Greetings and Happy New Year!
I hope your holidays were filled with family and fun. It's been awhile since I last posted. So much has happened since, too many to post about. But here are some highlights:
In the news:
Keeping in spirit with how we don't know and/or appreciate how often he's saved the universe, The Doctor comes in at second place with the Doctor versus Mayan Apocalypse collection of memes [15].
The Road Ahead:
2012 was just inundated with politics because of said elections and I had hoped that with its conclusion I could focus more on the things I had originally planned for this blog. Unfortunately, I think the political environment actually got more loud and even hinkier. I will still touch upon some of that in upcoming posts (current events is one of this blog's focus after all) however, I hope to do so to a lesser degree.
My plans for Wibbly-wobbly for 2013 involve a small refocusing of my posts. Biggest things: I want to do more Georgia travel and reviews of local attractions, restaurants, and events. It will also give Brooke and me and excuse to get out more.
Back in my March 2012 post "Well That's [P]interesting," I stated that I would be trying out DIY projects and recipes I find on Pinterest and talking about them here. Well, next thing on the list: more Pinterest related reviews. I've been kicking myself for not following through with this and I've wanted to talk about some of the things Brooke and I have tried so far. A little off-shoot of this is some Actual Advice Mallard posts. If you don't know what Actual Advice Mallard is, click the hyperlink above to learn more. But I plan to try out someone of the wisdom imparted by said water foul and let you know if they work. One such post is already written and schedule for release as tomorrow's post.
Well, those are the big things. Other than random book, movie, TV, etc reviews of course.
Oh yeah! The Zero Edition Press website is now (sort of) live. Ben Bowlin and I have some things in the works. I don't want to talk about it right now out of fear of jinxing it like the Filipino Anthology (see aforementioned website).
Also please check out GNerks. It's a little side project that my good friend Ben Fuller and I are working on.
At Home:
Well. Otherwise, it's been pretty busy here at casa de Blackburn. The wife and I continue to struggle to play catch up from the honeymoon. Maybe it's the desire to still be at Nassau or the holiday rush, but our motivation is shot to hell. Hence, the lack of new posts here since the elections.
We've been trying to spend time with our families. For Thanksgiving, we hosted my parents, my sister, and her husband. We also hosted the infamous Sasha, Brooke's parents' Old English Sheep Dog, while the in-laws visited family in Florida. I like to call her Falkor as I ride her like a luckdragon. She calls me Atreyu when no one is around to hear her. And if you don't know the reference I just made, I don't think we can ever be friends until you take it upon yourself to fix your oversight!
We skipped Hanukkah this year, rationalizing the money not spent on each other as money saved for a new computer. Christmas Eve, the wife and I joined her family at a family friend's house for their yearly Christmas celebration. Brooke has known the Penas since childhood and Aimee Pena and her daughter Kristine own the bridal store where we got Brooke's wedding dress. It was fun hanging out with them and the in-laws and the Cuban cuisine was delicious and authentic. On a side note, Aimee reminds me often that as my wife's other (and Cuban) mother, she has the inherently right to break every bone in my body if I break Brooke's heart.
Christmas day was spent driving to Florida to visit Brooke's grandparents an extended weekend. While there, we visited a nature preserve where my shutterbug of a wife took copious amounts of photos. We also ate lots of Jewish food, ate lots of Chinese food (the other Jewish food), and listened to Brooke's grandparents tell stories of the War and of their youths (which I actually enjoyed.)
On the drive there and back home, we listened almost exclusively to the Improve Photography podcast. It was a nice change to the five Christmas songs that played on rotation on ever radio station between Atlanta and Boyton Beach. I learned a lot of neat tricks and picked up some common sense advice for the photog. Even though, I will continue to listen to and to recommend the podcast to everybody, I think it benefits my wife more than me because she is the shutterbug in the family and knows more about the things hosts Jim and Dustin talk about on the show. Interestingly enough, Brooke recently signed up for the online photography classes offered by Improve Photography which will begin tomorrow. I think my only grip with the podcast was how the volume constantly got really soft then über-loud again throughout the show.
New Years Eve was spent watching the Peach Drop and having fondue at home. This has become our little family tradition and although we've talked about maybe one year inviting another couple to join us, this year it was just Brooke and me again. And you know what? #IMOkayWithThat.
Brooke and I finally got to meet up with my family for some post-holiday holiday get together on the 6th of January. We met up with my parents and Tristin and James at Tijuana Taco Garage in Little Five Points in Atlanta. The food was very nommy and it was determined that we will try to do another get together once a month with a rotating venue. (I hope to have my review of the restaurant soon.)
School started last week and this, if all goes according to plan, will be my last year at Georgia Perimeter College. I will have an associates in Journalism/Professional Writing and will be moving onto [fill in the blank here]. Right now, it's a toss up between UGA and Georgia State. We shall see.
Anyway. This post has gotten fairly long. I doubt you're even still reading this. And I've just spent a good portion of my day writing it instead of doing school work. So. If I ever want my college plans to go according to plan I better sign off.
Thanks for sticking with me folks. I hope you all will continue to join the adventure with me. And please, feel free to bring along a friend or two.
