awesome, it was the May 11th show that blew everything out of the water for me. The Trews had become one of my de-facto favorite bands, and I enjoyed the show immensely. It was easily one of the best concerts of my life - they played every song I wanted to hear and the crowd was energetic.

One surprising event this past spring: an introduction to the new Hollywood Casino in Toledo. I have never gambled or considered myself a casino type of guy, but I ended up loving the casino after just one visit, and I make it a staple to visit every couple of weeks.

Summer

My summer started with one of my favorite events: the kickoff to my Summer of Biking. Between June and September, I did two to four bike rides per week around various locations in the Wood and Lucas County areas. My typical ride departed from my apartment, traveled through Side Cut Metropark, and ended at Fallen Timbers Mall. My longest (and most adventurous) ride: a full 36-mile round-trip from my apartment to Oak Openings Metropark via various bike trails.

I took a mini-vacation in the second week of July to attend the Build Responsively workshop in Columbus. A continuation of my responsive web design interests, this two-day workshop was a deep-dive into RWD and proved to be very enlightening. The Polaris area of northern Columbus was just as fascinating as the event itself, the area being a mecca of shopping malls, stores, and just about every major restaurant I can fathom.

Summer came to a close with the extremely-traditional Wood County Fair. The fair continued to shrink this year, with a couple of vendors missing (compared to last year). Despite the smaller size, I believe the fair was as busy as ever, although extremely stale. This is a county fair so steeped in tradition that I find it harder and harder to go every year. Still, I enjoyed plenty of greasy food and the company of good friends during the most comfortable week of the year.

Fall

The weather seemed to change right on cue this year: fall hit with a comfortable rush of cool air and light rain throughout September and October.

Luckily this change of weather impacted none of my favorite fall festivals. This year was dense, with the usual Fulton County Fair, Roche de Boeuf, and Apple Butter festivals interspersed with some unique events. I took a week off work to enjoy a much-needed vacation in the first week of September. I spent three days at Kalahari Resort and had an absolute blast.

 I wrapped up my Summer of Biking in early September, having logged over 800 miles in four months.

The Hollywood Casino in Toledo hosted several concerts: Fuel, Sixpence None The Richer, Sponge, and Candlebox. All four bands were solid. Fuel was great live in 2005 and even better with an acoustic set in 2012. Sponge was a surprise - an aging but great band with catchy songs. Candlebox absolutely blew me away with their set - loud, energetic, and well-played. Despite lots of great shows this year (including two Trews concerts), Candlebox was the best of the bunch.

I hit up the Toledo Zoo Brew for the second year in a row, did a couple of successful Reboot Weekends to clear my mind of unnecessary stress, and fell in love with Disney's latest animated film, "Wreck-It Ralph." Because of personnel changes at work, I stepped up to take on much more responsibility, and spent lots of time in and out of work studying up for a great 2013 for my professional career.

Overall, 2012 was a great year. If 2011 was a year of great change, 2012 was the year that I hit my new stride and ran with it. I expect 2013 will be another year of change, so stay tuned for a look ahead at the new year.

B3 out.

Christmas Party Success

This past Friday was the annual Computol Christmas party. This was only my second party, but I felt immediately comfortable with everyone's families. Dinner at Stella's was excellent this year (I had the best prime rib in years), the dessert decent, and the presents... well, yeah.

This year we received lots of fun little gifts along with our usual "big ticket" item. A desk calendar, a Chick-Fil-A promotional calendar with free food, a McDonalds holiday promotional packet, a fantastic LED flashlight, a bungee cord (exactly the kind I need in my hiking kit), and finally... a new laptop!

The laptop is an HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4t-1100. This is a mid-range consumer "Ultrabook" that is generally designed to compete with systems like the MacBook Air. The big wrinkle: it has a 10-point touchscreen that works wonderfully with Windows 8. I have yet to finish analyzing the machine, but so far it definitely hits all the marks as a solid desk machine. It is a bit heavy at 5.5 pounds for my back, and the screen is a little dim for my tastes, but I will definitely find a home for it in my daily or weekly workflow. All in all, a great gift.

I have tomorrow off work (mandatory vacation to use up), so I am taking this long weekend to visit Sandusky for a small trip to Kalahari Resort. This coming (short) week of work will be a pre-holiday sprint to finish three projects at work, so I will be plenty busy. Next weekend kicks off a Reboot for myself, followed by our family Christmas and all the fun of two 4- and 5-day holiday weekends.

B3 out.

All Sleigh Bells, No Christmas Hells

This year's holiday season is shaping up to be a great one. After a few years of generally coasting through the holidays (time constraints, lack of interest, etc.), I am looking forward to the next four weeks. Christmas and New Years is timed very well this year, allowing a mix of vacation and Computol holiday time off. Beginning this week through the middle of January, I will be working 2, 3, and 4-day work weeks. Thanks to this varied schedule, I will get lots of time to relax, travel, spend time with family, party, exercise, hike, and work on writing.

In other words, I am excited for Christmas for the first time in years.

This week sees a birthday to celebrate, several Christmas dinners in Toledo for local tech groups, and perhaps the most-anticipated event of the fall season: the Computol Christmas Party. Families, dinner, drinks, and gifts - this year's party should be a great time at Stella's in downtown Perrysburg. Friday cannot come soon enough.

Next weekend sees me gone for a three-day road trip across northern Ohio to visit friends in Akron and Sandusky. A viewing of The Hobbit is probably in store, a trip to Melt's is certain, and a surprise or two is very likely.

A week later will be the beginning of my Christmas vacation. Things kick off with a much-needed Reboot Weekend, one I intend to use exclusively for hiking and writing. That following Monday and Tuesday will be Christmas celebrations with my family and plenty of relaxation.

The final weekend in December sees me taking five days off work to celebrate the arrival of 2013 and - of course - a moment for me to reflect on all of 2012's accomplishments. This is going to be a great end to the year.

B3 out.

The Reshuffle

My agenda for the remainder of 2012 and early 2013 was turned on its head two months ago when our development team at work shrank by one. The increased workload and responsibility that I was given did not phase me, but I knew that my at-home studies and priorities were going to change. As December gets underway and the holidays are upon us, I have a whole new routine, a new set of short-term goals, and new studying to do. The big focus points:

Hiking the Appalacian Trail (2014)
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I am taking full advantage of while I am young, employed, and ready to go. I began training (endurance, strength) and buying gear (expensive but necessary) this year and will continue to push myself all through 2013 in preparation for six months in the wilderness come March 2014.

Writing
I have always been an off-and-on writer, but lately I have been making big inroads on several small short stories that are more or less coming together into a cohesive novella. My goal is to have the stories polished and published in 2013.

Technology Shift
In mid-2012 I began a six-month program to study specific technologies as a way to expand my software developer ambitions. Thanks to the chances at work, those initial plans were tossed out in favor of another set of skills that will be more pertinent to my current and future jobs. I am studying for a Microsoft Certification test in January, learning native Android software development, continuing to follow my interests in JavaScript, and working on a presentation on responsive web design that I hope to tour with in 2013.

Photography
I finally pulled the trigger on my passing interest in photography in early 2012 and have made it a serious hobby. In 2013 it looks like I will be going one step farther by getting an Ohio Tax ID number and setting up shop as an amateur photographer. I intend to focus on what interests me the most: artistic night shots, daytime portraits, nature/wildlife, and HD video production.

B3 out.

Shut Up and Drive

Wreck It Ralph is Disney's latest animated film, and I loved it. The film has had a profound influence on me that I have not felt since 1994's The Lion King. For those who know me (and long-time readers), that is significant. Over the next few weeks, I am going to be taking a look at some thoughts, questions, and interest generated by the film. 

Anyway, on to this week's post.

---

What is your drive in life?

What gets you out of bed every morning? What makes you look forward to tomorrow? I am generally a forward-thinking person, but I found myself stuck on this question over the past week. Most days I wake up and go right to work, but this certainly is not what I look forward to each day. There is something more.

I am lucky to have a job that lets me exercise my interests and abilities. I poured five years of my life into BGSU and got a lousy piece of paper and $40,000 of debt to deal with. It turns out those years were well-spent, as I am enjoying a job that enables me to not only go to work happy everyday, but also lets me continue learning new skills. I also get enough time everyday to work on other interests: photography, biking, writing, exercising - and therein lies the answer to my question. I drive to improve myself through learning and practice.

Simple happiness is too easy to come by. I can play video games day and night with a smile on my face. Video games, nice dinners out with friends, hiking, writing, helping others - these kinds of things and more all make me happy, but happiness is not enough. I want to have a variety of skills that are useful, I want to make others happy (at least those who share the sediment), I want to travel and see America, and I want to write fiction that inspires its readers. I get out of bed every morning because these things matter to me and I absolutely want to become better at them.

At the (hopefully) still-young age of 28, I can safe that this is my drive in life.

B3 out.

