52 Things I Enjoyed About 2023

Below is my annual list (started back in 2020) of 52 things I enjoyed about the year. This isn't a ranking or comprehensive (despite the 3k+ words) but rather just a snapshot in time of things that were great about the previous 365 days. For previous years feel free to look back at 2020, 2021 or 2022. Anyway, here are the top things I enjoyed about the year:

Trips

1) Utah / Arizona for Spring Break - my absolute favorite thing about the year was a week spent driving from Salt Lake City through three national parks and ending in Phoenix. Everything worked so perfectly and it truly was one of the best trips of my life. There are almost too many things to list from this trip, but the best thing was the 3 mile hike to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. 

2) Malphurs Family Trip to North Carolina - we had a great time in probably the best house we've ever had for a larger Malphurs family trip. It was great spending time with everyone's company and enjoying hikes, tubing and plenty of movies / video games. We had one meal that was so excellent that we ended up going back again. (You know a meal is good when you decide to do that on a trip.) 

3) Georgia Guys Trip - This year a group of 3 of us went to Northern Georgia for some hikes and the UGA vs Ole Miss Game. It was fun seeing a new stadium and a huge game...even if the game was a blowout.

4) Cuyahoga National Park - After traveling out west to Utah / Arizona, it seemed strange that we hadn't been to the one National Park here in Ohio. We had a nice hike there (with Rio) and while it wasn't as impressive as Arches / Canyonlands / Grand Canyon....it was still a very fun day. 

5) Planning Yosemite Trip - For 2024 our big trip is going out West again and seeing Lake Tahoe, Yosemite & Los Angeles. The thing I am most excited was working with the park lodging and getting a room at the lodge in Yosemite! This is rare considering the popularity of Yosemite, so I am hopeful that we enjoy the convenience of being right there for 3 full days. 

Family

6) Coaching Team Melon - This is a repeat from the last two years, but it's super fun coaching J's soccer team. Our fall season was much tougher than our spring season - we lost a few of great players and the competition was tougher - but still it's nice getting out there with my youngest.

7) Tyler / Katie's Wedding - M and I had the pleasure of attending a beautiful wedding of one of my old coworkers from Victoria's Secret. Weddings are way less common at our age, so it was extra fun to have an excuse to dress up and celebrate such a big occasion. 

8) 40th birthday at Arch City Tavern -  For my 40th birthday we planned a fun night at Arch City Tavern where we paid for drinks / food and enjoyed the company of ~30 of my friends. My best friend even flew in from Mississippi for the night.

9) Last Christmas in 5605 Warwick Dr - After 50 years my parents made the hard decision to move from my childhood home in Jackson, Mississippi to a retirement home 10 minutes north in Madison. As a family we tried to soak in all the final memories of the only place my kids have known for Christmas. 

10) Date Night with L & J - My kids enjoyed planning a "date night" where L and I dressed up and went to go an Asian restaurant (Lemongrass) and then a fancy dessert right across the street at The Guild House. J and I went to an Italian restaurant (more to come below). Both nights were outstanding! 

11) M Got Promoted! It's very easy to be proud of the work ethic and intelligence of my wonderful wife. She made the decisions last year to leave her previous company and has done so well at her new company that she got a big promotion this year. It's awesome to see her doing so well...and not just because we have a joint checking account.

12) Brother-In-Law Got Promoted to Head of Middle School! In the spirit of another promotion, it was awesome to see my Brother-In-Law get the Head of Middle School role at my old school (St. Andrew's). It's fun to see his career success and even better that it's at a school that has played such a major role in his life (he also attended SA), my sister's life (ditto), my life and my nephews (current students at SA). 

13) Hocking Hills (thanks to Heidi) - M and I had planned a night away at Hocking Hills and unfortunately our babysitting option fell through a few weeks before. Thankfully we have amazing neighbors and one of our closest ones stepped up and said she would love to watch L & J. They all seemed to have such a good time that even when came back the next day the kids wanted to stay at Heidi's house for a little bit longer. 

14) My parents getting set up at St. Catherine's Village - There are some big disadvantages to getting older, but in my limited experience it is better to address that head on. This was a big and difficult decision (I wrote briefly about this in point 7), but overall I think it is the right one and should give everyone in our family peace of mind.

15) Kids cooking - The kids have continued to improve their cooking and it's fun to see and try the treats that they create. 

