Category Archives: Life Journal

A moment of self-importance

2022 SCGA Tournament of Club Champions towel

At the end of last year, I got the opportunity to play in the SCGA Tournament of Club Champions. As the name implies, it’s an annual event held by the SCGA that is open to those who win their golf club’s club championship. I’m still unsure how I happened to win the Sterling Hills Club Championship. It’s a 36-hole event, and I was mired solidly in the middle of the pack after the first 27 holes. Over the last 9, the putter came alive, I made a few shots, and lo-and-behold, I was told that I won by one stroke. Little did I know how important that last birdie putt on 18 would be.

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Blog housekeeping – RSS feed

rss feed icon

When I originally set up this blog up over 10 years ago, I syndicated the feed through Feedburner. It seemed like a safe thing to do, and at the time, all of the top blogs were using the service. However, it’s a Google product, and given Google’s penchant for sun-setting (i.e. killing) services, there was always an inherent risk to relying on it.

For years now, I’ve been hearing about the imminent demise of Feedburner, but I’ve basically ignored the chatter. I continued to have the RSS icon at the top right of the header point to the syndicated feedburner URL. So even though the service is still active and working, albeit with reduced features, I’ve decided it’s time to make a change.

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2023 Fitness goals

I’ve tracked my fitness goals every year since I started blogging. This year is no different. Here’s a look at my fitness goals for 2022, and a look forward at what’s in store for 2023.

I have a firm belief in the adage that you get what you measure, which is why I like to do this exercise. If I’m measuring and tracking my fitness activities, then there’s a good chance the results will follow.

If you’ve followed my goals from previous years, you ‘ll remember that I like to focus on three areas – working out, physical activity, and diet. I’m going to do the same this year.

Let’s get started.

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My 2023 reading list

Welcome to the 10th edition of my annual reading list.

The list is a curated selection of titles from my want-to-read list, which has 231 books on it according to Goodreads. Since I read about 30 books a year (which is how many I read last year and how many I plan to read this year), narrowing the list can be a challenge. It’s especially challenging since I add about as many books to my list as I read. I added 37 books last year, so the list grew by a few titles from 2022.

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A memory rekindled

A bit of misfortune struck our house recently. I was working in my home office when I heard a popping noise come from the family room where Lisa was watching television, followed by the words, “Something’s wrong with the television. The screen is blank, and nothing is happening when I hit the power button.” In other words, I’d received my cue to come take a look.

My initial reaction was it’s time for a new television. We really like the current set, but it is six years old. A new television would be a nice upgrade, but I wasn’t particularly excited about spending a thousand dollars or more around the holidays for a replacement.

I was just about ready to trash the old television and pull the trigger on a new one when a fond memory of me, my dad, and a washing machine hit me.

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Lessons Learned from Agility Trials

Maverick with his title ribbon

A few months ago, Maverick started his agility journey. With Abbey handling him, he had two qualifying runs in his first two trial weekends. Things were going great. It felt like the sky was the limit for Maverick.

Then Abbey went back to school. I took over handling duties. It was up to me to keep the momentum going.

Well, it took almost three months and five trial weekends, but we did it. Maverick finally got his third qualifying run in Novice Jumpers With Weaves (JWW). With the third qualifying run, he got his first agility title.

Doing agility trials with Maverick the last few months has been quite the journey. I’ve learned a lot about doing agility and working with animals. Here’s a few of the lessons I’ve learned.

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Is the Metaverse the Future?

Read science fiction books, which I do a lot of, or watch science fiction movies, and the metaverse is the future. Ready Player One, both the book and the movie, certainly make it feel like it will be an incredible experience.



The way it’s portrayed in science fiction, the metaverse appears to be a foregone conclusion. The movies certainly make it look interesting and pretty cool. I get the attraction. It’s a digital playground where you get to be anything you want and do anything you want (for a price). As a software developer, the metaverse would be so much to fun to build. It would be a great project to be a part of.

Well, regardless of how cool it looks or how much fun it would be to build, if the metaverse is the future, then count me out. I don’t want to join it nor do I want to engage in it.

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Unplugged

plug removed from outlet

I recently spent a day off the internet. It wasn’t part of some digital detox or planned in any way. An electrical outage in the area broke some equipment that took longer than expected to repair.

From start to finish, I was off the grid for about 30 hours. After getting over the initial shock of being unable to check email every 5 minutes, I did some reflection around my dependency on the internet and my online habits.

Here’s what I learned.

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