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.
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