2011 the best year yet?

Wow it is an uncharacteristically upbeat headline for one of my blog entries but there really is no denying this past year was pretty chock full of cool stuff.  Unlike the 2010 wrap up where I missed the majority of my goals for the year,  2011 was practically a clean sweep.  Ok let’s review what I set out there as 2011 goals.

Painting the master bedroom and bath – well, that still hasn’t occurred.  It will in 2012, book it.

Painting the exterior – DONE and done beyond my wildest expectations.  We decided to outsource the job to Rhinoshield.  The “paint” was actually a ceramic coating with 25 year warranty.  The exterior of the house that was a hairline crack filled mess was transformed dramatically in the process.  We are now almost 9 months out from when the house was painted and not the slightest sign of any cracking has returned.  It was money well spent.  They did such a good job, way better than I could have ever pulled off myself.

Painting the house is only a small portion of the massive amount of upgrades that all wound up happening in 2011.  We finally replaced our water equipment that NEVER really did a good job of keeping our water clean.  The stuff we put in it’s place has worked GREAT.  It wasn’t all that expensive either.

We also replaced our 8 year old Cub Cadet lawn tractor this year with a beefier Craftsman model that makes quick work of mowing without breaking a sweat.

Home tech – I set a goal of upgrading our home server as well as replacing my computer which I had for at least 5 years.  Our home network was moved to Windows server 2008 R2 along with Exchange 2010.  it is performing quite well.  Not only did I replace my home computer, I replaced it TWICE! The first time was three or so months ago.

The initial replacement was a Lenovo with a lower end Pentium processor.  I later decided I shouldn’t haven’t short changed myself on CPU power since I do so much video processing.  I just grabbed a more powerful Gateway system this week and moved the Lenovo over to Ali whom was having issues with her 5 year old Dell.

Fitness goals – wow I really killed it in this department.  I finally, after a couple years of trying achieved the elusive muscle up.  Doing so required a few things to happen.  First I managed to get my forearm tendonitis under control via regular stretching and nothing else.  The tendonitis was constantly de-railing any progress I was making.

I also have really leaned out in 2011.  My current body weight is between 170 and 175 pounds.  Being lighter has several advantages.  Less weight means less impact on my joints.  It also means I am pushing/pulling less weight during my body weight routines as well as less mass to move during endurance events like running and biking.  You need to look no further than my 2011 PR list to confirm that lighter is better.

I ran my first half marathon in 201, something a couple years ago sounded like not even a remote possibility when I had never even ran a 10K.  In addition to that I completed a couple more sprint triathlons, improving my performance each time out.

I set a number of personal bests in body weight exercises.  In addition to being able to do a muscle up I finally cracked the 20 consecutive pull up barrier and have been able to hold a handstand for 5 or 6 seconds. Also I soundly defeated Jeremy in our weighted pull up competition, grinding out 6 reps with 50 pounds strapped on my chest.

I also set personal bests in 5k’s, 10 mile runs and even the spirit breaking bike to/run around water park brick, all at pretty damn old 43 years.  I  won my first beach volleyball tournament in several years, playing with Tabby in Siesta Keys.

Late in the year Randall and I took on one of our toughest physical challenges yet, the Tough Mudder.  The 12 mile cross country course with 25 military style obstacles was built to test your determination and will power.  We both passed the test.  It is a real source of pride.

I added to my back yard exercise equipment in 2011, constructing two additional items, parallel bars and nearly 13 feet tall high bar.  The parallel bars were tougher to build than I anticipated, the high bar was pretty easy in comparison.  I now have my own personal mini-bar park behind the big shed, it’s cool.

One of the big list item’s that has carried over for a couple years is the purchase of a new Camaro.  The purchase of the car has been postponed repeatedly, sometimes for financial reasons, sometimes because of my desire for the features the newer model year offered.

Well after all of that anticipation it is quite ironic that the Camaro purchase is now crossed off the list without actually buying a Camaro.  Sometime in the second half of 2011 I was running numbers on what my latest “dream” Camaro, a convertible SS, would wind up costing me.  The numbers that were coming back where nightmarish.

Despite this reality, Ali actually still supported me jumping in, even if it would be over our heads to get the car.  Well anyway, I started considering a used muscle car although at first one of my proclamations was I wanted something brand new, something that no one else ever owns but me.  Well luckily I got over that way of thinking.

