2013 -- A Year in Brief

This was an interesting year.  It was also an expensive year.  I did some fun things, and I had some times when my mood was all over the place.  Largely, it was a recovery year from the emotional stress of last year.  I had to recommit myself to the goals I had accomplished in 2011 that had broken in 2012.

• I experienced freezing rain for the first time.
• I went to Boston on business three times, one week each.
• Hiked around Walden Pond
• I think I understand dating better now, but just need more experience so I don't keep getting inexplicably shy.
• Went to a speed dating activity for the second time, but this time got zero dates out of it.
• I realize it was probably due to a clerical error, but still can't help but think I must be weird looking and/or boring.
• Went on some fun dates anyway with some beautiful women.
• Saw a comet for the first time.  Well, my camera could see it, anyway.
• I saw in theaters: Lés Miserables, Oz: The Great and Powerful, The Croods, Star Trek into Darkness, Man of Steel, Free Birds, Ender's Game, The Day of the Doctor, and Frozen.
• For the first time in my life, I gave a transient a ride.
• My last roommate moved out of my house.
• I turned 30.
• I got this weird rash on my face near my eye that just wouldn't go away for a long time.
• Used the excuse to see the dermatologist to also get this cyst removed from my back.  TMI, I know, I'm sorry.
• I got and played several excellent new board games this year:  Power Grid, Catan: Explorers & Pirates, Forbidden Desert, and 7 Wonders.
• Rode my bike all the way down the Legacy Parkway trail for the first time.
• Successfully fried an egg unsupervised for the first time in my life.  I was so happy, I decided to do it more often.
• I got back in the habit of going to the gym 2-3 times a week.
• I got back in the habit of going to the temple monthly.
• My old lawnmower broke, so I bought a new one.
• My old TV broke, so I bought a new one.
• Paid off 2/3 of my house.
• Government sequestration led to me having 6 unpaid Fridays off in a row.
• Our specific project was cancelled, so I was moved to other projects.  A few times.
• It's good that new projects want me, but I would rather have stability.
• Got a new Bishopric in the Singles Ward.
• My sister moved into my ward.
• I got a new calling as the finance clerk.
• I went with the Roy Singles Ward to Nauvoo.  This was the second time I've been there, but the first time since the Temple was built.
• At the same time, first time I saw the Nauvoo Pageant.
• Second time that I've been through a temple outside of Utah.
• Went to Glacier National Park for the first time.  There, with my family, I saw some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen in my whole life!
• Saw a bear for the first time.
• Saw a mountain goat for the first time.
• Went to Pineview reservoir with the Singles Ward.  Doesn't sound like much, but I was just happy that it wasn't Bear Lake like the last 4 years in a row.
• Lost my glasses in the bottom of the lake.  Fortuitous timing, though, as I had already been to the eye doctor and was going to get new glasses anyway.
• Bought a 3DS so I can play Pokémon X, which I also bought.
• Except how I never actually get around to playing, but whatever.
• Well, I did use the Pokémon Dream World a lot for my Black game when I found out they were shutting it down.  I don't nearly have all 8 gym badges, though so I couldn't get to every area.  Looks like I'm not catching 'em all.
• My phone died, so I bought a Smartphone.
• Had fun shotgun shooting with the Elder's Quorum.
• Had fun dancing at the Union Station in Ogden.  I hadn't been there since 2011.
• Had fun walking through Haunted Hollow.  I hadn't been there since, like, forever!
• I rode a horse for the first time.
• I watched all 800 episodes of Doctor Who, 98 of which I watched with some great friends!
• I didn't shave for a week, something I haven't done since High School.
• My sister received her Endowment, so now my whole family has been through the temple!

I can't tag everyone, but for those that I did, you were important in one or more of the above bullets.

Looking back on this year, there certainly is a big pile of good things and bad things.  But as the Doctor would say, "The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vise versa, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant."

Ranking each Doctor and their companions.

It's a bit easier to rank each Doctor, though we don't see much of the 8th, so I just put him in the middle.  Hard to decide between Pertwee and Hartnell, both are excellent Doctors.