16) Surprising my nephew in the Atlanta airport - My nephew was traveling to Europe through his school at the same time I was traveling back from work in Atlanta. That gave me a chance to find his flight and sneak up and surprise him. As an added bonus it was nice talking to him and some of his classmates before such a big trip. 

17) Overnight camp! Our kids spent their first 48 hours without either parent as they went on their first overnight camp. They loved it and it looks like these type of camps are likely in the future. 

Sports

18) K Academy - I wrote about this earlier this year, but K Academy is 2 for 2 in being absolutely spectacular. My team wasn't nearly as good as back in 2019, but it was a great group of guys that ended on a high note with an upset win. Also, the best thing about my "sophomore year" was that M, L & J came and saw in person! I absolutely loved having them there. 

19) Duke Over UNC - Twice -  After the disappointing end to the 2022 season (losing at Cameron and then in the Final Four) it was cathartic to see Duke win two very close games against UNC. The first game was a back and forth game at Cameron where Derrick Lively dominated (while barely scoring) and Jeremy Roach scored the key basket at the end. The second game was at the Dean Dome and happened to take place on my 40th birthday. Duke gave me the best present with another close win thanks again to another key late game basket by Jeremy Roach. 

20) Duke wins the ACC Title - Last year's Duke team started off pretty slow and I had some concerns replacing a legend (Coach K) and a bunch of great players (Paolo, Mark Williams, Wendell Moore Jr). The low point was the week after the first win against UNC when they lost 81-59 to Miami (FL). They followed up that with a great game at UVA that was more frustrating because it should have been a win (that overturned foul call at the end against Flip will always been confusing) that took them to only 8-6 in the ACC. It was crazy to see that average ACC team then win 6 consecutive regular season games before winning 3 straight in ACC tournament to win the ACC title. The year was already a success going 2-0 against UNC, but to to win the ACC title (especially with expectations being low) was especially amazing. 

21) Dolphins offense - Through the first 16 games (which really should still be the length of the NFL season) the Dolphins have scored the most points per game in the NFL at 30.1. This includes scoring 70 points against the Broncos in one of the most enjoyable games you can ever watch. It's been so much fun watching Tua, Hill & Mostert over the course of the season. I'm hopeful that this is the year they can finally break the 23 year streak of not winning a playoff game

22)  Dolphins defense / fantasy - the actual Dolphins defense has been mostly good this year, but for 5 games (weeks 11-15) they were absolutely amazing. I knew they had an easy schedule and picked up the Dolphins defense in fantasy, which meant I was doubly excited to see the Dolphins mostly dominate (4-1) against the stretch of terrible teams (Raiders, Commanders, Titans and Jets twice). That streak allowed me to make the semifinals in both fantasy leagues. Unfortunately the luck for the Dolphins and my fantasy ran out at the same time over the past few weeks. Still there isn't much better than when your real life favorite team and you fantasy football team both are doing well.

23) MAC Champion Miami Redhawks Football Team - Miami had one of the best years ever this year with rivalry wins against Cincinnati (for the first time since I was in college) and Ohio University and finishing the year with an upset win against Toledo for the MAC title. I was able to convince L, J and other family members to drive up to Detroit. It was awesome being in person to see a team that won because of defense and special teams. 

24) Twins won a playoff game - I've been a Minnesota Twins fan since I moved there and started following their 2006 team. They were consistently a good team that made the playoffs and then somehow found a way to lose every playoff game. They were swept in 2006, 2009, 2010, 2019, 2020 and lost a one game playoff in 2017. Add up up all together and the Twins lost 15 straight playoff games when I was a fan. (They had lost 3 straight before I was a fan in 2004, so overall the Twins lost 18 straight playoff games). Their futility and bad luck was unmatched. This year they made the playoffs and actually won 3 games. Pablo Lopez pitched two great games and Royce Lewis hit 2 home runs in his first two postseason at-bats. Overall it was exciting watching a young / fun team break a curse that had lasted way too long.

25) Western & Southern Open - I've never been to a professional tennis tournament and one of the better ones (right under the Grand Slam tournaments) is only 1.5 hours away from Columbus. My buddy took me as a nice 40th birthday gift. We had a great time watching amazing tennis and even were able to get down to court level to see one of the matches. 

