A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

goals

Walking with a purpose: Looking back at 2019

As I continue to try and get my health on track, one thing I have done way more of is walking. This is something most medical people stress people should do as it’s one of the easiest forms of exercise. 

And I’ve been doing it more for a while. 

Of course, just because you walk isn’t a foolproof way to get your health back on track. You still have to eat better and watch all other aspects in your life. But walking, by and large, is something we can all do more of. 

Me included. 

This feature, which I mentioned doing a few months ago, will be a monthly log about walking in life. I plan to do this monthly, and it will cover a lot of different things – be it just about walking or about other aspects (apps, technology, shoes, random observations/stories etc.), but more or less a way to talk about walking and how beneficial it has been for me. 

For this first one, however, I’d like to cover 2019. This was the year where I really started to push more at walking. And even though I didn’t do as much as I hoped (there were a few drop off times), I think I stayed pretty focused, especially toward the end of the year. 

It was also the year where I started tracking things when it came to walking, such as a Google spreadsheet to keep track of my miles and different walks. 

Also, as part of my Day Zero Project, I wanted to get 10 million steps over those 1,001 days. I tend to track a bunch of other things as well, though they don’t always work out in a way that makes sense. 

Midway through 2019, I also swapped out my Fitbit for an Apple Watch. I’m glad I made this switch and I will eventually have a post about this and the reasons I switched and stuck it out. 

Anyway … 

In 2019, I logged 1,808.93 miles. Now, take into account, this is everyday life. So this is any dedicated walks, work, travel – any time I am walking. That came down to 4,028,006 steps. That’s a pretty good start to my 10 million goal, I’d say. 

That being said, the year was up and down. My best months were March (171.37 miles) and April  (380,000 steps) in regard to steps and mileage. From there, it started to go down a bit. The lowest point came in October (298,795 steps), though September had been my fourth-best month of the year in regard to steps. The mileage, overall, took a dip when I switched from the Fitbit to the Apple Watch, which I am not sure if it’s because I never got it calibrated right, or if it was because of how I was using it. I think I finally have it set right, and this is a topic I’ll cover down the road. 

All of this is in correlation with my diabetes battle and watching my numbers go all over the place. Up and up, before I finally started paying attention to get them to come down. October wasn’t a good month and I knew it – so November and December were vastly improved when it came to steps. 

I also kept track of my actual walks. These are the ones where I go out with the specific reason to walk or do something in an exercise vantage point – ie hiking, or even shoveling snow. Though a side note, I figured a better way to track exercise such as shoveling snow, so in late 2019 and 2020 so far, they are not registered as walks anymore. 

All in all, I logged 414 walks in 2019, which came out to 824.81 miles. My best month for walks came in January (44) and November (41), which the top mileage coming in September (79.67), March (76.63), and April (76.16). 

So far, in 2020, I’m really pushing myself and am averaging easily two walks per day as I am doing my best to get in a walk in the morning and at night. Those morning ones can be pretty tough at times!

That all in mind, I’ve pushed. And it’s not even February 20th yet, and I’ve already logged nearly 35 walks for the month. If I don’t falter, this month will easily be my best since I started tracking what I am doing with myself. 

I can dig that. 

And when I tackle the Apple Watch in the future, I’ll get way more in-depth about closing the rings and earning badges, but I’d be lying if I said that hasn’t helped me. They are small things, but they motivate. And any type of motivation is good if it gets you out walking and such. There are a few apps, too, that I’ve been using that help me along the way. One of them (Relive), I need to use more, especially in conjunction with some blog posts. 

In 2019, I also took part in my first real 5K. Though I walked it (which, I found out, a lot of people do), I was pretty stoked with myself in doing that. My goal is by the end of 2020 to actually run a 5K, if I can get my feet feeling better (more on that in the future, too) and get myself into the kind of shape where I can at least jog a 5K in the 40 minute range, On a good pace, I can do a 5K in about 50-52 minutes when walking. There’s no reason to think I can’t shave 10-12 minutes or more off that if I’m actually jogging/running. I am actually signed up for two 5Ks in Philadelphia – the Phillies one in March (which I did last year and walkers were aplenty), and the Rocky Run in November (which I will need to run as they have certain time criteria). 

Goal set and I am focused. 