The Unexpected Review: Wreck-It Ralph Is Phenomenal

This weekend I ventured out to brave a theater full of children to see Wreck-It Ralph, Walt Disney Animation Studio's 52nd animated film. Ever since 1995's Toy Story, Pixar has been at the forefront of modern animated films, making Disney's traditional animation studio as antiquated as 1980's Pac-Man against 2012's Halo 4.

Influenced by video game characters, settings, and plots, Wreck-It Ralph focuses on the titular character who desires to change his ways as a bad guy in order to find happiness. While the moral of the story is traditional - "be yourself" - its the presentation of the non-traditional plot that brings the film to the forefront of Disney's modern era.

Wreck-It Ralph features cameos of dozens of video game characters. Long-time gamers - especially those rooted in the 1980s and 1990s - will undoubtedly smile at all the references big and small. The familiar faces are nice, but the core cast of characters throughout the film are original and completely believable as video game characters. Personifying these with human emotions - fear, greed, humor, and of course love - works on so many levels thanks to the excellent plot.

And the plot takes center stage. The entirely-predictable story excels thanks to a roller coaster ride of colorful settings, subtle humor, catchy music, and one of the best-paced films Disney has ever made. Although running nearly two-hours, Wreck-It Ralph never feels too long and no one scene ever drags on into boredom or becomes predictable. Unlike video game-to-film adaptations that tend to feel overly pretentious (I am looking at you, Resident Evil), Wreck-It Ralph builds on the influence of video games and finds parody and emulation as sources of inspiration. The pixelated world of fictional video game "Fix-It Felix Jr." contrasts against the dark, moody, high-definition lines of first-person shooter "Hero's Duty." Most of the film takes place in the insanely-colorful "Sugar Rush," which squarely captures the influence of modern kart-racers.

Even with a couple of interesting wrinkles with films like Bolt and Tangled, Disney has been struggling to find itself in the CGI era. Wreck-It Ralph feels original and fresh in a way that Disney films have not since 1989's The Little Mermaid. While I doubt we are in store for another Disney Renaissance, Wreck-It Ralph would certainly be a fantastic start.

B3 out.

Candlebox and Dead Bodies

The last two weeks have been very busy - busy enough that I outright forgot to blog last Sunday. My bad. So we have a little catching up to do.

Last Thursday, November 1st, I ended a short 4-day work week with an amazing concert. Candlebox played a free show at Hollywood Casino in Toledo. I went into the concert slightly concerned about some of my usual drama bullcrap, but I made my enjoyment of the show top priority. Everything went better than expected. Despite seeing The Trews twice and a surprisingly-awesome Sponge concert just a week prior, Candlebox took the crown for 2012's best concert. Awesome songs, ear-ringing volume, and an energetic band made the two-hour show my personal favorite this year.

Between then and today, I have been keeping busy with work and working on a couple of projects. The big one right now: learning Android development, a new skill that will benefit me personally and professionally. I have chosen to write an Android application before the end of the year that I will take into CodeMash 2013 as my showpiece at next year's conference.

Yesterday was a wrinkle in my usual weekend routine. I ventured down to Columbus, Ohio with my parents to check out Body Worlds at the Center of Science and Industry. I last saw Body Worlds in the summer of 2004 in Cleveland and was blown away by the amazing displays of human bodies. I was thrilled to visit Columbus for the exhibit yesterday, but was ultimately let down a bit by the small size of it. For anyone who has not seen Body Worlds, however, the trip is still worth it and comes highly recommended.

After Body Worlds, we toured all of COSi and I found most of the science center to be quite fun, but again, a little more subdued that I was hoping. Perhaps my expectations were set too high going into into yesterday. I still had a great time, though, and look forward to going again with friends.

B3 out.

Music, Music, Music

With new responsibilities at work and a heavy focus on studying new technology at home, I am finding that "down time" is extremely valuable. While I try to take an hour a day to relax, I find the occasional free night or day to be very refreshing more so than usual.

This past week was a great example of my new balanced routine. I have been super-busy with multiple projects at work, but I have definitely been able to relax in ways that turned out to be better than expected. Tuesday night I ventured to Frankie's Inner-City in downtown Toledo to see Sea Wolf with Colleen. An early 8:00pm entry did not keep Sea Wolf from playing late, however: three opening acts preceded their 12:30am start time. I did not stay for the whole show since I did have work in the morning. I am getting old.

Wednesday was a perfect balance of work and play. After a very productive day at work, I ventured out for some Lola's with Kristin and her nieces. The trip was quick but fun, and I spent the rest of the night studying for my MCTS Certification Exam.

Thursday was the biggest surprise of the week. I planned to see Sponge (the band) at Hollywood Casino for a free 9:00pm show. While I am not a huge Sponge fan, but I wanted to check them out to see how they sounded live. I ended up going with Laura, who herself wanted to enjoy a night out. About an hour of slots turned into drinks which turned into one of the best concerts of 2012. Sponge was surprisingly energetic, their songs a mix of great rock, alternative grunge, and classic rock covers. A great hour-plus show put on display some of their best songs, from "Plowed" to "Molly (16 Candles Down the Drain)" to "Party Till We Drop." The great show made the whole night a rare feat of unexpected fun. I will definitely see Sponge again.

This coming week sees at least one amazing concert: Thursday night, Candlebox will be at the Hollywood Casino in Toledo (another free 9:00pm show). Candlebox can still fill up a stadium-style venue, so I am expecting the whole night to be spent at the casino for dinner, drinks, slots, and a lot of anticipation for one of my favorite bands. "Far Behind" is among my favorite songs, and their 2012 album "Love Stories and Other Musings" is one of my latest favorites. This show also kicks off a three-day weekend as well. Oh, sweet success.

B3 out.

I'm In A Hurry to Get Things Done

The following will happen this week:

• Beginning deep-dives into two major new projects at work. My 40 hours at Computol will be maxed out.
• A very-welcome Geek Lunch in downtown Toledo.
• A minimum 9 hours of study time for my Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist test in December.
• The big Apple event everyone is looking forward to (iPad mini announcement). I will be glued to my screen for this one.
• A Findlay Area .NET User Group meeting where Visual Studio 2012 will be "launched" with a presentation by a senior Microsoft developer.
• Seawolf in concert Tuesday night at Frankies.
• Sponge at the Hollywood Casino in Toledo.
• Two unexpected bike rides to celebrate the temporary return of warm, beautiful weather.

I am officially in "weekend mode" now. That is, I will be working my butt off all week and relaxing like crazy on the weekends with hiking, writing, and friends. Weeks like this will be the norm for most of November, but I will be getting a nice break come December with the Computol Christmas Party and lots of time off around Christmas.

B3 out.

The Great 2012 Apple Butter Festival

My busy fall season of festivals started with the Wood County Fair in the last week of July, and now in the second weekend of October, ends with the best Grand Rapids Apple Butter Fest in recent memory.

Tiny Grand Rapids, Ohio is typically swamped with 50,000 or more people thanks to the nationally-renowned festival held the second Sunday in October. Today's crowd seemed a bit smaller, most likely due to the threat of rain and storms. Suffice to say, the rain held off for much of the day, and a combination of warm winds and mid-seventies temperatures created a little bubble of summer long enough to make jackets optional.

I toured most of the festival today in a couple of hours. Crafts were plentiful, artists had some interesting wares on display (including a shoutout to former Otsego classmate Jason Hatfield with his Mountain Sky Photography booth), and food was cheap and delicious.

Perhaps the best surprise of the day: meeting up with Lacey and her family, who offered my mom and I great hospitality to rest, relax, and eat at their house. Along with buying some apple butter for me, Lacey treated us to home cooking, a quick tour of her parents' updated house, and a little casual time to catch up. The encounter was entirely unexpected but gracefully executed.

In between walking, shopping, and visiting, I ran into at least a dozen people from my past at Otsego, including some former close friends. One thing is abundantly clear: my memory of people from ten years ago is woefully outdated, and I will be in for a bit of culture shock next year at our class reunion.

I finished the festival around 1:00pm with a walk through the historical reenactment camps and a trip down Front Street to get my favorite homemade ice cream. I have been wanting to try Tom's BBQ for months, and today I finally took the plunge and had a delicious cheeseburger and their famous fries (spoiler: they were good, but not great).

Overall this was a great year for the festival. While I am tired of the stale Wood County Fair, the shrinking Roche de Boeuf Festival, and the overly-pretentious Black Swamp Arts Festival, thanks to the wonderful atmosphere and spirited people, the Apple Butter Fest is without a doubt my favorite festival year after year.

B3 out.

Oh My God and All That

I am an advocate of change. It is human nature to perpetuate change, although not necessarily in the human psyche to always be ready for it. In 2011 I forced change in my life and ended up in a better place for it. In much of 2012 I have stumbled face-first into change. The way I see it, character is built by how well one handles unexpected change. I would say I have been somewhere in the middle of "extremely well" and "kind of poorly" so far this year.