26) Rushing the Court at Hinkle Fieldhouse - One of my close friends is a big basketball fan and had always wanted to go to Hinkle Fieldhouse to see Buster play. We found a good matchup between Xavier-Butler and were lucky enough to see both an upset home win and the home crowd rush the court. Below is a picture, but it was an awesome sports moment. 

27) 4-0 at Blue Jackets games - The Blue Jackets are not a good hockey team (13 wins / 19 losses / 9 ties), but somehow the Jackets are 4-0 in games I've attended during this season. They beat Calgary 3-1 (10/20), Boston 5-2 (11/27), Ottawa 4-2 (12/1) and St. Louis 5-2 (12/8). It's been an amazing and statistically unlikely run. 

28) Jazz over Celtics - I've been an Utah Jazz fan for 3 decades now and was able to attend my 2nd Jazz home game ever....and take M, L & J to their first home game. It was a back and forth game that came down to the end, but the Jazz pulled it out. I loved being there and was especially excited because L really seemed to be in to the game.

29) Basketball at the JCC - With K Academy in the rearview mirror I joined a basketball league at the local JCC 5 minutes away from my house. While age is still undefeated (I can't move like I used to) it is still great to go out there and play basketball. I don't think it will ever get old hitting a 3 pointer. 

30) Two Ohio State football games - One of the best things about living in Columbus is to have one of the country's largest schools right in our backyard. Ohio State offers a lot of great athletics, but the thing they are most known for is football. This year's team was another good team (though don't ask any OSU fan about them due to how the season ended) and I was able to take J to an early season game against Western Kentucky. This was so much fun and definitely one of the highlights of the year. 

31) Denver Nuggets win the title - In order to make the NBA season more excited, I organized a 4 person bet where we would have a snake draft and pick every NBA team and the winner would be whoever picked the NBA champion. This had the exact impact I was hoping for and even better the team I picked with the 8th pick ended up winning it all! 

Entertainment

32) Lessons in Chemistry - I'm not the first one to write about this book, but this was a great read with compelling characters and a great storyline. I highly recommend.

33) You Could Make This Place Beautiful - A Bexley neighbor wrote this book about going through her divorce. Parts of the book were overwhelming because I would literally be walking through scenes from the book while listening to the book.

34) Shoe Dog  - Despite knowing about Nike and Phil Knight and this book coming recommended by a friend, I didn't have high hopes for Phil Knight's book about the start of Nike. I loved it! I went into worried that it would be a shallow read that featured a lot of off putting self-glorification moments. I was happy to be wrong. Knight showed humility and provided countless examples where he got a lucky break. It helped that the book focused almost entirely on Nike's early days and wasn't about how Nike was run after it became a huge company. 

35) The Man Who Broke Capitalism - Not exactly a fun read, but an informative look at GE's Jack Welch. I never wanted to be a CEO and this book helped reinforce that point. 

36) West By West - Somewhat similar to Shoe Dog, I loved hearing stories from Jerry West's life. He really seemed like an open book with topics and the transparency made the book fascinating. 

37) City Nerd - Youtube algorithm isn't always great / helpful, but one thing that I got into this year was a YouTube channel from this guy named City Nerd. He is a data heavy guy who loves walkable communities, public transit and effective city planning. I love his content and enjoy watching it with my family.

38) Kenny Chesney with L for her 10th birthday - L has enjoyed listening to country music (mainly Kacey Musgraves) and for her birthday I took her out of school and drove up to Ft. Wayne, Indiana to see Kelsea Ballerini and Kenny Chesney. We only knew a little bit about Kelsea Ballerini, but after this concert she jumped up L's interest and is now someone she listens to on a regular basis. Overall this concert was just so much fun - the people were polite, our seats were great and both performers did an excellent job. 

39) Old Dominion with M  - For a random Wednesday in December we were lucky enough to see Old Dominion play in downtown Columbus. They put on a great show and it was fun having a rare weeknight date night.

40) The Wilds - For J's birthday we got her a safari tour through the Columbus Zoo at their Wilds location  1.5 hours east of Columbus. This was specular! The open air bus takes you around to see tons of different animals. The ostrich (pictures below) was especially curious about us. 

