The Travel Adventures

Or, why no one should want to go on vacation with me:

I have found the perfect location for an inner tube

When you stick someone (me) who likes activity inside of an office, the result is somebody (me) who spends as much time as possible wearing themselves out after they exit the office. And if you take all that inactivity and send the person (me again) on vacation... Activity after activity, day after day. Zoom>>>  Zoom>>> Let's go hiking! Today is biking! Paddleboarding! Skydiving! Okay, maybe not skydiving. Snorkeling!

What? You want a break? Are you kidding? There's a whole 30 minutes of daylight left! Zoom>>

Plus, when you play harder, you sleep harder. It's a great day plan!

You'll miss your office after the vacation is over.

Then, if that isn't enough, some of these things are deadly! If you make it out cut, scrape, bruise, and other injury or scar free, you're doing a great job.

Of course, it's almost to your benefit that I get one, or all of the above. Then I have to take a rest day. Or slow down.

Anyone care to join me?

There are two people in this photo. No my camera isn't tilted.

I've managed to carry battle scars of my summer adventures all the way up into winter. From the hike above and getting fairly sunburned, I've carried my backpack straps all summer. They are tanned in to my shoulders. I have a watch tan. And a funny tan spot on my chest from a partially zipped jacket. Ah, the things that build character... Despite spending time in Hawaii, none of the above are gone.

Now, this has turned into an experiment: how long do the effects of a June sunburn last...

If I am wrinkly when I'm old, it means I got outside and enjoyed the sun.

In Conclusion

Remember the challenge I posted earlier? Well, I managed to convince 19 other people to sign up! Woohoo! I learned that it is hard to convince people to sign up for something that will make them work, and even harder to get them to actually do it. Maybe if I made it a group effort there'd be accountability... I can't bare the thought of leading 19+ people on a hike or a run... Then there are the people who, when set loose, make you run for your money.

At the end of it all, (it's arguably still going on) I set my personal goals nearly perfectly. I was rather impressed; they were seemingly lofty at times, but I pulled it off. And as a result, I shaved about 1:30/mile off of a race time this year. I beat my Lost Lake time by 26 minutes! (All because I have never hiked so much trying to keep up with some of the people on this challenge...)

Half of me is feeling so lazy right now that I really don't want to have to do this next summer, but I think I'll be on the ENSTAR Lost Lake team for the duration of my employment.

Speaking of employment...

I'm so excited to be a priority member of Era Airlines!! I get to board first! On a 30 minute flight. With 19 seats. But I gain flight points faster now!! To fly wherever they do! In Alaska. Mostly on the west coast. yay... I can fly to Bethel, Cordova, Kodiak...

Actually, the last two might be potential options for fishing.

"I don't know how you can do it; going to the same place and doing the same thing everyday?" (someone's remark about my job)

"After nearly 10 years consulting, take my word, this side of the equation is much nicer, it's never the same" (my boss' summary of my job)

I tend to lean towards my boss, (maybe that will get me a raise...) especially considering that I only go to the same place 3 or 4 times a week, and hardly ever do the same thing. Last week, I reported twice to 2 locations, at odd hours, and had monumental challenges to solve. It's really inconvenient when valves don't seal and you're needing the gas shut off...

But, ooo! I saw an awesome physical property. *Rule of thumb: for every 17psi change in pressure of natural gas, there is a 1F degree change in the temperature* If you raise pressure, temperature goes up, and vice versa. So, when you open up a valve with a 560psi pressure differential across it, and the ground temperature is already about 38F, you get a lot of ice.

Then! Throttle back the valve so there is less gas moving through it, and what was iced now thaws. But only where the gas isn't flowing.

What you see below is frost from the cold gas, and what happens when gas goes through a 90 degree bend: it swirls.

Steel Candy Cane

Yeah... I don't see this everyday...

Better than a Good Day at the Office

I often feel remorse for not keeping up on posting, but then I think about how much more important tasks you have and convince myself not to post. To take one for the team. To spare you from the temptation of reading about my life. Know, that it is all for you, loyal readers, that I do not post!

There's the saying: A bad day (insert what you'd rather be doing) is better than a good day at the office.

If you believe that, I believe you need a new job. Maybe make whatever it is you'd rather be doing and make it a job.