The second-half of 2012 was supposed to be a well-paced mix of studying new technologies, developing a few small webapps, and getting some extensive writing finished. Instead, thanks to significant changes at work, I am forced to re-focus my efforts on professional studies and development. To say the least, I have been mentally exhausted at the daunting months ahead of me.

All is not lost, however. I have completed a few major projects for 2012 in the past few weeks as well. I transitioned my old Ubuntu web server to a Windows 7-based box. I can now develop and deploy websites and webapps on a speedy, powerful server that I have complete control over. My first major project on the new server is coming online this weekend: Recipe Library, the update to my old PHP app Recipe Manager. This is an ASP.NET MVC 3 re-write of the old app, featuring a simple interface and a responsive web design. It is slick.

I have also been caught up by the long-time self-imposed challenge that seems like it will finally come to fruition: a full thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. I have spent several hundred dollars in the last month buying gear that I will be using for a 2012 or 2013 hike. As long as the stars align I may be able to take off for Georgia next spring and spend four to six months hiking through the beautiful eastern United States.

But that is then and this is now. Plenty of studying is in my future. With the cooling temperatures comes more hiking as well, and I am looking forward to a nice blend of the professional, the academic, and the great outdoors.

B3 out.

The Musical Fall

While my busy fall schedule usually dies down in mid-October, this year is turning into a non-stop barrage of events. The end of October will be particularly notable with five potential concerts all occurring within three weeks of one another. I am looking forward to a nice mix of 80's, 90's, and new-millennium-era bands.

First up is Sixpence None the Richer on October 18th at the Hollywood Casino in Toledo. While I do not know a lot of their songs, I definitely dig their Top 10 and could stand to see how they sound live. Their beautiful lead singer (Leigh Nash) helps a lot.

Next up is Sea Wolf on October 23rd at Frankies Inner City in downtown Toledo. I originally saw Alex Brown Church (aka Sea Wolf) and his backing band at Frankies when I saw Silversun Pickups for my first time at Frankies. This will be my third time seeing Sea Wolf since 2006. Alex is a phenomenally chill musician, and with the full band around this time, I am looking forward to a great show.

Third to be seen is Sponge on October 25th at Hollywood Casino. Sponge is classic 90's grunge, and while they are the least-known of the bands to be seen, I am most-looking forward to hearing "new" songs.

The big one is Candlebox on November 1st at Hollywood Casino (notice a pattern yet?). I am a huge fan of Candlebox, particularly because of their ever-popular hit "Far Behind." Their 2012 album "Love Stories and Other Musings" is a solid release with something rarely seen: grunge love songs. Tracks like "She Come Over Me" and "Come Home" may sound not have the mass-appeal of their earlier work, but I am looking forward to hearing live renditions of this great album.

Finally comes The Tragically Hip on November 2nd at The House of Blues in Cleveland. Undoubtedly Canada's biggest rock band of the past twenty-five years, this will be my first time seeing what is - to me anyway - a new band. While I was aware of the band, I did not get hooked on hits like "Bobcaygeon," "Gift Shop," or "Wheat Kings" until last year (there are literally dozens more songs that I love, but you get the picture). This is easily the biggest band for me to see out of the five, and it will be a great way to end three weeks of concerts.

B3 out.

Making Twenty-Twelve Kind Of Crappy

I knew last week's vacation was the calm before the storm, but my return to a busy workload was never supposed to be like this.

I have been swamped by a project at work, which has chewed into this weekend and given me plenty of headaches. There is light at the end of the tunnel, however, although it does not arrive until the first week of October.

The timeline crunch caused by this project was made all the more severe by my getting sick in the middle of the week. I tend to get one or two colds per year and can usually power through them, but this past week I was sidelined away from work for two days and have not been able to recover quickly enough. Is today's headache from my congested head or the stress of work? It is most likely a bit of both, and this fact alone makes this past week one I cannot forget quick enough.

B3 out.

Making Twenty-Twelve Awesome Again

It has been a long time since I have had a proper, full-length vacation. I came into this vacation knowing that the rest of September and October will be extremely busy at work, so I knew I wanted to enjoy myself as much as possible.

For the past ten days, I have been enjoying a myriad of things keeping me busy, and all-in-all, I am coming out of my vacation very refreshed and ready for the fall. Here is how I made the last week and a half awesome:

Friday
My vacation started as well as anyone could ask: an easy Friday at work that ended early thanks to the holiday weekend. Leaving work at 4pm, I set off to relax for a while, but ended up taking a quick spin around the Fulton County Fair instead. The fair was the same as always: big, loud, and crowded. And still one of my favorites.

Saturday
I woke up bright and early to get a head-start on my final official bike ride of my Summer of Biking season. There are still a few more moderate bike rides in my future, but for the most part my 20-mile rides are at an end for the year. I will be hiking throughout fall, winter, and spring to stay active. The rest of Saturday was filled with video games.

Sunday
The Sunday usual: laundry at my parents'. Sunday night was a treat, however: Fuel played a free show at Hollywood Casino in Toledo. This was an excellent night for live music. About a thousand people crammed in front of the stage in The H Lounge for an acoustic show full of Fuel's greatest hits. Highlights included "Sunburn," "Shimmer," "Last Time," and of course "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)." This was the perfect quickie-concert: an hour of solid rock less than fifteen minutes from home.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
This was the big one. I departed mid-Monday afternoon for Kalahari Resort in Sandusky and spent the next three days enjoying warm water, humid air, and delicious food. I cannot express how amazing the entire trip turned out to be, despite a few rough patches. The first night was an onslaught of swimming, gaming, food, and friends. I met one of Kristin's friends, had some fantastic Sandusky pizza, and took in all of the Kalahari waterpark - something I was never able to do at CodeMash.

Tuesday was a day full of new slides (I'm genuinely proud of Laura and Kristin for getting on the bigger slides), including my new favorite, a four-person "bowl" ride that Colleen introduced to me.

The trip was rounded out with shopping at the Sandusky Mall and an early, peaceful drive home (thanks to Cedar Point being closed during the week). Oh yeah, and I ate too much. Way too much.

Thursday
By Thursday my vacation was feeling quite long, and I kept myself busy to extend the week even more. I spent all of Thursday on my laptop overhauling my personal website, BrandonBruno.com, to refocus the content and provide a clean new layout that will help highlight some upcoming features.

Friday
Cranking out a whole website in one day is not easy, so some of the tasks bled into Friday, but by Friday at noon I was live with the new site (minus a few additional tweaks that lasted into the weekend). Friday night was nostalgic as could be: I ventured to an Otsego High School football game that was full of (what else?) more food. The game was delayed by storms, so the night ended early.

Saturday
I did not intend to spend all day at the Black Swamp Arts Festival, but that is almost exactly what happened. The festival grew significantly from last year, with more crafts booths than anything else. It was nice to see downtown BG filled with so many good-spirited people, great music, and awesome weather.

I briefly stopped by the Haskins Village Festival as well, but sadly this was nearly a mistake. The festival was  as small as one might expect, but there was little to do (or worth doing) when Black Swamp was five miles down the road.

Sunday
The final day of my vacation was marked by relaxation. While I certainly relaxed, I still managed to get a lot done. I began the day with an extensive walk through Side Cut to practice my photography, visited my parents, finished one of my major web projects for the year (more on that soon), watched some football, and planned the rest of my week. I have spent the last two weeks practicing a new weekly routine, and this week I begin a new schedule that will round out 2012 quite nicely.

All in all, this has been a very relaxing vacation - exactly what I needed going into the busy fall season.

B3 out.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Last weekend was what I would call a "light" Reboot Weekend. While I definitely unplugged for a while, I still had a certain bit of routine to keep up with, and I ended up not quite as refreshed as I had hoped. Point in case: I will be needing another full, honest Reboot sometime soon... because holy hell, do I ever have a busy September coming up.

I did not come away completely empty handed last weekend, though. I have been making tweaks in my daily and weekly routines to focus on my overall happiness. While I am by no means miserable right now, I have a pretty stale routine that is serviceable at best. With a few tweaks I think I will be on a track to keep improving myself throughout the remainder of the year, and improving myself is the best way for me to feel happy.

A lot of those tweaks to my daily routine are based on past successes and things from this list: 6 Things I Do to Be Consistently Happy by Joel Gascoigne of Buffer. A quick overview of his list and how each one integrates with my routines:

Wake Up Early
Easily the most fundamental change for me. Four years ago a 2:30am or 5:00am wake-up call was normal for me. Now I cringe at the thought of 6:30am. Beginning today I am doing a daily (yes, weekends too) 6:00am wake-up routine. My most-productive hours are right after waking up, so I hope to use this time to work on personal projects. I will lose roughly an hour from my nights because of this change, but I will make occasional exceptions for going out to stay sane with my social life.

Exercise Daily

I have been working on this pretty well over the summer, but I have not been consistent on a daily basis. Last week I began a daily half-hour walking / jogging routine near the end of my day to help me wind down. This goes hand-in-hand with the next point, because...

