52 Things I Enjoyed about 2022

One thing that has become a relatively new tradition for the year is to look back at the previous year and pick out 52 things I enjoyed. I started this in 2020, which was a uniquely tough year with COVID, school shutdowns and layoffs. At the time it felt good to recap things that I enjoyed. I decided to do it again in 2021 and I wanted to do it again this year. Without further ado below are 52 things I enjoyed about 2022.

Trips

1) Wiseman House in South Bend, Indiana - in 2020 we went on an unplanned trip to Bloomington, Indiana with the family of two of my college friends and had a blast. One of the big keys was getting a place with an indoor pool. Anyway, we decided to upgrade that experience by inviting another family and also getting place with both a pool and a basketball court. It was extremely cold in northern Indiana in February, but staying inside and hanging out with friends / family was definitely one of the highlights of the year

2) Gatlinburg 2.0 - in 2021 we went on a spring break trip to Gatlinburg with family friends. We decided to do the same thing again this year, but did a lot more activities with less COVID restrictions / concerns. This included a pirate show, kids museum, nature hike, mini-golf and aquarium. 

3) Horseback Riding and the best dessert ever - One activity that we did was take the girls horseback riding in the Great Smoky Mountains. It was fun seeing J & L be so confident on the horses. I give some credit to the amazing meal we had before the ride. We did zero research and just went to the first decent looking place outside the park - The Park Grill. It turns out the Black Bear Brownie Bash is a dessert so good that the family still talks about it. Those provisions certainly gave us the energy for the horseback ride. 

4) Olympics 2.0 with my friend Micah - In a full day of activities I competed with the other Dad on the Gatlinburg trip in 10 competitions to see who would be crowned as Spring Break Olympics Champion. There were darts, Madden, air hockey, mini-golf, etc.....and thankfully  I came out on top 6-4. 

5) Bear Lake, North Carolina - the greater Malphurs family decided to try a new trip this year and go to the mountains of North Carolina. We absolutely loved Bear Lake! It was very secluded (both good and bad) with amazing views, a nice pool and an awesome house. 

6) Secret Falls Hike outside Bear Lake - One afternoon we went out to get lunch and go on a "moderate" hike to see a water fall. This was a recommendation from a friend and it was well worth the effort. It was gorgeous, not crowded and impressive that my 79 year old mother was able to complete. 

7) 24 Hours in Toledo - a random, but great trip this year was when I took the girls up to Toledo for a fossil hunt (L read about it in a local magazine), Tony Packo's, a MudHens game, an amazing breakfast (highly recommend Fowl and Fodder) and the Toledo Museum of Art. It combined a lot of what I enjoy with trips and was a perfect time with my daughters. 

8) 5 Hours at Miami University - it was a year of many short driving trips and the shortest one of the year was a quick trip back to Miami University. We walked around the campus, went to a Redhawks football game and enjoyed Bagel & Deli at the park. I wish we would have had more time, but it gets tricky to plan trips with both a dog and J's soccer schedule. Anyway, it was nice having time back where I spent 4 wonderful years. 

9) Perfect Reds baseball day - For Christmas last year I got passes to go on a ballpark tour of Great American Ballpark in Cincy. We planned a full day where we did the tour, had lunch and then went to an afternoon game between the Reds and the Rays. The Reds won on a walk-off in extra innings with the most impressive thing being that the entire family watched probably 80% of the game. It didn't hurt that it was an absolutely perfect day outside.

10) Sotto (best meal of the year) - after the Reds game we went to check into our hotel and was pleasantly surprised with an upgrade to a suite. The game and walking took awhile, but we were still hungry. In a somewhat risky move we decided to go to a fancy Italian meal in downtown Cincy. The food, atmosphere, wait staff and overall vibe was perfect. When I go back to Cincy I hope to go back to Sotto. 