In my mediocre life, I just spent a day fishing. We limited out on nearly everything. We caught fish, feasted, caught more fish, drank beer, (you didn't read that, mom) caught more fish... When we limited out, we played catch and release. We fished until the boat cooler was full. Now that you have the idea, note that it's a Wednesday, and both my bosses are with me. It was another day at the office.

All that to say, a good day fishing, on par with a bad day at the office. Sure this is a lot of fun, but if I'm having a bad day at work, it's because I'm being pushed to the max. My superiors all like teaching by school of hard knocks or trial by fire. (Fired scares me in my line of work, btw) But! (there's always a but) It's never more than I can handle. They always tell me "you're young, what are you worried about?" (And great job!) remember, the only way you'll grow is through pushing and stretching.

Plus, I believe that bad days are a mindset. If you think you're going to have a bad day, you're going to have one.

Furthermore, what you choose as a career path, should be what you're passionate about. I met a kid struggling through engineering school. When asked why he chose engineering, his response was "there's no money in a astrophysics degree". Why do that to yourself? I prefer to think there's a job out there, that you could work for 40 years, retire, and be perfectly happy the whole time.

Not sure how I got to this here, but (there's the but again) there's my opinion for what it's worth.

Yeah, I love my job. Everyday is a good day, and right now, there's nothing I'd rather be doing.

Next Time, I'm in Charge of Flights

Where's the Bean Stock?

Wow! I've managed to make it 3 whole weeks since I last posted.
Believe me, it was a fight not to post; but with sheer will power, I overcame the urge.

Coffee is a good thing

"I should blog" "oooo, what's on gearpatrol" "I should blog" "hmm sleep sounds nice"

3 weeks ago I was working like crazy trying to prepare for my week long class. Monday I spent in the Valley trying to start some work in hopes that I could've sent it off for approvals while in Chicago. Tuesday I spent in Kenai being shown an area where I am designing a station for; they gave me a thumbprint sized location to fit a footprint sized station. Great... Wednesday "Hey, btw, we need you down in Homer" And "Hey, btw, the meeting isn't until 3" Yay... Another 14 hour day in Homer. Thursday and Friday I spent catching up on stuff that I missed while out the first three days. It was a hectic week. More FlyAway Rewards Points for me!

So then I venture forth to Chicago to learn about how to properly design measurement stations. Just in time!
"Why are we leaving at 2:30 in the morning??" Because you picked the flights, Paul...

The first place I looked for in Chicago was good coffee, and found it at Intelligentsia. Paul proceded to laugh about how hipster the place was. Hey, I go where there's good coffee. Upon getting our slow brew, we walked over to Millenium Park to see the giant silver bean. I think it's called the cloud gate. I think I saw the moment-after of someone proposing. There was a lot of applause and PDA.

I spent the week drinking out of an educational fire hose, and I think I absorbed the gist of everything. I found out that my cohort is not much of a museum person, so we spent the week walking around the town and finding food. I highly recommend Gino's East Pizzeria and Seven on Heaven. Gino's East is near, well um... Hooters, and a Hard Rock Cafe, but the pizza was great! I had to admit defeat after only 3 slices, though. Seven on Heaven is cajun. Whatever cajun is doing in downtown Chicago, it's doing it right. That was phenomenal. It may be a good, or a bad, thing that we found that on the last night.

After walking around and exploring pretty much everywhere North of the river, on the last morning, in the beautiful sun, we discovered the South side of the river; where Frank Sinatra sings, "On State Street, that great street, I just want to say..." Bummer, it's the last morning. Next time, I suppose.
"Wait, there was a 9pm flight? Why didn't we get on that last night?" I don't know, you tell me
"Dangit, why didn't we take the direct?" Can I pick the flights next time, Paul?

(Don't get the wrong impression, Paul is a great, hilarious fellow. He is me at ENSTAR, except for Anchorage)

I return to a desk that looks more like a mountain. That was a first. Monday I spent the day just staring at it. Actually, I picked up my axe, and started hacking away. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. My desk actually surfaced by Thursday and I made some great progress in other areas. I love it when things go my way.

Last week also started hill training. Oh, how I hate it so. I am sore. Like a warm hug... Maybe one of these days I'll get a new hobby that requires less energy.       Nah!

And, as texted to my sister, that delicious image on the right is an egg house. It's really simple: take a tomato, scoop out the inside, put an egg in there, bake it, top with bacon. Great stuff. And it has bacon. Who can argue with that?

