52 Things I Enjoyed about 2025

Welcome to the 6th edition of 52 Things I Enjoyed about this year. Feel free to check back over time if you want the full list of 312 things. 

Trips

1) NYC with M - M and I took our first child free weekend trip thanks to the help up our neighbors. We took advantage of this by enjoying lots of walking around, great meals and generally feeling like we were in our 20s. 

2) K Academy in NYC - One nice thing is that trip coincided with Duke playing Illinois and the wonderful folks that run K Academy did a mini K Academy at Nike's Headquarters in Manhattan. I enjoyed meeting up with some "camp friends" and playing basketball

3) Hamilton - if Duke basketball was the highlight of my trip to NYC, then M's highlight was definitely going to see Hamilton. We were near the last row, but the venue was pretty small and we still had a good view. The main actors had long since left Hamilton, but still it was amazing seeing the show. Definitely worth the money.

4) Florida over Spring Break - our big family trip this year was flying down to Miami and going on a roadtrip to see the Florida Keys and 3 new national parks. Overall we agreed that it was an amazing trip....but not as good as our big trip to Lake Tahoe / Yosemite / LA (2024) and Utah / Arizona (2023).

5) Dry Tortugas National Park - our absolute favorite part of the trip was going to see Dry Tortugas National Park. We had to take a 2 hour ferry over there, but then we had an island with a giant fort with very few people. (The only way to get to the park is a ferry or a plane.) The scenery was out of this world and it was so much fun seeing the kids snorkel.

6) Everglades National Park - I was pleasantly surprised with Everglades National Park. It's such a well-known park that I thought it might be a little overhyped. We took a tour through "shark valley" and saw so many alligators and other wildlife. 

7) Cuban food at Versailles in Miami - probably the most famous Cuban restaurant in Miami also happens to be my favorite. We had taken L to the same restaurant a decade ago, so it was fun to get nostalgic about that while also enjoying amazing Cuban food.

8) Tranquility Bay Resort in Marathon - one unexpected thing that happened on our trip were wildfires closed the bridge from the Florida Keys to Miami....so our well-thought out plan had to be adjusted. This led to one of my favorite nights though, where at the last minute we booked a room at the Tranquility Bay Resort. This place was truly outstanding. We had a great time drinking mojitos, swimming in the pool and listening to live music. It's funny because the one place we didn't plan ended up being by far our favorite accommodation. 

9) Detroit Trip - a break in softball /  plays / school allowed us to drive up for a long weekend to Detroit. We went to see a Tigers game, the Detroit Institute of Arts and enjoyed a really nice meal at Selden Standard. The highlight though was a full day exploring the Henry Ford Exhibit. We checked out the museum (which was very good), but really, really enjoyed the working farm at Greenfield Village.

 

10) 20th college reunion - it's sometimes hard to believe its been 20 years since I graduated from Miami University, but it has and to celebrate that my college friends planned a reunion. It was fun catching up with them and always a good time walking around Oxford, Ohio.

11) Hiking & tubing in North Carolina - we enjoyed our full family trip to NC so much that we ended up booking the exact same place (Eagles Landing) and doing a lot of the exact same things. The two favorite things from the group were hiking (it's a very pretty part of the country) and tubing (easily the kids favorite thing). 

12) Lakeside - my two favorite things about our annual trip to Lakeside were two new things. We tried a new restaurant that had great food and a fun entertainer (a guy on a guitar playing covers). Also, J tried out sailing. This trip has changed over the years (no more grandparents and no more family house), but it's still a good time...and some things have even improved. 

Family

13) M's new job at Nationwide - the absolute best news of the year was that M got a new role at Nationwide! 

14) Dinner to celebrate M's new job - after she officially accepted the role we went out to a nice dinner to celebrate. The smiles on our faces are genuine. 

15) My nephew Henry graduating from my old high school - in May I had the pleasure of flying back home to see my nephew Henry graduate high school! It was fun seeing him, my entire family and my friends (including one who teaches at the same school).