11) Counting Crows in Indianapolis with the family - M had wanted to see one of her favorite bands for awhile, so we looked up tickets and planned a trip to Indianapolis to see the Counting Crows play at Holiday Park. It was awesome! The kids were well behaved (there isn't much better than other parents nearby complimenting them) and the Counting Crows were excellent. 

12) Planning Utah / Arizona trip - our big trip for next year is going out west to primarily see the national parks out there. While the trip hasn't happened yet it has been fun reading about both states and planning what we will do

13) 24 Hours in New Orleans - While back in Mississippi for Christmas, we planned an overnight trip to New Orleans where M & I enjoyed some excellent food and walking around New Orleans. That evening I took my BIL and nephews to go see the Bucks play the Pelicans. The game was close, the stadium was full and it was amazing seeing Giannis and Zion for the first time. 

Family

14) Rio - after much conversations, we finally decided to add a dog to the family! Rio has been such a great addition to the family. I take him on plenty of walks and he gets more than enough snuggles from my daughters. 

15) Rio chasing after tennis balls - Rio is a medium sized dog that we think is a mix of beagle and cocker spaniel. Something in his DNA gives him an extreme ability and interest in chasing tennis balls. It's super fun to throwing or hitting a tennis ball and seeing Rio run after them. He never seems to get tired in general or specifically of the idea of chasing after tennis balls.

16) Team Melon / J scoring goals - I signed up to coach J's soccer team again and we had a great year! J went from more of a focus on defense (as she says it) to playing a little more offense. This was the first year we played against goalies and despite that extra layer of defense J was able to get a few goals. Of course the important thing is that everyone seemed to have fun.

17) Home Addition - much in the spirit of a lot of our neighbors in Bexley, we got a taste of the home improvement bug. We were able to find a good builder (who ended up being great!) and over the course of the back half of the year we saw as the backyard transformed from normal to a giant hole to an outline of an addition and then finally to a full new room. 

18) M's 40th birthday party - M had a pretty big birthday this year so I planned a big party at the Franklin Park Conservatory complete with out of town guests, a band, a photographer and a brunch. The goal was to get some of our favorite people around to celebrate such a big day. 

19) Blue Jackets with Oscar - my nephew loves the Blue Jackets and I've enjoyed taking him to a few games this year. Hockey will never be my favorite sport, but I love his passion for the game and the Jackets are an enjoyable live sports experience 

20) Sledding outside the conservatory - we've taken the kids sledding a few times and they absolutely loved this one cold day outside the conservatory. This is a repeat from last year's list. 

21) L's 4H - L got pretty into 4H this year in terms of attending meetings and also presenting at the Franklin County Fair. It was awesome to see her love for animals manifest itself into a group.

22) "L is a kind classmate and has a positive attitude" - her teacher. Earlier I wrote about other parents complimenting our kids behavior....in that same vein I love getting reports back on both L & J's personalities. 

23) J's funny sayings - J is very open, honest and direct and with an ever expanding vocabulary it is a treat to see what she will say at any moment. 

24) Anniversary dinner with kids at Martini - for our anniversary this year we all dressed up and had a nice meal in downtown Columbus. It's fun to doing these things with our family.

25) Sausage balls, edam cheese and the comforts of home - one of the pleasures of coming home is the familiarity of eating some of the appetizers prepared every single year. I enjoy looking forward to it every year and am pleased with our traditions. 

26) The kids being able to independently walk 0.2 miles to and from school - one of the great things about where we live is the elementary school that both L & J go to is so close to our house. We normally walk them to and from school, but occasionally we let them make the trek by themselves. It's nice to live in a safe / walkable community.

27) Being the godfather for Otis - M and I drove up to Carey, Ohio to attend and participate in Otis's baptism. Afterward we had an excellent breakfast in downtown Carey. It was great spending time with family and I felt honored to have been chosen as Otis's godfather.