Habit of Disengagement

... I disconnect when I exercise. Once I leave my apartment to exercise around 8:30 or 9:00pm, my computers are off for the night, my phone is turned off to charge, and my various gadgets are put away for the next day. I spend the rest of my night free of distractions. Ideally this will help me clear my mind, reflect on the day, dissect what I have or have not accomplished, and prepare for the next day. I am already beginning to love this hour and a half of peace.

Regularly Help Others

This one is new to me in a way. I do not generally volunteer in the traditional sense, but I have always had a deep instinctual desire to be a mentor. This generally comes about as a support technician: I try to help people understand modern technology whenever possible. There are plenty of other things that I would like to try, although I have not narrowed my list down quiet yet.

Learn New Skills

This is easily my most-practiced habit. I love learning new things. New skills, new technology, new life hacks. I spend at least a third of my free time studying code, iterating on old projects (how many times has BrandonBruno.com changed in the last three years?), and looking for The Next Big Thing. I feel extremely accomplished when I learn a new skill that is implementable in my personal or professional lives. I plan to keep learning until the day I die.

"Win" Multiple Ways Everyday

The idea here is to have alternate ways to be happy throughout the day. If I invest my entire day into a project or task and it goes south, I end up feeling defeated, lazy, and uninspired. By setting multiple small goals per day, I can focus on another one to accomplish as a form of bounce back. Example: Is a web project not going so well? Go for a run instead and get my daily exercise in early. Use the free time at the end of my day to study the problem and refocus for the following day.

B3 out.

This Reboot Brought To You By...

I will be offline for a couple days to enjoy a busy schedule, wonderful weather, a little writing, and plenty of time to myself for a Reboot Weekend.

See everyone Monday. B3 out.

Fall 2012: ... Than Can Ever Be Done

Typically I look forward to the fall festival season, doing something every weekend through mid-October's Apple Butter Festival. I was expecting a quiet, subdued fall season this year since I have hit a pretty good balance between work, projects, and free time.

Nope. This is going to be my busiest fall season yet. Here you go:

August 17 - 19: Reboot Weekend

I'm kicking my fall season off with a Reboot Weekend. Rather than wait until I need it, I am taking one to relax, exercise, and focus myself before I dive into my insane upcoming September.

August 31 - September 6: Fulton County Fair

One of my favorite fairs - the Fulton County Fair - rounds out my August and conveniently runs through most of my vacation (see below). I hope to make a couple trips out to the fair, especially to enjoy a huge diversity of food. And donuts. Oh good god, the donuts.

September 1 - September 9: Vacation

I have not had a full, proper, week-long vacation from work in over two years. In my time at CRI, I was able to take one week off before I moved on from Findlay. At Computol I have not felt the need to take a full vacation in a year and a half. In the first week of September, however, I will take my first real vacation and I will have plenty to keep me busy.

September 1: Final Ride for Summer of Biking 2012

Given how warm our entire year has been thus far, it seems possible that we will have great biking weather through all of fall. While I will certainly do the occasional ride from time to time, I plan to end my core biking routine at the end of August, with my final "farewell" ride taking place Saturday, September 1st. It will be bittersweet.

September 2: Fuel

One of my favorite bands from the early 2000s was the alternative hard rock band Fuel. Although not a prominent force in music today, they still play solid songs, and they will be playing a free acoustic show at the Hollywood Casino. Great band, close to home, for free, at the start of my vacation? Yes, please.

September 3 - 5: Kalahari Resort

Thanks to a deal from the good folks at CodeMash, I was able to score a cheap room at the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio, and will be spending my time there with a mix of friends and family. At a minimum this will be a nice reminder that CodeMash 2013 is already in the pipeline.

September 7 - 9: Black Swamp Arts Festival

Kicking off festival season is the classic romp through Bowling Green: the Black Swamp Arts Festival. This will be near the end of my vacation, so I am intending to consolidate my time at the festival into just one day. Hopefully I do not go too overboard with Qdoba, kettle popcorn, and overpriced art.

September 14: Zoo Brew

This now-favorite fall event may tinge with semi-painful memories, but I am still looking forward to sampling dozens of micro-brews, delicious snacks, and hopefully some solid music this year. A Friday evening at the Toledo Zoo is unlike any other Friday of the year.

September 15: Ann Arbor Give Camp / Jim Gaffigan / Rock the Docks

If all goes according to plan, I hope for this Saturday to be insane. I want to attend some of the Ann Arbor Give Camp, a volunteer-driven event where developers donate their time to work on technology projects for non-profit organizations. Ideally this will begin at 7:00am for me (in addition to an early-morning drive to Ann Arbor), so I can leave early and be home in time for a couple of possible events: Jim Gaffigan at BGSU or Rock the Docks in downtown Perrysburg. Either one will do.

September 22: Roche de Boeuf Festival

I have done a great job of wearing this festival out in the last five years, so I am most likely going to skim it this year. My favorite takeaway from this festival: fresh roasted almonds and Koral hamburgs.

October 4: My Birthday

Nothing more needs said. I will be turning 28. Oh shit.

October 12: The Clarks

A new (old) band that I recently discovered via Spotify, The Clarks, will be playing a show in Akron, Ohio this Friday evening. Thanks to a couple friends that live just north of Akron, travel and overnight accommodations should be pretty easy.

October 14: Apple Butter Festival

The final festival of the fall season for me. I biked to last year's festival and hope to repeat that awesome experience again. Even if I end up driving in, I love losing myself in the history, art, and food of the area's largest festival.

October 19 - 21: Southwest Ohio Give Camp

Depending on how well Ann Arbor Give Camp goes, I may round out my busy fall by driving down to West Chester, Ohio to participate in a full weekend of Give Camp. This will be a great event to assert myself as a professional web developer and hopefully spread my name a little bit.

So anyway, yeah, this fall is a little busy.

B3 out.

Wood County Fair: I've Been Here Before

This year's Wood County Fair is coming to a close, and while it was business as usual at the most predictable fair in Ohio, I can honestly say that I enjoyed myself this year. I visited the fair three days, saw everything I wanted to see, and ate a variety of delicious foods without overdoing it.

In high school and college, the fair was a sign of the times, a traditional kickoff to the cooler months of fall and a reminder that I would soon be seeing my friends more often. In 2012 the fair is a reminder that tradition is not always a bad thing. While I may have complained about the fair's stale growth over the last couple of years, this year I learned to appreciate the dust, dirt, and grease for what it has become for me: a simple getaway that lets me bask in memories of my wonderful past.

Shifting gears, I am looking forward to a moderately busy August (lots of exercise and programming to be done). I plan to wrap up my Summer of Biking by the end of the month with hiking taking its place for the fall and winter months. I have a Reboot Weekend scheduled for the third weekend. I will be launching a new web application at the end of the month. All in all, August looks great.

B3 out.

My Mobile Future: Part II

Eighteen years ago I made my first call on a mobile phone. Around 7:30pm on a cool September night, I walked outside my house, got in my mom's 1992 Honda Accord, and dialed our home phone number. She answered the phone and was pleasantly surprised that I was calling - her car phone was a birthday surprise done right. I have been mobile ever since.

As I briefly mentioned at the end of Part I, I will be considering all my options for my mobile future this November. There is a great chance that I will not be on Verizon Wireless anymore, there is a good chance that I will be on a prepaid plan, and there is a small chance that I will be without a mobile phone plan altogether.

A Quick Aside

Mobile phone plans follow an unfortunate pattern in America. Phone companies such as Verizon sell phone hardware cheap as a hook to tie you into an expensive two-year monthly contract. This enables high-end phones to be relatively affordable to the "everyman" in America. As the rest of the world knows, however, this model is far more expensive for the consumer than is necessary. Is a $200 iPhone upfront worth paying $2280 over the course of a two-year contract?

The Why

Verizon recently introduced new "Share Everything" data plans, which are ideally used to share multiple devices on one voice/data plan. While great for gadget lovers and families, the single-device user such as myself are left with a major increase in price and a decrease in value.

My mobile phone plan currently provides the following for $78 per month:

• 450 daytime minutes + free nights/weekends
• Unlimited SMS/MMS
• Unlimited data usage (of which I use about 1.2GB / month)

I use far less than 450 daytime minutes, but texting and data are pretty substantial to me. This is the takeaway from my babbling: Most of my phone usage can be measured in bytes, not minutes. In order to maintain my current level of service on Verizon's new plans, I would need to pay $100 per month, plus the usual fees, making my typical monthly bill just under $110. This will not be happening.

How Did I Do This Before?


Having unlimited, fast, wireless internet at my fingertips is relatively new to me. I only came on board the modern 3G train in late 2010, and now I cannot picture my life without an always-connected mobile device. Prior to 2010 my ideal mobile web experience relied on Wi-Fi access points scattered around the various places I traveled. My iPod touch got me from place to place as I synced at restaurants, coffee shops, work, and home. Most of my work and play time was spent on laptops and netbooks, so Wi-Fi was critical to my day. I planned to be places that had Wi-Fi.

