Trips
1) Gatlinburg - it's hard to plan trips during the pre-vaccine time period of Covid. The big things we wanted were 1) no flights 2) outdoor activities 3) plenty to do at the place we stayed. Gatlinburg ended up being perfect because we got a place that was specifically built for Airbnb customers...a place with a hot tub, indoor swimming pool, game room, movie room, etc. The kids loved the pool and we could spend most of our time at the place with our close friends.
2) Goatcoasters - our favorite part of the Gatlinburg trip was easily the Goatcoasters that were close to our house. I didn't know how L & J would do with something like this considering up till that point they seemed scared of any type of rollercoaster. (Example: L couldn't stand the rollercoaster at Disney World a few years ago.) Anyway, both kids absolutely loved it and we ended up riding it a few times over.
3) Florida trip - we went down to 30A for a big family trip and again centered the trip around 1) a nice place 2) pool. It's good that we did because the beach was less than ideal due to crowds and this new restriction where beach front areas are now treated as private beaches. We had a small (maybe 20 yards wide) area where we could set up at the beach, which made it even better that the house / pool were outstanding. One of my favorites from this trip was going out a nice outdoor meal at a place that was so good we ended up going twice. Also, I really enjoyed playing baseball with L and my nephews during the sunset time period.
4) Bucks in 6 - this could be in the sports section, but one of the best things about the trip was being able to watch games 5 & 6 of the NBA Finals with my nephews. Game 5 had the amazing steal and the alley-app dunk from Holiday to Giannis that literally ended with one of my nephews on the floor from celebrating too much. Game 6 was an all time NBA performance as Giannis had 50 points. Watching those games and that Finals in general was an unexpected joy.
5) Miami trip - I've been a Dolphins fan since I was a child rooting on Dan Marino, but for some reason had never actually seen a Dolphins home game. I made a plan with one of my closest friends (who also happens randomly to be a Dolphins fan) to remedy that situation this year. We planned a trip in December to see Dolphins / Giants. I invited a few friends and we cobbled together a guys' trip. The Dolphins won, the trip was well planned and we had a great time.
6) Back to flying in general - From January 2020 to September 2021 I didn't go on a single flight....since then I've been on a flight every month after. As a common theme throughout this post it was nice to get back to normal.
Family
7) Meeting baby Otis - It's hard to know the exact last time you ever do something, but for baby Otis there is likely a 99% chance this is the last family baby for both my wife's family or my family. It is wonderful having a new baby in the family and I look forward to seeing him grow up.
8) Meeting baby June - one of my closest friends from high school had her first baby this year and it was wonderful being able to meet baby June. I know it's a cliche, but you forget how small and cute babies are until you hold a new one.
9) J going to school - with our youngest child now in the public school just one block away from our house, we are officially finished with daycare. The benefits of this include the fact that daycare is expensive and it was slightly challenging managing two different schedules since daycare / school had different spring breaks and certain holidays. Also, J was given the kindergarten teacher that L had and one we really liked. This seems to be a great move and one that J has adjusted to very well.
10) Baseball with L - one somewhat random thing that we picked up this year was L really enjoying hitting plastic baseballs with a plastic bat. She is small for her age, but has a really impressive (in my completely biased opinion) swing.
11) Creeking with the girls - we tried to do more outdoor activities this year and one of those was going to explore the various Metro Parks around Columbus. The kids absolutely loved going into the creek and looking for crawfish. Most of the time we did this on our own and would spend hours hiking, getting muddy, making up games, etc.
12) J's personality - last year I wrote about how one of things I loved about the year was the age 4....well the good news is that the age of 5 is pretty amazing as well. For those of you with toddlers just stay the course (not that you have a choice) and get to the other side because 4 & 5 are just amazing ages. I'm finally at the point with my kids that I would be fine with them staying this age forever.
13) Sledding in February - one random winter day with a ton of snow we took the kids (and their cousins) sledding near the Franklin Park Conservatory and just had a blast!
14) Team Melon - I signed up to be a coach on J's soccer team and ended up getting placed as head coach. This was a surprise, but a very good one as I got to lead a team of U6 soccer players to a very successful year. We had a really great group of kids and it was fun seeing them improve at soccer throughout the year. I think we all had fun....and not just doing our team cheer.
15) Hearing my kids are kind in school - during our talks with L & J's teachers they both commented on how L & J are kind kids. That is awesome to hear and something that I hope is part of their permanent personality.
16) Picking up the kids at school at 4pm almost every day - my work schedule combined with both of them going to the same school and the proximity of the school to our home (1 block) means the default pickup time is 4pm. This is great in that it gives the kids about an hour of aftercare (which they seem to enjoy playing with their friends on the playground) plus some down time at home before dinner.