Sports

28) Mitchell to Gobert against the Mavs - It's been a strange two years as a Jazz fan. The 2020-2021 team was the best team in the regular season and had a good chance of winning the title. It all came crashing down with 4 straight losses (each more painful) against the Clippers, but expectations were still high for the 2021-2022 team. That team never really figured it out and despite individual excellence from Gobert / Mitchell it was a disappointing year that eventually ended up with the team blowing things up and trading them. I miss rooting for both of them on the Jazz. The last good moment for those two was the game 4 comeback win against the Mavs that ended in a great pass from Mitchell to Gobert. It's weird because one could make the case it was meaningless (they didn't win the series or even another game), but at the time it  made me jump up and down like a child on Christmas morning. That seems meaningful to me. 

29) The Dolphins 21 point 4th quarter comeback against the Ravens - The Dolphins completed one of their most surprising wins ever when Tua was NBA Jam level hot in the 4th quarter throwing TD passes to Waddle / Hill. At the time it both stood by itself as an amazing game and also seemed to suggest a "new Dolphins" that would compete for AFC East division and a long run through the playoffs.

30) Dolphins at Bears - In a picture perfect day in Chicago, I was able to see the Dolphins win a very high scoring game against an improving Bears team. This was my 6th stadium (Miami, Cincy, Minnesota, Green Bay & Indy) where I've seen the Dolphins win a game. It was nice adding a new stadium to that list.

31) Patrick Mahomes - It was a weird year in fantasy (started 2-5 thanks to Akers / Moore / Pitts) that has ended both good (making the playoffs, winning a playoff game) and bad (an all time loss in the semifinals), but one constant through it all is the overall excellence of Patrick Mahomes. I love rooting for him and despite it being somewhat routine (he does it every year) it is still shockingly amazing. 

32) Tony Pollard - For a couple years now I've thought Tony Pollard has the potential to be an amazing running back. This year I drafted him in fantasy for a ridiculously cheap price and then watched him lead my team (him + Mahomes) to the playoffs. 

33) Jeremy Roach in the tournament - so the tournament didn't end as any Duke fan would want. Losing to UNC in Coach K's final game was tough. Still the tournament provided a lot of joy. There was the well-played game against Michigan State that effectively ended on a pull up 3 from Jeremy Roach. Then there was the best game of the tournament (in my opinion) between Duke and a veteran Texas Tech team. That game also ended with clutch Roach shots. There isn't much better than watching your team get hot during March Madness and to have some memorable plays and a Final Four appearance.....not too bad for Coach K's last run. 

34) Duke at Louisville with Megan - on a cold day in January I met my friend Megan (she drove up from Nashville) for a fun Duke win at the Yum Center in Louisville. AJ Griffin was amazing and we celebrated the win eating an excellent burger across the street at SideBar. It was great catching up with my friend and hearing about her move back from Switzerland to Nashville. 

35) Multiple Clippers games with the family - we really got into the grove going to probably 5-10 Clippers games this year. We even got to bring Rio to two "bark in the park" games, which was fun. The girls still love telling the story about him eating an entire hot dog. 

36) Bucks / Pelicans with my BIL and nephews - this was listed above, but one of the highlights of the year were lower level tickets to see Giannis and Zion. I had been to a previous Pelicans game (pre-COVID) and the atmosphere was fine, but it's amazing to see how Zion has transformed the games. It was a mostly full arena and everyone really seemed to be invested in the game.

Entertainment

37) Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe - easily the best book I listened to all year. It continues a theme with the next book on the list of showing extremely wealthy people (in this book multiple generations of the same family) who have what seem to be no ethics. I truly don't understand people with all the money in the world, making life so incredibly awful for so many people. Keefe did an excellent job of showing the full history of the Sackler family in a way that reminded me of David Halberstam. It would have been easy to just go with the facts (how many opioid pills were distributed, how many people died, etc) but showing the context of how we reached that point made the story fascinating. I highly recommend this. 

