2010: Year in Dave

For those of you not in the know, this blog is now mostly the public face of my Spreadsheet Journal, the Excel spreadsheet in which I write down just about everything about my daily life that I can think of. Every place I go, every person I meet, how much I work, what I eat, how I spend my free time, and how I feel and what I think about things. And a lot of other stuff as well.

It's like a little girl's diary, but beefed up and made manly. Also I call it a journal.

Sounds exciting, right? Oh, it is. But what's even more exciting than tracking and entering all this mundane life data is reading about it. And that's my gift to you.

Just kidding, 99% of this will bore you to death. Or if not to death, then to not-reading-it-any-more. But perhaps you may find something interesting buried in here about someone else's life that makes you feel a little less weird about the things you do. Or, if you ate plain spaghetti more than 57 times last year, maybe a little more weird...

Mood

We'll start out with the subjective stuff.

Every day of 2010 I picked a number from 0 to 7 to describe my mood for the day.

Why a 0-7 scale? Well, how many obviously distinct moods does someone have? I guessed eight. Two extreme ends (0 = worst feeling of my life lasting all day long, 7=feeling better than ever before), two less extreme, two numbers for days that are noticeably worse or better than average, and numbers 3 & 4 for days that are just Average(-) or Average(+). But all integers, which forced me to avoid calling my mood for the day simply average, and to decide whether or not a day is subtly worse or better than my perception of average.

Or so I guessed. Here's how it turned out:


Average mood for the year was slightly above average, at 54.7%. That's 3.8 out of 7. I made a prediction in January that I would average out at 50%, since using the concept of "average mood" as the relative comparison of all moods, my mood should be "average" over a long enough time period.

But maybe not. In the graph above, you'll see that in mid-July there is a noticeable drop in mood that lasts until the end of the year, and there is a gradually downward sloping moving average (red line) throughout the year. It's pretty clear something (or lots of things) changed throughout the year, isn't it?

So what caused this?

Was it the weather? Perhaps I am happier when it's warmer, or when the temperature is prime for going out and enjoying the city...? Let's check. I crudely pasted on an inverse temperature (in DC) graph here:

If the following is correct: "My mood is highest when the temperature is 'just right'," then the lowest mood points should be at the ends and in the middle. But that's not the case.

So maybe it's something else... Maybe it's what I eat.

I went through a few comparisons of foods & moods before I came up with this one. Here's another graph including how often I stayed home and ate Chicken Bagel Sandwiches (see "Food" section) for dinner:


...Hmmmmm, compelling... But while there's no obvious positive or negative correlation, there is a volatility correlation. When I go through an Eating Chicken Bagel Sandwiches at Home phase (black line beneath the red one in the graph), it appears my mood swings pretty wildly. It's very often peaking at the top or the bottom (see September-November) during these phases. That's somewhat compelling, yeah?

While there's not a lot of evidence for this, I'm going to say it anyway: Perhaps eating Chicken Bagel Sandwiches makes me emotional.

Or alternatively, maybe being manic makes me crave the deliciousness that is the toasted bagel, the juicy chicken breast, and the wonderful, wonderful cream cheese combination. Ohhhh, yeah...


But there are two other explanations that make a bit more sense:

1) I didn't understand what my average mood was until I spent a few months plotting the upper and lower limits. Starting out higher than it should have been in January (by chance, or by a desire to blindly assume my mood was good each day) and ending closer to the "real" number.

2) Or perhaps this study about how vacations affect happiness is true, since we spent many months planning and looking forward to a 12 day trip in July. And notice that upon our return on July 14th, my mood numbers went clearly down to a new low level and lasted until the end of the year.

The article states that "...the largest boost in happiness comes from the simple act of planning a vacation" and "...After the vacation, happiness quickly dropped back to baseline levels."

If "baseline levels" for me were around 50%, perhaps a large part of my year's mood can be explained by just this one theory. Doubtful... but intriguing, yeah?

Or maybe, more likely, it's a combination of all that stuff and more. Weather and chicken bagel sandwiches included.

---

But what else can one do with a year-long daily mood data set?