When all came to an end in 2019, I learned a lot. Mainly, I learned about myself and what I was trying to do. Reality is, I haven’t always been the most healthy. Hell, I’m still not. But I’m doing everything I can to move more and to become a better me. I’m trying to do more things that get me moving. This year, my hope is to ride my bike more and get out and kayak. 

Hopefully by the time I do a post like this next year, I’ll have even better results and different aspects to cover. 

How about any of you reading? Are you big walkers? Something more? Or what kinds of things do you do for exercise? I’m always looking to expand!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Day by day and trying to set a path

I recently looked at this one file in my Google Drive: blog ideas.

This is something I started earlier this year when I got into a funk about things. After blogging every single day last year, I ended up getting burnt out.

Stats have followed suit. It’s not that I am a numbers watcher by any means, but it’s good to know people read and look at what you create. And when the numbers fall, you know things aren’t going well.

It’s on me, without a doubt.

I got off of a schedule. I don’t think blogging each and every day was a good thing. I struggled to find topics and, often enough, the posts felt forced. While doing that, I also got out of my regular rotation of reading and commenting on a bunch of other blogs. I miss reading other people’s words and seeing photos.

I need to rectify this.

But where do I get back into it. There are times I struggle with the blog and it is feeling forced once again. Almost like a job. This is something that happened to me before.

A few years ago, I ran a disc golf blog. It was quite popular and we had some extremely good writers. But this was being done for the love of things. I didn’t know a thing about advertising and such, so I never went in that direction. With that in mind, it’s hard to “force” writers to do things, when I can’t even give them a little kick back. By the end of the run, it felt like a job. None of us really wanted to write anymore. A couple of them have gone on to paying gigs, which is good for them.

I’ve done posts like this before. You know the ones – fill some time and space by talking about how you need to do more etc. It’s something that fills space.

This one is somewhat like that, but it’s also a way for me to “think out loud” a bit to see what I can do to fix this. It’s not something to call me to task, per say, rather a way to figure out how I can straighten the ship and get back on task.

See, I love blogging. And I love writing. But I don’t like it when things are forced. So what can I do to get the “feel” again?

First, it’s time to start tackling that list of blog ideas. Some of them I put there months ago. But is it really that bad to blog about something I did earlier this year (such as ConnCon in March)? Not really seeing as I’m not a time-sensitive news organization. I have baseball stadium reviews, and stories about things that have happened to me, and different food items, and photography …

So tackling that will help me.

I’d also like to plan the 20 Days of Chill better than I did the 10 Days of Heat. The 20 Days of Chill has been a good writing challenge the past few Januarys. I decided, based on that, to add the 10 Days of Heat. Though a good idea in theory, I don’t think I pulled it off as well as I wanted. So I am going to rework the thought process and make sure it runs smoother next year. That also means making sure the 20 Days of Chill is good this January.

My ultimate goal with the challenge is to announce the themes early enough this year to allow people to write things well in advance and hopefully that will help people – me included.

What this ultimately led me to realize is how hectic life can be. I don’t make a dime off my blog, so it has to be for enjoyment. I need to have fun or this is what happens. And I don’t like it when things like this happen. So I need to try and track myself a bit more.

A year or so I bought one of these life planners. I’ve leafed through it and I like the look, but there are some things to sit down with before you get going. You jot down ideas and goals and all sorts of other things, with the idea of giving yourself goals and a clear head. I need to sit down and start with that and start plotting my days better. I need to set time aside to blog or to go out for an extra walk. I need to take control of different aspects of my life, which will make these types of things easier and more fun. In the end, maybe it will also help with my health goals as well.

Hopefully this isn’t another one of those posts where I jot things down and nothing happens. I know things won’t happen tomorrow – it’s a slow build to get into a better place. But the challenge is getting into this journey and seeing life in a different light. I look forward to this journey and hopefully I’ll look back at this post and say – yep, I did what I needed to do to get back on track.

Only time will tell.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

2017: Looking ahead

New Year’s resolutions are something many people do. They say it on New Year’s and a week or two later, they are done

I don’t believe in resolutions. I believe in setting goals and doing your best to achieve them. Though I will set/fix/change goals throughout the year as needed, setting them at the beginning of the year is more symbolic as it’s easier to keep track of.

I know there are things I need to do personally and professionally to keep moving forward, but these goals are all personal. Some are a little more serious than others, but they will be good for me to kind of see what I can do in 2017.

I went a little different with some of these this year. Some are kind of open-ended because I feel it’s easier and better to do that, rather than put a set result. You’ll see when you get to those.