38) The Man Who Broke Capitalism by David Gelles - this book wasn't as well reviewed as the Empire of Pain, but I enjoyed hearing this writer provide both a biography of Jack Welch and a critique on our modern system. The greed (common theme as Empire of Pain, White Lotus, Succession, etc) and lack of ethics from Welch makes one wonder why he was ever such an American Icon. 

39) Reign of Terror by Spencer Ackerman - I don't mean to read just depressing books, but this was a really good read for anyone looking to learn more about the "war on terror" and the depressing side effects. I wish our country spent more time / money on solving problems like mass transportation, affordable housing and healthcare....and less time / money on military operations. 

40) Carly Pearce - Thanks to a vox article, I was introduced to Carly Pearce and really enjoyed her music. I would like to see if she comes through Columbus because she isn't quite as popular (yet) as someone like Kacey Musgraves

41) The Seven Habits That Lead to Happiness in Old Age - By Arthur Brooks - one of my favorite articles and series in general is the "How to build a life" column in the Atlantic. This specific one is worth a read as it's short and has specific advice on things that could increase your happiness in the long term. I feel like I do a pretty good job of not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight and prioritizing daily movement....but could certainly improve with learning and (outside my core family) developing long-term relationships. 

Misc

42) 19nine - my favorite company right now is a retro college basketball company based out of Evansville, Indiana. This year they came out with a 2008 Davidson line, quarter-zips (one I am wearing as I write this) and introduced schools like Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Also, the entire St. John's mid 90s options are close to perfect.

43) Carter's - I enjoy the place I work and the people I work with, which is something I can appreciate more as I've worked for companies on the range from good to bad. 

44) Trips to Atlanta - this year I flew into Carter's Headquarters approximately 6 times and it's nice having a routine with same flights, train, breakfast, etc. Plus the added bonus of actually being the great people I work with in person.

45) Pigs in a blanket, chocolate milk and catching up with old friends - one of my absolute favorite things about being back in Mississippi is visiting the parents of my high school friend. They ask great questions, spoil my kids and generally we just have an excellent conversation. I feel lucky to have these people in my life. 

46) The rejection of (most) of the election denying Republicans - the red wave didn't come to fruition with the Republicans getting the House, but barely missing out on the Senate. It was about as good of a possible outcome for Democrats. Importantly most of of the most out the Republicans lost. Our democracy is in trouble thanks to things like voter suppression, gerrymandering and the Big Lie. It makes me worried when we can't accept basic rules or facts with the election. The 2022 election didn't solve it, but thankfully it didn't make it worse. 

47) Schiller Park - we have a wonderful park in the middle of German Village where we take Rio and let him enjoy seeing other dogs while also chasing both squirrels (he never catches them) and tennis balls. 

48) The Ohio State Fair - one of my favorite yearly activities is going to the Ohio State Fair and this year I took my kids + my nephew for a Wednesday night of fun. We did a lot of rides, the big slide and ate some excellent food. It's just a lot of fun for myself and also to see it through the eyes of my children. All things considered (cost, connivence and lack of crowds) makes the Ohio State Fair about 1000X better than Disney. 

49) Come From Away with M - I had seen this play in New York a few years ago and was excited to see it with M when they came to Cbus. It did not disappoint. 

50) The Ringer Fantasy Football Show - my favorite podcast of the year might not have done the best job of helping me with my fantasy teams (they really didn't like Josh Jacobs going into the year as an example), but I loved their personalities. It was a favorite of mine to listen to them recap the Sunday games on every Monday morning

51) Halloween - it was great seeing the kids dress up, hang out with my parents and see the entire neighborhood come out for a fun evening. Also, I loved being a kid again and dress up as Felipe Lopez.

52) Spending New Year's with kids super excited to stay up to midnight - it's crazy seeing your kids get older, but it such a joy and I'm glad to finish a new year and start 2023.