Through a very random series of events I found myself on the east coast of Florida at a Jaguar dealership buying a 2005 Chevy SSR instead, a vehicle I always admired but had totally forgotten about. ( they stopped production in 2006).

The combination of retro style teamed with a beastly Corvette 400 HP motor and 6 speed transmission is truly fantastic.  The fact that I wound up spending nearly half of what a new Camaro would have cost made the transaction a dream.  I love the SSR and in retrospect I am much happier with it then I probably would have been with a Camaro since every Tom, Dick and Harry seems to own one now.  I have never wanted to be a lemming after all.

As you can see, we bought a TON of things this year, expensive things.  One of these items was a high end Specialized tri bike for Ali.  In addition to that we also purchased TWO MORE bikes, a used Trek for me and a better road bike, again for Ali.

Ali had a major wipe out on her tri bike less than a week after taking ownership of it.  Both Ali and the bike survived the crash intact but Ali’s confidence in riding her new, very expensive bike was shattered.  It was frustrating.  My frustration came from Ali being so afraid to just get back in the saddle.  Especially after  she had insisted she needed a bike of this level/cost.

Ali just could not bring herself to trust the bike which eventually lead to the road bike purchase.  For now we have couple thousand dollar bike living on a set of hooks upside down in the small shed. I am hoping in 2012 she will finally start reaping some rewards from the bike investment.

Despite her bike crash, Ali still had some major endurance accomplishments in 2011.  She completed her first ever olympic distance triathlon and followed up a couple weeks later with completing her first ever marathon in Chicago.  She really put in the time and work and is looking to build on that for the following year, working towards not only covering these distances but covering them faster.

Our epic 2011 was filled with some amazing trips. In February we wanted to take a road trip to my dad’s new in place in western PA.  We thought it would be fun to do so in the winter instead of the summer so the dogs could get a full winter experience.  We got that and then some.  The frigid temps and big snowfall late in the trip was exactly what we were looking for, even with us freezing our asses off most of the time.

In June I flew up to PA to play the Pottstown Rumble again with Charlie after a 5 year hiatus.  Despite both of us rarely playing volleyball anymore we had a very respectable showing, making the playoffs  before losing a close game to a young team of blatant sandbaggers.

We got to visit “The World” which is basically a floating city.  Well more accurately it is a privately owned cruise ship. It was quite interesting to get a glimpse into the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

In August we actually took the trip that I thought would never happen, Dad’s magical family expedition to Ireland.  This trip was an idea of his for years and the planning and dollars he had to put into it was nothing short of monumental.

The trip was kicked off by a whirlwind one day tour of NYC for Ali and I.  We were both surprised by just how much fun we had making our way around the big city, it laid the ground work for our return trip that happened a few weeks ago.

The days spent in Ireland were so memorable.  It is just so different in so many ways from what we were all used to.  The amount of lifelong memories that were created during our relatively short time there was staggering.  Despite the expected challenges of having so many people under one roof, for the most part everyone was able to make the trip special in their own unique way.  I truly thank Dad and Teresa for providing us with the opportunity to experience something we never would have otherwise.

Our year of travel wrapped up in mid-December with our return to NYC to see the city in all of it’s holiday splendor.  Ali and I had a great time.  The only negative was dealing with the cold temperatures that just cut both of us off at the knees.  Even so it didn’t put a dent in our overall enjoyment of the trip.

As good as our 2011 was I wish I could the say the same thing for Mom’s year.  After losing her job for the second time in two years Mom had a rough go of it.  Losing her job seemed to have caused her to lose the majority of her self confidence as well.  As a result she spent almost the entire year unemployed, only recently picking up a part time job that I don’t think she will be able to stand for a long period of time, it sounds so boring.

It has been tough for me to see mom struggle to find her way. I know what she is capable of but I can’t seem to do much to kick start her motivation to kick down the walls she has enclosed herself in.  Mom did have one cool highlight this year when my Uncle flew her up for a visit.  She seemed to really have a nice time which I was happy about.  I really hope 2012 is the year mom rebounds.

2011 was not all roses for us.  It was the year of the screeching chihuahua. Our next door neighbor whom we initially got along fine with, decided to adopt two chihuahuas late in 2010 as gifts for the children.  Well by early 2011 she gave up on properly housebreaking the dogs, deciding it was easier to relegate them to a small outdoor dog run area that faces our house 20+ hours a day.

