This past year has been rather busy, as I like to keep most years. I’ve written 117 blog posts for betterlivingthroughpython. That’s just under an average of 10 blog posts a month. Knowing my blog posts tend to be about 250 words on average (with many going over and some going below), that makes a total of at least 29,250 words on my blog.

With regards to programming I’ve done quite a bit, however my new job has slowed it down. Not that I’m trying to say anything about my new job and the financial stability it brings (not to mention the awesome people I work with). However, it would be false to say I devote the same amount of time to programming that I did before.

With my personal discovery of Codecademy I’ve been able to make significant strides in my programming education. I can now say that I have a much more thorough understanding of javascript and python. I also have some rudimentary understanding of Ruby syntax.

I’ve continued to work on my game Science Fiction Tower Power, but I did not reach my goal of the year to finish it. I did, however, create a Chrome extension for my favorite indoor soccer website, and they seemed to like the idea so much that they made one of their own! That was an awesome success simply because I made something useful and I seemed to encourage another entity to do the same. Doesn’t matter I didn’t make any money, that new calendar addition they made has made my life TONS easier.

I also created and designed my new blog at pythonliving.flaminglunchbox.net. Through this I learned how to use Github. I had a great time doing this, and it was a fantastic learning experience. It greatly increased my knowledge of HTML and CSS.

On a more personal note, here are some things I’ve done that aren’t blog and business related. I took a vacation around Southern Oregon with my family, went rafting for the first time and camped yet again at Gordon Lakes. Which, I have to say, the trip to Gordon Lakes was absolutely fantastic! Not only was the weather Ridiculously Awesome, but fantastic friends joined us (Tiana, Jason and family, Jens, Gium, Josanna and Gary). It was a great trip.

I’ve continued to play soccer, greatly enjoying the friends I’ve gathered from this over the years. I tried off and on to get back into running, however my favorite thing about the end of this year is that I started rock climbing again. Thank you Gary, that was by far the best gift I could have gotten this year. Due to this I can now do 30 pushups (whereas before I could do 3), and I’m climbing 5.9’s and V2’s. These aren’t knee pushups, but full on pushups. So my goal of this next year? 50 pushups in a row and hitting a V3 or V4 (these are Bouldering terms)!

My crocheting expertise has increased. I’m almost finished with my first Afghan. I’ve made countless booties (one set pig shaped), and I correctly sewed together several sets of flannel pajamas for Robey and I. Not to mention Robey and I together canned so much stuff it’s really hard imagine now just how much work we put in. We canned: 4 batches of jam (boysenberry, marionberry, green tomato mint/pepper and strawberry rhubarb), lots of stewing tomatoes, two different batches of salsa, a couple of smaller batches of dill pickles and our first good batch of sweet barrel pickles (these were not canned, but a barrel preserve process). Not to mention drying about 40 lbs of pears.

Ah yes, and then Robey and I went to Germany. Our first intercontinental trip together, definitely a rousing success. One filled with lots of museums, wonderful friends and good food. To top it all off the year ends with the City of Frankfurt doing it’s best to light itself on fire. I swear, everyone in the freakin’ city decided to light off every firework they could get their hands on. Mind you, these fireworks are all the kind that are illegal for the commoner to buy in Oregon, and people light them off any and everywhere (tops of buildings, by the river…and so on).

All I can say now is…Hey 2013, let’s see what we can do with you!