Tag: year in review

2023 in review

See previous year in review posts.

My view from the end of all things 2023:

Here’s what this year looked like for me:

  • The overwhelming and overarching fact of my life this year was welcoming a second child in May. We’ve been living in the wake of that event ever since, for better (cuteness, brother silliness) or worse (his reflux and terrible sleep).
  • On the professional front:
    • In January my job got reduced to half time with a day’s notice, so…
    • I had to pick up a second, full-time job to stay afloat. Worked not-great hours between both jobs for about two months, until…
    • My original job went back to full time. However…
    • After that experience I started looking hard for different job, and…
    • Finally got one, which I started in June and am very happy at.
  • Enjoyed hangout times with friends and family
  • Saw a shooting star at one of said hangout times
  • Saw the Okee Dokee Brothers at Ravinia, and were first in line to get a vinyl signed and picture with the Bros
  • Lots of fun stuff with the 4 year old, including:
    • Raised butterflies
    • Played Super Mario
    • Pondered bathtime
    • Spotted bugs
    • Fostered curiosity
    • Took him mini golfing for the first time
    • Many visits to the children’s museum and local pools
    • Went to a carnival and did a spinny ride for the first time
    • Took him to his first minor league baseball game and on the way out one of the parking attendants gave him a foul ball that had been hit out of the stadium
  • Lots of fun stuff with Cinema Sugar:
  • Celebrated 17 years blogging, which included:
  • Did Halloween trick-or-treating in the snow with a fussy infant in tow but still managed to have a good time
  • Got an electronic adjustable desk for my home office so I can work standing up or sitting down
  • Read 15 books and watched 102 new movies
  • Watched some good TV (Quarterback and Emergency NYC on Netflix) and great TV (The Bear)
  • Added more quality discs to my collection, including the Back to the Future trilogy on Blu-ray, a Babylon SteelBook, and Criterion Blu-rays of Malcolm X, Summer Hours, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Sound of Metal

December 31, 2023 1 Comment

2022 in review

See previous year in review posts. 

My view from the end of all things 2022:

(Not visible: the buffalo plaid pocket square accompanying the bowtie.)

The biggest thing that happened to my family this year was trying to have a second child. It was a long and demoralizing journey that ultimately ended successfully (due in late May), but it’ll take more than a bullet point to say why.

Beyond that, we just kept on livin’. Here’s what that looked like this year:

  • Got to see our cute, curious, cuddly, (sometimes) cantankerous 3 year old:
    • get familiar with the neighborhood birds, including hawks, cardinals, herons, woodpeckers, and blackbirds
    • get his second-ever haircut
    • get COVID (was basically fatigued for a day then back to his usual self)
    • take classes for t-ball, gymnastics, tap/ballet, and various other sports
    • giddily explore a few different children’s museums
  • Enjoyed my brief stint as a bookfluencer
  • Started a monthly newsletter
  • Relished a few kid-free breakfast dates with my wife
  • Took a road trip to Toronto to visit family
  • Made several visits to family in Wisconsin and Michigan
  • Continued attending a semi-weekly book club with my dad and his friends
  • Continued having semi-monthly virtual chats to stay in touch with my closest friends
  • Attended Zoom author events with Madeline Miller and Nick Offerman/Jeff Tweedy
  • Went to a climbing gym for the first time as an adult
  • Appreciated things like:
  • Dispensed wisdom about:
  • Left the library world for a new job
  • Encountered lots of great books and movies
    • Read 22 books and saw 62 movies
    • Saw these movies in the theater: Barbarian, Nope, The Fabelmans, The Banshees of Inisherin, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Babylon
    • Added these cheap used DVDs/Blu-rays to my collection: The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Apartment, Arrival, Brick, Brooklyn, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cast Away, Casino Royale, Do the Right Thing, Hell or High Water, High Noon, In the Heights, The Irishman, Looper, The Matrix, Ocean’s Twelve & Thirteen, Out of the Past, Paris Texas, Red River, Remember the Titans, Roma, Titanic, and The Usual Suspects
    • Added these (not cheap Christmas gifts) Criterion Blu-rays: 12 Angry Men, The Night of the Hunter, The Lady Eve, and WALL·E
  • Helped launch Cinema Sugar, where I wrote about:
  • Determined the greatest films of all time
  • Pondered many great quotes
  • Kept up several ongoing series:

December 30, 2022 Add Comment

2021 in review

See previous year in review posts.

