2022
So, it's 2022 now. We got one day under our belts, so this seems as a good a time as any to write a bit. Plus, I'm going to try and make journaling a thing for 2022. Hasn't worked well before, but if you don't keep trying, you've already failed, right?
So, 2021. Started the year without a job, searching for the next step in my career during this wonderful pandemic, which has proven to be a challenge. Had a bunch of good phone interviews, a few in person ones, but nothing has borne fruit. On the upside, this coming week I have 2 phone interviews and one "face" interview, which I feel good about - They scheduled the face interview about 30 minutes after our phone-screen, so perhaps that's something.
Gosh, what else from 2021? David and I are working with a race series up here which is fun. I fractured my arm back in May so I can't ride, but I can run timing, work as a pit-boss, and generally help keep things moving. David works corners, acts as an interim pit-marshal, and when he can, gets to race. He's pretty quick on his old Yamaha!
We've got an XR100 on reserve so we can build that into a race bike for the series, which I'm kinda looking forward to. Would be fun to have a track rat to beat on. I also pulled the trigger on a '05 CRF450X with SuperMoto wheels, tyres and brakes. Needs a suspension setup, but then I can start to play in the Super Moto world. And as an upside, I worked with a company that helps you license off-road motorcycles for on-road, so the CRF has a plate from South Dakota, but I can ride it to the grocery store!
David's work has been good, although he's still getting completely ripped off for the amount of work he does vs. the compensation he receives, but that's his issue to deal with. I hope he takes his boss to task - the company would absolute fold if he just bailed.
Working on getting my State insurance producers license so I can expand my job search, and boy is that a bear. So many stupid rules you have to memorize that are useless in the real world, but them's the breaks.
David bought a travel trailer that needs restoration, so that's been a bit of a project, but it's nice not having to get hotels at races! And once it's all done, we'll have a kitchen, bathroom, fridge, AC and heat, and a comfy bed to sleep in. This also means we can go more places whenever we can take a vacation, because pet-friendly hotels aren't easy to find when you tell them you have 110lbs of Malamute.
Oh, and speaking of that - we have an Alaskan Malamute named Malcolm who is an absolute joy. He's stubborn as the day is long, but he's super lovey, and always looking for ways to find food on the table that isn't his, including both those cute begging eyes, as well as the "I'll lie on my back with my belly and bits on display because I'm so hungry and I've never had food in my whole life and I'm starving and I love you and your food smells good so I should have some" thing. He loves going on walks, but we have to now spell W-A-L-K as Whiskey-Alpha-Lima-Kilo because he knows the spoken work - and the word stroll. He loves snow, which we've had a bunch of the last 2 weeks, so we've driven up to Hood a few times to let him bounce around in the snow. He eventually just settles down and lays, belly splayed, on the cold now, looking happy as the proverbial clam. We're going to go back up next weekend to both let him play, and play on some rented snowmobiles to get the experience.
On the vehicle front, the SX4 needs a new serpentine belt, but that aside, runs soundly. Hopefully do that this coming week so we can stop driving the F150. In this weather, a 4x4 is nice, but the mileage is awful. Oh! And to that point, we bought an '01 F150 so we can tow trailers, drive in snow, haul motorcycles, and do general truck stuff. And no, it's not an "LPT" special - stock wheels and tyres, no lift, nothing like that. Just a teal F150 that we use for actual truck stuff, unlike some of our neighbors who have huge trucks with huge lifts that sit when it snows while they drive their Subaru hatchbacks, because of the scary snow. Guess those huge wheels and tyres aren't all that useful, but at least it makes them feel like a "big" man, as it were.
We've got a little work to do on the Dodge, but that's going on the block as soon as that's wrapped up. Already got rid of the Blackbird, and after the Dodge, all of Kit's vehicles will have moved on to new homes. Then I have to do a serious look at the garage, and decide how many bikes I really, really need to keep. I'd love to get the engine back in the new GS frame, but motivation has made that, let's say, a challenge. Really trying to decide if I just want to sell the wrecked bike and the good chassis to someone who has said motivation. We shall see...
