You know, I almost didn’t make it this year. I try every year to get this written by the
first week of January, and as I sit down right now, I’ve only got a couple of
hours left. For my friends not on the
west coast, I won’t make it. Hell, if
this takes me as long as it normally does, I’m not going to make it even here
on the West Coast. But it’ll be
close.
So, with the usual Rush – Different Stages Live 3-Disc set
playing in the background, allow me to regale you as best I can with What I
Learned, What I’m Thankful For, and What I’d Like to Forget About the year that
was 2016.
I’m thankful that I was back coaching this year, and that
I’ll be doing it again in the year to come.
We finished first in the regular season, and then got a little unlucky
with injuries in the playoffs and were knocked out in the semifinals. I remember last year when I was sitting
here writing this, I said something along the lines of “Oh, I won’t be able to
do it full-time…” Yeah, that wasn’t the
case. I spent my usual 8-hour days at
the ballpark scouting other teams, and driving like a maniac from work to
practice multiple days a week. I
seriously just don’t know how to do coaching as a part-time gig. I have to go full bore on it.
I’m thankful that we lost no animals again this year. It was touch and go with Kharma for a
while, when it looked like she had a stroke or something, but she seems to have
made a complete recovery.
I’d like to forget that I can’t say the same thing I’ve said
for the previous two years, that we hadn’t lost a family member either. Unfortunately Sara lost both her Dad and her
Uncle in a brutal 10-day stretch in the fall.
I’m thankful that for yet another year, my Dad has used his
overwhelming fear of death to once again stay alive. He is a frail shell of the man that many of you knew when I was
younger, even just a few years ago before my mom passed. But he’s still stumbling around.
I learned how to make these amazing salted caramel bar
cookies this year. So amazingly
yummy.
I’m thankful for the fact that I was able to cater the
desserts for a wedding this year. 50
cheesecakes and 8-dozen cookies was challenging but fun. But the real challenge was transporting them
10 miles away in a tiny car in the rain.
I’d like to forget the car troubles that we had this
year. Sara’s van went kaput early in
the year. The other van that we had as
a backup locked up on us and wasn’t able to be used. We ended up trading both of those and a couple hundred bucks for
a Honda Accord that turned into a money suck, so I parked it and plopped down
the money to fix my old Ford ZX2, and am back to driving that full-time
again. Sara’s driving the
Lincoln. But seriously, having nothing
but 20+ year old cars, all with a ton of miles or needing a bunch of work, and
no way to get out of that rut is seriously stressful. I just want us to have a couple of cars that we could go at
least a couple of years without needing to dump a ton of money into them.
I’m thankful for the fact that we have ANY cars, and that
they are mostly reliable.
I’d like to forget how little writing I did this year. I say that most years, but it really is
such a therapeutic tool for me that I need to do more of it.
I’m thankful that for the first time in a few years, Sara
was able to register a resounding win vs. the yard. I mean, the amount of stuff that she did this year is
staggering. Not only was the garden
grown considerably, but an arbor went up, a pond with a fountain went in, the
firepit was set up, seriously, this was a big year for her vs. the yard.
I’m thankful for the dozens of fish that were given to us
for free to stock the pond with.
I learned that you have to watch out when putting fish into
that new environment, because changing out the water too fast can kill them
off.
I’m thankful we learned that lesson quick enough that we
only lost a couple of fish, and all the rest are still doing great.
I generally steer clear of politics in these, because I have
friends from all over the map when it comes to political beliefs. So while I’d like to forget that Donald
Freaking Trump is set to become President, what I’d really like to forget is
that the first thing the new Senate is doing is dismantling my health care
(which would almost be forgivable if they had ANY clue what they wanted to
replace it with, other than “lining the pockets of rich people”), defunding
Planned Parenthood (because 3% of their non-Federal funding goes to abortion
services that the majority of the country approves of), and attempting to
eliminate ethical oversite only to have it blow up in their face so quickly
that they had to backtrack. If the
first week is any indication of the next four years, I might actually be happier
that my lack of health care will kill me off that much quicker. I, unlike my father, do not fear death, I
only fear not doing enough with my life.
I’m thankful that you allow me one political rant, and are
hopefully still reading.
I learned more about marijuana in the past year than most
people will learn in their lives. I’ve
never smoked it and never will. I’ve
never ingested an edible, and won’t do so until some point in my life when I
become so ill or pain-ridden that I need it just to make myself comfortable
until death. But because my girlfriend
has a job in that industry, as well as running her own business of edibles, I
have a whole lot of knowledge that I never thought I’d have.