One can find correlations between words used to describe the day and the mood of that day. So I made a list of of words I used throughout the year and their correlation with my mood.

And before you judge me, remember the sentence "I love a wonderful beer," and consider that nights in which I say that or its variations are nights in which I'm doing something I really enjoy. Now read on:

Most positively associated words:
0.240 Beer
0.221 Wonderful
0.179 Love
0.178 Great
0.176 Roof
0.169 We Left
0.131 Late
0.127 Arrived
0.120 Fun
0.117 Birthday (Other peoples birthdays are always good days...)
0.116 India (as in "Taste of India," see Restaurants section)
0.110 Mexican
0.110 Thai (It's strange that three food types [Indian, Mexican and Thai] are so similarly correlated, isn't it?)
0.108 Like
0.100 Wine
0.056 Spicy
0.054 Early
0.020 Sandwich
0.017 Happy (Unexpected neutrality here...)

Most negatively associated words:
-0.029 Chicken
-0.040 Cleaning
-0.042 Angry
-0.052 Hate
-0.054 Jog
-0.064 Day (When I talk about my 'day', I'm probably talking about a work day...)
-0.069 Bagel
-0.079 Sore
-0.083 Exercise
-0.092 Unhappy
-0.103 Bedtime (negativity expected)
-0.103 Vegetables (also expected, but only because I each vegetables more often on weeknights...)
-0.110 Couldn't Sleep
-0.113 Worked
-0.152 Tired
-0.157 Sick
-0.163 Hungover
-0.190 Laundry

Apparently doing laundry is worse than working, being tired, sick or hungover, going to bed and eating vegetables. That was unexpected. I must really like having clean clothes...

It's a good thing I try to space out my laundry nights:


Interestingly, you'll see that I did laundry more often in the last half of the year, when my overall average mood was lower...

---

And which day of the week was I the happiest, on average?

Friday, then Saturday, then Thursday. We all already that Fridays are best. But now I've got some hard(ish) data to prove it.

Travel

As with most things, this can be shown most efficiently with a graph:


1. Charlottesville, VA (March)
Laura and I spent the weekend celebrating two years of dating each other at a bed and breakfast by Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's old stompin' grounds. Took a tour of his house. Went to a few wine tastings (my first), ate at a few restaurants around town (Charlottesville has a nice mall, surprisingly), and had my first szechuan peppercorn experience. See March's blog post for more details.


2. New York, NY (March)
Later in March I met an old friend in New York and spent the long weekend drinking at many, many Irish bars, eating some interesting food (see Ninja New York) seeing all the necessary New York things, including the Broadway show Chicago (Verdict: Not that great, but fun), Grant's Tom, Tom's Restaurant and the usual others. Good times all around.

3. Tucson and Holbrook, Arizona (April)
Went back home for my dad's 60th birthday. Hung out with the whole family, ate birthday cake and drank birthday tequila. It was a pretty nice celebration, in fact.

4. Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming,
Montana and just a touch of Idaho (July)

Laura and I flew to Vegas, rented a convertible and drove 3,000+ miles all around the western half of the U.S. This was our annual trip, as Laura and I have decided to do one big one every year for the duration of our thing-we-gots-goin'-on. It was a wooooooonderful trip. See the post for the details.

5. Atlantic City, NJ (October)
Laura and I and a few friends spent the weekend eating, drinking, playing $0.05 Diamond Run slot machines, walking the boardwalk, riding a Ferris wheel, exploring their lighthouse and finally going skydiving (my first time). I have to say, skydiving was quite the thing. Highly recommended to anyone and everyone.

6. Ann Arbor, MI (November)
For Laura's birthday, we went back to her college town and spent a 3-day weekend. Saw a Michigan football game, went to Laura's favorite bar with 70 beers on tap (!), watched an amateur hockey game, toured the UofM campus (nice place) and downtown Ann Arbor, went to an art museum, ate at an amazing deli called Zingerman's and even got to meet a large number of her college friends. Quite the trip.