Politics shouldn't be this important

Politics wasn't something I talked about with my high school friends. It didn't come up on the basketball team. It didn't come up when going to see movies or play ping pong with my friends. It just wasn't a considering factor in my life. I vaguely remember the 2000 election, but didn't track it and didn't really care who won. 

Politics wasn't a factor in where I went to college. I heard about Miami University being a "conservative school" but that didn't really matter much.

Politics didn't matter when I was deciding who to date in college. I didn't ask or care who my college girlfriend voted for in the previous election. 

Politics didn't matter when I was deciding who to date in my first job out of college. It was more of a factor than in college, but even then it was still more of a curiosity than anything else.

Politics wasn't something something M and I discussed when deciding to move from Minnesota to Ohio. I knew that Ohio was a "swing state" that at the time of the move had gone +5% for Obama in 2008. At the time I probably wouldn't have wanted to move to an extremely red state, but really I doubt I would have wanted to move to an extremely blue state either.

Now it does matter. I wish it didn't. I wish I could go back to the time periods discussed before. I can't stand finding out about how Republican rigged elections in 2010 in Ohio. (Please read David Daley's account of that in this excellent book on gerrymandering.) I don't know if I will ever get over how Mitch McConnell just didn't even have a hearing on Merrick Garland, but was completely fine with rushing to confirm Amy Comey Barrett. I've read more about the electoral college and find it an absolutely insane way of electing a president. Things like voter suppression laws or not counting votes because signatures don't match are undemocratic. Trying to overturn the 2020 election both with violence and more importantly through actual votes (147 congressional Republicans voted to overturn the election). Holding a huge conservative conference in a country (Hungary) that somewhere between an actual democracy and an authoritarian rule is sad and worrisome. It is something that once you learn about is extremely hard to unlearn. There seems to be one side that extremely cruel (Adam Server's book the Cruelty is the Point is worth reading) and dedicated to operating in bad faith, with a distrust of American citizens and generally a warped sense of reality.

I haven't gotten into what's been the result of the above paragraph, but as I write this today I don't feel great about the future for my two daughters. I could go on and on (do we really think more guns will make things safer....really?) about the implications, but that's not really the points I am trying to make. The two main points are:

1. Things aren't fair and not just in a "sometimes bad luck happens" kind of way. They aren't fair because of deliberative actions that are overwhelmingly done by one politcal party. It's hard to have a functioning democracy when only one 1 of the 2 political parties cares.
2. I really wish politics didn't matter as much. This should be a boring conversation about top marginal tax rates and zoning. Heck I would even take the old conversations about who was "better to get a beer with" in regards to presidential candidates. I used to somewhat enjoy debating politics with people. Now it's just an echo chamber from people that agree with me or people who believe that climate change is just a hoax by George Soros and the Chinese government. 

Anyway, it makes me frustrated / upset / worried to live in a country where politics seems to matter this much. I could add more to that, especially after the recent decisions from the Supreme Court, but in the interest of time I am going to leave this be for a little bit. 

52 Things I enjoyed about 2021

In attempt to find joy in the objectively bad year of 2020, I came up with a list of 52 Things I enjoyed about the year. I felt like was a worthwhile exercise and something I wanted to do again this year. Similar to last year I have different sections. This list is in no particular order. 

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.

How I got my Grove back

Individual decisions or moments can all make sense on a one-off basis, but somehow when you look at them in total they defy belief. For example in any given year the odds of the Dolphins winning a playoff game should be less than 50%...but how does that add up to 21 consecutive years of the Dolphins not winning a playoff game. (Unfortunately the same example applies to one of my other favorite teams as the Minnesota Twins have lost 18 straight playoff games. Losing one playoff game makes sense, but 18 in a row is impossible.) 