Who Celebrated May the 4th?

Excited!

Woohoo! I have seven sign ups to the fundraiser!
You don't want to be left out, do you? Sign up now!

I have had the undue pleasure of spending multiple days down in Homer. I don't know what I did to deserve the torture of having to fly down there for a day and fly right back. The worst part is that the morning flight gets in about the time that all of the baked goods come out of the oven at Two Sister's Bakery. That really is horrible. (I'm surprised I'm not more well rounded)
The sticky buns are amazing. And the savory ham and cheese danish... Mmm... Steps to a great morning: Land in sunny Homer, start company truck, drive to bakery, let truck warm up while enjoying coffee and baked goods.

Of course, after driving around all day with no destination, I get really bored and tired. And when you leave the house at 5am, not to return until 9:45p, it makes for a long day.

Driving around Homer makes me want to take my road bike down there.

Or any bike.

Shoot, I'd take a scooter.

I also want a cabin down there on top of the ridge in the picture.

Sigh... Someday...

If I lived that close to that bakery, I really would be well rounded.

I have high expectations for my upcoming adventure to Chicago. Not that I expect anything out of the travel experience, but I expect every little snowflake to have melted off my favorite trails by the time I come back. Starting that week, no man will be able to contain my desire for running outside. I should be out there already. Gearing up. Preparing for races. Ascending the highest peaks.
Winter, END! Or I am coming to chase you away!

If you see a person jumping up and down on a mountain or kicking snow around, beware. That's me making winter leave...

Announcing!!

I have been holding this in for about a month now.

I was thinking about what sort of goals I want to set for myself in the summer, and I thought that hiking the vertical equivalent of Mt. Everest would be fun. Then I thought, well how do I get as many people as possible to do it too?
So I created a fundraiser and now use bribery and emotions to get people to participate. And you can run, hike, or walk!
From May 1st to August 31st, I challenge you all to do something that seems huge up front, but can be easily divided over the whole summer. At the end, I will give you all a t-shirt. And ice cream if you can make it.

It costs $40.00 and the money will go to Arrowhead Children's Home in Murumba, Kenya. Pretty excited, eh? Can't wait to sign up? Just go to:
sites.google.com/site/arrowheadeverestchallenge and fill out the forms!

There is also more information about this whole thing at that link.

What is Necessary

I am becoming more of an engineer every day. Translation: I am replacing my blood with coffee. I love coffee. I love coffee in the morning. I love it in the afternoon. Sometimes at night. There are now six different ways to make coffee in this house.
And I still sleep soundly at night!

I'm beginning to start to possibly think about maybe moving out, I've come to realize something that I cannot live without: a grill.
As a man, at least one meal a week should revolve around a grill. There's my theory. To grill is man.
Not just any grill, but a wood fired or charcoal grill.

I've been exercising this manly muscle for the last two weekends, making some amazing venison tenderloin last weekend, and chicken this weekend.

The tenderloin was fantastic. I saw that it was thawed (and bleeding all over the fridge) so I took matters into my own hands and made a marinade. Apparently it was from a young deer, and was extremely tender. Extremely. Not quite cut-with-spoon tender, but close. Makes me want to be a hunter and live by "if it's brown, it's down".
The accompaniment to the tenderloin were vegetables (in the tinfoil in the picture), cubed hash browns - that were so close to cookie jar home fries - and mushrooms and onions. Tasty meal

I tried something new with the chicken to try and solve the common chicken problem: dry white meat. I sort of filleted the breast and rubbed in some basil garlic butter. Nothing makes something taste better like fat. More and more fat. Long story short, my brother complemented the chicken.

So wherever I choose to reside, rest assured there will be a grill outside. (And some way to make coffee)

Where's the Textbook?