7. Phoenix and Holbrook, AZ (December)
Went home for Christmas for another 6 day trip. It was the first time I'd gone back in many, many years, and it was nicer than ever. I usually head back for Thanksgiving, but this year I switched it up a bit. Details here.

Food

For those who wrote in requesting "A list of 75+ things which are almost completely unimportant to me," I present a ranking of all the restaurants that I visited over the past year, starting with the best and moving down.

Unless otherwise noted, the place is in DC:

1. Komi
2. Great Wall Szechuan
3. Ruth's Chris Steakhouse
4. Ninja New York - NY
5. Taste of China - Charlottesvilla, VA
6. Thaiphoon
7. Rosemary's Thyme
8. 2 Amys
9. Bizou - Charlottesvilla, VA
10. Mai Thai
11. Pho 75
12. Lindy's Red Lion
13. Angelico Pizza (Delivery Only)
14. Chinatown Express
15. Pokey's BBQ - Gillette, WY
16. Bistrot du Coin
17. Aria Buffet - Las Vegas
18. Dukem
19. Madjet
20. Himalayan Heritage
21. China Star - Fairfax, VA
22. Charlie Chiang's
23. Julia's Empanadas (Take out)
24. Zingerman's - Ann Arbor, MI
25. El Rancho - Holbrook, AZ
26. Etete
27. Zengo
28. Little India
29. Hard Times - Alexandria, VA
30. Sichuan Pavilion
31. Silver Spring Mining Co - Baltimore, MD
32. Congee Village - NY
33. Nam-Viet
34. The Local - Charlottesville, VA
35. Mandalay Restaurant
36. Mama Ayesha's
37. Taste of India
38. The Diner
39. Casa Oaxaca
40. Lincoln's Waffe Shop
41. Romos - Holbrook, AZ
42. Lebanese Taverna
43. Rosie's - Gardiner, MT
44. Inti
45. Selam
46. Pizza Paradiso
47. Tono Sushi
48. Kabob Palace, Arlington, VA
49. Alero
50. Humphrey's - Gillette, WY
51. Odeon
52. Wayside - Holbrook, AZ
53. Seva - Ann Arbor, MI
54. Ignight - Jackson, WY
55. Skewers
56. Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill - Las Vegas
57. John's Pizzeria - NY
58. Dim Sum Ping Pong
59. Banana Leaves
60. Native New Yorker - Show Low, AZ
61. Rajaji
62. El Palacio - Kingman, AZ
63. Nando's Peri Peri
64. Thai Chef
65. Buca di Beppo
66. Angelo's Pizza - NY
67. El Rincon
68. Sbarro - NY
69. Geets Restaurant - Williamstown, NJ
70. Spaghetti Garden
71. Pier de Orleans - Mesa, AZ
72. BGR
73. Michie Tavern - Charlottesville, VA
74. Thai Roma
75. California Tortilla
76. Virginia City Restaurant - Atlantic City, NJ
77. Rainforest Cafe - Atlantic City, NJ

My apologies to Atlantic City's Rainforest Cafe. But seriously, I didn't get to eat a single endangered rainforest creature, which was very disappointing. I was mislead.


As for total number of restaurants visited (including repeats) in context of the last couple years, here's your graph:

Number of restaurants visited by year:

2008: 92
2009: 94
2010: 97

2010 wins. Next year I hope to get to a million.


The place I went to most? Thaiphoon (I was literally addicted to their Panang Curry for a large part of the year. And by literally, I mean I sought help and now attend meetings. Curry Panongnymous meetings.)

Also, Thaiphoon wins the Most Emotional Website Music Award - see the link.


Favorite restaurant that is not Komi: Great Wall Szechuan House

I am craving Great Wall food all the time. Now, for example. It is so spicy, so tasty, so unique, and so Szechuan-Peppercorn-y that I just cannot live without it. Which brings to mind an interesting question right now, as I type this blog post: Suicide, or call for delivery?

...Maybe both? That would be interesting... And it brings to mind another point: When I die, I would like to be buried in Ma La Wontons.

Related: In looking for a good link for this place, I found some informative reviews online:

"horrible horrible horrible - Racist...‎‎" (Link) And "Cast your dancing spell my way, I promise to go under it." (Link)

Not my experience there, but valuable information nonetheless.