Anyway, here’s looking at 2017.

Health

This is an important one for me

About a year ago, I had really taken hold of diabetes. I had gotten my blood sugars down, I was eating better, my weight was down … and then I fell off the wagon.

My A1C has gone up too much, I’ve gained weight and I started eating too many things I shouldn’t.

Being healthy isn’t a fad diet or doing anything with some of the things people see on TV (pills etc.) It’s eating better and exercising. Simple as that. Though clipping carbs out might help you drop weight, it’ll come back.

Being healthy is a life commitment, not a few weeks or months.

But with this, I’m not putting any numbers. I’m not saying where I want my A1C to be, or my normal blood checks, or my weight.

I know I need to be healthier as a whole. Take a few more walks. Get out more. Ride my bike (when it’s warmer). Maybe invest in an elliptical machine (I always liked them when I went to the gym… and I hate the gym, so that’s out).

But I also need to eat healthier. And make sure I drink enough water. And though I don’t drink a ton of it — keep pushing soda out of the diet. And try new things. In recent years, I’ve started to like several things I never used to like … so hopefully that can continue.

So this goal is simple … be much more healthy at the end of the year than I am now.

Photography

I took a lot of photos in 2016, but I want to keep that up. This might not be a trackable goal, per say, but basically, I want to continue taking photos and thinking outside the box.

That means continuing the Photo Blogging Challenge for throughout 2017, as well as just going out and taking photos. I’d love to try and aim for doing a few of the videos (like my year-end one) of photos maybe every few months, but we’ll see about that. Basically, I want to challenge myself to get better and more creative with my photography. I’d also like to learn Photoshop more in-depth than I know it now.

Blogging

Blogging in 2016 was rather interesting, obviously.

I set out on a bit of a mission and ended up going a little stir crazy by posting every single day. I’m not going to say I won’t do the same, but the odds are I don’t. Once I get past January, it’ll slow up a little as I won’t want to go every single day.

That being said, I do want to have more posts this year that are solid posts and not filler. I like challenges. I enjoy the photo aspect. I want to make sure I am putting quality (at least in my mind), and not just a post to post something.

I also truly want to visit more blogs this year. I got away from that this year because I was posting all the time and I miss it.

I am going to aim for 200 posts this year and visiting as many blogs as I can. I’d also still like to revamp my about page as much as possible!

I also might have a couple of other writing challenges in mind that I am trying to shape up and plan out.

Baseball

Ahh, the Summer of Baseball. I can’t wait to be back in the parks watching games. I will not be doing 75 games again — at least I don’t think. But I think a goal of 50 games is good and would be fun. I want to continue visiting new parks and just watching games.

 

It’s very relaxing and a lot of fun.

That being said, I also want to have a few weekends this summer that aren’t baseball dominated. As much fun as I had last year — and I did — there are times I just wanted to relax on a weekend and kick back and I was at a game. Now, I love the games. But sometimes .. it’s nice to be away, too.

So, my goal is 50 games. I’d like to see a few new stadiums. I’d like to do one — maybe two — big baseball trips during the summer where I spend a week or so pretty much all baseball. I’ll keep scorebook at every game, stamp my passport in every place where I can and I’ll enjoy it as much as I always do.

It’s a great game and I look forward to the 2017 Summer of Baseball!

Board games

I didn’t play as many games as I would have liked last year. With all the baseball traveling I did in 2016, weekends from spring until fall were pretty crowded. That meant not going to the game group too often, thus meaning I was playing far fewer games.

And that stinks as I really enjoy playing games.

One of my goals is to start playing many more solo variants or solo games. This allows me time on my own to play some fun and competitive games. I own a lot of games that have solo variants and I also have games that are solo only — so there’s no reason I can’t do this. It allows me time to relax and refresh and challenge myself. It also helps me just be able to play a hobby I truly enjoy, even when there isn’t a group of people around to play.

I’ll put down a few goals to reach, though.

  • Learn and play each game in my collection that has a solo variant
  • Unwrap/punch every game I have that I haven’t done this to yet
  • Go through collection and if there are games I will never play … sell or trade.

Geocaching

Every year, geocaching is in my goals. Last year was a very lax year for geocaching. I didn’t find many, I didn’t place many, and I kind of got away from the game.

