Yeah ... I say it every year ... but another year where the site really hasn't changed a lot. BUT - I am taking some refresher courses on YouTube and have a few manuals this year on the Adobe Suite so I return to my HTMLing Glory of years past. But you know, I've got a day job. Stay tuned ... should be ready this next year!
But hey - Great to see you!
Some highlights of the year …
Snowboarding in December (Santa Fe), snowboarding in March (Wolf Creek). When renting a board in the spring for Wolf Creek, I had read about Burton renting them via UPS. I rented a brand-new board, bindings, and boots for less than on the slopes. BUT … Burton sent 2 left boots. Luckily, a local shop carried the boots that were compatible, and I just purchased them outright. Gavin loved the setup, and I ended up getting him the same board for his birthday. BTW – it snowed FOUR FEET that day when we were in Wolf Creek. It was insane! South Colorado has the best snow, much smaller crowds, and is just over 3 hours away for us. We’ll be going to Purgatory in Durango after Christmas this year.
February, while at a company meeting, I was awarded the company’s “Excellence in Leadership” award which enabled Tina and I to take a trip to Coronado Island in CA and be treated with some really good food, ceremonies, and daytrips. Had quite a time – the last day we kayaked in LaJolla together.
In the spring, Elyce saw an announcement that The Cure was coming to Albuquerque for a concert. A Cure fan from many years back and her most recently, we bought some pretty epic seats and had a great time. ABQ doesn’t have a lot of big-name acts, so it was fun to be able to see them. Saw them in Houston 30 years back … we’re all a little older since.
In June, Elyce graduated from CNM after her first two years in college. She received her Associate’s (w/honors!) … and is now at UNM completing her BS (currently – Psychology with a minor in Biology – I say currently, because things/majors always change.
Elyce moved into her dorm at the end of August. That’s where things became a little challenging. I think there was about a two-month stretch where she was miserable. Being in a dorm room is a lot different than the comforts of home. It didn’t help that her roommates all shut themselves in their own rooms every night. The experience was terrible for her. During this time, she was working hard to go to events and applied for some part-time work on campus. Come October, she got her first job – near campus at the University Health Sciences Center. It was pretty neat because she applied to quite a few jobs near school, and this was her first interview – which I had her practice with me for a few nights.
But grades took a hit for her which she’s not happy about. With her transfer, her prior glorious GPA was wiped out entering UNM. And with her head going through the dorm crap to start the semester, her focus on schoolwork took a back burner. But she made it up at the end of the semester and learned. Such is life. Even nerds struggle.
Gavin – I kid you not, straight ‘A’s this semester. As much as he (and every kid on earth) struggled during the heat of COVID with Remote Learning, he’s doing better than ever. That has been a huge win here and something we were worried about in 2020/2021. This coming year, he will be graduating and is looking to go to UNM to study Computer Science/Engineering.
[Not sure what happened to these two – but I know when I was their age, I was just celebrating a passing grade]
Went camping in August with Troy and Terry – River Chama in NW NM, dispersed camping. Didn’t catch any fish (water was fast and cloudy) – but It was epic. Leading into the weekend, months ahead, I was trying to find a camping spot at some of our more traditional spots. Everything was reserved. So - we went ‘dispersed’, which is basically unstructured camp sites with limited/no facilities. We found a great spot by the river and the fact that it was dispersed made it great (no neighbors, noise). What was best, though, was spending time with some old friends.
True to what we did (Gavin and I) last year, we pulled the College Football calendar up in the Spring and saw that the Ducks were playing in Lubbock TX on September 9 … we had to go. We did. Elyce joined us. While it wasn’t like last year’s The Game (OH vs MI), it was probably better. We were seated on the 8th row – it was awesome (especially since the Ducks pulled from behind in the final minutes). Tech fans are pretty obnoxious, which made it ‘fun’.
In late summer, we took a week to go see some sites in the state which we had never been to before as a family. We drove south to see Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands. Had no idea how amazing the caverns were - and it was nice seeing at that time of the year when temps were 100+ (caverns in the 60s). Saw the world's largest pistachio, which is included in the slideshow above, yo.
I continue to take a lot of GoPro video of these trips … and continue to build up the file folders on our NAS to compile and create videos. I’ve gotten better about it ... I have everything saved and this year was able to compose 3 or so videos from the archives. Will (as noted at the top of the update) work to category and have visible to guests. I will say they are quite epic.
Tina continues to make cookies each year for my stores. This year her # increases as I have a new store grand opening in a week – she is so awesome like that. We talk more an more each year about toning it down - she works so hard to make and I drive a lot of miles the week prior to Christmas to deliver to my teams. It is fun, but a lot of work. We'll see.
Anyway - have a great '24 and hope to hear from you one day!
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