The Fall Preview: 2013 Mixes It Up

Well I'm not completely writing this summer off yet, but I'm getting close. With a wet start and a hotter-than-hell middle, the last half of this summer has a lot of sunny-and-80 days to make up to us. My biking goals are out the window, my hiking for 2014 is off my calendar, and I have accomplished 1 out of 6 goals I set for the first half of the year.

Adversity can sometimes be relative, and in my case, I am still doing pretty well despite nothing going according to plan. If nothing else, a few unexpected pleasantries have come out of 2013 - and a few unexpected "holy shit" moments, kind of like this: the Wood County Fair is in less than a week as I write this. This summer just moved by too damn fast.

So with the fall season in the back of my mind, it's time for my usual look at what's ahead for the eventual Big Cooldown of 2013.

July 26: Chevelle

This was unexpected. Chevelle is a solid rock band, no doubt, and they are playing a show at Hollywood Casino Toledo. A small opening band, good food, a nice venue, a casino, and hopefully great weather will make this show the kickoff to a long weekend that leads right into...

July 29 - Aug 5: Wood County Fair

The Wood County Fair is typically my "oh shit, fall is here" moment, but this year things will have to go a little differently. I've had too short of a summer to consider it over quite yet, so fair week will simply be a fantastically busy mix of work, friends, fair, and food.

Sometime in August: Sandusky Trip

I was pleasantly surprised earlier this summer to have stepped onto a party boat and set out in Lake Erie with some friends from Sandusky. It looks like we will get round two of that experience, or at the very least, a trip out to Cedar Point Amusement Park. I don't get to see these great people very often, so it's a treat to make the drive every so often.

Aug 30 - Sept 5: Fulton County Fair

Well, shit, I'm going to be on vacation for this one. Okay, next.

Aug 20 - Sept 5: Vacation in Gatlinburg

I've been taking a week-long vacation every year since I began working in 2001, and most of those vacations have been quiet and relaxing - and at the least, not very adventurous. Last year's trip to Kalahari in September taught me that getting away from home is a better use of vacation than video games and Reddit. This September I am venturing off to Gatlinburg, Tennessee by my lonesome to enjoy the sights and sounds of Appalachia. I'm hoping to squeeze in some photography practice and spend time on the Appalachian Trail itself to field-test some of my gear.

Sept 21: "The Wedding"

This September I will get a very special role in a major wedding: chair warmer. That's right, I will be keeping a chair warm for several hours while a good friend participates in her brother's wedding. But in all seriousness, this should be a pleasant day overall. I don't get to many weddings, so this will be a nice change of pace for me.

Oct 19: The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddess

A treat to myself for my 29th birthday: a trip up to Grand Rapids, Michigan to see Nintendo's Symphony of the Goddesses, the second official symphony tour of Koji Kondo's masterfully-written music from the Legend of Zelda series. This is a perfect blend of culture, gaming, and nostalgia. This is easily worth the hundreds of dollars that I am spending to attend.

A Few Indians Games

Cleveland Indians baseball became one of my favorite new weekend summer getaways, and I have at least a game or two left in me before the regular season is up. A probable August game and a definite September game are in the mix.

And Everything Else: Festivals Galore

Waterville's Roche de Boeuf festival and the almighty Grand Rapids Apple Butter Festival are among my favorite fall activities. In addition to these two regulars, I will try to make at least one trip out to a new fall festival. There is no shortage of small towns hosting weekend festivals, so a little diversity this year should be easy to come by.

B3 out.

The Death of Critically Correct

My 1,000th post on Critically Correct is coming up and it's a milestone that will have double meaning. On one hand, I never expected to keep up a blog this long since it started in 2005. On the other hand, I have reached a point that regular updates have been slow, sporadic, and difficult (for quite a while not, obviously). I'm actually at a point in my life where writing in general has finally been defeated by all the other responsibilities of work, family, friends, and personal growth.

As of my 1,000th post, Critically Correct will cease to be updated regularly.

Going forward, I will be using this space mainly for special occasions. These will mostly be special articles, rare updates, big announcements, or unique reviews. Perhaps as a sign of the times, I will be using social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) to announce these posts rather than hope my friends, family, and readers seek them out.

