Hey Joe, where you gonna run to now?

All right, its my monthly update on my goals for the year, just encompassing both July and August this time.

1) Work harder. I wish.  I've put on 15 pounds since the start of June and I don't like it.  I did get some work done on looking at the stability regions of SDC algorithms, just nothing useful yet, unfortunately.  At least the physical stuff I'm working on.  I've started lifting again at AU's gym just to I can throw around some actual weight.  I definitely needed the bigger weights to start doing leg lifts again because I was disappointed in the size of my legs in some of the cabin pictures.  I've also officially signed up for the Flying Pig marathon in May, so hopefully that'll kick my ass and get me running again.

2) Play harder. This has a direct link to my failures at working harder.  I hiked Multnomah Falls near Portland.  I hiked in Bellingham.  I hiked Red River gorge.  I hiked parts of Mammoth Cave.  I kayaked in Northern Indiana.  I had a voodoo doughnut.  I talked about triathlons with a gay Jewish Alabaman firefighter named Dakota.

3) Travel more - Portland, Bellingham, Seattle, Kentucky (twice), Menninga Island.  Check and check.

4) Read more.  This has gone pretty well.  I finished The Book Thief and I may have cried at the end.  Judge me all you want.  If that ending doesn't move you, you're dead inside.  I've also finished Alex Stone's Fooling Houdini, Marie Lu's Prodigy, Nick Cave's The Death of Bunny Munro (just awful), Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley, Neal Shusterman's Unwind and I'm currently working on Slavomir Rawicz's The Long Walk.

5) Drink better beer.  Very much a success.  All sorts of good stuff in Portland and Bellingham.  Lisa brought a bunch of very legit stuff out to the cabin.  I've had Sierra Nevada in my fridge for the past month.  I even had a black and blue at the Carraig with Brooke last week.  It's been delightful these past two months.