Again, I amaze myself. You only have to fall down once in order to learn the lesson.
...Okay maybe that's not true. Maybe twice. Or thrice. (I can't believe that's a word)
Anyways.
My brother asked for help on calculus. I stared at the first question. And stared. ...And stared. "Where's your textbook?" *look for an example*
And stare. Blankly. Hmm... I wonder what color I should where tomorrow? (Get the picture yet?)
Wait! Do this, this, this, then this and... voilà!! Oh. Oops. Nope don't do that. Do... This! Whoops. Nope. Not that. Um... "Well I tried this and this, but it didn't work out. Maybe if I did this and..." Hey look, there was a math error back there.
From that point on, I was on top of that assignment! (I bet you never thought you could get a rush from doing math)
Lesson learned: You can always make a math error...
Second lesson: the first derivative of an equation evaluated at a point is the slope of the tangent line. The derivative is not the equation of the tangent line. Duh. If I had realized that sooner, I wouldn't have stared so long in the beginning.

Maybe I should become a regular tutor. I enjoy helping people and doing math and science...

I would be an evil teacher. Probably hated. But I can almost guarantee that my students would know the material. Reasons:
1. In a 60 minute perfect class: 10 minutes for a quiz on the day previous material, 30 minutes answering homework questions, 20 minutes solving the quiz and going over new material. I think its absolutely important to make sure everyone understands what was just covered. And quizzes encourage attendance.
2. I would be the kind of teacher who makes 2 or 3 tests worth 90% of your grade, 10% on class input. The ultimate test grade would be swayed by the quiz and homework scores, but until the end, no one would know by how much. Have to keep the element of surprise. (more on this in a second)
3. My first test would be next to impossible. And on a curve. That way, everyone looks like they're failing throughout the semester. Not failing miserably, but just on the edge of success. Then, they will give 100%, all the time. I will hang the carrot in front your nose to keep you going...
4. I would write a different test for each class, (no cheating, now) but use all quiz and homework questions. (I'll cheat for you) Except on the first test. I have to break everyone down.
Sounds like boot camp.
5. Um... Let's make another number.
6. In a math class, the process matters the most. If you think 2+2=5 like my sister, well then you're an optimistic economist or you tried to drink and derive. Don't go into accounting or engineering.
7. Oh, yeah, almost forgot. That 30 minutes answering homework questions would be taught by the students. Every student will have to answer another person's question. Teaching is the best way to learn. Plus they'd learn public presentation skills.
8. By the end, I would have figured out whether or not you understood what I was teaching, and if you did, well, you passed. If you didn't, see you next year for round 2!

There you have it. Nathan's 8 (7) points to a perfect class.

*Bonus:* 9. If I'm teaching math, pens will be outlawed. If I receive an assignment in pen, all the points you would've gotten become negative and suck away from your total score. Pens suck life away from math.

And my previous math student got 100% on a final.

Time and Travel

My math skills were vindicated. I was asked another math problem that I was able to do and conclusively prove that the answer that was given for this problem was in fact, wrong. The square root of 97 does not come out to be a nice number.
Even better than that, I got to sing the quadratic formula song: (to the tune of pop-goes-the-weasel) x is equal to negative b plus or minus square root of b squared minus four a c all over 2 a.
Now try and forget that.

Last time, I said that I was addicted to coffee. That is not entirely true. I am consumed by it. And I happily consume it.
There is always room and time for coffee. Always. No rush is more important than a chance of sitting back and relaxing to a nice slow bar brew.
This is me taking my 10 minutes to smell the roses as I go by.
I have now gone 4 for 4: been to a coffee shop 4 days in a row. One of those shops I've returned to for the last 3 days. (I'm hoping to go for a 5th)
But all of this coffee does have a use: adjusting to time zones while traveling. I had to switch three hours when I went to Chicago, so I front loaded my day with TONS of coffee. It was great! Maybe not healthy, but after 5 or so shots before lunch, your afternoon is magical. Unless you're trapped inside of a seminar, like I was. Then you just sit there and look left. Then right. Then left. Then right. Then at your watch. Isthisseminaroveryet?CanIleaveandgorun?Hey,thatguyjustsaidsomethingcool,didyoucatchthat?Oooo.Mypencanmakesquigglylines.CanIleaveandgorun? squiggle squiggle*
Then at night, you suddenly think that you are going to fall asl... snore*

Chicago is... a city. That is windy. And chilly. I only got out to explore one night, but I do have to return soon. I left myself a lot of openings for exploring then.

Caffeinated Experiments

First, let it be written, that I, could not help my brother with a Calculus problem.
I feel so out of practice. Ashamed. Inadequate. *Sniffle

That last one wasn't true.

I do feel bad, though.