Where I Am Now

I use my phone's data features obsessively. I update Facebook and Twitter, stream music via Spotify, answer email across three different accounts, sync to-do lists, share photos, and much more. I also do 90% of this from home or work - both places with Wi-Fi. In fact, thanks to the battery drain that 3G adds to my phone, I generally leave data features off until I need to use them. This happens maybe four or five times a day.

Many Paths, One Goal

Ultimately my mobile future has one goal: to stay connected with my friends, family, and co-workers. Here are my three options:

1) Switch to Prepaid (Virgin Mobile)

The easy switch for me may be to go prepaid. Prepaid services typically provide basic service on basic phones for cheap prices. Virgin Mobile has caught my eye thanks to its offering of decent Android phones, the iPhone 4S, and cheap, unlimited plans. Using Sprint's network, Virgin's $55 no-contract plan offers unlimited everything, and as far as I can tell, Sprint's networking coverage in my area is decent enough.

2) Not Carry a Mobile

The most drastic step is one I may actually try for a while. A mobile phone allows me to be reached anywhere at anytime, yet I spend the majority of my days near a computer, with an iPad in hand, and bathed in Wi-Fi. It would be possible to use a combination of IM, Google Voice, and Skype to handle my voice calls and texting needs.

This is where an Android tablet (the Nexus 7, for example) would come in handy. I could carry it in place of my phone and use native Google Voice capabilities at Wi-Fi-enabled locations to act as my phone. In between these points I would be entirely cut off from the benefits of mobile. This is the biggest hurdle for me to overcome.

3) Mix It Up

The most-interesting option for me is also the most-likely. This would be a combination of cord-cutting and cheap prepaid.

Part One:  My current mobile number would be ported to Google Voice, thus no one has to get a new number for me. I would encourage my closest friends to text and call through Google Voice and Skype when possible. Apple's FaceTime is even a viable option.

Part Two: Get a decent Android phone from Virgin Mobile and use their cheap $30 prepaid option (with only 300 minutes but unlimited texts/data) for when I'm away from home for a significant amount of time. I would only pay for Virgin when I absolutely needed it, meaning my yearly bill could be very, very cheap.

My Mobile Future

Thanks to the proliferation of quality tablets, plentiful Wi-Fi, and a myriad of online communication tools, my two-year stint with an expensive Verizon phone plan may be nearing its end. Although it may be a little more work for me in some respects, I believe I can have an inexpensive mobile future that still lets me stay in contact with all my friends and family.

B3 out.

My Mobile Future: Part I

I have been using mobile phones since 1994. My family's 1992 Honda Accord had a car phone installed (complete with a rear-window antenna!) and made rough, analog calls. Plans only came pay-per-minute, coverage was spotty, and calls were full of static. Roughly $40 per month covered the phone bill, though.

In 2000 my family upgraded to wireless Audiovox phones through one of the companies that would later merge to become Verizon Wireless. The phones were compact, made clear digital calls, and lasted about a week on a full battery. We had two phones that ran around $45 per month of service. Although they were primarily for my parents, I carried one of the phones on the weekend since I was a new, young driver.

Around 2004 our family upgraded to new phones, and this time I got my own phone number (the one I carry today) and a cheap, color-screen phone. $65 covered two phones per month.

In 2006, instead of upgrading phones through Verizon, I bought a mid-level camera phone by Samsung in order to keep up with my friends. Texting also entered my life, and I started at nearly 3000 messages a month.

In 2007 I wanted to try something a bit more complex, and I bid on a Windows Mobile 5 smartphone on eBay. For about $140 I had a brick-of-a-phone attached to my belt, but I also had a touchscreen, a web browser, and access to lots of neat apps on the go. The phone itself was old, so the battery life was awful and the experience generally poor.

2008 saw a change into the post-iPhone world. I left my parents' shared phone plan and signed up for a new 2-year contract with Verizon, this time paying $60 / month myself for an LG Voyager touchscreen phone that so badly wanted to be an iPhone. It was no iPhone, of course, but it was a texter's dream.

In 2009 I upgraded to the LG enV Touch and pounded away on its keyboard for a year before I finally decided I needed a full smartphone to stay up to date on the go.

November of 2010 saw me take the plunge into the Android world with an HTC Incredible. I instantly fell in love with Android and all its features. I was paying a lot, though: $90 / a month. My Meijer employee discount stuck with me after leaving Meijer, so I saved a bit on my bill anyhow. I knew right away that I would be stuck on Androird forever - despite being a bit buggy, it has all the apps I need, provides access to the Internet everywhere I go, and is hackable to no end.

At the end of 2012 I will be in a position to upgrade my phone again. Interestingly enough, I may upgrade by not having a mobile phone at all. I have been living in a mobile world for 18 years. That may suddenly end come November.

Stay tuned for Part II, when I look at my current mobile situation and answer this question: What purpose does my mobile phone serve and do I really need to carry one anymore?

B3 out.

The 50/50 Vacation

This past Wednesday, July 4th, I began a vacation from work with many grand intentions: hike, bike, visit friends in Cleveland, write, and attend the Build Responsively Workshops in Columbus. So far I have accomplished one of these things, and here I am in the Polaris suburb of Columbus, Ohio.

100+ degree heat for the past week and a half essentially shut down all my outdoor plans. While I did get a little biking in this morning, I am way behind on my mileage, so my first priority once I am back in Perrysburg will be to catch up on biking.

But in the meantime, I am spending the next two days in the middle of Polaris, Columbus, Ohio for the Build Responsively web design workshop. I will definitely be back afterwards with a short report on how it went.

Ultimately this vacation turned into a mix of the bad and the good: I spent the first half of it sitting on my butt (thanks to the weather), while the tail-end of it should be productive and awesome while I study responsive web design with a bunch of geeks.

B3 out.

A Slight Delay In Regularly Scheduled Programming

I will not be posting my usual entry tonight, instead saving my thoughts and words for my vacation this week, which begins this Tuesday at 5:00pm. See you then.

B3 out.

Paddle, Paddle, Scrape, Walk, Paddle

This weekend was dominated entirely by one event: a trip to Mongo, Indiana for canoeing on the Pigeon River. Me, Laura, Kristin, Kristin's sister and her two girls took up three canoes and paddled from Spero Bridge on a trip that lasted just over four hours. The river is exceptionally low thanks to a lack of rain, and our journey was punctuated by constant dragging and walking of our canoes. Even with the extra work required to get downstream, a full lunch and frequent breaks really helped pace the trip. After five trips on the Pigeon River, I feel like I have developed a good sense of how I want to pace the whole ride.

Now if only everyone else was as leisurely as me about it. As well, even though the day was hot and ride long and tiring yesterday was a blast.

B3 out.

This Is Not the Reboot You're Looking For

Reboot Weekends are absolutely pivotal to me. I disconnect myself from my usual routine, try new things, unplug my computers, and turn off my mobile phone for an entire weekend. No texts, no calls, no Internet. This invites the kind of peace and quiet that I need sometimes, and allows for the kind of self-reflection that I do not usually allow myself.

This weekend I did a Reboot with the expectations of analyzing my current place in 2012: what goals I have accomplished, where I am heading, what relationships I want or need, and what I have yet to accomplish for the year. Frustratingly enough, it took me all weekend to simply arrive at the answer of "I'm not on track." In fact, this weekend was a prime example of what is wrong with me lately: I have improper motivation. My goals for 2012 have become vague, and thus my drive to complete anything wholly has disappeared. While I spend lots of time writing, programming, and reading, I am getting nothing done in these crafts.

But anyhow, a brief summary of what I did this weekend:

Saturday started with a huge 34 mile bike ride that took me from my apartment in Perrysburg to Oak Openings. I ended the ride sore, blurry-eyed, and unusually tired. I need to do this ride more often.

Given the warm temperatures and impending rain, I dashed out to Oak Openings Sunday morning and played in the rain - literally. After a short hike to grab a few pictures, I was caught in an intense summer downpour. I took a short hike around Mallard Lake in this warm rain and all-around enjoyed myself.

I spent Sunday afternoon doing laundry and getting real, productive writing done on an upcoming project, but that was the extent of my weekend. I devised a new weekly schedule, reworked my weekly food options, and cleaned my apartment.

Something was missing this past weekend. I was not able to shut my mind off or completely cut the Internet cord. This was not the Reboot Weekend I needed. It was just a weekend alone. I do not feel re-energized or confident or ready for the second half of the year. In fact, I am ready for another Reboot. The best Reboot weekends come right off a major meltdown, but I should not have to suffer through that just to find a new beginning.

Now that I know what little I am actually capable of in a time of need, I know that I need to be more drastic the next time I do this.

My next Reboot Weekend will be sooner rather than later, and a hell of a lot more meaningful.

B3 out.

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

This past week was interesting. The week started poorly: work had been slow to the point of worry, and I have not traditionally handled certain types of job stress too well. Suffice to say, this stress improved by the end of the week and into a better-than-average weekend.

