RIP 2015 - Hello 2016!

Well, 2015 has been an interesting year.  Lots of changes at work, but (almost) all for the better.  Things have been going rather well on the home front as well, if you don't count the fence that is collapsing in the backyard and the fact that my car is about to die a horrible death one of these days.

I know that I'm looking forward to 2016 as a year to put a lot of the lessons learned in 2015 into practice, especially at work.  And while I was at work a LOT in 2015, I also think I started to finally slow down a bit and pay more attention to family life and appreciate the quiet evenings when we could all just hang out and do things as a family.

We're looking forward to the big birthdays in 2016 (both of us are teetering on the top of the hill and are about to be over it as of 2016) and I'm fascinated by what wacky stuff the kids will get up to next.

I will leave you with this, the Doctor Who LEGO movie that my kids spent all day working on!  Enjoy and have a safe 2016!!!



(I wonder if I'll actually update this blog more than 5 times in 2016... that should really be my resolution...)

Playing With Toys 'Cause I'm An Adult

I was able to score one of those App-Enabled BB-8 droids (hooray for Force Friday) and the most frightening thing is that Julie actually let me buy it, knowing how much it costs.

I've just monkeyed around with it a little bit over the past day and a half and it is pretty neat.  If I set it on patrol mode, it seems to have a knack for wandering under beds and dressers.  The upside of this is that it's getting all the dust out from under the furniture. 

It's a pretty cool little bot and I love how the head stays on and moves around.  I'm looking forward to seeing what else it will do as they update the app and the bot closer to the movie's release.

Alas, Poor Robin

The robins came back again for yet another futile attempt to raise a family on our back porch railing. Much like in past years, none of the chicks made it to full-fledged birdhood but this year was the furthest I've ever seen any of them make it. We had 3 plump chicks out there in the nest a few days ago and then something (likely a cat or raccoon) got at the nest one night and there was only one chick left. As of yesterday evening, it was still alive and even had its eyes open, which is more than we've ever seen from the chicks in the nest before. Unfortunately, last night saw us suffer a cold snap and that along with the fact that we hadn't seen either of the adult robins for a few days likely spelled doom for the last chick. I checked it this afternoon and it was no more. An ex-robin. Hopefully this ever lengthening lifespan for the chicks in the nest will see us with a viable brood next spring. They used to be lucky to actually hatch. Now they were almost ready to fly.

Happy Sweet 16(th Anniversary)

It's hard to believe that it has already been 16 years since Julie failed to come to her senses and actually said, "I do," when asked if she'd be my lawfully wedded wife. 

I still wonder what I ever did to deserve such an amazing lady in my life.  I also wonder what she ever did to get stuck with me :)

Happy 16th anniversary, darling.  To paraphrase something a wise, wise person once said,

"Marriage is like being on a wild roller coaster ride.   Now we're looking for weapons."

:)