The year in review

I’ve seen a couple of these posts going out and I thought I would try my hand at one.  A year in review for myself.  I’m going through my Facebook and my blog and see what was going on, month to month.

If I recall correctly, we were buried in snow most of the month. We were still enduring the worst winter we’ve had in awhile.  Piles and piles of snow all season long along with much colder than normal temperatures and I mean freezing temperatures. Multiple days below 0° kind of freezing.

Both kids were awarded honor roll this month, between the 2 of them, they had all A’s and 1 B.  Boy have things changed.  While Trevor still keeps straight A’s, since Samantha started Junior High, her grades have slipped and has even lost her phone for having a failing grade at times.

Went to a Notre Dame hockey game with my stepfather, had a good time, it was a really nice arena. They were playing Lake Superior State but that didn’t stop me from wearing my Michigan Wolverines hat and sweatshirt.

My wonderful wife created our new T-shirts for our annual Walk MS walk.

I had 25 blog posts in Jaunary, only 5 weren’t reviews of some kind. 2 bitching about theEx, 1 plugging my social media accounts, 1 about our kitty and 1 teasing my daughter about taking her to the daddy/daughter dance.

Had my first daddy/daughter dance. I had a great time watching Samantha be so happy with her friends. I even danced all the slow songs, and 1 upbeat one, although I’m not sure you would call that dancing. I look like an idiot all dressed up.

Samantha’s first basketball season is underway. I loved watching her play, too bad she quit this year, she says she’ll play next year but we’ll see.

We switched to AT&T from Verizon in order to save $100 a month on our bill. I knew the service wasn’t as good but with the money we could save, we thought it was worth it.

One of my favorite pictures of Samantha and I.

17 blog posts in February but only 3 were non reviews.  I didn’t realize exactly how many reviews I did on my blog at the time.  Out of the 3 non reviews posts, 2 were random posts and 1 about the daddy/daughter dance.

The only thing worth mentioning that took place in March was I left a job that I had for over 14 1/2 years. While I still liked what I did at that job, I absolutely hated the hours that they changed to a couple of years before. I’d work 12 hour days but that wasn’t the had part, between the getting off at 7 pm on the days I worked and the schedule is what did it. This was my schedule for 2 weeks, then it would repeat. Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday.  It sounds great having all that time off, but working every other weekend sucked almost as bad as getting off work at night instead of midafternoon.

I started my new job this month as well. A job I thought I would probably have until I retire.

I had 11 posts in March on this blog and only 4 were actual posts. One about quitting the job and one about Jelly Beans (exciting stuff) and 2 in preparation for the A to Z Challenge.

I saw Captain America: the Winter Soldier in the theaters. The first time of 3 in the theaters, I rented it once also, I really liked it.

I did the A to Z Challenge in April for the 2nd year in a row. This year I went through my playlist “Anything & Everything” on Spotify. I had fun doing it but it took a lot more time than I thought it would. It was probably the only month I had interaction with my followers, I don’t get to many comments, which is a given considering I don’t post much.

I had 27 posts in April but most of those were A to Z related.

One of my favorite all time shows came back for a short season, Jack Baur was a badass on 24.

Other than the usual holiday traditions for Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, nothing too exciting.

I had 12 posts in May, most of those were journal entries, which I abandoned on doing them after about a week.

Both kids ended the year with straight A’s again. Samantha had perfect attendance while Trevor only had 1 missed day.

I’ve been golfing a lot more so I got an early Christmas gift from my mom.

The new job allows me to do this since I now get off work at 2 in the afternoon.

I only had 1 post in June and it was a randomness to catch up on what I’ve been doing. Which wasn’t much.

I started my new (private) blog “My Life”, I started at 5/22/08. I believe now I’m up to April of 2011 so I still have a ways to go. I’ve been slowly getting there. Maybe by this time next year, I’ll be at our current date.

My cousin (whom I grew up with) came up from North Carolina on July 4th. I don’t get to hang with him very often so it’s always an event when the 4 of us cousins can get together.

Not a lot happened in July, Trevor had his scout camp and Samantha volunteered to help so they went every day for one of the weeks.

34 posts in July because I was still doing the journal entries. Which means I know what I did every day of that month and still have little to say about July.

Samantha did her walk through and the kids started school in August. Samantha’s first year as a Junior Higher. Trevor has one more year of Intermediate school before he advances.

Took the kids to the Hall of Heroes comic book museum towards the end of the month. I had a blast seeing all the old toys as well as one of the actual shields used in the first Captain America but autographed by the cast of the 2nd Captain America movie. Not to mention the bat suit that Adam West wore during his time as Batman.

Trevor had his birthday party at the (not really local) laser tag place. He had a blast as did all the other kids. It’s always nice when I can do these kinds of things for them. Of course, it’s usually because my mom helps out with the cost.

We switched back over to Verizon this month. They finally lowered their plans and since we still had our Verizon phones from before, we didn’t have to buy any new ones. Although I did anyways because I like having the latest technology.

34 posts in August, but like last month, that’s because I was still doing the journal entries.

They opened the Taco Bell next door. If you know me, then you know that’s a big event in my life.

I got laid off of my job, which I had left my other job for. Wasn’t too happy about that after leaving a job I had for over 14 years.

Had to start taking Samantha to their high school football games so she could hang with her friends (and boyfriend) on Friday nights. She’s starting to get a social life which means I have to do more driving her around.

Took Samantha to her first Michigan game at the Big House. It was a great day just hanging out with her and I think she had a great time. It would have been better had Michigan actually played instead of laying down dead, but other than that, it was a good time.

12 posts in September. I stopped with the daily journal entries and went to a weekly, eventually those will stop to.

I started a new job. I’m working where my mom did before she retired. It’s been OK, the job isn’t bad and I’m more relaxed than I was at the previous one, everything was so uptight there. This job is a lot more laid back.

Samantha’s first Choir concert. These have been awesome, not really, but it’s an obligation and Samantha seems to enjoy it.

Cheri and I celebrated our 4th anniversary.

My mom signed up Samantha for the Michigan’s women’s basketball camp and it was towards the end of the month so I drove her up there for a few hours to work with the ladies. It was a good time and my first time in the Crisler Arena.

Only 3 posts in October.

Not too much happened this month. Thanksgiving was good since a couple of uncles came into town who I never see. One lives in Texas, the other in California. I saw them a few times since they were both here for around a week.

3 posts in November, 2 of those being journal entries.

Samantha spent the first couple of weeks grounded from her phone due to her grade in Math class. I don’t think she even cared. She is so my daughter and my mom loves it.

My mom, Samantha and I all went up to Ann Arbor to watch our first women’s basketball game. It was a great time.

Only 3 posts in December (including this one). I haven’t been a very good blogger the last couple of months.