Friday night I took off to the new Hollywood Casino in Toledo with Laura and Kristin. This was my first casino experience and it was quite a blast. The casino itself is unfitting for Toledo - the glitz, the glam, and the glory is an entirely new experience that is unmatched anywhere in Northwest Ohio. Dozens of table games are surrounded by thousands of glowing and buzzing slot machines, themselves flanked by beverage centers, high-class restaurants, and high-stakes tables. What could make all this even better? How about the casino being a smooth ten-minute drive from my apartment? Yeah, I found a new Friday night hobby (bonus: it doesn't involve drinking!).

Saturday was quiet. I did a quick bike ride through Side Cut and did my laundry at my parents' and... that was it. Literally, quite quiet.

Sunday was something a bit unexpected. I went to Ann Arbor with Colleen. We went into the city without any real idea of what we were going to do (having no plan is one of my big pet peeves, but whatever). Sure enough, Sunday mornings in Ann Arbor are fairly dead, with the well-cultured and thick downtown area closed for business. A coffee shop or two lingered open, but we quickly made for the outskirts of the city before ending up at IKEA.

I went into IKEA with the usual mindset: cheap, crappy Swedish furniture and not a lot for me. As always happens, I left IKEA with a ton of ideas floating about my head. Here's the short version: I have 3 or 4 big items that I will be picking up from IKEA to spruce up my apartment before June is up. How does a kitchen island, a new computer desk, a new office chair, and perhaps a couch or kitchen table sound? Yeah, I went idea-crazy today. Oops.

On our way home we tried Noodles & Company (my review: meh, salty pasta with a few interesting flavors). Finally was Cabela's and a tiring drive back to Ohio.

A little cleaning, a little swimming, and a little writing will make up the rest of my night. This week will be on-and-off busy followed by a much-needed Reboot Weekend.

B3 out.

A Countdown To The...

I have been working feverishly on my creative writing. More specifically: an old favorite piece of fiction. What follows is a little sample of an upcoming story.



Everyone was dead. Not just ten, not a hundred. Everyone at the graduation ceremony. Maybe a thousand. Parents, grandparents, sons, daughters, and almost worse than anything else, classmates. Best friends since kindergarten hugged one another in their final moments, their cold bodies intertwined with one another as they laid face down on the hard dirt. Younger brothers and sisters clung under the graduation gowns of their older role models. Soft, pink flesh wrapped around hard, cracked brick. Bodies that breathed life just two days ago sat strewn about the rubble and ruins of the school campus.

No one could recall exactly what happened. The day started perfect: the seventh of June, high school graduation. The weather cooperated in all the best ways: sunny and warm with the temperature easily in the lower eighties. Everyone was in their place. The school auditorium filled up by the hundreds until friends and families began to watch their favorite sons and daughters walk across the expansive stage. Some were clearly nervous, stumbling up the stairs or using the wrong hand to grab the diploma. Others smiled overzealously at the crowd as camera flashes bounced off their faces. Some danced, some cheered, and no matter the show, everyone in the audience clapped furiously for their graduates.

Brent was nervous for sure. He was near the back of the line, and although he was in a graduating class of nearly two-hundred, he forgot about his plan to carefully watch everyone ahead of him walk so he knew exactly what to do without looking like an ass. A shallow set of metal stairs rose to the stage and crept up on him, and before he could compose a healthy smile, his name echoed throughout the auditorium.

“Brent...” and then something else. His last name, maybe? He wasn’t sure. The words fizzled as the thump-thump of his heartbeat filled his ears. Thousands of eyes were on him. Camera flashes bolted across the room. Brent put one foot on the stairs, a hand on the railing, and lifted his other foot.

Then his world began to spin. The stairs seemed to move under his feet. Sweat poured down his face. So suddenly? Was he this nervous, this fast?

Flashing cameras halted and a dozen people screamed. The ground was shaking. It kept shaking, each tremor more violent than the last. More screams from the crowd, this time loud enough to echo throughout the auditorium. Long, sudden cracks tore through the three-story brick walls while large pieces of the ceiling began to crumble into the crowd below. Hundreds of people scattered in different directions. Only the those near the edges of the room made straight lines for the exits - the middle of the crowd succumbed to tons of concrete, steel, and wood as they chaotically pushed and shoved into one another.

There was a moment of calm silence in Brent’s ears when the first dozen people were crushed under the crumbling ceiling. The violence was unlike any he had seen, only the stuff from distant stories his mom told about her job as an emergency room nurse. Faces were crushed, arms and legs ripped from bodies, and screams instantly muted.

Brent regained focus in time to watch a group of his robed classmates fall into the thin wooden stage below them. Brent jumped from the metal stairs, turned towards an exit not more than ten feet away, and... and that was it. The last memory from graduation.

Although he was uncertain how many days had passed since then, Brent awoke from a haunting dream that morning, but was no sooner conscious than he discovered the worst of his nightmare was reality: his dead family strewn about him. Mom’s hair fancied up for the occasion, soaked in blood. Dad’s shirt and tie missing, his bare chest torn and shredded with the shrapnel of bricks, steel, and bone. The sight was sickening. Was the nightmare really over? Could Brent’s eyes lie to him?

Among the silence and rubble of the destroyed auditorium were sobs of crying. The world was different, irreversibly changed, and although Brent did not understand why or how, he pressed onward. His sore body shambled from one corpse to another, searching for the distant sound of crying. Bodies were fresh - all recently dead - and each one a classmate or parent or grandparent. It was the graduation day from hell.


B3 out.

Okay, Let's Do This Thing

My life has lost a lot of focus in the last month or so, which was almost exactly what happened this time last year thanks to a smattering of things trying to steal my attention in different directions. Last year was saved by a major Reboot Weekend over the Fourth of July. It looks like this year will be the same: I'm planning a weekend to myself sometime in June. Three days of bliss. I need it.

My big focus this June is to set myself up for a fantastic second-half of 2012. For example:

• My Summer Vacation. July will begin with a variety of events, namely my first vacation of the year. July 3rd will be a repeat of last years' fantastic Perrysburg Fireworks at Fort Meigs. I plan to bike down to the fort, meet up with friends and family, and have a blast. I won not be resting on the fourth, however, as I will be going to Cleveland to hike for a couple days and eventually visit some friends. I should return home Saturday, only to leave for Columbus Sunday afternoon to attend the Build Responsively web design workshop - an event I am extremely excited about.

• Debt Free, Finally. I am setting up a new (and very strict) monthly budget that will allow me to save money towards a huge year-end goal: paying off the remainder of my student loans. I will be debt free by the end of 2012. What comes after this? One major vacation in 2013, of course. After that? Saving for a house. Yes, this is really happening.

• A Developer's Dream. I have three major, personal programming projects going on right now, all of which I will be wrapping up before the end of the year. The biggest one, Recipe Library 2.0, will hit full-force in July and continue until its completion sometime in October. The rest of the year will focus on reviewing my current personal and professional portfolios ahead of CodeMash in January 2013.

• Summer of Biking, Full Tilt. I have been having a great time biking so far this year (our great weather has helped!). Beginning in July (and really, this June) I will be cranking on biking four days a week for a total of 40 to 100 miles per week.

• Oh, Yes, and The Fall Season. The first week of August will kick off the usual fall season of activities with the new, 7-day Wood County Fair (up from 6 days). After that I roll into the usual lineup of festivals and trips that come with the changing seasons.

I have a busy, disciplined six months ahead of me. June is just a warm up to the insanity.

B3 out.

The Late Edition

I meant to publish yesterday on my usual Sunday schedule, but then again, not really. It has been a busy, useless weekend.

In the last two months I have come to define my happiness by how much progress I make on my personal projects at any given time. Quite simply, if I am not programming, writing, hiking, or biking, I feel terribly useless. I attempted change over this long holiday weekend by getting out with friends all weekend, and sure enough I sit here Monday night feeling a little deflated.

Because of all this yucky indecision, I am taking a Reboot Weekend sometime in June. I hope to sort out exactly what I am trying to accomplish among my increasing number of projects and sort out what is best to finishing pursuing. I need better focus.

B3 out.

Blood, Sweat, and More Sweat

So it is 90 degrees today. And sunny. Hot, unrelenting sunshine everywhere. All weekend.

I have almost nothing to report this week, nothing worthwhile to say. I did do something rather cool today, though, a 21 mile bike ride from my apartment to the Wabash Cannonball Trail North Fork. My eventual goal with this route is pretty simple: bike to Oak Openings. This trip will become my bread-and-butter this summer. A 30+ mile bike ride that breaks at Mallard Lake in the heart of Oak Openings. Along the way I will pass through downtown Perrysburg, Side Cut Metropark, Fallen Timbers Mall, the community of Monclova, and eventually Oak Openings itself.

I did not quite make it to Oak Openings today, however, as I still need to work up to the correct pacing for the trip. But once I do, I have to wonder - who's in for this ride with me? Anyone?

B3 out.

Summer Of Biking 2012

Because my bike is back from Cycle Werks for a tune-up two weeks early, and because the weather will be fantastic this weekend, this Saturday will be the official kickoff to my Summer of Biking 2012.