Best DC Tourist Friendly Restaurant: 2 Amys Pizza

The pizza, drink list and atmosphere there are just tops. Runner up: Ray's Hellburger. Nowhere else (that I've been) offers both Cave Aged Chedder and Bone Marrow as potential toppings for burgers, nor tastes as good as Ray's Hellburger. Funny, I just realized I forgot to go to there this year...

And a special bonus: Frequency graph showing when I went to a restaurant in 2010.


Dead spots at the end of March, May, August and at the beginning of December. What could it all mean?!?!?!

-- Eating In --

While it would have been very possible to list what I ate every single day of 2010, I figure this is actually beyond the limit of boring data. I mean, the restaurant list above serves only the purpose of showing that I wasn't making crap up (and, at best, that someone may go to one of those restaurants toward the top and credit me, or avoid the ones at the bottom and be vaguely thankful). But listing 365 days of meals is over the top. Right? ...Yes... ...Right... I'll be honest: I had second thoughts there for a minute. But yes, no, no, there's no need for that...

So instead I'll just list the top three by frequency. So here they are, the three things I ate the most at home in 2010.

1. Spaghetti - Eaten at home 57 days in 2010.

57 days! Wow. Usually plain, too, with just a bit of butter and salt. Related: From ages 5 (or so) until about 13, I would eat a grilled cheese sandwich at Wayside restaurant in Holbrook, Arizona every single time we went there. And we went there a lot. Like dozens and dozens of times per year... For many, many years... Lots of grilled cheeses... Clearly there's something going on there.

2. Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich - Eaten for 54 days.

Related: See above story about how much of a weird damn kid I was, and how apparently weird I still am. But PB&Js have so much going for them: quick, cheap, tasty and peanut buttery. But really, it's the latter variable that's most important, in many aspects of life, not just this one.

3. Chicken Bagel Sandwich - Eaten 52 days in 2010.

Related: See above story.

But honestly, Chicken Bagel Sandwiches are reeeeeeally good. And it's not just chicken and bagel - it's got cream cheese too. What is a Chicken Bagel Sandwich, you ask? ...Did you ask that? ... ... No? All right then...

Drink

Let's do this in reverse. First up, frequency graph!

Here are nights I spent out at a bar(s) throughout 2010:


No obvious patterns. ...Except of course the most obvious of them all: Thanksgiving and Christmas were bar-free. Haulidays, am I right?

...Correct answer: "No, I don't know what that means."


Total number of bars visited by month in 2010:


Looks like more than usual. But in fact it is not, it's just less evenly distributed. July was quite the month...

Yearly totals:

2008: 46
2009: 76
2010: 68

---

Wine was mostly a new thing for me this year. Well, it really started in Italy back in 2009, but this year I kicked it into high gear following a wine tasting (my first) in Charlottesville, VA in March. After that I started ranking every bottle and taking pictures of the labels. Why? I don't know, why do people do anything?

I tell myself it's because I enjoy a challenge. That it's exciting to figure out the details of new wines and look for patterns within an endless number of variables, especially with senses (smell, taste, feel on the tongue) that I'm not used to using.

And because I tell myself this, I'm going to assume I'm not lying to myself, and that I'm not getting into wine just to impress people (present & future). And why would I lie to me? Of all the people who shouldn't be lying to me about stuff, it's me.

So there, now that that's settled, here are my wine rankings for the year, starting with my three least favorite wines I tried in 2010:

3. Villa Cerrina - Chardonnay / Pinot Grigio (blend) 2008
This was really not that terrible, but something had to be toward the bottom of the list, right? I mean, wine's generally pretty tasty, even the "bad" stuff. But if you're going to buy something with your moneys, don't buy this.

2. La Granja - Tempranillo 2008
This one reminded me of why I used to think wine was undrinkable. But of course it's hard to describe what that was. But I know it when I drink it. I think...