16) J's soccer team (Neon Blue) winning 2 games - going in the fall year my expectations were pretty low considering we won zero games in the spring and we were moving up from U10 to U12.....and a good part of our team was 9 years old. However, we defied the odds and won 2 games (with one tie) and overall had a great time. J still really enjoy soccer and I really enjoy coaching her.

17) L putting together a great 4H presentation - one of L's big accomplishments this year was learning how to be a vet for 4H. It was amazing seeing how much she improved from the previous years and the ownership she took to compete this. Well done!

18) Jurassic Park - the new Jurassic Park (Jurassic World - Rebirth) - J and her cousins enjoy Jurassic Park so for the new one we got matching shirts and went to theater to check it out. I didn't think there would be much juice left in the franchise, but I really enjoyed it. It's exactly what you expect from a Jurassic Park, which is good since we enjoy that!

19) Olive in Shrek  - my only niece is a very talented actress and got a role as kid Shrek in the high school musical production of Shrek. She had previously been in Sound of Music and has a great singing voice and general stage presence. 

20) Oscar in high school school's band - the oldest Ohio nephew has found his thing with band. The way he talks about it is very encouraging and every time we've seen him play he has been beaming.

21) Cedar Point with L & J - speaking of beaming....my kids have really gotten into the roller coaster park Cedar Point. L went 2-3 times this year and my guess is we plan another few trips again this year. It's not really my favorite thing, but it makes me happy to see them so happy.

22) Overnight camp for L & J - this year both kids went to overnight camp, which gave M and I an opportunity to try new restaurants, go bowling and generally pretend we aren't parents. It was a nice break and also nice when they came home since it also felt like something was missing at home.

23) L & J in 3 combined plays - both kids have gotten in the theater program at Bexley and combined were in 3 plays....2 for L and then the first one (Elf) for J

24) L & J playing softball - both kids also played softball this year - L was more focused on it and has continued to have a great attitude despite much tougher competition.

25) "Best Christmas Ever" - L said this even before she got an Apple Watch as her big gift....and the general motto was a theme for this Christmas. I thought it would change for the worse moving from my family home to my parent's retirement village, but the good news is that it actually seemed to improve.

26) 15 years of marriage! M and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary....during a great Malphurs family trip.

27) Turkey Trot - L and J signed up and happily ran a 5k on Thanksgiving this year. I didn't think we would be that kind of family (and I guess were weren't completely since the parents didn't participate - since Mary just had meniscus repair surgery and was on crutches), but they enjoyed it.

Sports

28) Duke 3-0 against UNC - it is very rare for Duke to beat UNC 3 times in a season, but this year they were lucky to not only get the opportunity but take advantage of it. The first win was a blowout at Cameron. The second one was closer, but Duke pulled away at the end at the Dean Dome. The final one was the most exciting as they survived a UNC comeback and won in large parts to a lane violation on a free throw.

29) Duke winning the ACC regular season and tournament title - it is also very rate for Duke to win both the ACC regular season and tournament title. This year's team was special (and the ACC was pretty bad) and they could even win the tournament without their best player (Cooper Flagg).

30) Duke vs Illinois at MSG - through K Academy, I got amazing tickets to see Duke absolutely smoke Illinois during my first ever visit to Madison-Square Garden. It was about as close to a perfect night as possible.

31) Duke at Michigan State - another place I had always wanted to see a basketball game was the Breslin Center. This year provided the perfect opportunity with Duke playing on a Saturday in December. The game was very close, but Boozer / Foster pulled it out at the end. I celebrated form the last row.

32) Cooper Flagg - I never thought I would see a better one and done player at Duke than Zion Williamson....and then I saw Cooper Flagg. He was so amazing on both ends of the court and led one of the best Duke teams of all time.

33) Pelicans vs Mavs - for my Mississippi nephew's big Christmas gift I got them 5th row tickets to see Zion vs Flagg in New Orleans the Monday before Christmas. The game was excellent (the Pelicans had a nice 4th quarter comeback and Zion actually outplayed Flagg) and it was fun spending quality time with H & A.

