2014 Year in Review

I keep a journal in which I write down things that happen each month. Some of the things are very important, some are very silly. Some I’d remember without writing down, some I want to make sure I don’t forget. Not all of them are appropriate to be shared but I like to share the ones that are.

Month by Month

January
– Decided to sell my car and become a one car family
– My dog had 14 benign growths removed
– My wife started a new job (a year later she still loves it)

February
– Applied for a job with ThinkUp
– Was hired by ThinkUp
– Our marriage was briefly recognized in Kentucky and then very quickly not recognized again

March
– Big snowstorm (well big for Kentucky)
– Began working for ThinkUp
– Fell sick with a GI bug, the sickest I’ve been in years in fact
– Got a gigantic federal tax refund compared to the previous 18 years of tax returns. Why? Turns out marriage is a huge freaking tax saver and the federal government recognizes our marriage

April
– Actually sold my car and we officially became a one car family
– Got new ceiling fans in the kitchen and master bedroom (Look, as a home owner you have to take note and be excited when you can)
– First night of Passover with the Zs, second night with the S-Ts

May
– Had to replace the downstairs toilet (see previous month’s note about being a home owner and taking note of things)
– Carpenter bee invasion
– Found out my nuclear family was planning a family vacation that my wife and I weren’t included in (it’s tacky to note this but it’s honestly what I remember most about May so there it is)

June
– Commandeered the remote control and turned off the “soap opera effect” on the tv in the bar at my favorite Thai restaurant
– Took our nephew to the Kentucky Science Center
– Vet thought Grace had cancer but thank goodness she did not
– Started consciously working to improve my handwriting
– The worst migraine of my life
– Started learning to knit again

July
– Went to a VFW hall to play bingo with friends (it’s way more fun than it sounds)
– A long stretch of perfect weather
– My wife got me a PS4 and a Batman cake for my birthday
– Finished re-reading the Game of Throne series of books
– Was asked to read Torah on Yom Kippur again

August
– Had a bat in our house
– Made plans to head to DC for our first wedding anniversary
– Emergency temporary med adjustment
– Grace had a series of bad infections and allergies. My poor sweet dog is on a million twelve meds now

September
– Went to Portland, Oregon for XOXO. It was an amazing trip overall and a spectacular conference. I’m very lucky I got to attend. I’m also obsessed with moving to Portland now.
– Saw Matisyahu in concert again
– LO/CJ clusterfuck that sprang from a concert of Jewish composers on Rosh Hashanah and the LO’s tone deaf response to criticism

October
– Celebrated our first wedding anniversary (a week late) in Washington DC. It was an amazing trip with a swank ass hotel suite, very good friends and so much good art and food
– The idea of bringing Menu and Hours back to life started to gain some traction in my brain
– Re-played a lot of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag
– Saw The Avett Brothers in concert (outstanding show)
– Brought this here blog back to life

November
– After several starts and stops I finally completed my first knitting project: a scarf, of course
– Found out my time at ThinkUp would be ending in December (startups are hard yo)
– Another Thanksgiving alone (it’s a tradition) playing lots of Assassin’s Creed Unity
– Thought more about what a back-from-the-dead Menu and Hours might look like and how it might be more sustainable this time around
– Handled some very adult financial planning stuff
– Re-launched Consuming Louisville
– Horrible decision by a panel of judges lets Kentucky pretend I’m not married for the foreseeable future

December
– With my time at ThinkUp done started looking for either a full time gig or to get back into freelancing full time (ThinkUp was always part time so I was still rocking the freelance hustle all year). At the moment I’m leaning more toward the former. I have a good offer I think I’m going to take.
– Celebrated the 6th night of Hanukkah with the Jewish residents of a nursing home/long term care facility
– Did a lot of baking
– My dad was briefly hospitalized for a heart procedure

Music Consumption

I use Rdio to listen to music about 90% of the time so their stats are the most revealing about my music habits for the year.

According to Rdio Matisyahu was the artist I listened to most while the album I listened to most in 2014 was actually released in 2011: Drake’s Take Care.

The songs I listened to most are in this embedded playlist.

The top 10 songs I listened to are:

Over My Dead Body by Drake
Welcome Home by Radical Face
Elastic Heart by Sia
Can’t Pretend by Tom Odell
Started From The Bottom by Drake
Everything Trying by Damien Jurado
Cover Me Up by Jason Isbell
I Wanna Get Better by Bleachers
I Go To Sleep by Sia
The Man by Aloe Blacc

Albums I purchased from iTunes or from Amazon this year:
A Love Like Ours by Dominique Toney
Black Messiah by D’Angelo
My Favourite Faded Fantasy by Damien Rice
Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone by Lucinda Williams
Akeda by Matisyahu

Movies/TV

I get so frustrated with the movie theater experience these days we nearly always watch movies at home. We did recently see Exodus: Gods and Kings in the theater but that was because it was a fundraiser for the Hebrew school that started at 9:45am. With Hebrew school teachers and rabbis in the audience I knew everybody was going to be on their best behavior (and they were!).

I can’t remember all the movies we rented at home this year and didn’t keep a list. I’ll do better in 2015.

My favorite new tv shows of 2014 are Jane the Virgin and Black-ish. The Shonda Rhimes Thursday night lineup of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder held onto my affection.