2014 has been a very big, very good year for me, my family, and my loved ones. So much so, that I’m very excited to see where 2015 takes me.
First off, it was a year of change for friends and family. My parents both retired and moved to a new state, and my in-laws did the same thing. Both Laura and I travelled to visit them on multiple occasions, and have had a great time exploring new cities. 2014 was also a year close friends and family got married. Others had kids.
2014 was also a year of trying new things. Laura and I bought some seeds and plants and tried our hand at gardening. Of course, our timing was a bit off, as we started this just as our weather was cooling off. That being said, we had great luck with some plants (mostly herbs), good luck with some plants (we got one bell pepper and several baby baby carrots), and bad luck with others (for some reason, we can’t grow mint). As spring rolls around, I’m sure we’ll try it again.
I also ran another Tough Mudder. This time, I tried not to run at a time and place where I would experience hypothermia. And surprise, surprise, running in warmer conditions in a flatter setting was far more enjoyable. So much so that I’ll run my third TM later this year.
Laura also got a promotion this year. She had pretty much been doing the job in an acting capacity for a while, so it was nice to see all her hard work rewarded by making it official–bumping up her title, grade, paycheck, etc.
I also got a new job in 2014. As much as I loved freelancing, this was a fantastic opportunity that brought all of my skills into play in an exciting, meaningful setting. I’m back in the policy world; my love of strange, obscure corners of the internet is rewarded; and I get to write and edit. I really can’t wait to dig in here.
Finally, 2014 has been a very interesting year for this site. I’ve experimented with posting schedules and material. Some posts have popped as intended, while others have surprised me by getting lots or little attention. People have landed on the site by searching weird things, including “Eric Christensen CIA” and “weaponized Drano.”
Mostly I learned people love pics of my dog. I even got an e-mail from a reader about dressing up Scotch as Bevo because he wanted a similar dog costume (he found my blog because Scotch was the #1 and #2 image in a Google Image Search for “dog bevo costume”–he has since been demoted to #2 and #3, unfortunately).
Anyway, as I enter 2015, I’ll keep you posted on my reading, my writing, my life, and anything else that catches my attention. I hope you’ll keep reading and commenting. I can’t wait to see what happens next.