34) Miami vs Western Michigan - J, her best friend I drove down to Oxford to see the mighty Redhawks beat the eventual Mac Champion Broncos of Western Michigan. The game was exciting and I am hoping that both J and her best friend fondly remember Miami when it comes to picking a college.

35) Falcons upset the Bills - one work trip I had this year overlapped with the Falcons hosting the Bills on Monday Night Football. Drake London, Bijan Robinson and the Falcons defense dominated as they pretty easily beat the Bills.

36) Wemby in Atlanta - another work trip was timed perfectly for me to the ridiculously tall and talented Victor Wembayana. 

37) Soccer title - rec league - I sub in when needed as a goalie on a local old man's soccer team....and this year our team actually won the title.

38) The World Series - It's been awhile since I cared about non Twins related baseball, but this World Series between the Dodgers and Blue Jays was just amazing. Game 7 might have been the greatest baseball game I've ever seen.

39) OSU vs Penn State - I wasn't able to make it to many Buckeyes games this year, but I was able to enjoy them beat Penn State (never a bad thing) on a great day in Columbus 

Entertainment

40) King of Kings - fascinating book on the Iranian Revolution. I highly recommend.

41) Die with Zero - another one of my favorite books because it provided a unique insight of how the author uses money to enjoy life.

42) Pluribus - the best TV show came from the creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul....M and I both really enjoyed it and if you have Apple Tv, you should check it out.

43) WSJ - some of the best reporting this year has come from the WSJ....college me would be very confused by this since it was probably my least favorite newspaper then, but the WSJ has been outstanding this year. 

Misc

44) My best friend getting engaged and asking me to the best man - I've been lucky enough to be 4 weddings, but never a best man....that will change in April as my best friend got engaged to a wonderful woman. Appropriately enough he asked me to be the best man while we were watching football.

45) Speaking at the Mastercard Excellence in Analytics Conference - one enjoyable work moment came when I was asked to speak at a testing conference hosted by Mastercard. I even posted about it on LinkedIn and got 146 likes and 19 comments!

46) Chicken Tenders Taste Test at the Super Bowl - Every year we host a Super Bowl party and most years we have a taste test. This year we tried out chicken tenders from 3 places. I am pleased to report that the results were Popeyes (7 votes) over Church's (5 votes) over Raising Canes (1 vote). 

47) New Years Goal - another year of easily hitting my goal of 52 meals with friends this year. The final count this year was 62 times! One fun thing is that % of times someone else asked me increased from 24% in 2024 to 32% in 2025. That looks like a trend in there right direction!

48) $73 in change at coin star - one random day I had the kids collect all the coins from the house....and we went to the local Wal-Mart and found out that we had an extra $73!

49) Fat Chicken - maybe my favorite gift of the year was finding a fat chicken vase (see below) at the Mississippi Craftsman Center. It was tough transporting that back to Ohio, but I thought it was the perfect gift for M

50) Surviving layoffs - one of my least favorite things about working at big corporations is the cloud of layoffs. There were layoffs at VS and we just had layoffs at Carter's. Thankfully I survived this one.

51) Amazing coworkers - one thing that I truly appreciate about Carter's is that I work with really great people. This past year I've had 3 different bosses, but thankfully all 3 have been very good. That combined with some close friends and a generally positive culture makes Carter's a good place to work.

52) Stock Market up 18% for the year - I didn't really expect stocks to do well this year, but despite some choppy performance in April thanks to taffies, the stock market finished up a good bit this year. 

52 Things I Enjoyed About 2024

It's my annual tradition of counting down my favorite things about the previous year. Feel free to go back and check out:

 

2020 - the first one I did was in response to the depressing Covid year and while many things aged poorly (the sports section is brutal in retrospect) it is still has a few gems..

2021 - looking back and this was a really good year

2022 - great year for trips and additions (Rio + sunroom) to our family / house.

2023 - Really great sports year with Duke, Miami University and games I attended. Also, I probably could have written more about our Spring Break trip.

Anyway, here is this year's list broken out into sections:

Trips

1) Yosemite - it took a lot of planning, but we had a great trip out to Yosemite this year. If you were curious about more I wrote an entire post about it. Below is a picture from our first hike.

