Personally, a pretty good year. First full year in the house, sold the condo. Had my bike stolen, got some replacements off Craigslist, stopped bike commuting to work, did do another Century by myself. Got an iPad again. Went to my 20th High School Reunion one year late. Work was work. Watched a lot of TV and Movies. Listened to a lot of Podcasts. Gained more weight. Donated blood. Family's good, healthy. As for the world, doesn't seem like it ended the year well. Definitely some steps back.

Completely missed an October update. And now it's November, and the the world feels different than it did 2 weeks ago. The world is different than 2 weeks ago. And it feels like the direction changed. Before that day, the usual: enjoying the kids, the internet, working, still not riding bikes besides with the family to get places. And after? Still the same activity, but with a general feeling of unease, maybe even dread, sadness. And probably when it comes down to it, not many changes for me and mine in this very diverse and democratic big city I live in, but I start to wonder if this is the country I want to raise my kids. And then I realized that the country isn't raising my kids, I am, and Tracy is, and we can hopefully have them turn out different from what the electoral college has determined. Just keep on keeping on, and will have to figure out where we can help, what we can do. Going to try and host Thanksgiving at our house, which means doing my first turkey. Should hopefully be good. Work moved to a different floor at the Sears/Willis Tower, only 3 floors up. Much bigger space. But before that, I got to work from home for October because we were still in the old space and had to consolidate offices with another company we purchased earlier in the year and their office shut down before the new spacious office opened up. Much bigger, much nicer, and also much nicer not having to help out too much or organize or move. Much more relaxing. Also, feels like a bigger company. I know maybe a quarter or less of the people in the office now. All new to me. Definitely weird. A little bit like when I started, and I just knew the small group of people in IT. Started reading again, well, the same books as always. Started out with Soon I Will Be Invincible. Starting up Ready Player One so I know how to handle the upcoming dystopia. Also decided to rip the DRM from my iTunes Video purchases and use Plex for my streaming needs. Just so much faster for my local media files, of which I have a lot. But slow going because I had to setup the older Mac mini with Lion to run Requiem, and then copying about 200 GB of files back and forth to remove DRM. But Plex is pretty sweet. Also started VPN'ing through home when on my personal devices at work.

Whoops, August came and went. And no monthly update. Finally took the Miyata 610 out, fenderless, for a spin. Rides nice. I miss riding. Still have to strip and repaint the fenders. Been playing Pokemon GO on my commutes. Might be another reason I don't want to get back on the bike for commuting. Can't really hit all the Poke Stops while riding safely. Also means I've been taking longer walks and sometimes getting off stops earlier or later. Passed 10K steps a couple times; I usually don't come close. Trying to do the Gorilla Workout app/program. Made it all the way through Level 1. Started Level 2. Much harder. Aggravated something in my left foot. Not sure what, but annoying. School starts for Lucy tomorrow. Later than pretty much all my Facebook friends who have already posted their first day of school pics. Got the Raleigh Super Course completely disassembled. Need to clean and reassemble at some point. Tried a giant bubble recipe. Didn't work all that well. The corn starch never really stayed in solution. Been taking the kids on playground tours when I have them and Tracy's working on the weekend. Went up to Winnemac Park last weekend, but the better playground was at McPherson Playground. The kids also liked Vogel Park. Taking Clark up to Lawrence is very bike friendly. Had my credit card number used by someone else, but caught by fraud department. Had to get a new number. Went ahead and also applied and this time got approved for the Barclaycard VISA with Apple Rewards. Ended up using the special financing offer on an iPad Pro (9.7-inch). It's so much easier for doing remote work than the iPhone 6S Plus. Also stopped syncing up RDP connections in Jump Desktop because device specific resolutions work better (1600x900 on the iPhone, 1600x1200 on the iPad, and full screen on the iMac/MacBook). PictureLife officially went under, and worked out a deal with SmugMug to host photos there. So I paid for a year and will slowly work on downloading them all again.