17) Zoo day with J - on a random day in May when M & L had another activity I took J to the Columbus Zoo. We spent about 7 hours just enjoying the animals, playgrounds, train rides, etc. With no other activities going on that day we could just linger on whatever thing we found interesting. It was such a joy to just have a relaxing day with my youngest. 
18) No one in the family got COVID - this should go without writing, but the fact that nobody in our family got COVID is somewhat of a miracle.
Food
19) Coffee - it's such a joy coming down from getting ready and see a pot of coffee ready. It helps me mentally get ready for the day.
20) New smoker - for my birthday this year I got a new Pit Barrel Cooker and I've now smoked ribs, brisket and a pork shoulder. I would highly recommend this if someone enjoys even the idea of smoking meat.
21) Cookies from Carter's - this year I interviewed for a new role at Carter's and during the interview process I got something completely unexpected (see below). I thought that was such a nice touch and while I was already certain I was going to accept the job (if offered) this really helped make me feel comfortable with the decision.
22) Lemon drink from M - occasionally for cocktail hour M will make me this lemon cocktail that is wonderful and a nice change of pace from the normal whiskey and coke or wine.
23) The steak at Forno - maybe the best one meal in Columbus is a steak at this Short North restaurant that isn't even known for steaks. It is a "petit filet in a gruyere mornay sauce" and it's the type of meal that I continue to look back fondly on.
24) Skyline - my kids absolutely love Skyline on roadtrips (strange food choice, but they love the pasta with cheese) and I absolutely love Skyline pretty much anytime. The only real issue is trying to decide between 3 or 4 cheese coneys.
25) Takeout from Del Mar - my favorite newish restaurant in Columbus was a Cameron Mitchell seafood place in the Short North named Del Mar. It felt different and I would recommend ordering the fish sandwich or the crispy skate.
26) Baking with the kids - L & J really took a liking to cooking this year with a special interest in baking. They will make their own cakes without a recipe and the result is a slightly sweet / dense cake that they love.
Misc
27) New job! I wrote about this in July, but I am very happy to be at Carter's working as the Senior Manager of Testing there. I truly love Testing and am happy with the culture at Carter's.
28) Vaccines- in March of this year I got a text from a friend saying there were vaccines available 2 hours south of Columbus in Pike County, Ohio. I reached out to the health services in Pike County and was able to get an appointment on a Friday for M and I. This was such a welcome development, and I was impressed with how easy it was. To recap it was 1) free 2) took a total of about 20 minutes (including the 15 minutes waiting in the car after) 3) helped me feel significantly more comfortable getting back to a "normal" life. This list isn't in order of importance, but if it was this might be number one.
29) Vaccines for the kids - the only difference from the above point is that we didn't have to drive to Pike County, and we had to promise ice cream after the shot.
30) New job - starting at a new company can be challenging, but so far I really enjoy the people and the culture at Carter's.
31) Strong retail sales - this has been a great year to be in retail with sales far exceeding plans for many companies. This has led to nice bonuses and additional job opportunities (like the one above). After a truly dreadful 2020 with stores closed, I appreciate swimming with rather than against the tide.
32) Working remotely - There are pros and cons to working remotely, but my opinion is that at this time of my life the pros vastly outweigh the cons. I am fortunate that I found a company that allows me to work remotely permanently.
33) Chickens - I speculated in last year's post that we would get more animals and our big acquisition this year were 5 chickens from L's 2nd grade class. We couldn't keep roosters, so we were left with three hens. Every morning we let them out and every night we make sure they are safe. In between we fill their water, throw them scratch and generally just enjoy being a chicken family. Very random, but it has worked for our family.
34) Jackson fixed the potholes - During my trips to Mississippi I enjoy walking in the neighborhood near my parents house. When I visited over the summer the walks always took me past epic potholes that you might expect to see in some dystopian novel about a failed city. However, when I came back in October the potholes were fixed! My Jackson friends assure me that doesn't mean all Jackson potholes have been fixed, but still I take this as a small sign of progress.
Entertainment
35) Reading Craig Calcaterra - every morning I get the "cup of coffee" thoughts from Ohio resident & baseball fan Craig Calcaterra. I appreciate his recaps on baseball, thoughts on local politics and general writing style.
36) Joe Posnanski Browns Diary - this is a repeat from last year, but this year's Browns diary has been especially amazing considering how up and down this year has been. It's become a Monday tradition to read about how the Browns should give the ball more to Nick Chubb, which might not sound exciting to others but I find to be interesting.
37) Kacey Musgraves - my daughters (especially my oldest) LOVE Kacey Musgraves and it is fun putting on her music. My favorite songs are Space Cowboy, Biscuits and Butterflies.
