2013, the rebound

Well it is once gaain time for the brain taxing yearly recap blog entry where I try to regurgitate the lowlights and highlights of the year.  It’s normally a nice way for me to reflect on where I have been and where I hope to go.

As always, I start with the 2013 goals I laid out 365 days ago.

Get pool deck painted/fixed – check with an asterisk.  Yes I had Rhinoshield come out and paint/fix the pool deck.  However the process of having them do it was filled with many broken promises, aggravation and disappointment.  The cracks that were “fixed” started to reappear less than 2 months after the work was done.  The paint work wasnt great either, I have spots where it is starting to come off.  I will be probably be calling them in 2014 to try to get some remediation for their shitty work.

Hobby room/garage painted – 1 for 2.  The hobby room got painted thanks to the efforts of Cindy mostly.  All I did was strip the walls and move stuff around, she did the hard labor.  The garage is still boring white and filled with too many spider webs.

Physical goals – 35 pull ups in one set, hah, f no.  Last December I somehow managed to do 30 pull ups and was hoping to build off of that.  Instead my pull up max went down as my bodyweight went up.  The other day I tried a max set and got 23 reps.  If I was at full power I might be able to still squeak out 25 reps.

Completing the old BB requirements, nope.  I didn’t even really work at this.  Other physical activities just seemed to keep getting in the way.  Failed at the front lever, back lever, planche, controlled handstand and human flag goals as well.  What a loser.

Traveling – Check.  The road trip Cindy and I took to the Grand Canyon was an awesome experience that both of us will remember for the rest of our lives.  It was filled with so many awesome, breathtaking sights and memorable moments.  We also did a long weekend up in Orlando which was fun.  I did NOT travel overseas to meet some of my worldwide calisthenics buddies as I hoped.

Happiness – I think I made some major inroads there thanks to my relationship with Cindy.  She does so much to make my life better and does it all with a smile.

Ok so lets talk about the rest.

In February I built, hosted and launched a new web site for the Bar-barians.  I spent countless hours getting the site ready and dealt with countless amounts of bullshit from my web host trying to make the popular site fit within the constraints of a cheap, shared hosting environment.  I learned a lot about tweaking WordPress in the process. Ironically, the site is in the process of being relaunched and hosted somewhere else due to some internal issues within the group that surfaced in the last 2 months or so.

I timed a lot of races, just as I have for the past half decade.  It seems every year the amount of time that I spend working on running club related work goes up and up.  Every year I wonder if it is truly worth my time and effort to continue doing so.  The scales have slowly been tipping the other way although I still take pride in doing what I do and doing it well.

This year was extra-tumultuous with the club launching it’s own Thanksgiving Race which I took a huge part in promoting and organizing.  The effort paid off as the race was biggest 5K race our area has ever put on.

My Google Ad empire has been rebuilt and is funneling dollars into my moms bank account at a pretty consistent pace.  I have steadily been increasing my financial support of my mom over time.  Ironically it feels like the more I do, the less it is appreciated.

Despite the various physical goal failures I described above, I still did have a lot of successes and personal bests in 2013.  I managed to barely set a new PR in the Hooter’s Half marathon, shaving roughly 30 seconds of the previous years time, finishing in 1:54:54.  It was the only chip timed running race I did in 2013.

I started doing regular deadlifting in 2013.  My prior one rep best of 310 pounds has been moved up to 390 pounds, followed by 10 reps at 315lbs.  I like the feeling of lifting a very heavy object off the ground.  Ironically, despite my deadlifting numbers rising steadily, my squat numbers are still pretty much the same, thanks to the lack of focus I give them.  I only do a couple lights sets to warm up for deadlifts.  I just dont like squatting all that much.

I set personal bests in a number of other movements and exercises, despite my year odometer getting well up there.  Setting lifetime physical personal bests at 46 is something I take pride in and utilize to help me battle the demons in my head that make me loathe/fear old age.

In 2013 my divorce was finalized taking some 8 months longer than I originally expected it to take.  There were some difficult moments along the way where things I never expected to happen, happened and both Alison and I struggled with the finality of it all.  Our day in court was filled with intense, stinging emotions that I hope to not have to experience again in the future.

In 2013 I got off the dating merry go round I rode for 2012 where I went on first dates with double digit women.  This time last year I was pretty burned out on dating.  The hope/disappointment cycle was really getting to me.  I first met Deb in late, late 2012, whom I dated for a couple months.  She was a great girl but I found myself feeling uncomfortable, all of a sudden being in a relationship.  It was weird.

Then in late March after coming to terms with just spending some time off the dating sites and being ok with just being alone for awhile I wound up going to a Tarpons football game with Cindy.  I had just put out an open ended offer on FB to anyone that wanted to go with me and she volunteered herself.

I had known Cindy ahead of time loosely from the running club but that was it.  Well we had a good time at the game and those good times have continued up to present day.  Cindy is like a version of me on Red Bull.  She always wants to do, work, help more.  She has been willing to give me space when I need it yet be right there as well if I need her.

Cindy embraces the odd, weird, immature, and silly parts of my personality, something I never really experienced before.  I feel like I can be my full self around her without filters.  I am pretty sure there has been more laughter and smiles in 2013 for me than in any other year prior.  It’s a good thing.

