2016 Ahead
Here we are, sitting on New Years Eve and the final day of 2015. This has been a year of milestones: 10 years out of college, 10 years into my career at Merck, 10 years sharing a home together, and, most notably, our first year living in Bedminster. When I recall 2014 as the year I dove deepest into my electronics and 3D projects, they had to take a back seat to the big change in lifestyle that coincided with our move out of Lansdale. I could have never predicted how the past twelve months were going to play out and how lucky we were in the process of searching for a new home and selling our old one. Not that it was all luck - I don't think the move would have been possible without a lot of hard work and long-term planning, but everything just unfolded so smoothly (mostly). Tonight we'll be bringing in 2016 here at home with some of our closest friends, the first NYE party we've hosted in 3 years. Looking forward to seeing what's in store in the next year.
But let's get back to recapping the tail end of 2015. When I last left off in early November, we were on the eve of the Pirate's 10 anniversary dinner. We celebrated in meaty style at a Brazilian steakhouse. It was nice seeing most of the crew assembled, even though many of us have since moved on from reenactment (Deb and I haven't been to an event for well over a year). Hopefully next year we'll have more opportunity and energy to get involved again.
Arrr!
The Pennhurst cast party was that Friday. After saying our farewells for another year, vacation began. Normally we're off vacationing at some destination a week following the end of the haunt season, but this year we decided to save some money and stay home. Turns out that was a good decision - right after the party, I came down with a nasty sinus infection that effectively left me out of commission for over a week. During the time off, we worked on cleaning out the rest of the Fall leaves from the yard and the gutters, and shining up the house after a (busy) month of neglect. The week off just so happened to fall on the the release date of Fallout 4, so I put a lot of time into the new game while I nursed my sickness. When all was said and done, my workplace was nice enough to give me a few sick days to make up for the loss, so I carried them over to next year.
The Struggle is Real.
As we moved into the holiday season, we got settled in to being comfortable at home and enjoying having our weekends back. One of the weekends leading up to Thanksgiving we had the crew over for some gaming, then checked out a cat show the next day. One other bit of news was that the state gave us a late housewarming present - a new road. Freshly paved and painted a month after our driveway was put in.
Robo Rally with the crew
Brand new road
As the month moved along, the excitement was building in our house over hosting our first Thanksgiving dinner for our family. Deb reserved a turkey from the Bolton Farm, a few miles down the road, so it was fresh when I picked it up the day before. We had the parents over along with Deb's brother and his family. Every body came with a dish to share, and the meal was excellent. After dinner, I hung out with my nieces up in the Den, where I taught them how to play Coup, a bluffing game. All in all, the day was a success and everyone left - as Dad puts it - fat, dumb, and happy.
The master and her masterpiece
Thanksgiving at home with the family.
Teaching young, impressionable minds a good bluff.
The weekend following Thanksgiving is our usual time to decorate for Christmas. We picked up some fresh wreaths and window candles while we were out shopping. Then I was back on the ladder (I'm getting used to heights!) while Deb decorated the inside. By the beginning of December, our place was looking ready for Teh Crimmus.
Deck the halls with boughs of holly..
Fa la la la la
La la la la
Jack's ready.
December meant that I needed to wrap things up at work. There were a couple HPLC assays I had to complete, an SOP revision that needed to get approved, a the usual emergency counterfeit and extraneous matter cases to handle. I managed to wrangle back a bench in the wet lab, so I'm planning to do a bit more HPLC work in the new year, if possible.
Unfortunately, not everything was good news in December. After Thanksgiving, Fred, our bearded dragon rescue, came out of one of his hibernations, but started acting strangely. Turns out something was really bothering him, and he had a few hard days before passing away in the middle of the month. We buried him along the side of the house. Poor little guy..he had a couple good years living with us, and he'll be missed.
"Fred" ? - 2015
December was one of the warmest ones in recent memory, so we spent one weekend relaxing outside by the fire pit. Then there was the usual Christmas prep: We did a lot of our gift shopping online, and I made a massive batch of Chex Mix to share at gatherings. I worked on one home made gift this year, programming a Raspberry Pi video game emulator for the nieces. We also costumed up and went on a little photo shoot one sunny afternoon for our annual haunter holiday card.
BEHOLD
Wishing you all the gifts of the season - Peace, Joy, and Therapy.
Next thing we know, it was off to Elena's for the Crew Christmas party and gift exchange, then to the Coffee Crew's dinner a couple days later. Oh, and we saw the new Star Wars movie opening weekend at the Movie Tavern. The last couple days of the work year had to be busy ones, but 11 days off was the big payoff for all the scrambling. Christmas Eve day I spent wrapping presents, and in the afternoon, we were off to Barto for dinner at John and Tina's. We got home late in the evening, and woke up to our first Christmas day here in Bedminster. After opening presents (I gave Deb a lot of pretty and practical things), we had dinner with the parents in Hatfield. We came home to enjoy the evening at home on the couch with our kitties, watching Christmas movies.
The nieces loved their present, which made me a proud uncle.
