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Showing posts with label January 01. Show all posts
Showing posts with label January 01. Show all posts

Friday, January 1, 2016

Well Hello 2016!

I’m actually looking forward to this year.

Focus is my theme for 2016.

I had very little of it in 2015 and felt very scattered and unproductive in all aspects of my life.

Just like last year, this year I’m not going to write a long and winding post about goals and resolutions.

I’m just going to focus on life and happiness, and then sit back and go with the flow.

Happy New Year to all my family, friends, and anyone else  who happens to read this, I hope you have a great 2016.


Filed under: Life Tagged: 2016, Goals, Happiness

2015. Another Year In Review

Last year I set a goal to clean up my pictures and repost them to Flickr in a more organized fashion.

Well, that didn’t happen.

I also started a 365 Questions Challenge. I was supposed to answer a different question each day of the year.

I think I made it to the end of the year.

I resolved to be more focused on family, friends, health, and happiness.

Waivered a little in this area as well.

2014 was a pretty unfocused for me. I had a few blows to my confidence at work this year that sort of left me off balance.

I applied for a supervisor position only to be told that I was not qualified (no degree). A similar position at another location was announced and the posting mentioned nothing about a degree so I applied for it. It closed on June 29th.

The position is still open and no interviews have been conducted, not just with me, I mean no one has been interviewed. 6 months without a word. My mind has been reeling with all kinds of speculation and my moods have been swinging all over the place and this has not really allowed me to be focused at all.

But here is what went well in 2015….

I managed to write 84 blog posts and read 47 books.

Evelyn and I just celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary. I’m still amazed she puts up with me.

We spent a week in Puerto Rico. It was our first time and I’m determined to make sure it is not our last. What an amazing place. A truly beautiful place with amazing food and wonderful people. I wanted to look for a place to live.

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We had a new furnace and air conditioner install at the house.

We bought a new car.

No one  spent a night in the hospital.

No one lost their job.

All was well in 2014.


Filed under: Life Tagged: 2014, Books, Goals, Life, Puerto Rico, Resolutions

Books I Read In 2015

As usual, I set a goal to read 50 books in 2015. I only managed to read 47. I’ll make another run at  it in 2016.

  1. An Age of License by Lucy Knisley
  2. All the Words Are Yours: Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson
  3. The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere by Pico Iyer
  4. Aunt Dimity’s Death by Nancy Atherton
  5. Born to Be Awkward: Celebrating Those Imperfect Moments of Babyhood by Mike Bender
  6. Collins Complete Photography Projects by John Garrett
  7. Conversation Sparks: Trivia Worth Talking About by Ryan Chapman
  8. Darth Vader and Friends by Jeffrey Brown
  9. Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown
  10. Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results by Stephen C. Lundin
  11. Goodnight Darth Vader by Jeffrey Brown
  12. Happy Is the New Healthy by Dave Romanelli
  13. How to Eat (Mindful Essentials) by Thich Nhat Hanh and Jason DeAntonis
  14. How to Love (Mindful Essentials) by Thich Nhat Hanh and Jason DeAntonis
  15. How to Relax by Thich Nhat Hanh and Jason DeAntonis
  16. How to Sit by Thich Nhat Hanh
  17. How to Walk (Mindful Essentials) by Thich Nhat Hanh and Jason DeAntonis
  18. I Don’t Know: In Praise of Admitting Ignorance (Except When You Shouldn’t) by Leah Hager Cohen
  19. I Work at A Public Library: A Collection of Crazy Stories from the Stacks by Gina Sheridan
  20. Kids are Weird by Jeffrey Brown
  21. The Martian by Andy Weir
  22. My Drunk Kitchen: A Guide to Eating, Drinking, and Going with Your Gut by Hannah Hart
  23. The New One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Johnson, Spencer, M.D
  24. Penguins with People Problems by Mary Laura Philpot
  25. Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service by Kenneth H. Blanchard
  26. A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3) by Alan Bradley
  27. Seashells, Gator Bones, and the Church of Everlasting Liability: Stories from a Small Florida Town in the 1930s by Susan Adger
  28. Simple Truths by Kent Neburn
  29. The Stranger by Albert Camus
  30. The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore
  31. Swan Song by Robert McCammon
  32. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery by Alan Bradley
  33. The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
  34. 10 Biggest Challenges of Being a New Manager by Rick Grubb
  35. The 10 Commandments for Losing Fat, the Sane and Simple Way by Nia Shanks
  36. 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works by Dan Harris
  37. The 10,000th Day and Other Stories by C.G. Freeman
  38. Things I’ve Said to My Children by Nathan Ripperger
  39. Three Early Stories (Illustrated) by J. D. Salinger
  40. Untouchable by Cindy Skaggs
  41. Vader’s Little Princess by Jeffrey Brown
  42. Wait for Me: And Other Poems About the Irritations and Consolations of a Long Marriage by Judith Viorst
  43. Weightless: My Life as a Fat Man and How I Escaped by Gregg McBride
  44. The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag (Flavia de Luce, #2) by Alan Bradley
  45. The Woman Who Wouldn’t by Gene Wilder
  46. The World of PostSecret by Frank Warren
  47. World’s Shortest Stories: Murder. Love. Horror. Suspense. All This and Much More…by Steve Moss

Filed under: Books Tagged: Books