As a sports obsessed native Mississippian it is hard to believe that up until Saturday I had never been to an Ole Miss football game. Just like the above it makes sense that any given year I would have been busy or it wouldn't have made sense to travel from Minnesota / Ohio to northern Mississippi, but over the course of 38 years it just doesn't make sense.  A few years ago I decided to add “go to an Ole Miss game” on my 40 before 40 list, but really it took COVID (and the great pause with sports) to give me the proper motivation to actually do something about it. And if I was going to do it, I wanted to do it right and not just try to check a box. Doing it right in this case meant reaching out to one of my closest friends and enlisting her and her wonderful husband’s help in planning the trip. They were uniquely qualified for a few reasons:

1. They both went to Ole Miss
2. They had a spot / tent in the Grove to tailgate
3. Matt happens to be a bigger Ole Miss fan than anyone is a fan of anything

The next step was picking the game. I didn’t want to come see Ole Miss cross some directional school (and as a graduate from a MAC school this is no disrespect to small or mid-sized schools) or lose by 40 to Alabama. It was hard to know how good Ole Miss would be coming into the season, but I thought picking a mid-level SEC opponent would make the most sense. And the mid-level SEC opponent just happened to be a school (Arkansas) that has produced some of the strangest games in college football history.  So I had the right people, the right game and all things lined up for a great experience. 

So how was it?

Absolutely.

Amazing.

First off the game was exactly what you would expect from an Arkansas / Ole Miss game. The teams combined for 1287 yards and 103 points. It isn’t fair to say it came down to the last second because the game actually came down to one untimed play that determined which team won. Here are some notes:

• There were two players currently projected to be 1^st round picks in the 2022 NFL draft: Ole Miss’s QB Matt Corral and Arkansas’s receiver Treylon Burks. Both players looked unstoppable 
• 6 (!!!) players rushed for over 80 yards. It didn’t seem to matter who was running the ball because they could get 5-10 yards every single time
• Arkansas’s QB played a great game with both his passes and his runs. I looked him up and he was born May 20^th, 2001…..which is right around the same time I was graduating high school. 
• Some of the long throws from Matt Corral were majestic and it was easy to see why he is going to be a 1^st round pick
• There is special amount of pressure when its an 11am game and the tailigating is going to happen after the game. It was hard not to think about how salty people would be if Ole Miss lost. 
• The play came down to a 2 point conversion attempt by Arkansas after they scored a TD with no time on the clock. It was absolutely the right call because neither team’s defense looked great, but for some reason Arkansas tried a rollout pass. There didn’t seem to be a great play design and the ball fell harmlessly to the ground. 
• The level of joy / relief in seeing that ball and the overall quality of play made this one of the best games I’ve ever attended. It’s not up to the 2015 National Title or Game 163, but wow that was such a great game. If you want to see a picture of pure joy check out my seatmate / host for the weekend:

After the game we all went to the Grove. The Grove is consistently rated as one of the top tailgating experiences in college football and it lived up to the hype. Again I felt lucky to be with people who actually knew what they were doing, which meant organizing the food, drinks and having a tent. It was awesome to walk around enjoying a libation while talking to people I used to know (a few from high school) and strangers I just met. Below is a picture of the crew I was Groving (not one person ever said that, but I am going to assume that it will take off after this post) with. 

A few noteworthy experiences from after the game. The Grove is huge party with many social interactions. 

• There is a rhythm to interacting in Mississippi and I tried my best to remember the appropriate cadence of my home state.
• I can talk football with anyone, but I had to remember I was squarely in SEC country. At one point I tried to explain the MAC to a friend and not only was it not successful it led to a question about if Ohio State was in the MAC.
• The food was great - both at the Grove and all weekend. It started on Friday was an absolutely amazing fried chicken burrito with yellow rice and queso. That was so good that if I went back to the same place I would make the same order. It ended on Saturday night  with excellent 1am chicken on a stick from a very busy gas station. In between there were many chick-fil-a chicken nuggets, brownies, sandwiches, etc. I was well-fed and Oxford as a food city lived up to its reputation. 
• You want an example of free market capitalism at it's finest....it's one bar's cover being $40 and that easily being the most reasonable option. If it's Saturday night after a big game then you might as well price your cover at a high market rate. (There were enough people inside which more than justifies the pricing decision.)
• I stayed at a friend's condo that was within walking distance of the stadium, Grove and Square. Mississippi is not normally filled with walkable communities, but that thankfully wasn't the case in Oxford. Part of me wonders if some Mississippians have such an affinity towards Ole Miss because it's the rare place where you don't need a car.