Wednesday brought the end of all of the relatives at my house. Don't get me wrong, family is nice, but they need to stay in small doses to be good. I.e. 40 of them running around for a week is not good; 2 running around for a week is great. I'd like my cousin who I hadn't seen in 10 years or so to come back in the summer and be my fishing buddy.
But even with that, my life does not return to normal. I've been running around for work and now starts the traveling. First a day out of office, then three days out of state. It's sort of ridiculous that to attend a day and a half seminar, I have to be gone three days.
Let another adventure begin!

Being the coffee snob that I am, or at least the addict, I have decided that when I finally move out, I want some sort of coffee bar in my kitchen. There are one hundred ways to brew coffee, and I want them all. Or a lot of them. On that list of methods is a home espresso machine. I will someday have one, and not just a push button one, a manual pull the shot-steam the milk one. (Just above the espresso machine on that list is barista training - offered at the local Kaladi Brothers company)
Since it is impractical to use more than one method to brew coffee in a rushed morning, I've decided to find the "best" way to brew given time, effort, and, most importantly, flavor.
I tested three this weekend.

On the left, a Bialetti Moka Express; on the right, a Chemex. Unseen is the french press.
I used Kau Coffee from Hawaii for the french press and the chemex in equal amounts and volume of water. They were both brewed for the time that it took to pour the water into the chemex. However long that is.
The results: the french press makes strong coffee. That is black. And kind of bitter. The chemex had a lot more flavor. Only slightly less strong.
Both are better than the brewer we normally use.

This is where it departs from being scientific with control:
I used the Moka Express the next day, and I had ran out of Kau.
This one was much more fun.
A moka express is like a percolator, that makes espresso, and upside down. In other words, it starts with water in the bottom, and ends with water in the top by forcing the steam through the grounds in the middle and condensing it in a neck before pouring into the reservoir.
Trial 1:
I may have ground it too fine and packed it too hard. The very little water that made it through the grounds was black. Very black. With the consistency of lava. The pressure relief valve was going off the whole time. Oops
Trial 2:
After it had cooled down such that I felt safe opening it without it spraying boiling liquid every where...
I ground the coffee less fine, didn't tamp it as much. Viola! I had something between espresso and a very strong cup of coffee. Wasn't too bad. Wasn't exactly a shot, though.
Given these three, depending on how groggy in the morning I am, a moka or chemex should be the normal way to go.
Next up: the V60 pour-over and whatever else I find will make coffee. Except by sock. I have no desire to use a sock as a filter.

Here Comes the Bride

See, I'm making a valiant effort at keeping this ball rolling. When I have time. Maybe.

Picking up where I left off:
By the by, my sister got engaged last July during one of the fishing trips. This is how I found out:
cast...drift...cast...drift... (dad) "Hey! Robin just got engaged." cast...drift...cast...drift... "Oh." cast...drift...cast... "Caught anything yet?" cast...drift...cast...

Back to the New Year, January was the time when the wedding planning was starting to increase. Somehow, coincidentally, I got really into crossfit and started taking housesitting jobs at that time. I was hardly ever home. Wedding planning is actually bearable when you're never home. My simple bachelor life of work, activity, and sleep was at a prime during this period.

February: work, activity, sleep.
I was asked to do a part of a big company project, and was given no deadline. 3 weeks into February, I was told "first week of March". Wait. 2 Weeks??? So I got to fly down to Homer twice, stay the night once, drive all over the place, and create routes for the pipe project. Then I return to the office and fight with drafters to get stuff done. I heroically battle comments such as, "that can't be done", "no way", "shouldn't they have asked us earlier?" Well, yes, they should have, but I was allocated enough manpower and it looks like I actually got it done. Amazing.
It's sort of funny when a department director says "I'm tired of doing the project manager's job."

March: work is exploding. It is not funny when you sit in a meeting with 15 high ranking company people, you are the lowest on the totem pole, and as these titans of companies argue, your task list gets longer. And longer. And longer. I've got so many hydraulic modeling jobs now it is not fun...
However, then you have your year end employee review and your boss says that they really appreciate the work and effort I do and the energy and enthusiasm you bring, and everything is suddenly all better. "Do you have any questions?...Should we change anything?..." No sir, I'm happy as a clam.
Hopefully I'm not the horse that always says "I will work harder" and then gets sent to the glue factory.