2) Jumping in Lake Tahoe - one of the biggest highlights of the trip was jumping into the extremely cold Lake Tahoe with L & J. It was great seeing how fearless the girls were.

3) The Pacific Ocean - Andy Dufresne said that he wanted to live the rest of his life near the Pacific Ocean and at the moment where L & J saw it for the first time I could 100% understand his point. 

4) Jurassic World (and other rides) at Universal Studios - The best theme park experiences (at least for me) are ones with low expectations. We got tickets to Universal Studios because the kids like Harry Potter. That ended up being great, but my favorite ride was Jurassic World. We had seen Jurassic Park as a family a little bit before the trip and the ride really felt like taking you to the island. Not only was I pleasantly surprised, but I actually enjoyed my time at Universal Studios.

5) Mammoth Cave National Park - over Labor Day we went with my wife's brother's family to see Mammoth Cave National Park and had a great tour (Extended Historic Cave Tour) through a small part of the caves. It was the 9th National Park for L & J.

6) Lake day in Kentucky - on the same Mammoth Cave trip we spent our final day just enjoying the lake at our place. Normally we do a lot on trips (checking things off on lists....I know big shock) but this was awesome because it was just a relaxing day. 

7) Dolphin watching in Pensacola - for the greater Malphurs family we went on a 2 hour boat tour through Chase-N-Fins. The whole family went and our boat captain was very successful in finding dolphins and a rainbow!

8) Ice skating in Detroit - three wonderful things happened with ice skating in Detroit: 1) I didn't have to skate 2) the kids spent multiple hours skating 3) randomly I high-fived my kids (and other strangers) as they did laps. It was a really cool experience filled with Christmas spirit with a huge tree, ice rink (of course) and Christmas music playing.

Family

9) L & J playing softball - one of my absolute favorite memories from the year was watching my daughters play softball on the Bexley softball team. They played well (I'm more than little bit biased) and were able to compete as a team. 

10) L graduating from Montrose - in Bexley the elementary school goes through 5th grade and L fully completed that in the summer. She is now on to 6th grade and is doing well in middle school.

11) L in two plays - L tried out and got parts in both plays this year. She wasn't the main character, but it's still makes me extremely proud to see her out there on stage in front of an audience. 

12) J's day of fun with her best friend - for J's birthday I planned a "day of fun" with her best friend where we went and got donuts, went to the zoo, went swimming and enjoyed a nice dinner. Not to pat myself on the back too much, but I feel like this was one of the best birthday presents possible. 

13) Selling 5605 Warwick Drive - it's crazy how you switch from not wanting to sell your childhood home to really wanting to sell your childhood home. As a family we debated a long time about when it was time to sell and finally this last year my parents decided to make the move to a nice retirement community. At that point the next challenge wasn't making the decision, but actually selling the home. I won't rehash all of the issues, but this was far from an easy process. The good news is that it's sold and hopefully the home can be used for a new family.

14) Taking my nephew to see Miami University - my nephew is a senior high school and looking at colleges across the country. I suggested to him that we visit Miami University and thankfully we were able  to find a weekend that worked. We walked around campus, ate Bagel & Deli, took an official tour and after it was all over he decided to apply. I'm not sure where he ends up going, but I can rest easy knowing that I tried my best to get him to go to Miami.

15) Playing basketball with my 17 year old nephew - On the last night of my nephew's visit we went to the Columbus JCC and were lucky enough to get together a good pickup game with a bunch of high schoolers. My nephew absolutely dominated. He had multiple 3s, blocks, layups and great passes. Thankfully we're on the same team and I could be the Steve Kerr (hitting open shots) to his Scottie Pippen (or Michael Jordan if you prefer a more common comparasion). 

16) Camping - one of the things on my list that I've been meaning to do is to go camping with the girls. We started off one night camping in the backyard and then graduated to camping during a community camp night at Jeffery Mansion in Bexley. Both were great and when the weather warms up again I would like to do more camping in 2025.