Figured I should get a blog post in for July. I have been keeping up on Current events in the Memex mostly, so I at least have that life logging still going on. Finally decided to go to a doctor and get a physical. Got my lab results back and everything checks out ok. A little overweight. Probably a little dehydrated, probably because of the flu I had a week before. But overall, ok. No hypertension, no diabetes yet. Figure I should try and lose a little weight. Not sure how I'm going to go about it though. Lessen the food intake and up the activity. The right things. Hydrate more, and sleep more. Shouldn't be that difficult, right? While I was sick, I went like 4-5 days without coffee. I was a little worried about going back to it, but it's not like I needed it. And actually today, I haven't had any yet. Got almost enough tools that I have the Raleigh Super Course completely disassembled. Just have to get the freewheel off. Then have to clean it all and reassemble. My attempt at painting fenders to match the Miyata 610 failed (too almond, not white enough), so hopefully I can add just another translucent layer of white that will fix it. Been more than 30 days since I've biked to work. Got the backyard landscaped, or more like restored. Have a real patio and a little sand pit play area that's Jackson's favorite thing. Always looks forward to playing in it on the weekend, coming home from daycare (both from Children's Learning Place and from the grandparents). Went to Slide the City in Carpentersville last weekend. Fun, only got a couple hours in since we showed up late and they shut it down early because of a lightning warning. Fun as usual. We brought Lucy this time. Jackson's way too small though. Saw someone try and get their toddler down, didn't look very successful.

Finally got over the sickness a couple weeks back, started riding again, then did Bike the Drive with the family. Went out late so on the way back as directed off Lake Shore Drive. Hung out at the festival for a bit, then up to the Clocktower Cafe for what may become an tradition. No issues with the Xtracycle that day. I did clean it up, which helped with the shifting. Or course with that biking, I got sore, so took the week off from commuting. Got more stuff to fix up the Raleigh Super Course and Miyata 610. Just need to make a plan, and start spending time getting them up and running. Really for the Miyata only have to add fenders, but want to paint the ones I got to color match. Hopefully that turns out well. Managed to get a front flat on the Xtracycle at some point, tried to patch it a couple of times, but ended up not working. Ran out of tubes, so had to wait for them to come in. Also ordered some rim tape, because the existing stuff was probably original to the bike (circa 1996?). So maybe about time. Then yesterday bringing the kids back from lunch and got a rear flat. So had to walk them home (only a mile or so), then head back out to replace the tube and bring a pump because I didn't bring the spare tube with. But I thik that's good now. Hopefully. I'll be bringing tubes and C02 with me on the Xtracycle going forward. Found Cheerwine at Jewel the other day. That was cool. Tried working out again via the 7 Minute Workout, but that only lasted for a week. Have to start that up again as well. Made it to the beach for the first time this year (Montrose), but they had a giant pool of standing water between the park and the water. It was weird. Also ended up sitting right by Meghan Stromberg, but didn't realize that until we were both getting ready to leave. That is a very very small world.

Sold the condo on Monday. And now we're back down to only 1 property. Yay? Feeling bittersweet about selling though. It was home for 7 years or so? Lucy and Jackson's first home. But anyway. Ordered up some Samba Originals (instead of the Classics, because I didn't need to fold the tongue over). Hoping they fit. Figured I needed some athletic shoes to chase the kids around the playgrounds and parks and stuff. Been sick (head cold I think), started last Thursday, and I think in the trailing edge. Just need to get the mucus out of my head, and away from the back of my throat. Been going through lots of cough drops to prevent hacking up a lung and actually being able to do some work. Actually feels better if I whisper. Oh, and started watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. It's good, and in some strange ways, oddly familiar.

Went to my 20th, err, 21st high school reunion last weekend. Out of 105 graduating classmates, I counted 13 who showed up. It was, interesting. Parents also threw a birthday party for Lucy, who turned 6. Bought another bike off Craigslist, a 1983 Miyata 610. That will be the one long ride bike, while the Raleigh Super Course will become a daily driver/commuter for me. If it isn't too small.