Anyway, it's been over a week and I am thrilled I got to go to Ole Miss for a game. It truly is a remarkable sports cultural experience. I'm lucky to have friends that were able to give me this opportunity. 

 

 

The Lexus and the Pothole

I was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. My parents still live there. Recently I actually was interviewed for an article in Mississippi Today about why millennials leave Mississippi. Mississippi is my home and it is where I am writing this blog post. As I think about Mississippi I think about the contradictions that have always existed, but even seem more pronounced now. Mississippi has the nicest people in the world, but also people that continue to elect politicians like James Eastland, Tate Reeves and Cindy Hyde-Smith. 

One contradiction that I keep going over is the Lexus and the pothole. I have zero data to back this up, but the Jackson area seems to have an absurd amount of luxury cars and potholes. People correctly assume Mississippi is a poor state, but it is a poor state with a ton of rich people. There seems to be extreme income inequality that produces a few logical outcomes:

-Jackson public schools have a terrible local reputation. But there are 3 good private schools in the Jackson area. (I went to one of these 3 schools)

-Jackson roads are truly awful with potholes the size of a large dog. But there are plenty of rich Mississipians avoiding their potholes in their luxury cars

-Jackson has wonderful homes, but homes that are surrounded by large gates and I assume elaborate security systems.

-Jackson has a nice Apple store - guarded by police officer with a very visible gun (so not a mall cop by any stretch).

-Mississippians are kind / wonderful people who will welcome you in a way I haven't seen living in Ohio / Minnesota. Mississippians (relative to the rest of the country) also won't get vaccinated. In the past 24 hours I've learned one friend of a friend testing positive for COVID after she refused to get vaccinated. I've learned of two incidents at work where people have come into the office unvaccinated and unmasked and later tested positive for COVID. One of those people was not vaccinated, felt sick and still came into work and eventually passed along to Cover to her coworker. 

It is hard to get over the contradictions. It is hard to reconcile in my mind how much I love Mississippi but can not stand what Mississippians do. At my low moments I shake my fist at the sky and curse the individualist culture here that shows up in their votes, concerns and actions. I don't really know what else to write or if this makes much sense. It is all just so frustrating. 

New Job

One year ago I was working from home for a retailer (Victoria's Secret) in the Finance department. I loved the job, my team, the work and everything besides the drama that is partly COVID and partly pre-COVID related but ultimately means possible layoffs. It likely would have been smart to look for a new job instead of waiting things out, but I didn't want to proactively leave when I thoroughly enjoyed the company and trusted my leaders. 

One year ago I was preparing for a family vacation to the Florida panhandle with my family. We had canceled the first trip due to COVID and only felt comfortable taking this trip due to certain precautions (we all quarantined before the trip). It wasn't the normal place we vacation, but still it was likely going to be a fun trip. 

This year I am also preparing for a family vacation to the Florida panhandle with my family. COVID has thankfully calmed down considerably from last year (even though there are still people who won't get a vaccine which very much confuses me). It is the normal place we vacation and I am sure it will be a great trip.

The big difference is that I am no longer working from home. If you had given me a brief snapshot I would have thought it was because I was let go from Victoria's Secret and then didn't find a job for a year. The first part is true (I was let go), but thankfully it didn't take too long before I found a similar role at DSW. The reason I am no longer working from home is that I quit my job at DSW. I am grateful for the opportunity they gave me and all that I learned, but the reason I could quit was I found a better job leading Testing at Carter's. 