There are a few reasons for that, such as because the game has blown up so much it’s hard to find good caches without driving for a bit. See, most of my area is cleared out and those that aren’t I like to keep around for a time that me and a couple of others might want to go find a few.

But these days, with the advent of the smartphone apps and such, hides are becoming a little tougher to deal with. I can only find so many lamp post and guardrail hides.

I do miss caching with others, going on fun hikes, and making memories with caching, though So this year I am aiming to find 200 caches. That should be highly doable. Heck, if done right, I could get half that done in a weekend.

Geowoodstock is in May this year, in North Carolina. I’m not ruling it out by any means, but it’s a longshot. I’d like to hit several other events this year, though, so we’ll see what happens.

I’m going to stick to just the 200 finds as a goal this year. I’m not going to tier it as I want to make it a little easier in hopes that I can get back into the game.

Organization

I think I am pretty organized at work. I utilize my work calendar quite well and usually have everything line up.

Personally, not as much.

I want to get more organized in 2017. That includes utilizing my personal Google calendar, as well as a life organizer I purchased. There might be a little more to this thing than I need, but I am going to give it a whirl. It will probably take me a few weeks to “set it up,” but that gives me time to think things over more — both about this year and long-term things. So, that will be cool. In the end, I want to be able to look back at 2017 and realize I followed something a bit better and didn’t feel like I was always disorganized.

Personal

Again, this isn’t measurable. But, I want 2017 to be a year of “happy.” I want to feel happy. I want to be happy. I want to improve as many things in my world that I can. It can be anything from being more active within the family to making sure my finances keep improving, both short-term and long-term.

This isn’t really something I can do anything other than at the end of the year, look back, and say “Yes, I am in a better place personally than I was at the beginning of the year.”

Hopefully I will keep improving and pushing forward. That’s all I can try and do.

I hope you all have a wonderful 2017!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

2016: Looking ahead

It’s that time of the year where I take a look ahead.

I am not a huge person for New Year’s resolutions. I think they are goofy and people tend to make them and never follow through.

Think about it — how many people do you think said they wanted to go to the gym more often? And how many do you think have already quit?

Exactly.

Instead, I try and make some goals each year and post them here. I’ve done OK with them the past few years, so we’ll see how this year goes.

Do I know I need to get into better shape, lose weight and things like that? Absolutely. My health is something I need to work on, but that’s not a resolution or a goal — that’s changing things in life and sticking with it.

Instead, these goals will focus more on things I’d like to do this year. We’ll see how it goes.

Geocaching

This goal is always on my list because it’s something I want to keep doing, but the biggest issue becomes time and finding people who are interested in going.

There's always geocaching goals!

There’s always geocaching goals!

This past year was decent, to a point. I was a few caches short of averaging a cache find per day, but I did a bunch of travels to events and such. I don’t think I’ll be doing any major caching trips (though one event is possible), but there are a few things I’d like to do.

  • Average a cache per day (so, I’ll need 366 this year)
  • Add another state (or more) to my list
  • Place 10 new caches (not including events)
  • Host at least 5 events

I think this is a doable thing, so I’ll look forward to going at it. I only have one cache find so far in 2016, so I need to get going!

Home brewing

A total fail in 2015, I need to change this in 2016. And to do that, I already have purchased some interesting kits. I just need to get going on them and go through the process.

So my goal for 2016? Brew at least three beers. I’d like to think I could do more, but I want to make sure I at least get three done. Considering I do the smaller batches (one gallon), I should be able to pull it off.

I have some fun ideas for names and such, too, so we’ll see how it goes.

Just three beers. I’m hoping if I do those three, I’ll get the itch for it again and do several more.

Blogging

This is always on here as it makes sense, being this is a blog and all. So what king of things would I like to do this year for my blog?

  • Write a new “about” page
  • Post at least 250 times
  • Have a minimum of 12 posts every month (and avoid my “lags”)
  • Take part in or run a few other challenges, to keep things fresh.

I truly love blogging. And one thing I’d like to do is definitely get more back into the community aspect of things. I fall off on that sometimes, so I’m going to try and keep that up. That’s not a goal, per say, but part of the bigger picture of blogging. I am happy with how the blog is going and I look forward to keeping it updated for 2016 and beyond.

Board games

This is a new one to the yearly goals, and one I’m glad to have added because of how fun this hobby is.

Board gaming is becoming quite the hobby and the games are well beyond what many of us knew as kids.