I was worried that our roadtrip out west would prove to be a real relationship strainer, as being in a close quarters with someone for endless hours and miles can get difficult.  Cindy can be quite talkative and at times I can be quite quiet.  Somehow we balanced it out and the trip overall was fantastic.  Hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back to the top in 9 hours was one of the most difficult, miserable, and grueling physical challenges I ever have taken on.  It also was one of the most beautiful, rewarding, and memorable experiences of my life.

The Grand Canyon was only the cherry on top.  The stops in New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Durango and White Sands were all filled with moments that will last a life time.  It was a great trip.

In January I had a fun but cold road trip up to PA to visit my dad and the family.  It was originally supposed to be a me +2 dog trip but became +1 when Nicki developed some AWFUL diarhea that required me to bring her back to Ali.  Despite the stinging cold January western PA trips give me, I do enjoy them overall. Dad road back to Florida with me and stayed a few days.  There were some good and not so good parts of that idea. 🙂

Cindy and I completed a Tough Mudder in November, my third, Cindy’s first.  Cindy’s performance in the event was inspirational.  Her refusal to tap out to the Artic Enema and her near completion of the grueling up and down monkey bars was incredible. I crunched my knee badly on the second to last obstacle and have been dealing with repurcussions of it ever since.

I resumed RC planes as a hobby in 2013, motivated to do so after seeing a guy with a DJI Phantom fly over the 4th of July race.  I crashed my old Speedwing in the process, built a new wing that I still haven’t successfully flown and bought two mini-quad copters as training wheels to getting my own Phantom. It turned out I never needed the wheels.  Cindy bought me a Phantom for Xmas and it is an absolute piece of cake to fly.  It is really, really cool.

World of Warcraft, the MMORPG that consumed huge chunks of my free time since 2005 has become a near blip on the radar for me.  Of my 10 virtual selves in game, I have only leveled one to the new cap of level 90.  Even though when I play, I have fun, for the most part I just have no desire to do it.

I have been spending a good bit of time playing Hearthstone, a turn based card game that is based on WoW.  I never played this style of game, and to be honest, I always viewed them from afar as stupid and boring.  However I am firmly enjoying playing the game.  It’s simple to learn but complex to master, requiring equal portions of skill, quality cards and luck to be successful.  I also enjoy the ease of play.  It doesn’t require the endless hours WoW does to stay current.  With Hearthstone you can pop in and out as often or as little as you please with no consequence.

I did some other home improvements this year not goal related.  My favorite one is the new flat screen tv that I bought for the bedroom that is now wall mounted along with a sound bar.  I upgraded my main living area A/V experience with a new Yamaha surround system as well.

Outdoor projects were on the tame side other than removing/adding a few trees/plants from the landscape, doing a couple borders in castle stone, and the various heavy load of upkeep the property requires.

I continued my home mechanic side job fixing multiple problems.  Cindy’s 23 year old Miata was the clear leader in repairs performed.  I can’t even list all of the things I fixed/replaced on the car since she owned it.   I rarely do any car related work without recording it for YouTube.  My auto repair themed videos are some of my most viewed. (along with my creepy head shaving videos)

The SSR is still totally awesome although I drove it very little in 2013 compared to 2012.  I just dont want to put tons of miles on it.  Right now I am a few hundred miles away from 40,000.

I discovered Vine in 2013 and found out I am pretty good at making stupid 6 second videos.  I have 130+ and counting.  Take a look if you like.

I had a nice visit this year from Troy and another from Randall.  My dad and Patrick were the only other guests I had for 2013 other than mom staying over a couple times.

Nicki’s health issues sort of plateaued in 2013.  She didn’t get significantly better or worse.  She has her good days and bad days.  I have had them for over a week while Ali is in PA.  I have noticed some improvement in her mobility when she is out at the house for long periods of time.  Unfortunately the steps at Ali’s condo are not a good thing for an 11 year old dog with bad rear wheels.

It breaks my heart when I see her walking in pain.  It seems like just yesterday she was the crazy girl leaping the couch in a single bound as she sprinted around the house during one of our play sessions.

OK I am sure I left out of many significant things but this entry is long enough. Let’s talk about 2014 goal setting.

On the home improvement front, there aren’t any big glaring needs.  I would still like to paint the garage.  There are various areas of the property that could use some cleaning up/organization done to them.  If my tax return is favorable this year I may replace the kitchen appliances that have been there since day one with new, modern upgrades with more bells, whistles and BUTTONS.

Fitness goals are fuzzy too.  Generally speaking, again, faster, heavier, more is always my goal.  If I were to put some hard numbers on it, a 400 pound deadlift for reps, get back to 30 pull ups, 5 clean muscle ups and a one arm pull up would be great.  The physical goals I set for 2013 are still valid as well.  I don’t feel a real need to do competitive endurance events anymore although I may throw one or two in there since Cindy likes doing them.

More road trips in 2014 would be great.  They just work for me and create so many unique, different and long lasting memories.  I just wish the van got better gas mileage. 😉

I hope to continue my online ad juggernaut.  Even though the chances are beyond slim, I hold out hope one day I will capture just the right moment on tape to create a viral video that would hit it big.  After 20+ years in this business I could certainly use a change.  The trick is doing so and still be able to pay the bills.

On a personal level I hope to continue the good times and fun that Cindy has brought into my life.  She has done so much for me in many aspects of my life to help me enjoy things more, despite my generally lousy disposition towards the growing old part of it.  Her determination, positive outlook and work ethic help to make me a better person, even during those moments I want to stuff a sock in her mouth. 😉

All in all 2013 was a very nice rebound from a very rough 2012.  Onward and upward from here is the biggest goal, always.