• 4th Doctor - Tom Baker
• 11th Doctor - Matt Smith
• 10th Doctor - David Tennant
• 3rd Doctor - Jon Pertwee
• 1st Doctor - William Hartnell
• 8th Doctor - Paul McGann
• 7th Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
• 9th Doctor - Christopher Eccleston
• 5th Doctor - Peter Davison
• 2nd Doctor - Patrick Troughton
• 6th Doctor - Colin Baker

Ranking the Companions is harder. 

Ranking every Doctor Who Story

A few days before the 50th Anniversarry of Doctor Who, an article appeared on io9 which gave a brief review of every Doctor Who story and ranked them from best to worst.  As might be expected, I disagreed with a lot of what they had to say.  We're all different, I already know that my sisters would disagree with some of my placements.

But of course, they at io9 expected disagreements, and in fact welcomed them and challenged us to come up with our own.  So of course that's when I started.  But I gotta give them credit:  it's really hard to come up with a good ranking.

11 Marathons of Doctor Who

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, I watched every episode.  At the same time that I watched every episode in private, I also threw 11 parties, one for each Doctor.  (Well, technically 13, since I split 3 and 4 into two nights each.)  We watched the best episodes from each Doctor.  I originally wrote out this list on Facebook for those that couldn't make it, and to say thank you again to those that did.  I'm copying this list here so it is more easily accessible.

I am also listing in Italics episodes that were not planned, but that I was thinking about watching and we probably would have had we had more time.

Doctor Who - 50 years in Time and Space

Art by Andy Lambert, epic Doctor Who artist.

 Doctor Who first aired 50 years ago today at 5:16 PM in Great Britain.  For fans of Doctor Who everywhere, it has been a fantastic journey ever since.  As part of my tribute, I would like to explain how I became part of that journey, as well as share my own thoughts of the progression of the show.

Nationality

You would be surprised how often it comes up in conversations, but within the melting pot that is the United States of America, it can be interesting to see where your genes come from.  My family has done a lot of our genealogy, so I was able to trace back much of my nationality:

Do Nice Guys Finish Last?

This is a common complaint from single men in similar circumstances to myself.  Some of us look around and say, "I'm a nice guy?  Why am I still single?"  Then see women falling for jerks and complain that it isn't fair that "nice guys finish last."  But is it true?  If so, what should we do about it?  Here's my thoughts on the matter.

Facebook Grid Search

So I have the new Facebook Graph Search.  It's currently in beta, but I added my name to the list and made the switch this week.  Basically, Facebook upgraded their regular search and gave it a funny name.

You can still use it to find friends and pages, but now you can find friends using many more search criteria than you could before.  Previously, you could only use name, then filter by cities, schools, or employers.  Now you can use more specific search criteria that doesn't even have to include their name.  In the same manner, you can use it to search for pages and photos, but you still can't find any status updates, which is unfortunate.

Keep in mind, that it still follows privacy settings.  For example, my interests are locked to friends only, so anyone searching "Men who live nearby and like Camping" would not be able to find me unless they are my friend.  My birth year is private, so I am automatically filtered out of any sort of search that uses an age.  Actually, the only thing that I have set to public is my gender, but they will have a hard time finding me using "Men who are not my friends."

Though nothing is public, My relationship status is Friends of Friends, as is my current city and hometown, so even if we weren't friends, if we had a mutual friend, then they would be able to find me with, "Single men who are friends of my friends from Utah."

Some other limitations is that you can't search using your friend lists (except for Facebook's default "My Family" and "My Close Friends"), and you can only narrow a search to a month, not a day or even a week, so like you can use "Photos of my friends this month" but not "Photos of my friends today."

So how useful is it?  It is great for people who want to be found, since it opens up more ways to do so.  It's also good for searching through your own friends.  But keep in mind that realistically, most people don't "like" everything they are interested in. Many people don't set their relationship status or their location. A lot of people don't make public the year they were born.  Understanding this can make your searches more useful.

Also keep in mind that just because someone made their information public, doesn't necessarily mean that they want to be found and contacted.  I personally think most people only set their privacy "public" on accident, but I suppose there's got to be some people that like attention from strangers.  Just... send them a private message, probably shouldn't just go around friending random people you don't know.