I’d like to forget that Lane County decided that shutting my
site in the mountains down to one day a week was a good idea. As I’ve said many times, I could have worked
up there forever if I couldn’t land a full-time gig. I loved that drive three days a week. Alas, now I’m only making it one day a week, and filling in
elsewhere as needed. It is even less
sustainable than it was in the past, and 2017 will bring a change one way or
another, either to full-time with the County, or onwards and upwards to
something else.
I’m very thankful for the new people that 2016 brought into
my life. There are always more of you
than I can think of off the top of my head, so I don’t choose to name you, for
fear of forgetting some of you. I will
try to tag some of you if I can figure out how to do that again.
I’d like to forget once again how shitty Facebook’s note
system is now in that it doesn’t allow for easy tagging anymore. I will most likely just use my phone to do
it after the fact, but it used to be much, much easier.
Once again this year, Max would like to announce that he’s
thankful for my warm lap while I’m typing this out.
I’d like to forget that keeping Max in my lap now hurts my
hips a lot more than it used to.
I’m thankful for winning the year end tournament at “The
Rob” this year. Normally that’s the
worst tournament of the year for me, but every five years, I have eked out a
win.
I learned a few new dishes for the year end tournament this
year, with the big winners being the Pumpkin Bisque with Smoked Gouda, the
Bacon Date and Manchego Quesadillas, and the really tasty Mandarin Orange
Bread.
I’m thankful that once again I managed 26 courses for 22
people out of my little galley kitchen.
I’m also thankful for the wonderful help provided by a few people this
year, which makes my job much easier.
I’m quite thankful that we have a second refrigerator now,
which makes prep work and storage sooooo much easier.
I’m thankful that I was able to play golf this year. Only once, but it was so nice to actually
be able to get back on the golf course for the first time in almost two years.
I’d like to forget that for the second year in a row, I
didn’t read as much as I should have.
I’d like to remedy that in 2017.
I’d also like to forget that once again I didn’t buy any art
this year. I miss the years in my
youth when I spent $1000 or more a year on art.
I’m thankful that I had a point in my life that I could
afford to spend that much on art, and that I have a house full of it now
because of it.
I learned in the past few weeks how woefully unprepared
Eugene is for an actual winter.
I’m thankful for Tony Kornheiser’s podcast. Or, as Sara refers to him, “The angry old
guy” podcast.
I’ve said it for a few years now, but I’m really thankful
that I live in what is essentially the Golden Age of Television. Because movies have gotten so expensive (and
because Sara hates going to the movie theater), television is a greater and
greater part of my entertainment budget.
(Caveat: I’d like to forget how much I spend on satellite TV every
month). As always, I try to list a few
new series that I enjoyed in the previous year. Obviously there are all the great ones that I’ve listed in years
past, but the new shows I’m thankful for: Luke Cage, Sense8, This is Us,
Outsiders, Atlanta, Blunt Talk, Humans, Jericho (not the old CBS apocalypse
one), Underground, Witnesses, Shades of Blue.
I’m thankful that MTV didn’t totally screw up Shannara,
although I’ll be curious to see what they do with Season 2, since the book was
completely covered in Season 1.
I’d like to forget that CBS cancelled Limitless (a really
amazing show that you should enjoy on Netflix) after only one season, which is
about as stupid as Fox continually ordering HUGE budget Sci-Fi shows only to
immediately cancel them (Terra Nova, Almost Human, Minority Report) because
they lose money the first year.
I’m thankful that despite not having a minivan this year, we
were still able to do our “glamping” trip over Labor Day weekend, and once
again I survived the 4 ½ days without access to my phone, internet, or any real
technology.
I’d like to forget that I basically blew off my health this
year.
I’d like to forget that my anxiety and depression were worse
this year than last.
I’m thankful that they were still better than the couple of
years before that.
I’m thankful for Sara talking me into allowing her to bring
ferrets into our house. They were
always one of the animals that I thought “never”. But she always wanted them, so I relented when she said that
there were some locally that needed to be rescued. Now I’m more reluctant to get rid of them than she is.
I’d like to forget that there’s not nearly enough “I
Learned” in the blog this year. I feel
way too stagnant, which is partly due to the whole anxiety/depression thing,
but also just me being lazy. I hope
that 2017 allows me to learn more.
I’m thankful that Sara and I continued our non-jinxed
vacation streak this year. We got out
of town a couple of times without anything major befalling us.
I’m thankful for naps.
And for my very comfy bed that I’m able to take them on.
I’m thankful for trips to the park down from the Rose Garden
that Sara and I go to feed the ducks, geese and seagulls at. Seriously, anytime you’re having a rough
day, get a loaf of bread and go be surrounded by ducks for 20 minutes. Almost impossible to not have it lift your
spirits.
I learned just how much I love nuts in my cookies now. When I was younger, I hated nuts and
coconut, both the flavor and the texture.
Now, I love both of them so much.