1. Gouder - Red Wine

Got this at an Ethiopian restaurant on U Street (Dukem) out of the desire to try an Ethiopian red wine (the whites - Honey Wine - are fairly interesting). I'll tell you: It's not that good. On the good wine scale, it's toward the bottom due to tasting like some sort of chemical spill. I had another glass at a different restaurant later on to double check, but nope. No good. But on the Interesting So You Should Try This Once Scale, it was actually at the top in 2010. So, actually, I highly recommend it.

And I included a a picture so you can go buy a bottle, try it once and then not drink the rest of it.



And here are the 2010 favorites:



3. Pinot Noir, Camelot 2007 - $8 (any store) -- Well worth $8.00, and you can buy this literally everywhere. Wherever you are, just look around. Where are you? Do you see it? If it's not there, keep looking, you'll find it.







2. Cabernet Sauvignon, Rock & Vine 2007 - $18 (online) -- Napa Valley, Bordeaux-style 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot + friends. Damn good, especially when consumed at an outside table on 18th Street at Rosemary's Thyme in the fall in DC.








1. Haut-Medoc Bordeaux, Chateau Beaumont 2005 - $22 (online) -- This sealed the deal for Bordeaux wines for me... It's just great to drink. I will claim that it's not possible for a [casual] wine drinker to not like this one.

Top 5 Favorite Moments of 2010

- February 6th: Bundling up and walking down to Dupont Circle in a city almost completely shut down by snow due to Snowpocalypse II and watching hundreds of people participate in the largest snowball fight I've ever seen (video in this post)



- April 16th: In Holbrook for my dad's 60th birthday, staying up late with my dad and brother, talking for hours and hours about my dad's life and getting to know each other (it seemed like it had been a long, long time since we'd all had a good chat).

(No picture, sadly)

- June 12th: Drinking tequila and watching the sunset on the roof of our apartment building with friends to celebrate my 28th birthday. Man, that was a perfect day.



- July 8th: Laura and I driving with the convertible top down over Beartooth Pass in Montana. I knew at the time I'd be missing that experience later on, and boy was I right - the place is incredibly gorgeous. Having a snowball fight in July was a special bonus.



- October 17th: Jumping (well, being nudged by the guy strapped to my back) out of an airplane at 13,000 feet, seeing the ground way, way below me and thinking, "Oh shit, I'm falling!" It was about 10 seconds of the most unparalleled mix of fear and excitement that I've ever felt. Then terminal velocity kicked in...

(No picture. But I didn't want to pay the extra $100. Maybe next time...)

Exercise

2010 was a milestone for the Davis. I started jogging for the first time ever. While 2009 was the Year of the Situp (10,800 situps in 2009!) 2010 was the Year of the Jogging.

The last time I ran a mile or more was around age 13, about 15 years ago. And if I recall, it took me around 8 and a half minutes. Though I just made that number up.

And when I started running in March (if you could call it running), I was out of shape and constantly out of breath. Laura and I would jog for a bit, maybe 60 seconds at a time, then walk for a couple minutes. Then jog again, then walk. And so on. And we did that for months.

From our first jog-walk on Saturday, March 13th to the end of August six months later, we went from doing just under 3 miles in 45 minutes to doing just under 3 miles in 40 minutes. That's an improvement of just about nothing. But it felt like it was getting easier - We'd go two or three times a week, on average, and while we were constantly out of breath at first, by August it was a cakewalk, and we did not dread going jogging at all like we did when we started.

And the exercise felt really, really good. I hadn't felt that 'healthy' feeling for ... more than a decade, I think... The funny part, though, is that I wasn't losing weight - I was getting more chubsy:

But to be fair, I used the fact that I was getting more exercise as an excuse to drink more wine and eat more chocolate (and all food, for that matter). And boy did it all taste better without the guilt!

But once the weather cooled down a bit in September, we knocked it up a notch. I got a GPS tracker app on my iPhone and finally had the inspiration to push myself a little harder. It's surprising how much keeping track of data can help you want to create more data...

While the time it took Laura and I to get through a ~3 mile course did not change much from March to August, once we got serious in September we sped up quickly:


Also in September I started running extra, leaving Laura to run however fast she wanted while I went at my own pace. Which was something I couldn't (didn't want to) do before I kept track of my mileage and speed.


