New Feeling

Happy 2014, nerditos! There's no arguing that 2013 was an interesting, if occasionally fucked up, year. On a personal level, there were many high and low points. Ultimately, though, the family's all doing well and that's all I can ask for, I guess.

Things got really busy toward the end of the year, which meant I wasn't doing much blogging other than cross-posting podcast and radio show notes. I definitely plan to rectify that this year. It's good to have regular features but I want to use this space as more than just a way to flog my wares, even if they're free. One of the non-paying writing gigs I had went away, as the Popblerd blog went from having multiple contributors and being an all-encompassing pop culture site to a personal blog written by the dude who started it in the first place. But around the same time that was winding down, I agreed to do a show for BFF.fm, which requires several hours each week to choose a playlist, record voiceovers and then actually put everything together in an MP3 to send to BFF. It's a blast and I love doing it, but it's another thing I do for free just for the fun of it. Which I think my wife doesn't necessarily understand but puts up with because it keeps me off the streets.

All of which means I need to be more disciplined with my time so I can carve out time to write. I haven't really taken the time yet to really determine what my New Year's resolutions are, but writing more is one of them. I actually stuck with guitar lessons for an entire year; we mainly focused on improving technique through learning songs. I learned lots of AC/DC riffs. My strumming technique still needs a lot of work. I haven't practiced as much as I should, so I'm hoping to do that more and just get better.

From a running standpoint, I went to PT in the summer and wasn't able to fully recover from the heel issues I was having. My left heel is still pretty sore. I'm able to run and run fast, though. I got down to about 145 early last year but slowly got up to around 160 by the end of the year. I ate a lot better for most of the year; it was the holiday temptations that did me in late in the year, so I'm looking to get disciplined again and get down to the low 150s. As for running goals, I'm still not going to do any marathons, but I hope to do a few half marathons (although I will be volunteering again at the Boston Marathon, which should be interesting). There's a possibility I may do the Merge Records 25K in March; I'm waiting to hear whether a buddy of mine can do it.

Other than that, I'm looking to keep the podcast and radio show going, keep doing the running column and just keep finding interesting things to do, listen to and read. And of course, the biggest priorities are to be the best father and husband I can be, but that really goes without saying.