The rest of the week we've been either relaxing at home, working on projects (I made a second emulator for the house, we hung up a squirrel feeder and a bat house), watching Breaking Bad (again), preparing for tonight's party, and one day we took a 4 hour drive just to get cheeseburgers and get out of the house.
And that's about it..guests will be here within the hour, and we say goodbye to 2015. I hope everyone I know can look fondly back on the past year, and I wish them all the good fortune that 2016 can provide. It's been a memorable one, and now it's time to look forward once again.
But let's get back to recapping the tail end of 2015. When I last left off in early November, we were on the eve of the Pirate's 10 anniversary dinner. We celebrated in meaty style at a Brazilian steakhouse. It was nice seeing most of the crew assembled, even though many of us have since moved on from reenactment (Deb and I haven't been to an event for well over a year). Hopefully next year we'll have more opportunity and energy to get involved again.
Arrr!
The Pennhurst cast party was that Friday. After saying our farewells for another year, vacation began. Normally we're off vacationing at some destination a week following the end of the haunt season, but this year we decided to save some money and stay home. Turns out that was a good decision - right after the party, I came down with a nasty sinus infection that effectively left me out of commission for over a week. During the time off, we worked on cleaning out the rest of the Fall leaves from the yard and the gutters, and shining up the house after a (busy) month of neglect. The week off just so happened to fall on the the release date of Fallout 4, so I put a lot of time into the new game while I nursed my sickness. When all was said and done, my workplace was nice enough to give me a few sick days to make up for the loss, so I carried them over to next year.
The Struggle is Real.
As we moved into the holiday season, we got settled in to being comfortable at home and enjoying having our weekends back. One of the weekends leading up to Thanksgiving we had the crew over for some gaming, then checked out a cat show the next day. One other bit of news was that the state gave us a late housewarming present - a new road. Freshly paved and painted a month after our driveway was put in.
Robo Rally with the crew
Brand new road
As the month moved along, the excitement was building in our house over hosting our first Thanksgiving dinner for our family. Deb reserved a turkey from the Bolton Farm, a few miles down the road, so it was fresh when I picked it up the day before. We had the parents over along with Deb's brother and his family. Every body came with a dish to share, and the meal was excellent. After dinner, I hung out with my nieces up in the Den, where I taught them how to play Coup, a bluffing game. All in all, the day was a success and everyone left - as Dad puts it - fat, dumb, and happy.
The master and her masterpiece
Thanksgiving at home with the family.
Teaching young, impressionable minds a good bluff.
The weekend following Thanksgiving is our usual time to decorate for Christmas. We picked up some fresh wreaths and window candles while we were out shopping. Then I was back on the ladder (I'm getting used to heights!) while Deb decorated the inside. By the beginning of December, our place was looking ready for Teh Crimmus.
Deck the halls with boughs of holly..
Fa la la la la
La la la la
Jack's ready.
December meant that I needed to wrap things up at work. There were a couple HPLC assays I had to complete, an SOP revision that needed to get approved, a the usual emergency counterfeit and extraneous matter cases to handle. I managed to wrangle back a bench in the wet lab, so I'm planning to do a bit more HPLC work in the new year, if possible.
Unfortunately, not everything was good news in December. After Thanksgiving, Fred, our bearded dragon rescue, came out of one of his hibernations, but started acting strangely. Turns out something was really bothering him, and he had a few hard days before passing away in the middle of the month. We buried him along the side of the house. Poor little guy..he had a couple good years living with us, and he'll be missed.
"Fred" ? - 2015
December was one of the warmest ones in recent memory, so we spent one weekend relaxing outside by the fire pit. Then there was the usual Christmas prep: We did a lot of our gift shopping online, and I made a massive batch of Chex Mix to share at gatherings. I worked on one home made gift this year, programming a Raspberry Pi video game emulator for the nieces. We also costumed up and went on a little photo shoot one sunny afternoon for our annual haunter holiday card.
BEHOLD
Wishing you all the gifts of the season - Peace, Joy, and Therapy.
Next thing we know, it was off to Elena's for the Crew Christmas party and gift exchange, then to the Coffee Crew's dinner a couple days later. Oh, and we saw the new Star Wars movie opening weekend at the Movie Tavern. The last couple days of the work year had to be busy ones, but 11 days off was the big payoff for all the scrambling. Christmas Eve day I spent wrapping presents, and in the afternoon, we were off to Barto for dinner at John and Tina's. We got home late in the evening, and woke up to our first Christmas day here in Bedminster. After opening presents (I gave Deb a lot of pretty and practical things), we had dinner with the parents in Hatfield. We came home to enjoy the evening at home on the couch with our kitties, watching Christmas movies.
The nieces loved their present, which made me a proud uncle.
The rest of the week we've been either relaxing at home, working on projects (I made a second emulator for the house, we hung up a squirrel feeder and a bat house), watching Breaking Bad (again), preparing for tonight's party, and one day we took a 4 hour drive just to get cheeseburgers and get out of the house.
And that's about it..guests will be here within the hour, and we say goodbye to 2015. I hope everyone I know can look fondly back on the past year, and I wish them all the good fortune that 2016 can provide. It's been a memorable one, and now it's time to look forward once again.