For comparison, I was going at about a 15 minute per mile pace in March-August, and by the end of September I was at about 10 minutes per mile.

And by October 6th I had run my first non-stop 5K. 3.1 miles, and I did it in 27 minutes (8:42 minutes per mile average), which I was pretty proud of. Surprisingly proud, actually. It's strange how we're often not aware of what we're really into until you look back. If someone had asked me what I was up to - what my major interests were - back in October, I wouldn't have said "running." But now I realize that was a primary focus for me at the end of 2010.

And from there I just slowly got better, working on increasing my average speed for 5K runs for the next few months.

And by the end of the year on December 29th, I ran it in just under 24 minutes, or a 7:40 minute/mile pace.

So from a 224-pound, somewhat lazy dude jogging 15-minute miles at the beginning of August, I became a less lazy dude running 7.7 minute miles, weighing 25 pounds less by December and feeling pretty damn good about it. I never expected to be the kind of person who would say this, but I should say it: Running is awesome.

Total miles jogged in 2010: 311.1

And here's the monthly breakdown:


I hope no 'real' runners are reading this. I'm sure these are totally n00b numbers. But give it time... Hopefully 2011 will continue the trend. Or perhaps I'll get into something new. One never knows.

Other 2010 Statistics

Number of haircuts: 6



Movies watched in theaters: 4
(Compared to 9 theater movies seen in 2009)

Up in the Air
Avatar
Lives of Others (favorite movie of the year, by the way)
Ghostbusters (yes, the original. Watched at midnight)




Movies watched at home: 38



Days in which I spent (any amount of) time with Laura: 331


The gaps were due to:

Laura trip to South Africa (January)
Laura trip to San Antonio, TX (February)
Dave trip to New York, NY (March)
Dave trip to Arizona (April)
Laura trip to Ithaca, NY (May)
Laura trip to Pittsburgh (July)
Laura trip to Chicago (August)
Laura trip to Michigan (October)
Dave trip to Arizona (December)



Relative daily spending (not including rent):

Pretty even pattern of major expenditures, isn't there? About once every 3 months...



Complete series watched: 2
Firefly
The Wire



Top 5 Favorite TV Shows of 2010:
House
Mad Men
Pawn Stars
Good Eats
Reruns of 3rd Rock from the Sun



Major Dave Activities of 2010 - One could call these hobbies:

Jan-Dec: Data Tracking (The greatest activity of them all...)
Jan-Feb: Building a Website (This is actually still technically in progress, but I finished it in Feb.)
March-Dec: Jogging
March-Dec: Wine
Sept-Dec: Learning French (future vacation planning)



And speaking of hobbies - the remains of an old one:

Total hours spent playing piano in 2010: 15
Well, it's a keyboard - I do live in an apartment after all... And for the record, that averages to more than 2 minutes a day. Go me.



Number of times I dislocated
my elbow in 2010: 1 One crappy, crappy time. It ended my reign of push-ups and took months to recover. Fourth time I dislocated it, too. The first was in the year 2000, second was in 2006, third in 2008 and fourth 2009. Clearly they are occurring closer and closer together... NOOOOOOO!



Worst month of the year (by average mood): September
Why? Probably just a lot of days staying home and jogging. There were some great days in there, though. But some pretty low-mood days too... averages count.

Best month of the year (by average mood): April
Why? Took a long-ish vacation, the weather was great and I was just getting into some new hobbies. Or perhaps it's a fluke (see 'Mood' section at top).

Worst day of the year (by mood & other circumstances): January 23rd.
It was a Saturday, but I spend the whole day working, followed by an entire evening of trying to install a video card driver on Ubuntu, and failed miserably. Then went to sleep and went back to work the next day (on Sunday!!)

Best day of the year (by mood & other circumstances): March 6th
Spend the day with Laura in Charlottesville, touring Thomas Jefferson's house, visiting multiple wineries and doing tastings, followed by an excellent dinner and an evening by the fireplace in a bed and breakfast by Monticello. Great mood, great day with great stuff happening. It's the winner.