Chocolate Chip cookies = yum.
Chocolate Chip and Pecan cookies = foodgasm.
I’d like to forget how many people were lost in 2016. I’d also like to forget the people who just
chalk it up as being no more significant than any other year. Really?
Just sports: Muhammad Ali, the
greatest boxer of all time; Arnold Palmer, one of the three greatest golfers of
all time; Gordie Howe, one of the two greatest hockey players of all time. It wasn’t the quantity, it was the quality. Across the board, from Prince to Bowie to
Merle Haggard to Gene Wilder to Elie Wiesel to Carrie Fisher. We lost more cultural icons and people that
would rate as some of the greatest ever in their professions than any year I
can remember.
I’m thankful for Alec Baldwin on SNL.
I learned that Hwy 20, heading out of Newport, Oregon, is
the longest road in the country, going over 3300 miles to Boston, Mass. Someday, Joann, I’m going to drive the whole
thing and come visit you.
I’d like to forget that there is sooooo, soooo much hate in
the world right now. Seriously, people,
it’s just not worth it. No one,
anywhere, for any reason is worth your hate.
And certainly no one is worth your hate simply because they choose to
live their lives in a way that is different than yours, or because they look
different than you do. This is why we
can’t have nice things, world.
I’m thankful for Otter Mondays.
I’d like to forget that for the most part, movies suck
now. That being said, I’m very
thankful for Arrival, Hell or High Water, Moonlight, and a few other really
awesome ones this year.
I didn’t learn many new cheesecake flavors this year, but I
did have one clear winner for best new flavor: Coffee Cake Cheesecake.
I’m thankful for winning two free nights at Spirit Mountain
from the Salem Art Fair.
I’d like to forget that we never found a day that worked in
both our schedules to use them, and by the time we tried to give them away,
there were no rooms available for anyone else to use.
I learned that a “murmuration” of starlings is one of the
coolest things ever. Seriously, go to
YouTube and type that in. You’ll be
amazed.
I’m thankful that Linus started making some regular visits
to “The Rob” again this year.
I’m thankful that the U.S. Justice Department is planning on
no longer using private prisons. Our
prison system is screwed up so bad in this country that it needs a systematic
overhaul, but this is a good first step.
I’m thankful that Sara and I have now been together for
nearly 7 years. No one else has ever
come close to putting up with me for that long.
I’m thankful that once again I got to watch the wonderful
experience that is seeing Sara at the County Fair, petting the goats. She loves them, and they all swarm to
her.
I’d like to forget that my planned trip to California didn’t
work out this year due to car troubles, and finances. But I do hope to get down there sometime in the relatively near
future, and see some old friends.
I learned there are some really, really big dragonflies up
around my site in McKenzie Bridge. I
mean, like the size of my hand.
Big.
I learned that my three most used words on Facebook are
“Love Good Cookies”. Well, don’t we
all.
I’d like to forget that for the first time in years, the
words aren’t coming nearly as easily in this blog as they have in years
past.
I learned that once again, my blog is read more in Russia
than anywhere else in the world outside of the U.S. And once again, Comrades, I’ll do my best to write more in
2017.
I’m thankful for watching Sara blow bubbles on the
beach. Or, to put it more accurately,
for watching Sara hold the wand, and letting the wind blow bubbles for her on
the beach.
I learned that one of the truly amazing things you can buy
on the internet is a box of a thousand live ladybugs for your garden. And let me tell you, cutting open the bag
and letting them loose is truly a cool experience. I couldn’t stop laughing.
They are everywhere. And then
they all disappear and none of them stay in your garden that you were hoping to
have them help out with. But still,
it’s worth the money just to have a thousand ladybugs flying around you.
I learned that the show Bob’s Burgers was originally
supposed to be about cannibals. But Fox
changed it so that it only used it as a hoax in the first episode. But it really was supposed to be about them
using the bodies from the mortuary next door to turn into burgers. That would have been a way cooler show.
I’m thankful for the I Love You pun wars waged online
between Sara and I.
I’m thankful for being able to walk around Delta Ponds and
see the baby ducks in the spring.
As I’m writing this, I’m seeing that there’s so much more
that I’m thankful for this past year than things I’d like to forget. I’ve had years where that was
reversed. So, let me just say that I’m
thankful for being thankful.
I’m thankful for the magnets on the fridge that allow me to
put sappy sayings on there regularly.
I learned that mimicking baby photos by recreating them with
your pets is hilarious. Sara made a
calendar by taking photos of her sister and newborn niece and recreating them
with our animals. The results were
wonderful.
I’d like to forget that this blog is considerably shorter
this year than it has been in the past, but I guess 2016 was just a little more
boring than usual. Or else my memory
is not nearly as strong as it has been in the past.
