So this is 2015

So where's my flying car? I know the answer to that one. There are power supply problems, and they never did solve the problem of the nut behind the wheel. (hyuk hyuk hyuk)

So far, it's looking much like 2014, but I suppose that shouldn't be a surprise. Many people have big plans for the year. Some of my buddies are making plans for races. Some have given up on race plans. So far, I have just one race on the schedule. Team K&M is signed up for Calgary 70.3 and I'm doing the wet part! Give them a big hand, folks! His first relay, and her first half iron bike and run. July 26, put it on your calendar. See you there.

I have been mulling over having another go at a marathon. Last year I dialed it back to a half marathon and struggled. While my leg and hip are feeling better, I don't think I want to start marathon training any time soon. Let's have a go at that gradual build thing I've struggled with so much.

Speaking of fitness, there were a couple swims I haven't told you about yet.
December 31 was a little quickie, only a K, 18:45 nice and easy, just to keep the water feel. The hard part was dodging floaties.
January 1 Katie invited me along to help her swim LONG! Her, not me. She is such a champ. She was a little over 2 hours, aiming for 10K I think. My goals were much more modest. 1 hour, a variety of stuff, which I did. One of them was experimenting with the CSS timing. I don't think I'll make any changes for now.

The last things I did in the year was breakfast at Galaxie Diner (one of the best breakfast places in town! except for MC, since I don't think they've even heard the words gluten-free.) since I had a few minutes before MEC opened. Everyday walking around shoes. In and out. WBTYM! Then Mark's, on a secret mission. Done, yay me!

We went to an awesome New Year's Eve party. A bunch of grownups catering to the whims of a bossy and very well behaved 5 year old. She did good for being surrounded by a bunch of adults that just wanted to sit and chat while nibbling good food, though we did watch Frozen, complete with a sing along and spoilers.

Then I was up early for the aforementioned swim. I spent most of the afternoon in bed, napping. It was wonderful. This is one of the great attractions of retirement, you can nap whenever you want.

It's been snowing hard here starting about noon today, and I've been working hard on relaxing. Yes. My hip and leg are feeling much better, so I'm hoping the long break from running has finally taken hold. I was down doing a good stretch session, and that seemed to help. I don't think I'm going to rush out and try to run right away. Let's see if the feeling good sticks around. Too many of my buddies have re-injured themselves by starting workouts too soon. I'm willing to give things as long as they need.

I have made essentially no progress on the novel. Any of the three of them. Thinking. Really.

A bit more basement tidying got done, but the terrifying task was the junk drawer. Every house has one, at least. Come on, man up and admit it. Your house has one too. I had not known we had 8 decks of playing cards in there. But the important thing that was found was a small bag with the little pin and tool needed to set the hinges on several of our doors.

We found out today that the beautiful door handles we bought had been poorly installed. The doors themselves were done fine, but the locks weren't. Our one latch had stopped working. The locksmith that came took one look and winced. He popped things off and took a look. There's nothing broken, and nothing wrong that a bit of fiddling and tuning won't fix. It's just that it could take several hours, and he was booked for 1.

We asked him to look over the other doors and found a few other problems. One is that the door between your garage and house is supposed to shut by itself. We have the hinge that does that, but they never set it up that way upon installation. Code violation! So he's going to do that as well, and what he needs was in that little bag, which was in the junk drawer.

Along the way to get there I excavated the closet shelf. There are a bazillion each scarves, hats, and pairs of gloves or mittens. By actual count. Celina was trying to rescue anything with fur, which complicated life. When I didn't find the little bag, I got everything else mostly sorted out. Really, I need to put another shelf there.

Along the way I dealt with the huge pile of books that needed ISBN codes scanned. We have enough books that the insurance company won't pay out unless we provide a list, or evidence that we have a great many books. Which we do. I used to enter them into a list, but that format went obsolete. Then I got a bar code scanner, and that works really well for modern books, but some of the older ones don't seem to be in the database, and some of our books were published before ISBN was created. Here's some of the books, ready for transportation to the basement library. Which makes me wonder. I could get the scanning program on the laptop, and plug in the scanner. I wonder how long it would take to scan all the books, and have one complete list?

Plus a pretty sunset, just because.

I had to look at my phone to realize it was Friday today. Monday I go back to work. This little mini-break has gone by very quickly, and it's been wonderful. Hope that you had some time with your family and a chance to relax a bit.