Growing on last year's 600 miles of biking, I will be spending summer 2012 charting new routes while warming up on old favorites. I am gunning for a cool 1000 miles this summer, roughly an average of 40 miles per week over a 25 week biking season.

So where will I be riding this Saturday to kick off the season? Something close to Perrysburg, a ride out in the country, a trip down the Wabash to Oak Openings, or perhaps my personal favorite, the Towpath to Grand Rapids?

I will find out this Saturday at 8:00am.

B3 out.

The Trews Two

The past Friday I saw The Trews for my second time this year. Their first show at Frankie's Inner City in downtown Toledo this past January was solid, short, and sweet. The show I saw Friday night was an excellent followup: bigger, louder, better. I (finally) got to hear "Paranoid Freak" live, which is an incredibly awesome tune live. "Poor Ol' Broken Hearted Me" and "Hold Me In Your Arms" were other stand-outs and crowd favorites. I would absolutely see The Trews again. And again. And again. And...

Saturday was quick and quiet: while my ears recovered from their nonstop ringing, I spent the day writing, gaming, and of course, visiting my parents. I did not make as much progress on my latest projects as I wanted to, but that is what Sunday is usually for. Lo and behold, I have spent today playing catch up before a very strenuous week begins.

Monday begins a two-week crunch period for a big project at work. This project may even bleed into after hours, but I really cannot complain: this is my project, after all, and I enjoy working on it. Also happening Monday: the start of an eight-week weight loss challenge at work, which means I will be on a very calorie restricted diet, but more so, will be exercising heavily daily. An announcement to my friends: if you want to get dinner, I need at least a day or two's notice so I can plan appropriately. I'm in this to win.

B3 out.

This Perfect Day

How about a recap for once?

Last weekend could not have been any less productive for me. Between a lack of direction, care, or motivation, I did next to nothing. I was able to get back on track with all my projects this week - both professional and personal - so I was able to start this weekend off on the right foot.

Friday was a very comforting day at work. Overall the day went quickly. Friday night was a blast, pure and simple. I started playing Batman: Arkham City (a recent $15 purchase on Steam) after work. The game is a blast so far, easily as good as the already-excellent Arkham Asylum. Around 7 I made my way over to Levis Commons to catch up on my reading of Catching Fire. 8:00pm saw a graduation dinner for a friend, which was absolutely delicious. I have only had Nagoya's hibachi once before (and it made my physically sick), but this dinner was through-and-through amazing. Starting with sushi helped, of course. Post-dinner drinks capped unexpectedly-long night off beautifully.

My sister (and her boyfriend) visited Saturday. As a family, we went to the Toledo Amtrak terminal to spend National Train Day with a bevy (wink, wink) of festivities. Train museums, train tours, food, model trains, and live music made up most of the activities. I was extremely impressed by the train tours. Turns out traveling by train is rather plush. I might have to give it a shot some day. We spent the rest of the day in downtown Toledo, taking in a very delicious lunch/dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse. 15 Layer Lasagna? Yes, please.

And then there is today. Today is nearly perfect. An early start, sunny skies, near-70-degrees. What more could I ask for? I suppose a walk through Oak Openings, plenty of writing, and a relaxing week ahead. This is the best way to start my week.

B3 out.

The Wrong Kind of Busy

This was one of those weekends where nothing happened like I wanted it too. Instead of finishing two programming projects and one short story, I accomplished nothing. Oh sure, I did make a little progress on all my projects, but ultimately this weekend turned into one big turd.

I always look on the bright side, however, so this weekend was not a waste at all. Since I spent all weekend indoors, I will be spending all week and next weekend outdoors. I have been on a hiatus from hiking for a bit too long, and next weekend will see me returning to a regular schedule at Oak Openings.

Actually, next weekend might be one for the record books. Along hiking, there will be a friend's graduation, my sister visiting, my dad's birthday, and hopefully some worthwhile biking to be done. I intend for next weekend to be everything this weekend was not: busy every minute.

So tonight I relax. As long as the weather holds out, I will be at Side Cut Metropark everyday this week in preparation for next weekend's hike. Weave in some solid writing and three web projects among the hiking and I have one awesome week ahead.

B3 out.

A Draft of a Draft

As I have hinted at before, I am working on something big for this summer. Something incredibly, insanely important to me. Something awesome. I believe it is time to start dropping a few bits of my work here and there. Sometimes for feedback, sometimes just because.

Here is a little piece of writing I drafted tonight:

---

Not more than a dozen steps from the barn, Pat and Brent were hit with a strong odor. Something rotten. Something repulsive. The darkness in the barn's shadow came into focus as Brent and Pat adjusted to the sunlight. Brent saw something terrible.

In the shadow of the barn sat the carcass of a cow splayed across the ground. Entrails dangled every direction from a tear in its spotted side. Blood stained the ground - grass, dirt, and weeds all glimmered with a bright red sheen. Worse than the smell, worse than the sight: the cow moaned under what little strength it could muster. It was still alive.

---

B3 out.

The Calm Before the Storm

Today was supposed to be my "day off," a day where I do everything I want to and nothing I have to. Did that happen? Of course not. I really, really, really wanted to do nothing today. Looks like I will have to defer that freedom until next weekend. While I have been super-busy with a variety of personal projects, learning, and new opportunities, the last three weeks are almost certainly going to pale in comparison to what is coming up.

So what is next?

My next major goal is to get my new web server up and running. This means I have to redevelop my "Recipe Library" application, which is no small feat. This is the only project holding up deployment of the web server, so it is priority one. At the same time, I am working on a relatively-unplanned web application called "T2" (or "Time Tracker"). This is a JavaScript-based time tracking tool that I use at work and hope to release as a proper application for anyone to use by June. Of all my projects right now, this is furthest along, so I spend at least an hour a day working on it to stay on target. I am ahead of schedule for a June 1st release. I am thrilled.

Thanks to recent professional developments, I am taking on a new project for 2012: self-marketing. When someone Googles "Perrysburg .NET developer" I want to see my name on the first page of results. As it is now, I am actually on the third or fourth page of Google, which means I am not far from my goal. This would be a huge boon to me as a professional, and over the next couple of months I will be refining my personal website so I am more attractive as a developer-for-hire. My website will eventually become a display piece for all my strengths: .NET and JavaScript programming, creative writing, consumer-level support, and creative/technical writing.

I will also be spending at least 2 to 3 hours extra at the office over the next two weeks in order to stay on task with a major project that is wrapping up.

Point in case: I am a busy, busy man. I am not simply staying busy for the sake of being busy, however. I do have an end-goal in mind, a finale to all this madness that will be far-too-long in the making. Until then, however, back to work.

B3 out.

Book Review: The Hunger Games

Critically Correct is loaded with reviews of music, video games, and movies. Count the number of book reviews I have done over the years. Go ahead. You will only need two fingers. Maybe one. I cannot even remember. The message: I am not a big reader.

With all the hype over The Hunger Games, however, I felt compelled to give the novel a try. This past week I wrapped up my 13-day reading of the book. My (short) review follows.

I am unfamiliar with Suzanne Collins' works outside of The Hunger Games, but I can say this: her prose is not elegant. It is serviceable, however, and she does have a solid grasp of pacing. The opening pages of Hunger Games was a bit rough for me, sentence structures and word choices distracting me from the crucial opening scenes that establish the post-apocalyptic setting of Katniss Everdeen's world.

Outside of the rough prose, however, is a fantastic story of survival, instinct and cunning as displayed by the aforementioned Katniss. Characters are killed off far too easily and far too predictably, but luckily there is not a lot of character to care about before these deaths. The latter-half of the story focuses on a love triangle that is never finished in the first book nor entirely unpredictable.

The Hunger Games excels when it is in motion, when Katniss is on her toes for her very life. Slowing down to analyze her life, her family, and her friends feels like a deliberate injection of character is an otherwise action-oriented story. There is substance to The Hunger Games, but it is not entirely necessary in this case, as this could have been an all-action-all-the-time thriller all its own.

B3 out.

The Full Story Behind O-Deer

In the summer of 2011, right as I moved to Perrysburg, I discovered a new, local ice cream joint called "O-Deer Diner" in Perrysburg. The location was convenient: close to my new job in scenic downtown. The prices were reasonable: a couple bucks for a specialty sundae. The lines were short: this was not the low-priced, high-volume strategy that the crazy-popular Mr. Freeze uses. It got even better: O-Deer was on my weekly bike route, so why not celebrate a solid bike ride with a little ice cream every so often? Add in my love of local business and everything lined up: O-Deer was a near-obsession for me in 2011.

By the end of summer I made a priority of visiting O-Deer every Tuesday and Thursday on a very rigid schedule. I turned these visits into something of a running gag on Facebook with frequent Check-Ins. I actually set a goal last year to own at least half of the total Check-Ins at O-Deer. I believe I have long-passed that goal.