As of yesterday, there is no more wedding planning. HOORAY! But my life won't return to normal until... a few weeks from now because I get to travel for work soon. (I love my job)

Out of words for the day.
During the wedding ceremony, my only task was to be the level head. (It would've gone better if I was actually given a plan) so when a wedding supposed to start at 2 hasn't started by 2:10, there's a problem. Solution, I grab the microphone, "SIT DOWN!" The response, "who gave the engineer the microphone???" Hey, I'm getting stuff done. So what if I lack tact.

The Vanishing Author Act

Don't I perform such an excellent vanishing author act?
I was kind of hoping that this blog would continue in my absence, but blog posts aren't like interest: it doesn't accrue when you're not paying attention.  As a result, nothing has been added to the record for quite some time.

We'll just say I was taking a sabbatical. Again. Much longer.

So... Lets flip back the calendar to last July and go through what I've done. ... If I can remember.

July:
July is fishing month. I managed to get 5 straight days fishing in and only taking one day off. I drove down to Kenai on a Wednesday after work and fished that night. I took the Thursday off and fished the next day, cleaned fish, hung out, normal fish camp activity. Friday morning I woke up terribly early and flew back to Anchorage to work the day. After work I flew back to Kenai to fish that evening and through the weekend driving back Sunday afternoon.
That's a power weekend.
The following Tuesday I flew to Houston for a 2 day conference for work. I was upgraded to first class 3 out of 4 flight legs for the trip. Ahh... It's so awesome to the the bachelor traveling around in first class...
We're up to 5 days of fishing, 1 day of work, 3 days of travel, then 1 day of work and...
Back to Kenai. I tried fishing 2 more times, ran Lost Lake, and then Sunday drove back to Anchorage.
Oh. And I got in a 3 car wreck on the way back. ...Yeah... So much fun. (the picture of this seem to be lost)  By a miracle the insurance company decided to fix my car, but that didn't really matter. (See September)

August:
I got to play best man in another wedding. Pretty awesome. Late congratulations to Steven, everyone.
I worked through the month. Ran the Lost Lake race at the end of the month. Not too eventful.

The Color of Death

September:
Went camping at savage river in Denali National Park with three friends. Cold, but really fun. We got rained on. Hiked through the fog and more rain. Then snowed on. Thank goodness for camp fires. I would've been quite frozen otherwise. Oh, and got lectured on why fall is the worst season: it is the season of DEATH!!!! Everything is dying and shriveling up and rotting!
Mid September I got the privilege of going halibut fishing. For work. And getting paid. I live a rough life.
At the end of the month, I made a purchase bigger than what school cost me:
Meet Geb:

Geb. 'Nuff Said

Its fun to drive an AWD rocket.

October:
The most notable event in October is me joining Crossfit Alaska. Crossfit is nuts, exhausting, painful, but really addicting. Not to be masochistic... We'll save crossfit for another day.

November:

I went down and visited Andrew and Chelsea over thanksgiving. I miss going and chilling out with them since they've moved. The funny part of my trip was that I was hoping to be lazy, do nothing, eat anything and everything, Chelsea, on the other hand, wanted to eat healthy and go to crossfit. I had an entirely paleo thanksgiving, and it was delicious. Late thanks to Chelsea who made all of it. (Oh, and I was reminded how much I don't like carving a turkey... it's so hot on your hands...)

December:
We wish you a merry Christmas...
I had the undue pleasure of house sitting for a friend who quietly went insane right before she left and somehow acquired 5 dozen apples. What do you do with 5 dozen apples???? Well, you make 2 rounds of monkey bread, the filling for 3 apple pies, you leave a dozen with your family, and you eat the rest. So many apples...
That brings us up to the New Year, and one final tale:
My boss asked if I could house sit over New Years. Sure. He showed me the quick ropes, I met his dog, all was fine and dandy. Day 1 of house sitting: I'm in the kitchen making dinner, and I hear "meow"... ? *turn around* A cat?
Thought process: okay, there's a dog door, maybe it snuck in. If its here in the morning, I'll know it belongs.
Next morning, "meow" Searched the house all over, found the litter box, food, and water. The cat must belong.
I mentioned it later when my boss returned, "oh, yeah, normally the cat is good for 4 or 5 days, so I didn't think about it"
Great...

...And a happy New Year!

(and to those who have heard those stories already, I have to catch up with you)