Started using Sleep++ to do some sleep tracking. Not promising. Not great seeing how late I stay up and how little sleep I get. Hopefully it's a kick in the butt to get to bed earlier. Also moved the Withings Smart Body Analyzer to directly in front of my sink in the bathroom so I'm stepping on it more often. So will have more logged weight data. All to feed gyrosco.pe. Got surprised that Deadpool was released yesterday, so stayed up way too late last night watching that after watching S6E1 of Game of Thrones. Watched the first episode of After the Thrones as well, and realized how slow they talk normally after always using Smart Speed via Overcast while listening to their podcasts. Sprained my ankle over the weekend trying to skateboard. Yes, I'm an idiot. It's getting better, but I think the last time I sprained it was on the very same skateboard. I should probably just get rid of it, seems that's the only thing I use it for. Means I haven't biked this week. Fingers crossed, we have a closing date for the condo. So hopefully soon down to 1 mortgage. Last week went to Great Wolf Lodge for Lucy's spring break with the Argaos. Good times. Looking forward to when the kids are all old enough to play amongst themselves, and we don't have to worry about them drowning all the time. Lucy did go on a bunch of slides, so that's a step up. Oh, I also dropped and cracked my phone screen a couple days before the trip, so had to get that replaced. And I now keep the silicone case on it now for grip. Of course now I want more colors to match the sports bands I have. Also, finally got myself an Adidas track suit from the outlet next to Great Wolf. Been wanting one of those for a long time. Tomorrow's take your kids to work day, so Tracy and Lucy and Jackson are coming in for a bit.

I only briefly mentioned The Magicians (tv show) earlier this year, but I'm really really into it. I'm really impressed with the TV show take on the world created in the novels. And they were kind of able to tie it all together, which is impressive. But really, I would actually have a hard time decided which version is better, the TV adaptation is that good. Can't say there's many others out there that satisfy that criteria for me. Besides that, I watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens at home. Holds up. Also, watched the trailer for Rogue One. That one looks pretty good too. Like a good movie all by itself, and then as a bonus, it takes place within the Star Wars universe. Got a tingle down the spine watching that. Watched the first episode of Season 2 of Daredevil (Netflix Series). Haven't plowed through that yet.

Went old school to possibly replace the stolen Surly Pacer, and got a 1973 Raleigh Super Course off craigslist. Needs some work to bring it up to speed, but thinking I'll restore it to something close to period specific, and at some point decide if it'll be a daily commuter or an actual riding bike. Kinda leaning toward an actual riding bike. Which means I'd still have to get something else for a daily commuter. The Sprint is ok, but fit isn't right. And it makes my left knee sore. Under a second contract to sell 3535 N. Reta Ave Unit 4, hopefully this one makes it. Jackson is pretty much sleep trained, in bed by 9pm and up by 6 or so, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. Better than 5am.

Had my Surly Pacer stolen out of my garage early Tuesday morning. Ended up leaving the garage door open all night, so when a guy came riding by at 4:15am, he walked in and rode out on my bike with no issues. Filed a police report, reported to chicago.stolenbike.org and the bike shop, saved the footage. My own fault, so finally getting sensors added to the garage doors to tie into the security system so we get alerts when the garage door opens and closes and hopefully we can add checks to let us know when the garage door has been open or is still open when we go to bed. It's the 2nd time actually that I've noticed the garage door was open. Which sucks. I blame it on our keychain remotes. Anyway, not sure when I'll get a replacement, not sure if I want to try and claim it, to increase our premiums or not. Especially considering it's my fault. Or, at least, I made it super easy to steal. In the meantime I've asked my parents to bring back the Dynamic Bicycles Sprint just so I have a bike to commute on again. I won't trick it out as much, but I'll have to get something on it so I can carry stuff back and forth. And fenders. Maybe I'll go back to my original commuting bags with either the Ortlieb panniers or the Arkel Tail Rider. Kind of surprised it took this long for the bike to get stolen. Not sure what the next bike will be, but leaning towards a Surly Straggler, less road more commuter/utilitarian/do anything especially considering all the stuff I put on it. Jackson's all better, going to restart sleep training tomorrow. Mom seems good too. Last couple of days I thought I might be coming down with something, but nope. Even went in to work today, a Thursday, my usual work from home day. I need a couple days next week to be around for additional security sensors on the garage door and an insurance inspection. 3535 N. Reta Ave. Unit 4 still hasn't sold, so that's another reason to hold off on a new bike.

