January always feels like the calm before and after the storm. The chaos of the holidays is over, but the insanity of the year is going to ramp up soon. Thus, I was reluctant to plan much for January. Thus, it was a short list.
- Finish my prep for the AZ-104 Certification and get the test scheduled.
- Resume training for cycling season.
AZ-104 Certification
This to-do was my white whale of 2023. I went through a bunch of videos on Udemy, took a practice test, didn’t like how I was doing, so I doubled down, bought a paper book and attacked it with a highlighter. The more I’ve progressed through the book, the more I’ve realized there is to learn. So I’ve got some index cards to make flashcards, I’m going to make those, watch a few more videos on the topic, and study for another month before I call myself ready to actually take this test. Partial win? Partial fail? Dunno.
Consistent Training
I did resume training in December, as planned, but it was a bit on the spotty side. With a few events already registered-for in 2024, January was my month to buckle down. The biggest event of the year is the DAMn (Day Across Minnesota), a 240-mile gravel jaunt that starts at midnight and ends 24 hours later. It’s going to be brutal as fuck, and I’d like to have at least 3000 miles on my legs by then. And if I’m being honest, I’d be more comfortable with 3500 miles. Weight training also kicked off, and I’m looking forward to some gains from that. I’m hoping to have a solid season this year, unmarred by the crashes and illnesses that were the theme for 2023. WIN.
Minor/Other Accomplishments
- I was pretty solid on my daily tasks — the ones that keep popping up over and over and over again in Todoist and filling up my days. I should talk about those items in another post, sometime.
- Ongoing puppy socialization and grade 1 classes for Joey.
- Got the wedding website completed.
- Eddy’s homework and trumpet practice. We coordinated on getting this to be more of a regular thing and not a panicky last-minute thing. We talked a lot about separating the emotion from the homework and the practice so that we don’t get frustrated and discouraged. It seemed to help.
- More progress on the 101 Things in 1001 Days, which I’ll update on quarterly. I managed to get a bunch of items off the list while setting the stage for completing a bunch more of them. I’ll be posting that quarterly update at the end of March.
Blockers
- Went to North Carolina for four days for a wedding. I did manage to get some studying and coding work done while on the plane, which minimized the impact. It was also nice to get out of Minnesota’s bullshit weather for a few days.
- Got my own Switch so I could stop piggybacking off the family one1 I got a couple of games for Christmas, including Tears of the Kingdom, which I’ve been jonesing to play since they announced it. The downside here is that it sucks up time. But it also helps me pass time while I’m on the stationary trainer. And ToTK is one of the things on the 101 Things list. IS IT A BLOCKER OR IS IT PROGRESS?
Moments of Levity
- Whenever Di scolded the puppy, I quoted the stupid Marine in A Few Good Men. “What did we do wrong?! We did nothing wrong!”
Conclusions
It was a pretty awesome month. I didn’t bite off more than I could chew in January, and I made great progress on getting both of my major goals for the month through to the finish line.
(Featured image created with/generated by Adobe Firefly 2 Beta. Prompt: vivid illustration of a guy working a knee mill in his garage workshop.)