Best Photos of 2010

January

Started off the year with this group - Good people, all.

The view of the crowd waiting for a burlesque show at Palace of Wonders on H Street, from the balcony above.

February

Snopocalypse II. Across the street from my apartment, a tree had fallen on top of the snow on top of a car, and it was cold on top of that. Triple whammy. Quite the scene in DC.
Bad picture, I know, but it's my favorite non-snow picture of the month. That's Laura on the balcony of the main stage of the Kennedy center during the intermission to Sleeping Beauty, the ballet. Kennedy's head in the background down there.

March

See "Best Day of the Year" in the Other Stats section above. This was the fireplace in our room at the bed & breakfast by Monticello, with a glass full of water for effect. Yes, it's water - we were out of wine by this point in the evening, but we still wanted to sit by the fire and drink out of wine glasses. Makes for a nice picture.


My good friend Stephen from Arizona during his first visit to New York City, looking out from the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building. It's one impressive city, you know

April

The Tidal Basin during the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC. Laura and I took a break by the water for a bit in between walking through the massive crowds underneath the pink trees.

My dad barbecuing for day three of his 60th birthday celebration back in Holbrook, AZ. Ah, summertime in Arizona (starts in March).

May

Hanging out on the back porch of my friend OtherDave's house on 17th Street. The feeling of summer in DC (starts in May) is so drastically different than the feeling of winter here. It's like two different cities. Something I never thought of in Arizona. I love it.


Laura took me kayaking on the Potomac for my first kayaking experience. It was actually a lot of fun. And extremely memorable. Good view of the Lincoln from here.

June

We went on a wine tour in Maryland, and decided to buy a bottle and sit in the front yard of the winery's tasting room (house) and chill. And chill we did. Good friends, good views, good wine, good weather. Good times.


Watched the US vs. England World Cup game with a large crowd of hooligans in Dupont Circle. Largest TV watching party I've ever been to.

July

That's me, the convertible and monument valley in the background. Laura and I drove through the valley at sunset with the top down, listening to music loudly and enjoying the hell out of existence.


Our usual Thursday summer happy hour tradition at Tom Tom during a rain storm. This picture really reminds me of drinking Sam Adams Summer Ale being wet and sticky - oh, the humidity during a summer rain storm in DC

August

The city reduced their fountain maintenance efforts this year for some reason, leaving the water to take it's mossy revenge against the Dupont Circle fountain. Still gorgeous, I'd say.

Thursday happy hour with the friends at Tom Tom in Adams Morgan, this time without the rain storm. We went here every Thursday for five months, with only one break for vacation in July. $3 drinks can really reinforce a traditions, it seems.

September

The view of the west Mall from the top of the Washington Monument. Laura has never been up to the top of it, and had to work this day when I went with some old friends. And she didn't want to see this picture when I offered to show her the view, so it wouldn't ruin it for her. So maybe she won't see it. But I suppose this will be a good test to see if she reads her boyfriend's very long year-end blog post, huh?


That's Firefly on the TV, oyster crackers on the plate, chocolate in the bowl (hand made by Laura, by the way) and four glasses of different red wine. There's really no better way to do wine comparisons.

October

It was cold outside, it was early in the morning and we were all extremely tired, and the six of us had no idea what to expect from this skydiving introduction video, nor from the flying in a plane and jumping out of it part of the experience either. I was a bit nervous by this point. But it was certainly exciting.


I killed it! It was no match for me.

November

This was the second best picture I took while jogging this month, or so my October post implies. View from the Taft Bridge down into Rock Creek Park.

Two of my favorite things: Laura and a table full of Szechuan food. That's Twice Cooked Pork and Eggplant in Garlic Sauce from Great Wall Szechuan House in DC, currently my favorite place in the universe.

December

State Christmas trees by the White House tree with the Monument in the background. My least favorite thing about this experience? The cold. Second least? The fact that all the state trees look pretty much the same.


My family at Christmas this year, except my brother (sorry to leave you out, brother) who was behind the camera. Love you guys!

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That's it. That, my friends, is what I did in 2010.