My view from the end of all things 2021:

With the day off from work, I spent the morning traipsing around our snowy yard with Little Man. He introduced me to his snowman (above), we threw snowballs at trees, and rolled down the small hill in our backyard. Lots more snow is on the way, apparently, so we’ll be out there shoveling again soon to welcome the new year.

I don’t have an overarching thesis of my 2021. In most ways it was just like last year: COVID, living with a rambunctious and hilarious toddler, and doing the little things of living every day. Sometimes that’s all you can and should do: shovel snow when you have to, and roll down a hill when you can.

A few highlights:

December 31, 2021 Add Comment

2020 in review

See other year in review posts.

Me and Little Man gathering snowballs, here at the end of all things 2020:

A lot of bad things happened in the world this year, but in my own little world there was mostly just good. Chiefly because I’m blessed to have a COVID-proof job that has let me work from home since mid-March.

This has also meant doing lockdown and social distancing with a toddler, which was simultaneously easy (he doesn’t know what COVID-19 is nor what he’s missing because of it) and challenging (*random shrieking and tantrums*).

Still, life continued to happen in spite of everything, as it is wont to do. Here’s what that looked like for me:

  • Got to watch Little Man:
  • Coined a new Filmspotting segment
  • Celebrated five years of marriage with my bride
  • Made several home improvements, including adding can lights, getting a new front door, remodeling our house’s original 1956 kitchen (shout-out to soft-close cabinets and drawers!), and opening up a wall between the kitchen and living room
  • Learned I’m an Obi-Wan, and pondered statues and Star Wars
  • Mulled over marriage and music
  • Ranked my top 10 songs from Disney movie musicals
  • Kept up my ongoing Recent Views, Magazine Mashups, and Media of the Moment series
  • Became a person who listens to podcasts at 1.5x speed
  • Became a person who has a pre-lit, artificial Christmas tree
  • Refinanced our mortgage to jump on those sweet ‘n’ low interest rates
  • Hosted some out-of-town friends for a socially distant autumnal hangout in our garage, complete with space heater and hot cider
  • Learned my 3-year-old niece said this about me: “I love Chad because he holds me. He’s the best Chad I’ve ever had.”
  • Explored the wilds of Pure Michigan during a weekend getaway, our only out-of-town excursion this year except for a surprise day trip to see family and say goodbye to my sister’s dog (RIP Nox)
  • Said goodbye to my beloved iPhone SE and said hello to a new second-generation SE
  • Sold our Nissan Leaf to some friends and saw our electric bill drop by about 40%
  • Took a few much-needed and much-enjoyed solo bike rides to and through a nearby forest preserve
  • Got a new leaf blower with a gutter attachment, which is a game-changer
  • Finally got my garage workspace set up with some steel pegboards for tools and our old kitchen’s counter/cabinet as a workbench
  • Continued adding to my DVD collection, with new entrants including Out of the Past, Contact, Toy Story 3, Ikiru, and several library discards
  • Read 17 books and watched 78 movies
  • Watched lots of quality TV, including The Queen’s Gambit, The Great British Baking Show, Big Mouth, Love on the Spectrum, Queer Eye, and The Crown

December 31, 2020 Add Comment

2019 in review

The view from my New Year’s Eve.

See other year in review posts.

This year in review is a little shorter than the last few, primarily because it consists of whatever I could do outside of work, having and raising a baby, and buying and managing a house—all of which took most of my time and energy. But here, roughly in chronological order, are some highlights from my trip around the sun:

December 31, 2019 Add Comment

2018 in review

See other year in review posts.