17) Watching Penelope with L & J - as the girls have gotten older we have been able to transition some of the tv shows / movies we watch from kid based programming. Penelope was a good example. It is a show about a teenage girl who runs away from home and camps in a National Forrest. It was surprisingly really good and something I enjoyed watching with both of them. 

18) J's first communion - not only did she have her first communion, but she was one of the two kids picked to do a reading. She got up there and was extremely confident and clear in her reading. 

19) 42 Video - M turned 42 this year and in honor of her birthday the girls and I created a music video (I'm not sharing it here, but text me if you want to see) sung to the Taylor Swift song "22." I thought it was quite creative and a fun surprise. 

20) Andrew spending a week up in Ohio - it's a cliche, but time only moves in one direction and one thing I had wanted to do before my nephew got too old was to host him for a week. Thankfully we were able to work out the logistics and had a week filled with a church carnival, baseball game (did I mention I like minor league baseball) and a super fun (according to the kids) rock climbing camp. I loved hosting him and will look back fondly on that week. 

21) Turkey Bowl - in 2023 we had our first turkey bowl with only 3 participants....it was fun, but really just set the stage for a bigger and better turkey bowl this year. J and I convinced 3 more people to join us and we had an amazing 6 person game. Below you can see my oldest catching an over the shoulder td over my youngest daughter. Fun was had and there was only a little bit of blood. 

22) Andrew in Annie - My nephew got a huge part (Daddy Warbucks) in the St. Andrew's Middle School product of Annie and I flew down to see him. He did so incredibly well and I was so proud to see him act, dance and sing. This was definitely a top uncle moment. 

Sports

23) NC State over UNC at the ACC Tournament - one thing I've always wanted to do was go see the ACC Tournament. This seemed like the perfect year because 1) Duke was projected to be good 2) it was in an easily accessible location (Washington D.C.) 3) I could get tickets through K Academy 4) I convinced a friend to come join me. The tournament was unexpected in that Duke lost its first game against NC State and then only got more unexpected after that. The cherry on the top was going on a Saturday night to see NC State pull off a huge upset (10.5 point underdogs) over their big rival UNC. No sports outcome all year provided me so much joy. NC State fans looked so incredibly happy and as a big Duke (so anti-UNC) fan I was able to live vicariously through them.

24) DJ Burns - this deserves a separate section because DJ Burns had himself a moment in March. The NC State big man had a fine 5 year career that looked to be ending in the ACC tournament. And then Burns and NC State went on a 5 game winning streak to win the ACC title. And it was remarkable because Burns would back down helpless defenders every single day in D.C. The post up from Burns would be met with anticipation from the crowd as it inevitably led to points. DJ Burns went from a bit player who nobody would remember to a March Madness legend and I saw almost all of the run either in person (at the ACC tournament) or on TV (during the NCAA tournament). What an amazing stretch of games from the (very) big guy.

25) Duke over Houston - this was a disappointing year for Duke basketball. They were ranked very highly in the preseason (some places #1) but ended up going 0-2 against UNC, losing in the 1st round of the ACC tournament and having to settle for a 4 seed. That meant a path that went up against 1 seed (and 2nd overall on Kenpom) Houston in Dallas. Duke was an underdog and they hadn't won as a lower seeded team in the NCAA tournament since beating Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson and Purdue in 1994. It was a tough game with the key plays being made on offense by Kyle Filpowski and on defense by my K Academy coach Tyrese Proctor. It was one of the more enjoyable NCAA tournament wins I can remember. 

26) Caitlin Clark (and rushing the court) - The biggest sports event of the year for me was easily when the Iowa Hawkeyes came to OSU during the peak of the Caitlin Clark mania. I took L and her cousins and thought it was super weird that there was no line to get into the arena 10 minutes before tipoff. The reason? The entire arena was packed. We had to get seats in the absolute last row. Look below to see a stadium that was completely sold out. The energy in the building was higher than any other Buckeyes game (including when OSU beat 1 ranked Duke a couple years). OSU used that energy to pull off the upset and we (eventually since were in the last row) rushed the court in celebration. 