One of the dogs which had a particularly ear piercing bark was neurotic.  It would literally bark non-stop whenever one of us was in the line of sight in our back yard.  It was in a word, maddening.

Of course I could not go long before I had to address it with the neighbor.  I spent the better part of 2011 revisiting complaints with the neighbor about the barking.  After she failed to deliver on her various promises of remediation I tried to take matters into my own hands by buying not one but different TWO sonic barking deterrent devices, spending over $200 in the process.

The refusal of the neighbor to permanently address the problem generated a ton of bad blood, at this point our relationship with them is minimal.  Sure if their house caught on fire I would call the fire department and make sure everyone was out but that is about as far as my kindness will extend at this point.  When they first moved in I really bent over backwards to help them out, I literally felt like she was spitting in my face by basically lying to me for 10 months.

Finally the problem was alleviated by the neighbor readopting the chronic barking dog to another owner a couple months ago. At this point I was just about ready to get domestic animal services permanently involved to address the barking.

It has been wonderful to be able to be in our yard without wincing from the sound of that dog. Unfortunately like I said, the neighbor’s chronic inaction prior to the dog leaving the household pretty much wrecked the relationship we had going on before the ill fated pet adoption.

I had some physical ailments in 2011.  I had another patch of skin cancer cut out from in front of my right ear.  I have some spots on the top of my head that I suspect could be a problem that will need to be checked out soon.

I also developed a mystery thumb ailment that at times made my right thumb basically unusable for periods of time.  The official diagnosis I received was gout although all of the bloodwork I had did not have any of the markers for it.  The thumb still is not 100% normal but it doesn’t really restrict me from doing much at this point.

From a world perspective 2011 was not a good year.  Natural disasters ruled the year with the HORRIBLE Japanese tsunami leading the way.  The video from the event was incredible and the resulting drama with the nuclear plant fiasco carrying on for weeks afterward.

The US had it’s own share of problems with a strong earthquake in the north east followed shortly afterwards by a rare hurricane hitting the area.

Politically the country has continued down the path to the sewer.  The newly elected Tea Party dipshits basically paralyzed any possibility of progress in any meaningful way.  It seems like every issue you can imagine winds up being the subject of intense partisan fighting.  It so damn frustrating.

I officially became disenchanted with Obama in 2011 after he repeatedly caved to Republican demands without getting a damn thing in return.  The problem is there is nobody lined up that is any better.   The rich continue to dominate the middle class and poor through their masterful manipulation of the political system.  This is unlikely to change in my lifetime.

Despite the length of this, I am sure there are things I missed but hey I can only expect others to care about what I think to a certain degree.

How about some 2012 goals?

Well geez I had such a bang up 2011 it is going to be tough to top.

The home improvement list isn’t huge anymore.  Like I said early, I want to get the bedroom and bathroom painted.  The cheap, builder grade carpet in the house is at the end of it’s lifespan and should be replaced.  We also have talked about getting the pool deck surface redone, Rhinoshield also makes a product for that job.

My physical/fitness goals for 2012 are always evolving.  The two goals I clearly have in my head right now are running a sub two hour half marathon and being able to do the BBR’s. (Bar-barian requirements)   The BBR goal is way out there.  If I would manage to pull it off I am pretty sure I would be the oldest person to do so that I am aware of.  I think Randall is up for doing another Tough Mudder.  I might play in a handful of volleyball tournaments once again.

I figure in 2012 we once again will be doing some traveling, hopefully another road trip.  I wouldn’t mind hitting NYC again as well.  One good thing about mom’s spotty employment is she has been able to do dog sitting for us more than once which is fantastic.

I am sure 2012 will have various SSR upgrades, the most immediate target being an upgraded geeks dream stereo which will include a DVD player, GPS, full LCD screen, back up camera, Iphone support and more.  Luckily the truck only has 29,000 miles on it so it doesn’t have many mechanical issues at this point.

As always, cranking up my overall happiness and general satisfaction with life is a goal each and every year.  With as good and full 2011 was on so many levels I still had plenty of “why” moments that just are frustrating.

Of course if the world ends as predicted late next year I guess my 9 years of blogging will finally come to a close.  At least I will be going out on an up note.

Ali and I are looking forward to a rather mundane New Years weekend.  I think with as busy as 2011 has been we have earned it.