41) Zoombezzi Bay (the weekend before Memorial Day) - We went to Zoombezzi Bay twice this year. One time was in the middle of summer - it was warm, which meant ridiculous crowds and lines for popular rides that were easily over an hour. The other time was the weekend before Memorial Day. It was a little bit colder, but L and her friend could go on rides with practically no lines. Much like how our Spring Break trip helped avoid crazy National Parks crowds, there are definitely advantages to zigging when others zag. 

42) The Last of Us - I tend to stay away from most zombie related shows / movies, but probably the best TV series I saw all year was HBO's The Last of Us. The 3rd episode (Long, Long Time)  was particularly outstanding. 

43) The Bear Season 2 - Not just for the Coach K references (even if those didn't hurt) I really liked Season 2 of the Bear in a way that wasn't the case with an ok (not bad / not good) Season 1. My favorite episode (Forks) was focused on Richie at a fancy restaurant and had a few very memorable moments. 

44) Gastropod podcast - Generally my family doesn't care for podcasts on long roadtrips, but one that they have absolutely loved is the gastropod podcast about science / history of food. This was a recommendation by my sister and if you had to listen to one episode I would definitely go with the fascinating history of Nutmeg. 

Misc

45) Lola & Giuseppe's Trattoria - We had been looking for awhile for a great Italian restaurant and finally found what I consider to be the perfect little spot about 15 minutes from our home. J and I went there first and enjoyed the meal so much we had to plan another time for the whole family. We've now been there many times (because of the size, recommendations are highly recommended) and just absolutely love it. 

46) Marty & Matt's Visit to Columbus - For the longest time I've tried to get my friend Marty to come up to Columbus and finally was able to get her to come up for a weekend. We went to Lola's, had a best of Ohio night (Skyline, pierogis, Rooster's) and went to see the Buckeyes beat the Gophers. It was so much fun showing her and her husband around Columbus.

47) Working from home at Carter's - With my job I work with considerate people, do interesting work and have the flexibility from being a permanent remote employee. With L & J this has been a big advantage and something I know that isn't offered to everyone. 

48) Scioto Fest - The Metro Parks system here in Columbus is outstanding. Great parks, trails, etc. One of the best activities this year was "Scioto Fest" at Scioto Audubon Metro Park. They had bands, beer, rock climbing and we could go kayaking on the appropriately named Scioto River. This is definitely something I plan on doing again next year

49) Issue 1 - In a special election in August, Ohio voters rejected a bill that would make amendments to the Ohio Constitution to require 60% of of voters. This is a change from the current system where amendments pass with a majority of voters voting for one side. Considering how democracy in Ohio has already been negatively affected by extreme gerrymandering (this book about the 2010 midterms is outstanding) this would just be another way for Republican legislatures to prevent Ohio citizens from having a true voice. It was a shady (and costly) move to try and sneak this in August and personally I would rather not have spend an hour out of my day driving to the one early voting location.....but in the end Ohio citizens did the right thing and kept their right to change the constitution. 

50) Moshi - One of our favorite places was Moshi Sushi less than a mile away from our house. I looked it up and we went there 7 times in 2023. The food / atmosphere/ waitstaff are all great.

51) Stock market - Going into the year it seemed like everyone was talking about how bad the economy was and how we were due for a recession. And while I know the stock market is only one measure of the economy, it was a great year with the SP500 up 24%! It was a great year to be invested in stocks. 

52) Sunroom - we had a full year with our new sunroom and it's a been a wonderful addition to our house. I love going there after work and enjoying a new spot. 

K Academy: 2023

What's the best vacation you can think of? Relaxing at the beach? Touring famous cities? This year my family had probably our best family trip to Utah / Arizona over Spring Break, but for my money the best possible vacation is 5 days in Durham, North Carolina at K Academy. Thanks to my lovely wife, I went back to K Academy for the 2nd time. (I did this in 2019 and wrote about in this blog.) K Academy is a 5 day fantasy camp where you play basketball at Cameron Indoor Stadium and are coached by current & former Duke players. If you like basketball (check) and especially Duke basketball (check), it really is the absolute ideal experience.

This year I was drafted by Team Dallas. Team Dallas was coached by Duke assistant coach Jai Lucas, Duke legend Gene Banks, 4 year Duke player Sean Dockery and current Duke star Tyrese Proctor. I had a few concerns looking at our team at draft night just because it was obvious we were a short team. Slight concerns became bigger concerns as we went 0-2 the games the first days. We were short, turned the ball over too much, couldn't shoot well and struggled playing defense. 