Board gaming is becoming quite the hobby and the games are well beyond what many of us knew as kids.

Over the past few years, I’ve gotten into board gaming. It’s a lot of fun and the difference in games is amazing. My personal collection has grown, too, which is pretty sweet. So I need to make this part of my goals. But I can’t just say I want to play games, else that wouldn’t make sense. So in 2016, I’d like to:

  • Play 225 times (I played 181 in 2015)
  • Play 100 different games
  • Go to a game convention

The board gaming hobby is definitely a growing thing, and I’m glad to be involved in it. It’s a lot of fun, especially once one looks past things like Monopoly being the holy grail of board games. There’s a lot of amazing things out there, that’s for sure.

There are other things I’d like to accomplish, but I know might be tough this year. So I’m going to leave this new addition a little more simple to start. In future years, I’ll build it up.

 

Day Zero Project

I didn’t do much with this at all in 2015, which is really too bad. It doesn’t end until 2017, so I still have time (though the odds of me completing it are not good), but I’d like to cross off 25 items in 2016.

Obviously, I’d like to check off more than that, but I think that’s a good goal. Some of them, as I look at it, just won’t be done by the end. Those are for a variety of reasons, be it having the time, or the funds etc. But I still think, if I put my mind to it, I can get several of these done and chip away at the list.

Let’s see how 2016 goes for the Day Zero Project.

Travel

I’m going to scale back on this goal this year. By travel, it just means getting out and seeing some places. It might be day trips or overnight trips, but I want to see things.

So this could be covered in my baseball trips, or planned trips etc.

One definite part of this goal is getting out and seeing a minimum of five New York State parks. They are wonderful places and worth checking out. Hopefully, I’ll hit more. But I’ll leave it at five to start.

There are some obvious other things I’d like to do (Montreal, Maine etc.), but we’ll see how things go. The base goal here is to get out, see things, and take some photos of my travels.

****

With 2015 in the books, there are my goals for the upcoming year. We’ll see how I do with them. If I can remain focused, I’m sure I can make a good run at them all. Come next January, I’ll see how I did with these. I hope everybody else has a great 2016 and accomplishes all they would like to get done!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

2015: Looking ahead

Another year is in the books. Now, it’s time to look ahead.

I’m not one who is big on resolutions. Instead, I like to make goals and work toward them. I don’t do the weight loss thing, or exercise, or this or that like many do. I’ve found when I do that, I’ll go to a gym for a while and then fizzle out. I know I need to do all of the above and I’ve been working on that. But that’s because it’s for my health, not some silly resolution.

So, as I’ve done here for the past few years, I like to come up with a few goals I can aim for. These goals run a gamut of different things, so it’s always fun to see how far I get with each of them.

Let’s face it — I don’t always succeed, but I’m always pushing to attempt to succeed.

So, here, I present to you my annual list of goals. We’ll see how it all goes and by the end of the year, hopefully I am talking about how I succeeded in doing all of these. Some of these were done last year, so I am tweaking them slightly as they were ones I didn’t think I fully succeeded on in 2014.

1. Photography

This is easily the biggest goal I have this year.

Last year, I got away from taking pictures with my DSLR. I purchased a new one right before Christmas, so I am going to be working on using it a lot more. Further, part of my current Day Zero Project has a lot of photo-based things, so I want to work on those. Add in the monthly photo blogging challenge and other challenges and I want to use it a lot more.

My new camera needs a workout this year.

My new camera needs a workout this year.

On top of that, next December will be the 10th year I have done an annual photo book. I have big plans for that and I want to go back to how it was when I first started that yearly tradition, which means stepping away from the iPhone as the main camera.

That being said, I won’t be leaving the iPhone completely. I love Instagram and the social part of it, so I am going to work on finding a good balance.

One part of this will go hand-in-hand with one of my other goals — travel. I want to visit more state parks in New York, which should give me many chances for photos (as well as geocaches), so it should be fun in that regard.

2. Geocaching

I didn’t find many geocaches in 2014.

In fact, it was the lowest total I’ve had since starting in March 2008. In 2014, I finished with 221 finds — an average of 0.6 per day.

decons_more.jpg

I need to get into caching way more again!

Not good!

I say not good because it means I didn’t get out as much. Geocaching, for me, is a game that is fun because it gives me something to do outdoors and it gives me an excuse to go see and do some things. It’s also a nice way to get some exercise with walking and such.

