Lookin' Forward to Lookin' Back...

Found myself being a little reflective about this past year the other day. Thought I'd write a few thoughts down about it.

2006

The first quarter was taken up with Lindsay (#1) being sent to Ft. Myer, VA after completing basic training. Karen and I tried to get out there as much as we could. Being the leader of the local fife & drum corps took up a decent amount of time this quarter, mainly planning the upcoming season and annual tour to be held out east in August. At work, stress began to mount as the new housing market went into a severe tailspin (see quarter 2).

Quarter two was the one that really took it's toll. Mom went into the hospital April 20th, I lost my job on the 28th and she died two weeks later. Mostly, though, I look back on this three month period as a good one (surprisingly). I started my business and started biking and running (in earnest) again. We did manage to get out to Mercer, PA in May to catch Lindsay performing with her unit for the first time. This was the quarter that Jen (#2) graduated and got her license. June ended things up by being a very busy month for my fledgling enterprise (thankfully).

Last quarter was probably defined by the tour that I led out east in August with the corps. Got to see Lindsay again while we were out there (and fellow Apple, Yojimbo). The business continued to move forward (although taking the time off for tour didn't help) and I began to get a bit more confidence as a business owner. Another highlight was doing my first "Century Ride" (100 miles) on my 44th birthday in September.

This quarter, winter seems to be encroaching on the midwest a bit early (although today was in the mid 60's, it still "looked like" winter or, at least, late fall). Earlier this month I led my last caravan with the corps and officiated the annual year end banquet (complete with killer 1000 slide PowerPoint presentation). I'm looking forward to biking and running into the holidays and getting a solid week of hunting in during mid-November. Maybe even see me some Apples before the end of 2006.