Put ESXi on the Mac mini (Mid 2010), which previously was hosting websites. Right now have a Debian, CentOS and Windows 10 guests on there, having some trouble getting an OS X installed. Of course, it's an unsupported machine, but everything else seems to be working on it. Definitely cool having right now 3 machines all within one. Although performance isn't anything to write home about. Next up configuring things correctly, maybe mirroring the current virtual host over at Linode locally as a backup, and maybe to see if I can go back to hosting locally. And try some other stuff that I should know about. Nice to have a Windows box I can connect to going forward, for whatever reason. Jackson came down with a stomach bug, which made for the end of sleep training. But he was getting there. He goes down without a fight, but up early and fighting in the morning. Then he managed to get my mom sick, they took him out to Woodstock for the end of last week. But he's on the mend. Went to the Legoland Discovery Center Chicago in Schaumberg on Saturday with Lucy on the way out to Woodstock. Fun. Nice having lots to build with. A nice way to spend the afternoon. Wiped Lucy out too, she fell asleep on the drive. Brought back the Legos from Woodstock too, so now we've got lots to build with.

Trying to sleep train Jackson again. Started this past weekend because Lucy went to Woodstock with the grandparents. And he's not taking to it very well. Already converted the crib to a toddler bed, and he's been sleeping on the floor and the recliner at various points, when he is sleeping. It's great. And yet this morning he was happy and chipper and excited to be awake. I don't know how he does it. But will keep trying. Not sure if this means at best he goes back to waking up at 4 or 5 or something. Or he learns to sleep until 7 like his sister. Weather was nice over the weekend so went to a couple playgrounds, definitely weird only having the youngest instead of the oldest with us for the weekend. Got to give Tracy a ride on the Xtracycle over to the old place to pick up her bike. That was cool. Finally watched Moneyball, mostly because I caught a bit of it on TV and finally decided to watch it. Decided to start writing in the Memex again. Reloaded all my Windows machines (Boot Camp installs on the MacBook and iMac and work desktop). Now all on Office 2016. I actually kind of like subscription software. Nice having the newest without a large outlay at a given time. Just a little bit all the time.

Got back on the horse yesterday and started biking again. Using a Carradice Chester Frame Bag to carry the MacBook, since it doesn't fit in the Acorn Bags Large Saddlebag, or the Carradice Barley Saddlebag. Works pretty well. I've forgotten how to dress for the weather, so I think I've been overdressed, with Swrve Winter Softshell Regular Fit Trousers, an Oregon Cyclewear Shortsleeve Jersey, and a Swrve Milwaukee Jacket ES with SealSkinz Waterproof Socks. Also have the BarMitts on, so only using Giro Hoxton LF Gloves and hands have been fine. I went ahead and biked in today, knowing there was a winter storm warning, but thought it was going to pass to the south, and I'd only have to deal with some rain. Instead it started snowing an hour ago and it looks like it's sticking. Of course, because I started biking, I had a craving for Cinnabon, but the only one I knew of close by (at Union Station) is now closed, getting replaced by a Starbucks. Don't know where I'll be able to get my fix going forward. Happy birthday to my brother and happy anniversary to my parents today.

Back from a surprise birthday celebration my mom threw for my dad in Orlando with 44 or so of his relatives, which is approximately less than 50%. Awesome job by my mom and great to see all the Abandos that I don't really get to see all that often. As a bonus, got to bring the kids to Epcot and Magic Kingdom for their first times. Good times. Probably don't have to go back for a while, until they're older and can enjoy it more. They probably would have rather spent more time at the hotel pool or on the beach playing in the sand. Nice to be home though and not have to watch Jackson like a hawk so he can run around as much as he wants. Managed to not check work email until now, so that's been 4 days of not thinking of Market Track at all. 3535 N. Reta Ave. Unit 4 still on the market, got an offer last week and have been going back and forth in negotiations, but haven't heard anything since we left. Hopefully they're still interested? Time to get back on the proverbial horse and start biking to work again.

Finished up Jessica Jones. Good stuff. Impressed. The Netflix Marvel Cinematic Universe stufff is great. Compared to the broadcast TV stuff, only experience is with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which meandered a bit, but I haven't see Season 3 yet, and I haven't started Agent Carter, but maybe the self containedness of the Netflix stuff just makes it much better. Like a 13 hour movie than a TV show. Or maybe the ability to binge watch, without commercials, allows me to enjoy it more. Either way, looking forward to Luke Cage and Iron Fist and The Defenders and Season 2 of Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Watched a couple relatively new movies, Entourage and San Andreas. Enjoyable. Gives me something to do while waiting for Jackson to fall asleep (he's in the crib at least by himself, but still needs me in the room at least to fall asleep, and if he wakes up to get back to sleep, so steps in the right direction). Old Condo now on the market. Someone buy please? Thanks. Getting sick again, still haven't started biking again, although I did bring back the Xtracycle back to the house and actually used it to bring the kids over the the purple monkey bar playground on Saturday when it was really nice out. Did some clothes shopping (finally got some more pants) and want to learn how to hem my own pants.