It has been a very strange journey with Carter's. Originally the role needed to be based in Atlanta and I thought it would be my last conversation with them when I said that I needed to be located in Columbus. That changed and now I am going to be fully remote (with trips to Atlanta 6 times a year). I set up a desk / office space yesterday (I've been working from a cardboard table for 1.5 years) and now I am ready to go. The people at Carter's seem like exact kind of coworkers I loved at Victoria's Secret / Honeywell - they are smart, personable, funny and they ask challenging questions without coming across negatively. 

The State of the Utah Jazz

I've been a Utah Jazz fan for a long time. I can't remember the exact date, but somewhere in the early to mid 1990s I decided that yep out of all of the NBA teams this was going to be my favorite. Now this was a strange choice considering the Jazz weren't the best team in the NBA and I lived in Jackson, Mississippi. I really liked John Stockton (thanks basketball cards) and there was an appeal in picking a very good team, but not the best test. And for the first years of my fandom things worked out very well. The Jazz went from good to really good (1997 when they lost in the NBA Finals) to really, really good (1998 when they should have won the title had they not called Eisley's shot off, made the right call on the Harper shot or called the push-off on MJ). But they didn't win the title and eventually time caught up on Stockton / Malone.

Then a strange thing happened - without Stockton / Malone the Jazz still played well. They rebuilt relatively quickly and soon they had Deron Williams, Kirilenko, Boozer and Okur. They made the Western Conference Finals in 2007 and had a few other semifinals loses. (In the same ways that the Minnesota Twins always seemed to lose to the Yankees, the Jazz always seemed to lose to the Lakers). They never won the title, but they were good and enjoyable to watch and there is value in that.

And then they had to go another rebuild - this one seemed longer than the first one, but when it was over the Jazz had two All-Star caliber players with Rudy Gobert and Gordan Hayward. They won a great playoff series against a more high-profile team (the LA Clippers) before losing in the semifinals (like the Williams / Boozer / Okur Jazz teams). Then Jazz fans suffered an amazing whiplash of Hayward leaving (and ruining the 4th of July) followed by the Jazz drafting one of the best players in franchise history - Donovan Mitchell. It seemed like the fates aligned to replace Hayward with Mitchell and everything went as scheduled. That schedule has led to always making the playoffs, but essentially knowing that the best possible scenario is winning 1-2 games in the Western Conference semifinals. 

The Utah Jazz are currently up 2-1 in the Western Conference semifinals. This would have been their ceiling over the past two decades, but things are different now. The Jazz finished the year with the best record in the NBA and truly have a great team. They also have gained fans with Vegas oddsmakers and analytics websites like 538. They are are the Western Conference favorite. It is the first time since 1998 that a title is a legit possibility with this team. And it is making both extremely happy and incredibly nervous. 

At this very moment I am just hoping that both Mike Conley and Donavan Mitchell are healthy for Game 4 and that the Jazz can steal a win in LA. I am trying to be too upset that the Jazz have played their last three games without Mike Conley (their 3rd best player) and that Mitchell looked hurt at the end of Game 3. The Clippers are one of those "super teams" that brought together Paul George and Kawhi Leonard to win a title, so it feels like the mostly homegrown Jazz will need every single good player to play at their best to win. They seem relatively lucky to be up 2-1 despite being shorthanded. 

It's dumb to get too far ahead of the series, but if the Jazz win they are very, very likely to play the Phoenix Suns. That would be an incredibly difficult series, but also one that they could win. And then they would likely play the New Jersey Nets - another incredibly difficult series, but also one that they could win. Essentially they have 3 rounds of tough games, but also games that the Jazz can win. It is the perfect combination of the Jazz being incredibly good and this year's NBA being way more open than normal. 

Anyway, the Jazz could win it all and I am really hoping that I can post on this blog in the future about the NBA Finals coming to you live from Salt Lake City.