Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Category: New Year Page 2 of 4

2023 Intentions and How It’s Going

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On June 25, 2023

In Intentions, New Year

I cannot believe it is already almost July especially given how rough of a start to the year I had. January just seemed to have dragged on. June means it’s time to check in on my goals for the year. I will cover the three main areas I always focus on each year: health goals, reading goals, and technical goals.

The fact that June is nearly over before this post demonstrates how busy things on, especially now that the summer has begun. The rate at which the year is progressing is also affecting the completion of my goals.

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Biggs 2023 Goals

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On January 24, 2023

In Intentions, New Year

I’m late posting my 2023 goals. January (and 2023) has not been off to a great start. Be that as it may, let’s set those goals. Unlike the typical fate of New Year’s Resolutions, I actually make some progress on my goals for the year. I feel like I’m not carrying over any baggage from 2022 except for maybe a few extra pounds (which I hope to rectify quickly in 2023). Let’s get on with it!

As usual, I will cover three main areas for my goals; Professional/Technological, Reading Challenge, and Health Goals.

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2022 Goodreads Reading Challenge

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On January 3, 2023

In Reading Challenge

I just came in under the wire for my 2022 Goodreads reading challenge (I literally read the last page of the last book 2 hours before midnight). If you happened to read my 2021 reading challenge recap I read 16 books that year. You will notice the list below only has 12 books. Why so few? Two of the books on the list combined for a total of almost 2,000 pages. I knew, by reading those books, it was going to affect my total for the year. Therefore I decided to be a little more reasonable with my goal.

Here is my 2022 Goodreads reading challenge list (** indicates a book I’ve read before):

  • Traitor by Clare Farrell
  • Kubrick’s Game** by Derek Taylor Kent
  • To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini
  • Skin Game by Jim Butcher
  • The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
  • Peace Talks by Jim Butcher
  • Cinder** by Marissa Meyer
  • Battle Ground by Jim Butcher
  • Scarlet** by Marissa Meyer
  • The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz
  • Cress** by Marissa Meyer
  • Empire Strikes Back From A Certain Point of View by various authors

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2022 Year in Review

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On January 2, 2023

In Year in Review

2022 Year in Review

Another year over (and a new one just begun – John Lennon). I hope everyone had a great Christmas and you survived New Year’s Eve. We will get to “New Years’ Resolutions” in another post. Every year I like to do this post to reflect back on the previous year. It’s a great way to think about goals and intentions for the coming year. I’ll try not to be too verbose as we dive into the 2022 year in review.

I traveled a lot more than normal in 2022 but I visited places I’d never been. Places like Wisconsin, Boston, and Gatlinburg. In fact, I traveled so much that I had to work a little bit while visiting my in-laws for Christmas. I will be returning to Wisconsin again, in February; and I would like to visit Gatlinburg and Boston again (minus the Covid) but probably not in 2023.

Yes, I finally caught Covid, while in Boston. Ironically Boston is the only place where we wore masks a lot and that’s the place where we caught it. It was only a mild case and I was back out running after 4 days.

Let’s get into the rest of the 2022 Year in Review.

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2021 Goodreads Reading Challenge

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On January 4, 2022

In Reading Challenge

I belong to something of an online book club called Goodreads for about 8 years. It’s now owned by Amazon but the essence of Goodreads hasn’t gone away. Every year the websites offers members to commit to a yearly reading challenge. My 2021 reading challenge was to read 15 books. Here are the books I completed.

2021 Reading Challenge - Harry Dresden

Cloak of Deception by James Luceno
Turn Coat by Jim Butcher
Changes by Jim Butcher
Ghost Story by Jim Butcher
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
Redshirts by John Scalzi
Fire & Sword by Dylan Doose
Queen’s Shadow by E.K. Johnston
Thirst by Claire Farrell
Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
Taunt by Claire Farrell
Tempt by Claire Farrell
Cold Days by Jim Butcher
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker by Rae Carson
Taken by Claire Farrell
Taste by Claire Farrell

Sweet Sixteen

If you’re keeping track at home, that list contains 16 books. I finished my reading challenge, exceeded it by one, and all before December 31st. Also, if you have a keen eye, I’m sure you noticed several books by Jim Butcher and Claire Farrell. The books by Jim Butcher shouldn’t be a surprise. I’m still working my way through The Dresden Files; but who is Claire Farrell.

My wife and I each have a Kindle and they connect to the same Kindle library. My wife added several books by Claire Farrell, and six of those books are the Ava Delaney series. Thirst, Taunt, Tempt, Taken, Taste and Traitor make up the series. As you can probably guess, I’m currently reading the last book, Traitor. Ava Delaney is a hybrid; she’s part human, part vampire. If you’re interested in a slightly different perspective on vampire lore, put aside what you know and check out these books. They are decent fantasy.

I read two books I’ve been wanting to read for a while: Redshirts and the novelization of The Rise of Skywalker. I always enjoy reading the books that accompany the films because they help provide more details and answer some questions. If you are a Star Trek fan then I would encourage reading Redshirts. I was pretty lazy this year and did not review all of these books, but I did write one for this book. If you’re trying to decide, I encourage you to check out my review.

That’s all for now. I will discuss my 2022 reading challenge plans in another post.

/cheers

diablo3-reading“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” 
– Dr. Seuss

2021 Year in Review

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On January 1, 2022

In Year in Review

Well we made it another year. It was still a tough year for some but I feel like it wasn’t nearly as awful as 2020. 2020 still remains the year we all would like to forget. Granted, 2021 still presented it’s challenges, primarily in the form of the pandemic (still) and the cicada invasion.

To get the shot or not to get the shot was the theme. I’m not going to get into the politics of it. If you did it, I think that’s great; if you didn’t, that’s your choice and I still respect you for it. While I’m confident in my immune system to beat it, should I get it, I’m still choosing to take precautions. However, if you didn’t get it, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see you, because I do.

2021 is also the year of the 17 year cicada brood. I have never seen, or heard, anything quite like this. I cannot believe how many cicadas there were. I almost swallowed one while I was out running.

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