Finally got OpenVPN set up on the Ubiquiti Edge Router Lite at home, so now I can connect remotely without issues. Pretty cool. Got Jackson sleeping in his room for the first time since we moved. Only climbed out like 8 times, and only cried for an hour. Have to wait and see what time he wakes up tomorrow. Gonna be the first time sleeping with Tracy without a kid in a long time. Maybe I'll unpack clothes tonight. Started watching Jessica Jones on Netflix. Good stuff. It's just good TV, with superpowers. Got a new Apple TV. It's pretty cool. Plex is pretty cool. First game installed was Just Dance Now. Also pretty cool. Fingers crossed Amazon Video shows up eventually. Then maybe retire the 3rd generation Apple TV. The Computer/Home Sharing is pretty slow in scrolling and doesn't keep my spot when browsing the listing. Hoping that gets fixed, or maybe I'll move all non iTunes Purchases into Plex and out of iTunes. Realizing other bonuses from living in a house? Putting lots of beer in the basement fridge.

Watched the first episode of Jessica Jones. More good stuff to watch. Intense. Forgot to mention I finished off Continuum a week or so ago. Fairly satisfying ending. Finally got some cardboard bricks for myself, I mean, for the kids. Found some at HomeGoods so had to get them. Surprised at the construction quality. Wonder if I should use one as a stencil and make even more with all the moving boxes. Getting another humidifier for the house. Probably should get a bunch. It gets dry up in here. Getting confused by the weather. I was actually all set for a mild winter, then we get wind chill advisories 3 days after 40 degree weather. Go figure. Still haven't biked to work since November 16. Yikes. 2 months. Guess I should get back to it.

Completely forgot that Shadowhunters and The Magicians (tv show) were starting in January. I started watching The Magicians, and while there are some differences I'm hooked 15 minutes in. Haven't tried Shadowhunters yet, but I'm not as excited for that one. Happy the weather warmed up a little bit to get the snow and ice off my parents car that I've been borrowing. Had to take a little time off to take care of Jackson who got sick again, but seems to be all healed up. Of course this is after I took him in for a doctor's appointment and he checked out just fine. Next step now that he's healthy, is to get him back on schedule and back to sleeping in his own bed. That will not be a fun week or so.

Finally saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Now I can go back and listen to all those podcasts I've been skipping and reading all those online articles I haven't been clicking on. Yes, I got the feels when the opening crawl started. And lots of laughs. Good times. it was a fun movie. Looking forward to repeat viewings when it comes out on video as well as all the movies that are coming down the pipe. I'm in on the new characters. I want more. As for the house, still things to do. Always things to do. I still have most of my clothes in boxes. Kitchen's pretty much all set. Still waiting on a couple pieces of furniture, like a nice big ottoman and our kitchen table. And now that the christmas tree is out of the parlor, we need stuff to put in there. Not sure what. And need to get the garage door to work better (might be an antenna problem).

Have a real estate agent now to sell the old place. First thing? Had to get rid of all the stuff we left. Which was a considerable amount. Already brought back one load. Have probably 2 more plus all the refuse and donation stuff. Definitely time to say goodbye to some of the food from 2003 or 2009 that we had still in the shelves. Did check out Bulerias Tapas Bar, down the street from us on Ashland. Nice to have a pretty good tapas place close by again. The patatas bravas were especially good last night. Still unpacking, organizing a little. Doesn't help that I keep bringing boxes home though. Walked all the way over to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel for mass. That was a healthy walk. Really feel like I need to watch Heat because of the Channel 33 podcast celebrating it's 20th anniversary. Also feel like I should try and see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as I'm starting to see spoilers from that, which is impressive because I haven't been keeping away from the Internet at all.