27) OSU over Purdue (and rushing the court) - J wasn't able to go to the Caitlan Clark game, but we got great seats to OSU play 2nd ranked Purdue. Expectations were pretty low, but OSU played the game of their season and upset Purdue. I had told J that if maybe she would also get the opportunity to rush the court. OSU won and we were some of the first people on the court. 

28) Game 7: Magic at Cavs (first NBA playoff game) - I went to my first NBA playoff game and not only that but a game 7. It was great taking my nephew to the game and cheering on the Cavs (and Donovan Mitchell in particular) to a win.

29) Pensacola Blue Wahoos game - one thing in life that is constant is that there is fun in minor league baseball. This year was no exception with some in the family choosing to go see a Pensacola Blue Wahoos game. Nothing remarkable happened, but it was great getting out to see a game and a very reasonable price. I could also have written about going to a Dayton Dragons game this year as well. 

30) Winning the JCC 35+ Basketball Title - this year I had the fortune to be placed on a really good team that was able to make a run (there are only 4 teams....so a run is 2 games) that won the title. We got a cheap plastic trophy, but you wouldn't know the limited stakes by watching how much we all cared about winning. 

31) OSU vs Nebraska with J - I was able to introduce J to tailgating (for that meant lemonade and chick-fil-a at 10am) and we watched a surprisingly close game between OSU and Nebraska. J's at the age where she can sit and enjoy an entire 3 hour football game. 

32) Packers defense on MNF against the Saints - for the 6th straight year I made the semifinals of my most important fantasy football league. For the previous 5 years I had lost that semifinal game...often in heartbreaking fashion. It looked like I was heading to my 6th straight loss when I was down 13 with my only hope being the Packers defense. In order to win I needed the Packers to do something that no other team had done all year....and shut out the Saints. They did that. I won. It was a Merry Christmas Eve Eve. (I ended up winning the title, which is something I have never done, so that was also amazing. It felt like the absolute peak though was the MNF performance by the Packers. Go Pack Go!) 

33) Position players pitching - one of the random joys of baseball is that when a team is down so much that they put in a position player to pitch. On the Friday before Labor Day we went to see the Reds play the Brewers. It was 8-0 in the 9th inning when the Reds brought out catcher Luke Maile to pitch. Here is the next sequence of batters: triple, double, double, single double, sac fly, home run, fly out. Maile gave up a cycle and gave up 6 runs while only getting two outs. And thankfully I was there for all of that because we wanted to stay to see the fireworks at the end of the game.

34) Seeing Messi and the Atlanta United soccer team at the Mercedes-Benz stadium - I never book my work trips based on sports schedules, but if it happens to line up with a game then I will definitely take advantage of it. One work trip coincided with Messi coming to Atlanta for a big soccer game (match?). My old manager had tickets and I was able to see a very exciting (and relatively high scoring) 2-2 tie between Atlanta and Miami. 

Entertainment

35) Kacey Musgraves - L and I really got into Kacey Musgraves (specifically the album Golden Hour) during early COVID and finally after 4 years we were able to see her perform live in Columbus. She was awesome....even if the show ended way too late (~11:30pm) for a school night. 

36) Up close to see Gavin DeGraw with M - Columbus has a free concert series and we were lucky to get tickets to see Colbie Cailat and Gavin DeGraw. There were great and what made it even better is that were able to get front and center for the Gavin DeGraw portion of the concert. Check out our view!

37) Selling Sexy - as someone who worked at Victoria's Secret, I was super curious to hear about the history of the company and Les Wexner. Unlike other media portrayals, I thought this one did a really good job of going over the history of VS. I would definitely recommend for anyone who worked at VS, but it is also a good read of anyone who just likes books about companies.

38) The Anxious Generation - not exactly an uplifting book, but with an 8 & 11 year old I was definitely enthralled with this very anti-phone book. I keep thinking about the main point that parents are way too concerned about safety in the physical world and not nearly as concerned as they should be about safety in the online world. For example if it is possible then you should feel comfortable with your kid walking home from school alone....and you should be very cautious about giving your kid an instagram account. 