38) Cruel Summer (TV show) - my favorite show of the year was probably Hulu's intense teenage drama Cruel Summer. It was set over 3 years where the storyline progressed concurrently - meaning that each episode would should progression in the three years (1993, 1994 and 1995) it was set. Anyway, it was extremely entertaining and I felt like it did a perfect job of being intense without being too campy.
39) Introducing my nephew to Oscar to Risk - Risk was one of my absolute favorite games as a kid and it was fun playing it with my nephew. I am hoping we can have some long (and with Risk it will be long) games in the future.
40) No Filter (book) - my favorite book of the year was easily No Filter by Sarah Frier. The book takes you inside the rise of Instagram and while the subject matter is different it reminded of reading Bad Blood by John Carreyrou. It was interesting to see how Instagram was created, the origin of the filters and how the company introduced ads after being acquired by Facebook. I highly recommend this book.
41) The moral clarity of reading Adam Serwer - his articles in the Atlantic about the Supreme Court, Robert E Lee and American democracy are concise, thoughtful and clear. Serwer tackles a subject head on and doesn't seem to get distracted by irrelevant details or distractions. If I could have every politician read one writer it would be Adam Serwer.
42) Imposters (Tv show) - I found the acting, plot line, etc from this show on Netflix to be riveting. My advice would be to try the first episode and if you don't like it then don't waste your time with any more episodes. I thought it started off strong and maintained it all the way through 2 enjoyable seasons.
Sports
43) The return of crowds at sporting events. There will be more to come in terms of individual games I went, but just in general the return of crowds has been a huge improvement in 2021. I am sure eventually I will get used to it, but the contrast with 2020 made this year so much better. Places like Cameron Indoor Stadium just aren't the same without the fans. I felt like college basketball, college football and the NBA suffered the most without fans, but really everything seems better with people in the stands.
44) Crossing two new stadiums off the list - as you can guess from the blog title, one big thing is to go to a game at every major league stadium. This year I was lucky enough to go see Braves and Phillies home games. In a sign of my age, I've now been to 3 stadiums (Fulton-County Stadium, Turner Field and Truist Park) in Atlanta. As it currently stands, I've been to 25 of the 30 stadiums and only am missing games at Tampa, Boston, Oakland, Arizona and Texas. (I've been to a game at Arlington Stadium, but completely missed the 25 years the Rangers played at the Ballpark in Arlington)
45) Cooper Kupp - I've always loved watching Kupp play and tried to get him in fantasy with often mixed results. I'm glad I kept the faith and drafted him in both leagues. He has obliterated his competition and is easily the fantasy football MVP. He led me two 1st place regular season finishes and many moments of joy through the season
46) Great baseball players - I saw the top two National League players (Bryce Harper and Juan Sota) and the top three American League players (Shohei Ohtani, Vlad Guerrero Jr and Marcus Semien) plus other great players like Jose Ramirez, Freedie Freeman and Joey Votto.
47) Steph Curry - I've only seen Curry play once before and that was in between his breakout performance at my sister's school (Davidson) and his many MVP years in the NBA. Considering he is playing at an MVP performance this year I made sure to mark on my calendar when he was playing in Cleveland. I got a decent seat (1st row in the upper level) and saw Curry go for 40 points and the Warriors outscored the Cavs 36-8 in the 4th quarter for a comeback win.
48) First Ole Miss Game - I've written about this in detail, so if you want to check it out feel free.
49) Baseball Hall of Fame - my sister's family planned a summer roadtrip that had them going through Cooperstown. I was lucky enough to get the time off and visit the Baseball HOF with them. This had been something on my 40 before 40 list and it absolutely lives up to my expectation.
50) Jevon Holland - the Miami Dolphins 2020 draft had many misses, but the 2021 draft has looked to be very good and the main reason for this might be the 2nd round pick Jevon Holland. I hadn't heard about him before the draft and really wanted them to get a running back, but after watching Holland play, I can see why they made this move. Holland is officially on "jersey watch" as someone who could lead the Dolphins defense for the next 5 years.
51) The general competence of the Utah Jazz - while this year produced two of the most painful losses in my sports history (Games 5 & 6 against the Clippers), it is still awesome to watch a team that is very good. Besides some mistakes (passing on Bane) they generally do the correct thing. Draft players like Gobert / Mitchell, signing Bojan and picking up players like O'Neale have led to a team that was amazing last year and good again this year. I love seeing a team that is run well with likable players. They seem like they are in control both on the court and with their off court decisions. In contrast to the dysfunction of other teams it is just a nice change of pace.
52) The Waddle Waddle - the Dolphins have completely turned around their season and one reason why has been the great play for Jaylen Waddle. One fun thing is that after he scores a touchdown he does a penguin waddle. You can see it here or even buy a t-shirt of the Waddle Waddle.
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