The first presidential election that I voted in was 1992. George Bush was running for re-election against democratic challenger Bill Clinton and Texas businessman Ross Perot. Nearly 25 years later, our most recent election had another Clinton running for office. Within those 25 years, we’ve also had another Bush as president and yet another Bush who attempted his own presidential bid in 2016.

After thinking about it, it occurred to me that a Bush or Clinton has been involved in every presidential election since 1980 with the exception of 2012. They have either been the Republican or Democratic choice for president, been involved in the primaries, or been on the ticket as vice-president. Put another way, a Bush, a Clinton, or both has been a part of 9 of the past 10 presidential elections.

The prominence of these two families in American politics made me question, are we living in a democracy or an oligarchy?

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The internal conversation went a little like this:

January 2016 – “OK, so I wasn’t going to grow it again this year, but I did. This time let’s retire the beard for a few years, for real.”

October 2016 – “I guess I should grow it out again. This time I’ll start earlier and keep it trimmed much shorter.”

November 2016 – “Short is good, but I should let it grow out over the end of year holidays.”

December 2016 – “Letting it grow out wasn’t such a good idea. Let’s cut it back for the beginning of the new year.”

January 2017 – “I don’t know why I did this again. This time around, I’m serious about retiring it.”

So yeah, I was a little all over the place this year. The lead-in photo was the longest and thickest it got. That photo was taken around the end of 2016. To be honest, I’m not sure why I let it go, but I did. After that, I cut it back and wore the look below for the first two weeks of this year.

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For 2016 I had three main fitness goals around working out, walking and diet. I’m pretty pleased at how I did for the year, but there is always room for improvement. For 2017, I’m not planning any major changes in my routine, just some refinements. I’m also going to put a stretch goal or two in place to challenge myself a bit more.

Here’s a more detailed look at the results of 2016 and my goals for the next year.

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2016 completes my fourth year of blogging. As I’ve done in 2013, 2014, and 2015, here’s a look back on 2016 and what’s in store for 2017.

Overall, I’m fairly pleased. Just the fact that I’ve kept it at for longer than a month or two is more than can be said of 95% of the blogs that are started. I would like to post more, but I’m still working at becoming a more prolific writer. Believe me, it’s not a lack of topics that’s holding me back. I have a backlog of approximately 75 items. In other words, having something to write about it isn’t a problem. As those who know me can attest, I have (too) many opinions on way too many diverse topics.

Anyway, let’s get on with the 2016 state of the blog.

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The college football bowl season, or what I like to call the “football silly season”, is underway. How silly are the games? Even star, NFL-caliber players are realizing that risking a future career in the NFL and their earning potential is not worth playing one more meaningless game.

What college football needs is more games with meaning. When I see NCAA president Mark Emmert say that he would like to see the college football playoff expand to eight teams, my quick response is, “So do I!” I’m so serious about my desire for an expanded playoff that I put together my proposed bracket based upon the final CFP rankings.

Let’s look at all the reasons why an 8-team playoff makes sense.

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