The house now has a pretty serious solar installation, which was an incredible fiasco, but it also has a new roof, which was WAY needed - and just in time for the snow we got just recently. Come March, I'm looking to ReFi to reduce the payment as well as roll up my remaining debt (And hopefully, David's, too!) so we can make one household payment and be done for the month. We also got a new HVAC system installed last year, so that will help with home value, as well as the new paint job we put on year before last. Between scaffolds and a man-lift, we got the whole house, eves, and fascia painted, and the house a much less offensive green.
Main goals for 2022 include joining the local health club, as they have an inside Olympic pool, getting back int reloading ammunition, getting back into sport shooting, getting back up on 2 wheels, weather the Honda or the Bandit, and generally getting in better physical shape. I finally broke the 200lb mark, so now I just need to loose another 25lbs to get where I want to be. While I'm making wishes, I think I'll try and beat God at Chess, but if you don't try, you'll never get anywhere.
I also need to really set a monthly household budget. We spend too much money on impulse food purchases and things like that, and I've gotten too far away from making fresh dinner each night, with "leftovers" being 2 meals a week, and then get back to making interesting, fun, unique and delicious dinners, especially for Sunday. Working on a Google shared spreadsheet so we can log our purchases and keep a hard eye on the AMX (which is what our primary grocery and fuel expenses go-to so we can use the points to shop on Amazon!) My other cards are either at -$0-, or getting there, and are currently frozen in a tupperware in the freezer (Frozen assets!), so we'll try and keep that a mandate. If I don't have the capitol to afford it within reason, I don't need it. And there's a rule I need to jackhammer into my thick vulpine skull - if it's not essential, I can devote the cash to bills. Yay being an adult.
We've made good use of our pressure cooker, as well as our sous vide cooker for steaks. A nice way to ease fun meals without too much work, aside from sides. And as for sides, I've lately been a fan of creamed corn, creamed spinach, Miso soup, and toast points with goat cheese. And of course, the venerable Caesar salad (My favorite!). You can make the dressing from scratch easily, especially if you use a small mason jar to shake the ingredients instead of whisking them. Shake until mixed, and then drizzle over Romaine.
For now, I'm going to sign off, but here's hoping to that all my friends and family have a wonderful 2022, and that all your wishes, hopes, and efforts come to fruition.
So, 2021. Started the year without a job, searching for the next step in my career during this wonderful pandemic, which has proven to be a challenge. Had a bunch of good phone interviews, a few in person ones, but nothing has borne fruit. On the upside, this coming week I have 2 phone interviews and one "face" interview, which I feel good about - They scheduled the face interview about 30 minutes after our phone-screen, so perhaps that's something.
Gosh, what else from 2021? David and I are working with a race series up here which is fun. I fractured my arm back in May so I can't ride, but I can run timing, work as a pit-boss, and generally help keep things moving. David works corners, acts as an interim pit-marshal, and when he can, gets to race. He's pretty quick on his old Yamaha!
We've got an XR100 on reserve so we can build that into a race bike for the series, which I'm kinda looking forward to. Would be fun to have a track rat to beat on. I also pulled the trigger on a '05 CRF450X with SuperMoto wheels, tyres and brakes. Needs a suspension setup, but then I can start to play in the Super Moto world. And as an upside, I worked with a company that helps you license off-road motorcycles for on-road, so the CRF has a plate from South Dakota, but I can ride it to the grocery store!
David's work has been good, although he's still getting completely ripped off for the amount of work he does vs. the compensation he receives, but that's his issue to deal with. I hope he takes his boss to task - the company would absolute fold if he just bailed.
Working on getting my State insurance producers license so I can expand my job search, and boy is that a bear. So many stupid rules you have to memorize that are useless in the real world, but them's the breaks.
David bought a travel trailer that needs restoration, so that's been a bit of a project, but it's nice not having to get hotels at races! And once it's all done, we'll have a kitchen, bathroom, fridge, AC and heat, and a comfy bed to sleep in. This also means we can go more places whenever we can take a vacation, because pet-friendly hotels aren't easy to find when you tell them you have 110lbs of Malamute.