There is one thing I have never done for O-Deer, however: praise it. There is a reason for that: it really is kind of "meh" as a restaurant.

I go to O-Deer religiously because I like the small-business atmosphere, the basic food, the cheap ice cream, and most importantly, the goddamn friendliest people I have ever met. Any summer evening is made better with a cheap chicken sandwich, an ice cream cone, and a genuine smile from some awesome people.

My love for O-Deer is basically over at that, however. The menu is small: hotdogs, a couple sandwiches, chips, soup, and pop make up 90% of the menu. I am also certain that all this food is from Gordon's Food Service, making it all the more bland. When I am in the mood for a basic shredded chicken sandwich and potato chips, O-Deer works. The ice cream is similarly bland sometimes, especially since I tend to get sundae toppings of inconsistent quality (I swear I eat a different peanut butter topping every week).

Truth be told, I really cannot recommend O-Deer on the quality or selection of their food, something that is kind of crucial to a restaurant. I believe a few more homemade dishes, creamier ice cream, and a $4 meal deal would make O-Deer a much bigger player in downtown Perrysburg.

Until then, however, I will be returning to O-Deer on a regular schedule - not for the food - but so I can say "hi" to my favorite people and relax on a great outdoor patio. All. Summer. Long.

B3 out.

The Sunday Update: A Kind of Change

Now that I have gotten into the routine of publishing every Sunday, I am dropping "The Sunday Update" from the title of each post. This week's update is a review of American Reunion.

B3 out.

Stifler's Revenge: American Reunion Review

American Reunion is a film for a very specific set of people: those who not only fell in love with American Pie 1, 2, and 3 as teenagers, but are now going on thirty with grown-up jobs and new young families. The series is the Millennial Generation's Animal House, and if it can ever get past its hormonal roots, the Pie series could become a legitimate commentary on an entire generation. Four movies in, however, that looks unlikely. At its best, Reunion is a predictable but heartwarming story of love and trust. At its worst, Reunion is stuck in 1999.

Reunion stays loyal to the franchise's roots and no scene would feel out of place in American Pie 1 or 2. Jim still bumbles in awkward social situations, Kevin struggles to balance his responsibilities with his emotional past, Oz still wrestles with the definition of true love, and Finch remains stuck somewhere between a legitimate love and his fascination with Stifler's Mom. Stifler is still the same asshole he has always been, but his character is handled much better here than in American Wedding, where his dialog, actions, and story arc felt entirely forced. Seeing him cause general chaos, swear like a sailor, and act-before-thinking is a return to the Stifler that made him so entertaining in the first two Pie films.

Unlike the Jim-centric American Wedding, Reunion brings everyone back to East Great Falls and jumps between a half-dozen character arcs over its two-hour run time. Most films would be sloppy with so many stories running at once, and alas, Reunion trades originality for predictability in order to keep everyone in check. Each character's story works best having seen Pie 1 and 2. Those new to the franchise can catch up pretty easily, but at this point each story is extremely bland. Not that the original films had deep, inspired character stories, but they had stories, so we can come into this film with a certain level of nostalgia that makes us root for everyone on screen (yes, even Stifler).

Having revitalized the gross-out genre in 1999, Pie 1 was something of a unique film, but Reunion does not account for any other comedies in the past ten years, especially the Apatow-genre (yes, I just said that). This is 1999's humor without a hint of originality (although one scene of male nudity at least acknowledges the changing times). Again, fans of the franchise know exactly what to expect and when to laugh. Jim's Dad, the excellent Eugene Levy, easily steals the scene and humor as much as possible, with some legit laugh-out-loud moments that elevate the film a few notches. Even better: the film does acknowledge its own ridiculousness sometimes, and does not always take itself so seriously (I point to Exhibit A: "The Caterpillars").

For fans of Pie, seeing everyone back on screen is fantastic. How has everyone been in the last ten years? Who has succeeded and who has struggled? Are these characters any more matured since that fateful prom night in 1999? Reunion addresses all these and then asks a few question for those of us going on thirty. Is marriage all it is cracked up to be? Where do we stand on cheating in relationships? What lies ahead in the next ten years of our lives?

With enough mirrors pointed at our own generation (Stifler still lives at home, for example, unable to get a solid job), Reunion attempts to balance the nostalgia of Pie 1 and 2 with a few social commentaries for all those new mom and dads to think about. Just how has the last ten years treated us? For American Reunion, it is as though the last ten years never even happened.

B3 out.

The Sunday Update: The Not-So-Funny Edition

Earlier today I went ahead with my usual April Fools post, so check it out. Two posts in one day. Whoa.

Anyway, I will be brief: I am two weeks into a major ass-kicking. I am busy non-stop with personal projects, and the pressure is on throughout April to get a major project to completion at work. New to April: I will be starting a video project for a friend, doing some traveling to visit family and friends, cranking up some writing and reading (thanks to Colleen's Kindle), and charging head-first into a major exercise program that will eat at least an hour out of my already-jammed days.

Thanks to the incredible stack of stuff I have lined up, I am now busy six days a week. Occasional mental health breaks, scheduled time with friends, and one day of rest per week is now the norm for me through at least the end of May.

And yes, I did this to myself. Work alone could keep me this busy, but I am opting to get most of my 2012 projects completed by the end of summer so I can spend this fall on a major multi-month vacation - as well as launch one of my cool new projects. But until I see the light at the end of the tunnel, I will be a little wonky. Or a lot wonky. We will see.

B3 out.

The Meltdown Is Here

In 1998 I began writing a series of short stories titled "Meltdown," a post-apocalyptic adventure set in our near future. Since then I have struggled to finish any major cohesive piece of the story, but today I can close this chapter of my life, as Meltdown is finished! You may catch the story below.

Meltdown: A Survivor's Story

The world goes to hell. A few people survive. Some of these people die. Zombies. Guns. The end.

This is a huge burden of my back. Whew.

B3 out.

The Sunday, Err... Monday Update

So I missed the weekly Sunday Update yesterday. Sue me.

I missed it for a very good reason, though: I have been insanely busy these last two weeks. My 2012 goals are in full-swing now, thanks in no small part to the ten days of fantastic weather that put us well into the 80's. Let me review everything going on in my life right now:

• Recipe Library 2.0 - The major update to my recipe manager. Due to launch at the end of summer. I have barely started this project.

• ReallyAveragePhotography.com - A small side photography business. I hope to be able to capture decent photos for those willing to part with a little cash. Nothing too formal, but this involves a shooting process, a website, optimizing my camera gear, and beefing up my photo storage. Lots of on-going work here.

• New Desktop / Server - My main desktop machine is being upgraded as I build an entirely new web and media server for my private and public use. Unfortunately the new motherboard for my desktop machine was bad, so I currently have two and a half computers splayed across my apartment while I wait for a replacement board. Once the web server is up and running, though, I get the major task of installing Windows, SVN, creating photo storage, and porting all my websites to a Windows environment.

• Time Tracker - This was the major surprise of this past weekend. I have been struggling to efficiently keep track of my time at work, so Friday night I began writing a small web-based solution that bloomed into a working product as of Sunday night. I am testing this time tracker all week at work, and in the next two weeks I plan to polish it into a 1.0 product and make it publicly available.

• Meltdown: A Survivor's Story - Believe it or not, I am still slowly writing, especially as I push towards launching this summer's biggest (and most-secretive) project. "Meltdown" has been a story about survival in a burned world since 1998. Most of my original story has been thrown out in favor of a new narrative that I am piecing together a bit at a time. June cannot come soon enough.

• Everything else: In addition to the regular projects above, I am also balancing a crazy load at work (I am making some inroads to staying busy at work), exercising like crazy (daily biking, walking, or hiking), trying to finish my taxes, writing several technical posts for future publication, and studying for several Microsoft certification tests. To be blunt, I am fucking-crazy busy.

And that is how I like it. B3 out.

The Sunday Update: Biking Is Back

This year's "Summer of Biking" kicked off unofficially this weekend and I could not be happier about the results.

While the official kick-off to my regular biking schedule is in two weeks, two days of fantastic summer-like weather allowed me to put 31.6 miles on my bike this weekend.

Saturday was off to a rough start. My bike came out of storage this week but suffered from some mechanical problems which I addressed with the help of YouTube. After the necessary repairs, I set out on my first ride, which took me along my favorite route from 2011: through downtown Perrysburg, over the Maumee River, through Side Cut Metropark, down River Road, over U.S. 24, and out to Fallen Timbers Mall. Fourteen miles in total, round trip. I ended the ride just as I did many others last year: at O-Deer Diner in downtown Perrysburg. For me, yesterday was a huge reminder of just how awesome 2011 was.

I ended the day with a second, shorter bike ride in Bowling Green and ultimately ended the night with video games and the entire second season of "The Walking Dead." Oh yeah, fantastic show. Enough said.

Today started with more biking, a relatively-short 12-mile jaunt through Side Cut again. All told, I pushed enough miles this weekend to get me on the right track to a healthy, prosperous 2012.

B3 out.