I hope your holidays were filled with family and fun. It's been awhile since I last posted. So much has happened since, too many to post about. But here are some highlights:
In the news:
- Twenty-eight people are dead after a shooting in Newtown, Conn. on December 14th, 2012 [1][2]. As a result, the gun control debate is at the forefront of everyone's minds, the top story on all news media, and the top agenda for politicians [3][4]. The NRA said some asinine things and the 2nd Amendment folks have scared people to rush to gun stores [5][6]. Meanwhile, the liberal left is using heighten emotions from this tragedy to push their agenda through with bad reactionary legislation that'll probably make as much sense as the PATRIOT Act .
- Anonymous and the Westboro Baptist Church are now officially at war with each other [7]. Sort of. I'm watching this one closely with popcorn and jumbo sized Coke in hand [8][9].
- Washington shenanigans and hooliganism haven't ended, if anything, they'll probably get worst. Also, there are still a bunch of clowns in Washington [10][11].
- Facebook [12][13][14].
- The world didn't end on December 21st, 2012. And in hindsight, I'm kind of disappointed. I will say though, Jell-O was the biggest winner in the whole Mayan Fail-mageddon of 2012.
Keeping in spirit with how we don't know and/or appreciate how often he's saved the universe, The Doctor comes in at second place with the Doctor versus Mayan Apocalypse collection of memes [15].
 |
| [Source: Pathetisad] |
The Road Ahead:
2012 was just inundated with politics because of said elections and I had hoped that with its conclusion I could focus more on the things I had originally planned for this blog. Unfortunately, I think the political environment actually got more loud and even hinkier. I will still touch upon some of that in upcoming posts (current events is one of this blog's focus after all) however, I hope to do so to a lesser degree.
My plans for Wibbly-wobbly for 2013 involve a small refocusing of my posts. Biggest things: I want to do more Georgia travel and reviews of local attractions, restaurants, and events. It will also give Brooke and me and excuse to get out more.
Back in my March 2012 post "Well That's [P]interesting," I stated that I would be trying out DIY projects and recipes I find on Pinterest and talking about them here. Well, next thing on the list: more Pinterest related reviews. I've been kicking myself for not following through with this and I've wanted to talk about some of the things Brooke and I have tried so far. A little off-shoot of this is some Actual Advice Mallard posts. If you don't know what Actual Advice Mallard is, click the hyperlink above to learn more. But I plan to try out someone of the wisdom imparted by said water foul and let you know if they work. One such post is already written and schedule for release as tomorrow's post.
Well, those are the big things. Other than random book, movie, TV, etc reviews of course.
Oh yeah! The Zero Edition Press website is now (sort of) live. Ben Bowlin and I have some things in the works. I don't want to talk about it right now out of fear of jinxing it like the Filipino Anthology (see aforementioned website).
Also please check out GNerks. It's a little side project that my good friend Ben Fuller and I are working on.
At Home:
Well. Otherwise, it's been pretty busy here at casa de Blackburn. The wife and I continue to struggle to play catch up from the honeymoon. Maybe it's the desire to still be at Nassau or the holiday rush, but our motivation is shot to hell. Hence, the lack of new posts here since the elections.
 |
| Best Friends Forever |
We skipped Hanukkah this year, rationalizing the money not spent on each other as money saved for a new computer. Christmas Eve, the wife and I joined her family at a family friend's house for their yearly Christmas celebration. Brooke has known the Penas since childhood and Aimee Pena and her daughter Kristine own the bridal store where we got Brooke's wedding dress. It was fun hanging out with them and the in-laws and the Cuban cuisine was delicious and authentic. On a side note, Aimee reminds me often that as my wife's other (and Cuban) mother, she has the inherently right to break every bone in my body if I break Brooke's heart.
Christmas day was spent driving to Florida to visit Brooke's grandparents an extended weekend. While there, we visited a nature preserve where my shutterbug of a wife took copious amounts of photos. We also ate lots of Jewish food, ate lots of Chinese food (the other Jewish food), and listened to Brooke's grandparents tell stories of the War and of their youths (which I actually enjoyed.)
 |
| Green Cay Nature Center |
New Years Eve was spent watching the Peach Drop and having fondue at home. This has become our little family tradition and although we've talked about maybe one year inviting another couple to join us, this year it was just Brooke and me again. And you know what? #IMOkayWithThat.
 |
| Fondue Leftovers as StirFry |
 |
| It's our little New Years Tradition |
Brooke and I finally got to meet up with my family for some post-holiday holiday get together on the 6th of January. We met up with my parents and Tristin and James at Tijuana Taco Garage in Little Five Points in Atlanta. The food was very nommy and it was determined that we will try to do another get together once a month with a rotating venue. (I hope to have my review of the restaurant soon.)
School started last week and this, if all goes according to plan, will be my last year at Georgia Perimeter College. I will have an associates in Journalism/Professional Writing and will be moving onto [fill in the blank here]. Right now, it's a toss up between UGA and Georgia State. We shall see.
Anyway. This post has gotten fairly long. I doubt you're even still reading this. And I've just spent a good portion of my day writing it instead of doing school work. So. If I ever want my college plans to go according to plan I better sign off.
Thanks for sticking with me folks. I hope you all will continue to join the adventure with me. And please, feel free to bring along a friend or two.