Oh, and speaking of that - we have an Alaskan Malamute named Malcolm who is an absolute joy. He's stubborn as the day is long, but he's super lovey, and always looking for ways to find food on the table that isn't his, including both those cute begging eyes, as well as the "I'll lie on my back with my belly and bits on display because I'm so hungry and I've never had food in my whole life and I'm starving and I love you and your food smells good so I should have some" thing. He loves going on walks, but we have to now spell W-A-L-K as Whiskey-Alpha-Lima-Kilo because he knows the spoken work - and the word stroll. He loves snow, which we've had a bunch of the last 2 weeks, so we've driven up to Hood a few times to let him bounce around in the snow. He eventually just settles down and lays, belly splayed, on the cold now, looking happy as the proverbial clam. We're going to go back up next weekend to both let him play, and play on some rented snowmobiles to get the experience.
On the vehicle front, the SX4 needs a new serpentine belt, but that aside, runs soundly. Hopefully do that this coming week so we can stop driving the F150. In this weather, a 4x4 is nice, but the mileage is awful. Oh! And to that point, we bought an '01 F150 so we can tow trailers, drive in snow, haul motorcycles, and do general truck stuff. And no, it's not an "LPT" special - stock wheels and tyres, no lift, nothing like that. Just a teal F150 that we use for actual truck stuff, unlike some of our neighbors who have huge trucks with huge lifts that sit when it snows while they drive their Subaru hatchbacks, because of the scary snow. Guess those huge wheels and tyres aren't all that useful, but at least it makes them feel like a "big" man, as it were.
We've got a little work to do on the Dodge, but that's going on the block as soon as that's wrapped up. Already got rid of the Blackbird, and after the Dodge, all of Kit's vehicles will have moved on to new homes. Then I have to do a serious look at the garage, and decide how many bikes I really, really need to keep. I'd love to get the engine back in the new GS frame, but motivation has made that, let's say, a challenge. Really trying to decide if I just want to sell the wrecked bike and the good chassis to someone who has said motivation. We shall see...
The house now has a pretty serious solar installation, which was an incredible fiasco, but it also has a new roof, which was WAY needed - and just in time for the snow we got just recently. Come March, I'm looking to ReFi to reduce the payment as well as roll up my remaining debt (And hopefully, David's, too!) so we can make one household payment and be done for the month. We also got a new HVAC system installed last year, so that will help with home value, as well as the new paint job we put on year before last. Between scaffolds and a man-lift, we got the whole house, eves, and fascia painted, and the house a much less offensive green.
Main goals for 2022 include joining the local health club, as they have an inside Olympic pool, getting back int reloading ammunition, getting back into sport shooting, getting back up on 2 wheels, weather the Honda or the Bandit, and generally getting in better physical shape. I finally broke the 200lb mark, so now I just need to loose another 25lbs to get where I want to be. While I'm making wishes, I think I'll try and beat God at Chess, but if you don't try, you'll never get anywhere.
I also need to really set a monthly household budget. We spend too much money on impulse food purchases and things like that, and I've gotten too far away from making fresh dinner each night, with "leftovers" being 2 meals a week, and then get back to making interesting, fun, unique and delicious dinners, especially for Sunday. Working on a Google shared spreadsheet so we can log our purchases and keep a hard eye on the AMX (which is what our primary grocery and fuel expenses go-to so we can use the points to shop on Amazon!) My other cards are either at -$0-, or getting there, and are currently frozen in a tupperware in the freezer (Frozen assets!), so we'll try and keep that a mandate. If I don't have the capitol to afford it within reason, I don't need it. And there's a rule I need to jackhammer into my thick vulpine skull - if it's not essential, I can devote the cash to bills. Yay being an adult.
We've made good use of our pressure cooker, as well as our sous vide cooker for steaks. A nice way to ease fun meals without too much work, aside from sides. And as for sides, I've lately been a fan of creamed corn, creamed spinach, Miso soup, and toast points with goat cheese. And of course, the venerable Caesar salad (My favorite!). You can make the dressing from scratch easily, especially if you use a small mason jar to shake the ingredients instead of whisking them. Shake until mixed, and then drizzle over Romaine.
For now, I'm going to sign off, but here's hoping to that all my friends and family have a wonderful 2022, and that all your wishes, hopes, and efforts come to fruition.