While I am not giving up writing entirely, I hope that when I do occasionally write, I will be most focused and energized than I have been when writing on a schedule. Time will obviously tell, but until then, I have a few more blog posts to write.

B3 out.

Blacking Out 2013

So this is what my life looks like when nothing goes according to plan.

2013 began with many promises - promises of budgeting, of hiking, of traveling, of genuine growth. I had nothing but good intentions when I planned my year out ahead of time, but here I am in July and so far my year has been nothing but unexpected change and constant surprise. Let's take a look at the highlights and low points of my 2013 thus far.

• I began the year with an incredibly painful slump. A long Christmas break and slow New Years, combined with the usual drama in my personal life, led to a very sudden withdrawal from my normal routine for almost a month. This grew to a head in January at CodeMash 2013, when I realized that I was repeating old social mistakes and jeopardizing good friendships. After a couple of stern conversations with my closest friends, coming to terms with my relationship issues was the lowest point of my year.

• The fallout from January calmed in February and trickled into March, but this grew back into a big deal when one of my long-time friends Kristin and I went our separate ways. Years of uneasy tension finally boiled over, and for the first time since 2006 I found myself at ease with letting someone go from my life, and this was the beginning of my turn around for the year.

• The Green Day concert that closed out my March was a phenomenal opportunity to get to know a whole group of great people. A genuinely fun road trip with a diverse group, the concert itself was just one great closer to a weekend of great food, sights, and insane GD fans.

• April and May brought some unexpected change at work. With another senior engineer leaving the company, my responsibilities and reach at Computol grew a bit more. Along with new iOS-based work, my comfortable year at work suddenly became filled with new challenges to overcome. The pressure to become a competent Android and/or iOS developer is huge now - there is a lot of mobile app development that is asked of us, and I feel like I am in the best position to lead one of these paths.

• June is typically my biggest month for biking, and this year's Summer of Biking has been a wash. Almost literally. With 85% of our June being rain and thunderstorms, I have missed my bike. A few important rides still happened, though, so I am making due with what I can until we get consistently great biking weather.

• On the few good days that we have had this summer, I have spent them at Indians games with Laura. She introduced me to all the fun that comes with major league games, and I can honestly say that I love making the two-hour trip to Cleveland on a Friday or Saturday night.

• In late June I set out with a friend to do my first low-carb diet, and the results have been amazing: 8 pounds down in five weeks. This will probably continue for the rest of the summer, and if nothing else, has taught me a whole new way of making health-conscious decisions. In a similar vein, I tried a robust new budgeting system this June and July that has literally fallen apart, so I am back to square one with my financial situation. Oh well, you win some and lose some.

• And here we are in July. It looks like the scorching summer heat we have all been missing is beginning to arrive, so I get to spend the next few weeks sweating at almost every turn. The particular weekend, smack-dab in the middle of July, feels like a turning point for me. This weekend was filled with drinking, friends, and traveling. In the process of having an incredible time, I also lost a huge part of my Friday night to alcohol and then followed up with an exciting trip to Cleveland that my body wasn't ready for. The Friday night shenanigans was something above and beyond my usual self. This is a part of me I am not used to: the kind of carefree, abusive, do-anything spirit that thrived in my late teens. This brings me to one question that I never thought I would have to ask this year: is my overwhelming desire to excel with money, work, and professional goals holding back something more in me? I just don't know.

• Perhaps the scariest thing about July is just how fast it's going. The Wood County Fair begins in two weeks - a sure sign that fall is encroaching faster than I want it to. Really? Two weeks. Goddamn.

The biggest change in 2013 actually rolls over to 2014: I won't be hiking the Appalachian Trail next year. I simply have not been able to dedicate the time I need to training and preparing, so for now that trip is a 2015 venture at the earliest. This means other priorities now take precedent - first and foremost, surviving the rest of the year without any more major surprises. Then again, this year has been a fantastic demonstration for one of my most personal beliefs:

Change is inevitable - it's how you handle that change that defines you as a person.

B3 out.