2013 Recap
It's New Year's Eve and time for my annual recap. There weren't a lot of big changes in 2013; it was a year of stability in our home. While I hope there is further stability and changes for the better in the future (namely keeping my job at Merck in the face of record layoffs and changing my address from the one I've had for the past 20 years), I can definitely look back at the last 12 months and say that I made the most of it. Here's my list of 2013 highlights, in chronological order.
2013 Highlights:
-Deb and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary
-LAN party at Dave's
-HVD's Feast of Plenty
-Picked up airsoft as a new sport/hobby, introduced it to friends and spent many weekends at indoor arenas.
-Wine and Cheese Party at Nack and Gina's, dressed in god-awful thrift store clothes for the occasion.
-PAX East in Boston, picked up lots of new board games and a case of the PAX Plague.
-Death and Taxes War
-West Windsor Mud War
-Philadelphia Science Festival
-Star Trek Convention
-Knoebel's trip
-Wrote a standard practice manual for anticounterfeiting
-8th anniversary at Merck
-10th anniversary on Live Journal
-Crown War with upgraded camp
-Shady Maple run
-Kayaking Lock 60 Loop
-Vacation to Niagara Falls, Deb's birthday, hiking the gorge, drinking a beer at Denny's, Canada's Wonderland, jetboat ride on the rapids
-FDA shuts down 1677 online pharmacies, some of my evidence is used.
-7 Headed War, finally got to experience a potaco, amazing drum circle memory
-Too Many Games convention
-Double feature at Shankweiler's Drive-In
-Whitewater tubing on the Lehigh
-Eea returned home!!
-4th of July camping with the family, fireworks on the beach
-Delivered a product tampering presentation
-Expert witness training in Washington DC
-Assumed controlled substance coordinator duties
-Bucket Party in lieu of Pennsic. Bucket!
-Hiking Hawk Mountain
-Bike ride on D&L Canal
-Festival of the Arts, Founder's Day
-Rickett's Glenn camping and hiking
-Dorney Park's Haunt
-Expanded the Halloween yard display with a prop sequencer
-Haunt Season at Pennhurst Asylum. Worked the crowd as Dr. Somethinstan with Deb as Jane, my patient (Always in Character).
-Nack and Gina's Wedding
-Merck announces record layoffs, job remains uncertain until announcement sometime before April 2014.
-Hurst field trips to Eastern State Penitentiary and Valley of Fear
-Spent my 35th birthday working at Pennhurst
-POTLC crew's 8th anniversary
-Post-haunt vacation to Mexico's Mayan Riviera, hiking/swimming in caves, zip lining, snorkeling, relaxing.
-Holiday season
Top Geeky Things I Enjoyed in 2013:
1. Working in my electronics lab, filling in the pages of my notebook with schematics, and moving a project from breadboard to PCB board.
2. Learning how to program an Arduino to do things like sequence props, read RFID tags, and automate a sentry gun.
3. Board gaming on Tuesday nights, European-style board gaming renaissance, cooperative gaming, deck-building games.
4. Playing airsoft with my friends, from providing overwatch with my M14, flawless CTF strategies, and suicide runs to control points. Oh, and headshots.
5. Vinyl plotter projects like making silhouettes from photos and reliefs for PCB etching.
6. New technologies, like the GCW Zero and iPad Air
7. LAN and PC gaming
My Top 5 Video Games for 2013:
1. The Last of Us
2. Tomb Raider
3. The Wolf Among Us
4. Bioshock Infinite
5. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
My 2013 Regrets:
-I only went kayaking once this year.
-I'm still living in this house.
My 2014 Resolution:
-Having recently watched a series of influential videos on empathy, I resolve to be less self-centered and more in tune with other people in 2014. That, and more kayaking.
Happy New Year!!
2013 Highlights:
-Deb and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary
-LAN party at Dave's
-HVD's Feast of Plenty
-Picked up airsoft as a new sport/hobby, introduced it to friends and spent many weekends at indoor arenas.
-Wine and Cheese Party at Nack and Gina's, dressed in god-awful thrift store clothes for the occasion.
-PAX East in Boston, picked up lots of new board games and a case of the PAX Plague.
-Death and Taxes War
-West Windsor Mud War
-Philadelphia Science Festival
-Star Trek Convention
-Knoebel's trip
-Wrote a standard practice manual for anticounterfeiting
-8th anniversary at Merck
-10th anniversary on Live Journal
-Crown War with upgraded camp
-Shady Maple run
-Kayaking Lock 60 Loop
-Vacation to Niagara Falls, Deb's birthday, hiking the gorge, drinking a beer at Denny's, Canada's Wonderland, jetboat ride on the rapids
-FDA shuts down 1677 online pharmacies, some of my evidence is used.
-7 Headed War, finally got to experience a potaco, amazing drum circle memory
-Too Many Games convention
-Double feature at Shankweiler's Drive-In
-Whitewater tubing on the Lehigh
-Eea returned home!!
-4th of July camping with the family, fireworks on the beach
-Delivered a product tampering presentation
-Expert witness training in Washington DC
-Assumed controlled substance coordinator duties
-Bucket Party in lieu of Pennsic. Bucket!
-Hiking Hawk Mountain
-Bike ride on D&L Canal
-Festival of the Arts, Founder's Day
-Rickett's Glenn camping and hiking
-Dorney Park's Haunt
-Expanded the Halloween yard display with a prop sequencer
-Haunt Season at Pennhurst Asylum. Worked the crowd as Dr. Somethinstan with Deb as Jane, my patient (Always in Character).
-Nack and Gina's Wedding
-Merck announces record layoffs, job remains uncertain until announcement sometime before April 2014.
-Hurst field trips to Eastern State Penitentiary and Valley of Fear
-Spent my 35th birthday working at Pennhurst
-POTLC crew's 8th anniversary
-Post-haunt vacation to Mexico's Mayan Riviera, hiking/swimming in caves, zip lining, snorkeling, relaxing.
-Holiday season
Top Geeky Things I Enjoyed in 2013:
1. Working in my electronics lab, filling in the pages of my notebook with schematics, and moving a project from breadboard to PCB board.
2. Learning how to program an Arduino to do things like sequence props, read RFID tags, and automate a sentry gun.
3. Board gaming on Tuesday nights, European-style board gaming renaissance, cooperative gaming, deck-building games.
4. Playing airsoft with my friends, from providing overwatch with my M14, flawless CTF strategies, and suicide runs to control points. Oh, and headshots.
5. Vinyl plotter projects like making silhouettes from photos and reliefs for PCB etching.
6. New technologies, like the GCW Zero and iPad Air
7. LAN and PC gaming
My Top 5 Video Games for 2013:
1. The Last of Us
2. Tomb Raider
3. The Wolf Among Us
4. Bioshock Infinite
5. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
My 2013 Regrets:
-I only went kayaking once this year.
-I'm still living in this house.
My 2014 Resolution:
-Having recently watched a series of influential videos on empathy, I resolve to be less self-centered and more in tune with other people in 2014. That, and more kayaking.
Happy New Year!!