M and the kids came to see K Academy and even with them being the stands our team lost the next two games on Thursday to bring our record to 0-4. Every night they show highlights from the games during the day and Team Dallas was NOT featured prominently. The one place we did show up was Duke's social media tweeted out our coach Jai Lucas who was mic'ed up for one of our losses. There were some less than flattering quotes, but it wasn't like Coach Lucas was wrong with his assessment of our team. 

We were losing and I couldn't shoot. The ball felt good leaving my hands and I could make shots in practice, but in the game situation it just didn't work out. I still LOVED being at Duke, but was definitely missing my 6-1 team from 2019. K Academy is extremely competitive (2 different games I played in had blood on the court) and it's not a shocking statement to say winning feels much better than losing. Our coaches were telling us were weren't play well (true) and we had quit (debatable) in a previous game. 

The good news is that despite the number of losses, I still enjoyed hanging out with the team. We had some really great people that helped make the losing better. 

We came into the playoffs on Sunday as the 10th seed (out of 10) thanks to our 0-5 record and were placed up against the 7th seed Team Denver. Team Denver had already beaten us once. Clearly Vegas doesn't produce lines for K Academy, but if they had we would have been big underdogs. We played inspired basketball and kept the close to till the very end. With one minute to go and down 2 we had the following three straight offensive possessions:

1. A loose ball scramble led to our point guard (who had played an excellent game) to pass me the ball on the wing. I let the ball fly, did a little skip and for the first time in a long time actually saw the ball go through the net. A 2 point deficit became a 1 point lead and I could finally feel some relief on hitting a 3 pointer.
2. One of the greatest lacrosse players of all time drove the ball for an acrobatic layup to stretch our lead to 3 points.
3. Up 2 points (Team Denver had hit 1 free throw before this) our best player (Brian) calmly hit both free throws to put us up 4 with about 5 seconds left.

Those free throws officially sealed the game for us and we celebrated as if we won the national title. I'm still kind of shaking from that win. We stayed together and easily played our best game of the week. Everyone was (is) so incredibly hyped from this win.

We moved on to face the 2nd seeded San Antonio at Cameron Indoor Stadium for a start time an hour after our game ended. Our legs were gone and almost an instant we found ourself down 16 points. We didn't win this game and it wasn't particularly close. The highlight for me came in the layup line before the game. Coach K tapped me on the shoulder and said to me "that was a very big shot. That is making our one shining moment!" I don't know what I looked like, but I was so shocked and happy that it is hard to properly describe. Coach K! Talking to me! About a shot I made! Talk about putting the fantasy in fantasy camp.

Some other observations from camp:

• Tyrese Proctor was a great coach. Very calming and positive person. Also, he showed up for way more games / practices than Alex O'Connell did when he was my coach in 2019. I already rooted for him before but I will be doing so even more next year.

• Gene Banks is quite the character and is filled with energy
• I can see why Jai Lucas is such a great recruiter. He told so many riveting stories over lunch.
• Jayden Schutt's one handed tomahawk dunk over Theo John was the highlight of the player's scrimmage
• The most impressive (not necessarily the best) was Jared McCain. He gets himself ready for the shot so well and then shoots it was so much confidence.
• Talking to Coach Scheyer on Saturday night was easily one of the top 5 highlights. He took time to actually talk to M and I about the 2010 national title. He also pulled Coach Lucas aside and told him at the draft that "you need to draft this guy because he can really shoot the ball." Compliments like that are just incredibly to hear....even if it wold have been better had we not been an 0-5 team at the time of the compliment. 
• Our victory on Sunday was without Coach Lucas. He needed to fly to Mexico to see the Boozer boys. The open question is that Coach Lucas was 0-6 last K Academy and started this year 0-5. Does he get the win from Sunday? It was his team, but he didn't coach it.
• One shooting highlight was I beat from coach (and former Duke great) Chris Duhon 7-6 (out of 10) in a 3 point contest during practice one day.
• It was so incredibly nice to have M, L & J there cheering Team Dallas on for every game. I wish we would have played better but it doesn't change the fact that it was so nice having them there.

Overall it was just an amazing experience. I am sore writing this right now, but with a smile on my face and thinking about trying to find a way to go back.