Music:
Summary:
- Another year, no booze
- Moved to North Carolina full-time
- Master's degree
- Learned how to snowboard at 52
- Yoga for snowboarding cured my chronic back pain
- Mountain biking, oh yeah
- We bought a tractor and a gigantic diesel pickup truck
- Still not drinking!
Another year, no booze
Welp, here we are. Another revolution around the sun, and a moment of appreciation. A moment to take stock of the prior year. A moment to look at all the years since May 30th of 2012, and see how my life has unfolded.
Moved to North Carolina full-time
We ended up staying in North Carolina. Due to a little luck and a good boss I ended up covering North and South Carolina instead of Virginia. I pretty much have a ridiculously awesome lifestyle, sometimes I have to pinch myself. The Pisgah is a gigantic fractal; the deeper I look, the more I find. It's a lot. There are quite a few people here who feel the same way so I don't think I'm *completely* crazy.
Have a look:
A master's degree in 5 1/2 months
Got my cybersecurity Masters's degree in December! I was all set to enroll in a PhD program when Caroline pointed out that I'd been studying non-stop since 2014. She wanted to know when it would be enough. I'm not the brightest bulb in the box, but I got the hint. I'll come back to it at a later time when I'm not working as much.
Learned how to snowboard at 52
I decided this was going to be the year. If I was going to spend my first winter on the mountain, dammit I was going to learn to snowboard. The grandkids and I, we all learned together. In the beginning, quite frankly it seemed pretty hopeless. I couldn't even strap in and get to my feet. I took up yoga, purchased some back and chest protection, and kept going. The kids were way ahead of me and doing pretty well. Once things clicked for me though, my rate of progression went nuts, and soon I was well past the kids. That sparked some competition, and were all pushing each other.
I remember one morning we were on a blue run hauling ass, and it was incredible to me that just a couple of months earlier, we couldn't even get down easy street without falling. Just pure magic. I think all three of us will remember this for the rest of our lives.
Yoga for snowboarding cured my chronic back pain
After a few weeks of yoga'ing the F out of my body so I would have enough mobility to snowboard, the chronic back pain and hip pain I had for years started to go away. I'm sitting here typing this in disbelief. Anyone who sits in a chair for a living should be doing back and hip mobility work. I used to get freaking back injections! I was wearing a back brace 24x7 as recently as December, and now I can sleep in any position pain-free, and I don't even know where that brace is.
Mountain biking, oh yeah
When the snowboarding season ended, I started riding my bikes more, and due to wanting to be able to include the kids I spent more time mountain biking. The same dynamic we had with snowboarding drove rapid progression with mountain biking. Also, it's keeping me honest with the yoga routine and is excellent for overall fitness. Really stoked and couldn't be happier.
We bought a tractor and a gigantic diesel pickup truck
Yes, you read that correctly. We got a Ford 3/4 ton pickup and a John Deere compact tractor with a bunch of attachments. Been an absolute game changer for renovation and repair work on the properties.
Still not drinking
So here we are, 11 years no booze!
If I can do it, anyone can. If you're sick of waking up with hangovers and having money problems, If you're tired of your plans never working out, you can change it at any time.
May you care for yourself with ease,
-s