What am I doing New Year’s Eve? Looking back at my 2018 calendar and logbook to remember the notable happenings that made up my year. In roughly chronological order:

  • Started a paper logbook (a la Austin Kleon) in a Moleskine notebook I got for Christmas. Have actually kept it going regularly, and enjoy it much more than my previous journals in composition notebooks, probably because it’s not lined. This encourages me to do things like magazine mashups and tape other life ephemera and keepsakes inside. It’s a much richer diary because of that.
  • 2/24/18 log: “Today at work an older guy was looking for White Heat, Yankee Doodle Dandy, and For Whom the Bell Tolls. I found them on the DVD shelves and he said, ‘You’re the nicest guy on this side of the tracks.’ Thank you?”
  • Started going to a local independent barber shop and love it
  • Wrote or quoted some opinions about Donald Trump and have yet to be proven wrong
  • Got a real, professional massage and why don’t I do that more often?
  • Saw I’m With Her in concert at Thalia Hall
  • Wrote several Refer Madness columns for Booklist
  • Bought a Royal Arrow typewriter and then sold my rickety Royal Quiet De Luxe
  • Saw 2001: A Space Odyssey at the Music Box in Chicago
  • Saw The Okee Dokee Brothers at Lincoln Hall
  • Went to a college friend’s wedding at my alma mater
  • Switched to Firefox, fixed Twitter, and made other tech improvements
  • Hosted a type-in at an Evanston bookstore
  • Went on a pontoon boat with family in Madison
  • Had octopus and a sake bomb for the first time in Wicker Park with college friends
  • Went to Midsommarfest in Andersonville, where I bought my first pair of real Birkenstocks and got roped into a Swedish dance circle
  • Learned my wife was pregnant with our first child, visited Starved Rock, then saw Hamilton on stage, all within 24 hours
  • Walked the Custer Street Fair with friends, got dinner and dessert and talked tech ethics
  • Acquired, cleaned, and quickly sold a gorgeous Royal Empress
  • Went to wife’s cousin’s wedding at Illinois Beach State Park
  • Visited Colorado for my friend Tim’s wedding in Denver: stayed at a gorgeous Airbnb in Maintou Springs, hiked in the Rocky Mountain National Park, rode a vintage Otis elevator at the Hotel Boulderado, ogled the stunning Boulder Public Library, toured the Celestial Seasonings headquarters, wended through the hoodoos of the Painted Mines Interpretive Park, shot billiards until 1 AM, cried and danced and gave a speech at Tim’s wedding
  • Won my case on Judge John Hodgman
  • Celebrated 10 years of filmlogging
  • Spent a few days fishing and lounging in the restorative Northwoods of Wisconsin
  • Saw Rayland Baxter at Lincoln Hall
  • Went to a Cubs game on a super hot day
  • Gave my Royal Futura 800 to a neighbor who needed it
  • Went to another Cubs game on a super beautiful day
  • Got a Fisher space pen for my birthday and it’s fun to use
  • Visited Colorado again for my friend Taylor’s wedding: whacked balls at Top Golf, beheld the Crush Walls, sang the processional along with the wedding party, cried and danced hard
  • Tried to make a typewriter emoticon happen ‘(:::)
  • Canned homemade applesauce with the family
  • Dressed as Fred Rogers for Halloween
  • Went to Green Mill Cocktail Lounge for the first time and sat in the Al Capone booth
  • Saw sound designer Gary Rydstrom speak at Northwestern
  • Acquired a new Olympia SM7 with an interesting story
  • Had fun putting together a LEGO Delorean
  • Released a full-length album of old demos called The Wonder Of It All
  • All things Baby C: baby showers, appointments, clothes, toys, books, classes, and so much more
  • Got a portable washing machine
  • Wrote some good blog posts, like:
  • Watched 70 movies (old and new) and read 72 books, according to my logbook
  • Read 2 presidential biographies: John Tyler and Harry Truman
  • Watched several good TV shows: The Crown season 1 and 2, Big Mouth season 2, Queer Eye seasons 1 and 2, The People Vs. O.J. Simpson, and Big Little Lies

December 31, 2018 Add Comment

2017 in review

NYE2017-windows

See other year in review posts.