39) Charlie Hustle - this book was a very easy listen as it went into the details of a great baseball player and complicated person in Pete Rose.

40) The Parrot and the Igloo - this was long book about climate change that is equal parts amazing and infuriating. There are people in this world that will do anything to make a buck and the sowing of doubt on this non-controversial issue is awful. Climate change was always going to be a very tough problem to solve (it's very long term, you need help from every country, it impacts the economy and people's way of life, etc) but the people who lied to the public deserve every bit of scorn. 

41) City Nerd - I wrote about City Nerd in last year's list and his channel is just as good as it was last year. If you are interested in urban planning, walkable communities, etc then I suggest you check him out. Some of my favorites this year were his videos on Atlanta, Phoenix and "All the ways car dependency is wrecking us." 

42) Kenny Chesney with M - I've now seen Kenny Chesney four times and he puts on a great show. M & I had great tickets (not as good as the last time when were in the sandbar) and Chesney does what he always does and played the hits.

43) Star Wars Hotel from Jenny Nicholson - one of the most unexpected things I enjoyed was a 4 hour youtube video about downfall of the Star Wars Hotel. I had never heard of Jenny Nicholson but she is amazing in combining research and passion. One would think a 4 hour video about a subject I only had a passing interest in wouldn't work but Nicholson was just that good. 

44) Cartoons Hate Her - At the end of the year I found and started subscribing to this independent writer who writes about parenting, culture and other observations. My favorite articles from her were "The Village Nobody Wants", "At 28 I taught myself to be likable" and "Let children be fancy again." She has a unique style that I really enjoy and I find myself looking forward to her opinion on other subjects. 

Misc

45) Bexley School Levy Passing - this election did not go well. I still haven't fully digested that (I started but never finished a blog post), so let's just focus on a couple good things. The first one is that Bexley School Levy passed, which means my kids and the community in general will keep investing in public education. The public education at Bexley is wonderful and it is something that differentiates Bexley from other areas. 

46) COTA Tax Levy - In an effort to improve public transit, the city of Columbus passed an increase to the sales tax in November. More bus routes, bike paths, trails and sidewalks will help continue to improve the city. 

47) Joe Biden stepping down and not running for President - independent on who you were voting for in the 2024 election I do not think it is controversial to write that 82 is way too old to be president. I was happy with Biden for making the correct decision to step down and not run again. I feel like there are a lot of people who get drunk on power and wouldn't make that move. 

48) Stock Market (+24% YTD) - the stock market has been on quite the run this year (+24%) or over the last 5 years (+81%) which is great news for anyone with a 401k or who personally invests. 

49) Moving to Finance at Carter's - In October of this year I found out my role was moving from my previous area to the finance team at Carter's. Not to get into specifics about the company or what I do, but this made a ton of sense and is something that I think sets myself up for a great 2025 at work. 

50) Selling my Civic - I decided that after 17 years of driving my Honda Civic, it was time to upgrade cars. I didn't think I would get much for my Civic due to the age and condition. Still I was a little disappointed when the Mazda dealership only offered me $500. Thankfully I spent the 30 minutes necessary to get another quote at CarMax and was beyond excited when they offered me $2500. It was definitely worth the time to get $2k extra dollars and is something I would advise anyone to do when selling a car.

51) Meeting Joe Posnanski in Dayton - one of my all time favorite writers talked about baseball for about an hour at the Jewish Community Center in Dayton, Ohio. I absolutely loved hearing him talk and then getting my picture with him after. (Also, the people I met at the JCC in Dayton were some of the nicest people around.) 

52) New Year's Resolution (52 meals) - as a remote employee I am often worried about my lack of social interaction, so my plan for this year was to have 52 meals (1 per week) with friends in 2024. I am proud to report that I finished the year with 62! I have an excel grid tracking this and I am so pleased with the results that I am going to have the same goal for 2025. Some fun stats from meals - 71% of the time the meal came from us (M or I) asking.....65% of the meals were out at a restaurant vs a home and 48% of the time we paid separately for the meal as opposed to either friend treating the other.