Q’s Year in Review: Top Personal Events of 2011

Here it is, the last day of our week long Year in Review for 2011! This is the one where I get to talk about myself incessantly. It will probably be the most boring…or the most interesting, depending on how in to me you are! Rofl…

Anyways, my year was an interesting one, to be sure. I took some vacations, bought a car, went on a 5 week long business trip…oh, and I lost a little weight. So, all in all, not too bad. Here’s a look back at the 10 more interesting/impactful parts of my year.

10. Birthday Disneyland Trip (Oct 1-2): Went to Disneyland the weekend right before my birthday. Disneyland is always fun, the weather was nice, and I got on most of the rides I wanted to. Pirates of the Caribbean was down, as was California Screamin’. But, I did get to rock the new Star Tours (which is epic), and the Park was all decorated for Halloweentime, which is always nice. It was a nice trip.

9. Thanksgiving in Lancaster (Nov 24-27): I always love my annual trip down to Lancaster for Thanksgiving. This year was no different. I hung out and played sports with the cousins, ate good food, and just enjoyed my time with the family. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and I love my tradition of heading down to Lancaster for it.

8. Abalone Feed (Aug 12-14): The annual abalone feed was a smash hit, as always. The abalone was delicious, the weather was ok, although a bit windy. I actually got a brilliant sunset photo the first night. And, of course, it was nice to be unplugged from the world for a little while, as Ocean Cove has literally no cell reception. A real “get away from it all” trip. Excellent!

7. Sharks Season Tickets: This year, for the first time, I splurged and got a full season ticket package to the Sharks. So far I’ve missed only 4 games. Not gonna lie, its been pretty awesome being able to head out to the Tank as often as I have. I love Sharks games, so going to every single one is a real blast. Hopefully they make it worth my while come playoff time!

6. Tennessee Business Trip (May 2 – June 1): I’m not a big business traveler. My job just doesn’t require it. But this year I got sent to Oak Ridge, TN to work on a proposal. And I was there for nearly 5 weeks. It was kind of insane. I mean, it was good and bad. Good because it’s a good career move to help out on a big project like this and really put in the extra effort. Also, it was a nice time to see a part of the country I’d never been to before. One weekend I drove up through Kentucky and into Cincinnati, OH to meet BQ, who was out in Pittsburgh for work. That was pretty awesome. My last week there we spent one night on Bud Arrowsmith’s boat floating around the Tennessee River and eating pizza. Pretty good times! But it was a super long time to be away from home.

5. SLO/Ventura Trip (Sept 3-6): Labor Day Weekend ended up being a two-for-one trip for me. Saturday I spent in San Luis Obispo at a wedding for long time family friend Shannon. She was getting married, and it was a very nice wedding. Lots of fun. Got to hang out with her brother Sean (one of my best friends), so that was nice too. Then Sunday I took off and continued South on 101 into Ventura where I spent the rest of the weekend with another one of my best friends, Jimmy B. We went walking on the beach, hung out around Ventura, and enjoyed the ridiculously nice weather. Always good to see the Jimmy B. All in all it was just a nice weekend with good friends. And those are hard to beat!

4. Weight Loss (July 7 – Present): I hate to even include this one, but I guess it’s time for me to finally tell the full story. My weight loss has been a dominant personal storyline of the second half of the year. Maybe it should be my #1 story, but I love to travel…so those win out.

I was big. No, actually, I was huge. It was kind of disgusting, really. I didn’t mind so much, but my body started to rebel against me. First it was knee pain and whatnot. But towards the end of June, weirder things started happening. Shortness of breath, weakness in the arms, and just general wonkiness. Went to the doctor, and then tested my blood sugar, and it was pretty high. Not high enough where I was in danger of coma, but, you know, high. And diabetes doesn’t really interest me. Shortly thereafter, I had a panic attack that I mistook for a potential heart issue (chest tightness, tingling in my fingers, shortness of breath), so I went to the emergency room. My heart was, surprisingly, super duper healthy. But if things were to the point where I was having panic attacks about it…and also my blood sugar was creeping up to where I’d be labeled a diabetic if I didn’t get things in order…well, it made the decision pretty easy.