This is the view from my New Year’s Eve. Since I can count the number of degrees it is outside on one hand, I decided to stay in this morning to look back at my 2017 calendar and remember the notable events, trips, and people that made up my year. In chronological order:

  • The Packers beating the Giants and the Cowboys in the playoffs.
  • Going down to Florida for my cousin’s funeral was the definition of bittersweet: horrible reason for being there, but good opportunity to see family we don’t see very often.
  • Sold two typewriters for more than I bought them for. It’s a seller’s market out there.
  • Went to Ann Arbor, MI, for the first time for a baby shower and hung out with far flung friends.
  • Starting a two-person book club with my friend Josh, where we get together to eat and discuss the book, along with politics, religion, and everything under the sun. I call them our “save the world” sessions because we sort through the miasma of current events and decide on the proper way to fix them. If only D.C. would listen in!
  • Bar trivia with Jenny and her cousins. Weren’t close to winning, but reminded me I should do bar trivia more.
  • Had neighbors over for dinner, which reminded me we should have neighbors over for dinner more.
  • Saw my grandma the day before she died. Though by that time she was unresponsive, the timing was fortuitous.
  • Long weekend trip to the Twin Cities to visit friends. Hung out with their awesome kids and gallivanted around town.
  • Hosted a marriage proposal in our apartment by people who used to live in it.
  • Saw Sandra McCracken at The Union with Jenny, three of my favorite things.
  • Got quoted in Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option, then hosted a discussion about the book at a local potluck.
  • Went to Durham, NC, for a wedding and loved it.
  • Continued playing ultimate frisbee Sunday afternoons when I was able, and loving the feeling of a perfectly thrown touchdown.
  • Got to facilitate two dozen very cute interviews between 3rd graders for a local history project at my library.
  • Saw the Cubs lose to the Brewers at Wrigley Field on a cold and rainy day. Highlights within that include seeing two of Jenny’s cousins there, and Nick Offerman walking directly past us after singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”.
  • Went to my first local ward meeting, in a post-election effort to become more civically engaged.
  • Had a quick and haphazard solo recording session of some of my songs. Won’t be able to use most of it, but it reminded me of the agony and ecstasy of recording.
  • Took several quick trips to Jenny’s family cottage in Michigan, including over Independence Day weekend.
  • Celebrated two years of marriage to my bride, who supports my weird hobbies and makes me want to be a better person.
  • Went to ALA 2017 in Chicago. Seeing the Librarian of Congress was a highlight.
  • Called or hung out with several friends, new and old, to catch up and get to know each other, all of which I appreciate.
  • Drove to Toronto for a family wedding. The 8-hour drive wasn’t so great, but being there for the first time was.
  • Convened with family in Cape May, NJ, for a reunion of sorts, then caravanned to Elkins, WV, for grandma’s memorial service. Saw lots of extended family for the first time and got to hang with my cousins’ kids, who grow too fast.
  • Played golf for the first time in at least 15 years in Elkins the morning of the memorial. Grateful for my cousin’s husband’s caddying and encouragement the whole rushed 9. Sank one sweet putt and had one great approach shot, otherwise: A for effort.
  • My sister visited to see Billy Joel at Wrigley Field. We were planning to just listen from outside the ballpark as I did years ago with a friend for Paul McCartney, but on a whim we checked the box office for tickets and decided to jump on them as an early birthday present to me. Awesome show.
  • Saw The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, California Typewriter, and Columbus at the Music Box Theater.
  • Hosted several friends and family overnight on our pullout couch-bed, having each of them leave a note in our guest book.
  • Went to college homecoming for the first time since graduating, and got an alumni discount on a t-shirt as a reward.
  • Got an advance copy of Tom Hanks’ typewriter book, which I reviewed, then photographed with one of my typers, which got on the news. Then got a letter from the man himself.
  • Met up with friends in Asheville, NC, which was gorgeous and fun.
  • Wrote a post a day for #Novemblog2017 instead of trying and failing to write a novel I wouldn’t enjoy doing anyway. Some favorites: This is my alarm clock, Want to Read (∞): on becoming a good reader, Google Past, and In praise of wedding reception air drumming.
  • Got invited to a Friendsgiving and tried to build a gingerbread house with a kid who was super stoked about it.
  • Welcomed long-awaited nephew Olin Charles into the world, and began taking pictures of him immediately.
  • Got some books, a Merriam-Webster t-shirt, a banjo capo, and other fun little things for Christmas.
  • Encountered lots of great books, movies, and music, and wrote more entries in Cool Civil War Names and Refer Madness.

2017: Not Bad!

December 31, 2017 Add Comment