So this part of my goal is several parts. The things I’d like to do include:

  • Reach 4,000 finds (I need 205)
  • Place at least 15 or so geocaches
  • Host 5 or more events
  • Average at least one find per day for the year
  • Add another state or country to my totals (hopefully more than one)

Some of this will require some travel. I have other geocaching goals with my Day Zero Project, so if I can do some of each, it will be a good thing. I also want to do more photos with geocaching, but I basically want to do more photos with everything, so that shouldn’t be so surprising!

Honestly one other thing I’d like to make sure I do is geocache with somebody I’ve only known through the internet — such as through blogging or Twitter. I have always wanted to do that for some reason, so 2015 seems like a good time for that.

Travel

My travel in 2014 was a tad limited, mainly because of the Summer of Baseball. An anticipated trip to Montreal (haven’t been there since 2009) never materialized and a few other places I was hoping to go didn’t happen.

So this year seems like a good one to try and take advantage of it.

Outside of Montreal, I’m not sure where else I’d like to go. But it could be a weekend getaway in New York, or a three-day geocaching road trip. It could be for some baseball, or for some brewery tours. It doesn’t have to be a 10-day European getaway (though that would rock), but something different would be nice. Maybe a extended weekend to Vegas? That would give some great photo ops and I am sure geocaching, too.

Part of travel, too, is meeting people. Maybe I’ll figure a way to set up a few geocaching events. Or I’ll look to play some disc golf. Or … anything. I want to expand some things when it comes to travel. It’s all about people.

I know I’ll get to places this year, and hopefully it will be ones where I can see things, do more and meet some people.

Better my blog

A repeat from last year, but I think this year I am ready to actually do this a bit more.

There are several aspects of blogging I am putting here that I feel will better this blog, as well as make it better overall for me. I want to expand blogging-wise, and I don’t necessarily mean by getting thousands of readers per day (though I could dig that).

Blogging to me, still, is about the community and having a place to express myself through writing. Whether it’s a feature, or a journalistic-style post, or something going on in my world, it’s my little place on the web. I don’t get advertising or anything like that, it’s just me.

But I do love visiting other blogs and talking with other bloggers. I learn as I read and peek around at other ones. I get inspiration and I’m always amazed by the talent and ability of other bloggers.

So, with that in mind, here are a few things I’d like to do this year with blogging:

  • Tweak my design a little (new header, maybe color scheme, maybe some other small changes)
  • Blog a tad more often and keep up with comments and such
  • Have, at a minimum, 250 posts for the year
  • Take part in a few challenges, as well as continue the Photo Blogging Challenge throughout 2015

Blogging is a fantastic community and a great activity. I don’t plan on making money through it, so I need to keep it on a personal level and continue to enjoy writing. Hopefully, it won’t change and I will enjoy tweaking and learning a bit more about the look of the blog.

Day Zero Project

This is a simple goal.

My current Day Zero Project goes through April 28, 2017. But I still need to be working to actually get 101 things done by then. The goal this year is to complete, at a minimum, 25 of those items. I’d also like to have several of them be in the “working on” stages.

I truly don’t know if I’ll get through the full list of 101 by the deadline. Some of the goals aren’t easy and might not be able to be done in time. But it keeps me reaching for something. As much as I would love to finish the whole list, if I can get through 75 percent of the items, I would easily consider it a victory.

Home brewing

I’m adding a sixth this year. And, much like the last one, this one is going to be somewhat simple.

I need to brew more!

I need to brew more!

I just want to brew more.

In 2013, the only beers I brewed were in December. I am hoping to do it much more often this year. I have ideas and thoughts for beers, so I need to see them through. I have some kits I still want to put together, and a few I want to order. Eventually, I want to work into three-gallon batches, and maybe the bigger, 5-gallon batches. Though, honestly, I like the smaller ones because it’s much easier to get through them if they are ones you don’t like!

The whole process is a lot of fun, so I look forward to doing several brews. For the purposes of a goal on here, I’ll say I’d like to brew a minimum of five beers, though I’d be shocked if I didn’t do at least double that.

There you have my 2015 goals. There are other things I hope to accomplish (such as playing disc golf more, learning more about the board game world that I’ve been getting into etc.), but these are the goals I hope to focus on.  Come next January, we’ll see how I did. Until then, I hope you all have a great new year and follow any goals you are hoping to accomplish throughout 2015!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!