Happy New Year!

Wow, can you believe that it is 2012 already? Where has the time gone? Let's see if we can do a recap here for you - by that I mean, let's see what I can remember.

January - Cold... Grey... COLD. Pretty much wraps that month up. Well, that and I continued to work out at the gym to lose my winter weight that I have acquired over eighteen plus winters of marriage. What can I see, I like being the jolly guy apparently - and in case you were wondering, I still have a bit of weight to lose, not as much as before, but still more than I am proud of.

February - Work is starting to take its toll on our hero as he is coming to the realization that he has a job that has no description and has two bosses that have no idea what to do with each other let alone with him. This will prove to be an interesting time in his life as he tries to work out all of this while keeping his multiple bosses happy, as well as, those who look to him for guidance and the like. I also think that we had a "snow day" for work - paid even, because of a pretty big snow storm. Or it could have happened in March, like I said I am trying to remember these things, and I am not relying on the blog, which seems odd to me now that I think about it.

March - Danny turned five, which means there is a Disney trip in his near future- lucky kid. Oh wait, what's that, we get to go too? Sa-weet! Now June is gonna rock way more than it normally does. Jenni also had a birthday, and if I say so myself - which I always do - she looks great! I am so blessed to have her as my wife and best friend.

April - Pretty blase' month to tell you the truth, as I don't think anything really happened then, other that the promise of a great vacation in two months and some better weather.

May - Maggie received her first Holy Communion in May, she is growing up so fast. Andy also finished his sophomore year at Loras.

June  - Dominated by a certain trip to a certain magical place in Florida, I am sure I might have mentioned it a few times, and I bet I added some pictures as well. And since I didn't blog nearly as much as I liked in 2011, it shouldn't be too hard to find, right? Jenni and I celebrated our nineteen years together in Orlando, granted we weren't there on the actual date of our anniversary, but it was close enough.

July - the shoes started dropping at work. I was put back on the bench, which really wasn't a bad thing, since I really don't believe that there was much focus on the top and it enabled me to feel productive once again and start working and earning some over time pay again, which is always very helpful, let me tell you. The country celebrated it's 235th anniversary, even with the knuckleheads in Washington doing their best to bankrupt us and make us start to burn like Rome did so many centuries ago. Will 2012  show any kind of changes, probably not since they are all politicians that care more about themselves then anything else, which is really sad and I am pretty sure that the founders are rolling their eyes while rolling in their graves over what has become of this once fine republic. Oh yeah, and Timmy turned two!

August - brought the school year back to a start and a trip to Wisconsin for me - my first work onsite in almost five years. It was nice to get that change of pace, but I really do miss my family while away, and I don't think that I could ever see myself doing that kind of work for very long. A week every now and again, might be okay, but I would really rather just hang loose at home and soak in the atmosphere and climate.

September - brought Katie closer to the teen years and brought a close to a chapter at work that involved my direct supervisor for almost five years leaving the company to pursue other opportunities - in other words he was shown the door because they felt that the issues brought up by him were just too dang logical or something and we can't have anybody thinking like that now can we? Never mind the fact that in the few months he has been gone, we have started to implement changes that he wanted to do all along. Guess he was just too smart for them.

October - brought Benjy closer to the end of his teen years and Jessie fully enveloped into hers. Oh and I had a birthday as well. I also started writing daily at 750words.com. I have well over 100,000 words written that will make a great work some day. Only if it can be deciphered by the few that are as crazy as I am I imagine. It also inspired me to get back to blogging here on a regular basis, starting with today, we'll see how long and well it will last and go. I do want to make the time to pursue it though, as I think I am finally realizing how important it is to me.

November - Maggie has one year left in the single digits, and apparently still rules the roost when it comes to me. Yes, she is my baby girl and all but there should be better limits set by me I think. I may learn this one day. The weather hasn't been to bad and there was this quarterback for the Denver Broncos that started doing some pretty amazing and heroic things, well that and his awesome defense and special teams - more on them later, and by later I do not necessarily mean in this post.

December - Saw the end of an era for one of my children, illegal drinking. That's right, Andy became a full-fledged legal drinker at the ripe old age of twenty-one. Talk about culture shock, and the fact that he can drink me under a table does concern me, until I look back at my early twenties and say "Thank God I am still alive." Hopefully he will be able to look back in twenty plus years and say the same thing. Jenni got herself an iPad for Christmas, I got a Kindle Fire, Benjy and Jessie got iPod touches, Katie got a Kindle... So we will be ignoring the rest of the family now I imagine. I am kidding, besides Maggie has used my Kindle more than I have.

Not much of a review, but it really wasn't going to be anyway, I mean 365 days is a lot of stuff to remember. So here is what I hope to accomplish for this year - which has 366 days in it by the way, I plan to write more and take more photographs - at least one entry of both per day on the blog, although the pictures might be posted once a week - I haven't decided yet. I also want to try to read three books per month, and write a review for each one read, there will be pages dedicated to these things, so if you want to just see my pictures look at the picture page, if you want to see what I have read, look at the books read page and if you want to see what those voices in my head keep saying, well just keep on coming back.

Together we are going to make 2012 an awesome year, so let's get on with it, okay?

P.S. - That is totally my artwork at the top of the page, it took me all of thirty eight seconds to make, I hope you like it.