So, on July 7th, I made a decision to lose 100 pounds. I figured that was a nice round number to shoot for. And I’d do it in stages. First, I would just track my calories and change the way I was eating. Just doing that I lost 20 pounds in 2 weeks. It was insane. Then I added in nightly walks. First 1.5 miles. Then bumped up to 2. Then 3. After a couple months of combining the new diet with exercise, I started turning my walks into jogging. First I’d run for a bit, then walk for a bit, rinse, repeat. One day I ended up running the entire 2 mile loop I was doing without stopping (big assist to Chris for pushing me to just run the whole thing)…and I’ve been running ever since. I track my calories every day, and I run almost every day (5-6 days a week). Currently, I’m running between 3.5 to 4 miles a day at a 9 minute mile pace. Not blazing fast or anything, but its where I’m at. And, I must say, the weight has just been melting off. People as what my secret is. You know what…there is honestly no secret. Eat better + exercise = weight loss. Simple.

Anyways, its still a work in progress, but to date I’ve lost almost 100 pounds (I’m writing this on the 22nd, where I’ve lost 96 pounds so far. It’s possible that by the time this posts, I’ll actually be past the 100 pounds lost mark). My personal goal changed to losing 120 pounds about half way through all this. And now I’m thinking I can afford to lose even more than that…but I’m sure it will all come in time. I’m healthy, I’m happy, I’m active…the weight loss will come, but I don’t have to push it. I’m a new person, and that will keep me healthy and around to terrorize the world for a long, long time. And that works for me.

3. Las Vegas New Years (Dec 30-Jan 2): I rang in the New Year this year in Las Vegas with some of my good friends. Vegas is always epic. Especially for New Years. The Strip is closed to cars, and is jam packed with partiers. The hotels all shoot fireworks off the top of their towers….its just an awesome, epic party. And I love The Vegas anyways, so I’m not complaining. But, being as I’ve done New Years there before, and I’ve written extensively about it in the past, I feel no further explanation is necessary.

2. Boston Sharks Trip (Feb 4-6): I’ve started taking annual Sharks road trips. Dustin and I pick one game for the two of us to attend on the road. This, of course, started the previous year in Chicago, when I met Dustin and Brandon in Chicago for the game that Jeremy Roenick was being honored at. Chicago went on to win the Stanley Cup that year. This year, we chose Boston. I had always wanted to see Boston…this was a weekend game…and we could see both the NHL and AHL club play in the same day. So it really was the perfect choice. Boston is a cool town, although it was pretty cold. At least it didn’t snow while we were there, but the entire city was under a good 4 feet of snow already. That Saturday of seeing the Sharks play in Boston in the afternoon, then hopping a train and seeing the Worcester Sharks (our minor league team) play that evening was an experience I won’t soon forget. How many people get to see nearly the entire organization play in one night? Not too shabby. Sunday we saw the town, hit all the historic spots, and then holed up in a bar to watch the Super Bowl. Monday we saw more of the town then flew home. All in all, this was a pretty awesome trip. Then, Boston went on to win the Stanley Cup…which means I have strange, mystical powers. So, Minnesota, prepare for glory…you’re next up on my Sharks roadtrip list!

1. Kauai Vacation (Feb 19-26): Obviously spending a week in Kauai was going to top the list. Kauai is literally my favorite place in the entire world. It will probably top next year’s list as well! This trip was very nice. It was just me and my parents. The house was gorgeous, right on the golf course and on the bluffs overlooking the ocean. I caught some amazing sunset photos. We did all the usual Kauai things…golfing (lots of golfing), eating fish (lots of ahi…turns out I’m a huge sashimi fan, who knew?), swimming in warm salty waters (although no snorkeling…waves were too dangerous, I guess), and seeing the sights. And relaxing. I could be happy doing nothing but staring at the waves and enjoying the tropical weather for hours on end. We even had a giant thunderstorm one night. Massive. It woke me up from a dead sleep. Pretty epic. All in all, a pretty amazing trip. I’m sure I wrote about it in more detail in the blog back after I got back. But, yeah, I love Kauai, and I loved finally getting back there after quite a few years away. I’m looking forward to going back again next April.


So that’s it! The Year in Review is now completed. We can look forward to 2012 now…which, as I said, is going to be an amazing year. I guarantee it. So, to all my loyal readers…and even to the non-loyal readers (you cheating scum!)…have a wonderful New Years Eve and New Years Day celebration. I hope 2012 brings you all the fame and fortune you could ever want…and then some!

And come back and check in with the blog periodically in 2012. While the posting won’t be at the frenetic pace it has been over the holidays, I’ll try to do better about not disappearing for 2-4 weeks at a time this year. I’ll figure out more interesting things to write about and will do my best to entertain the masses!

Cheers!