Calico and I did a boy’s weekend to Carcassonne, France, in early April. It was really good to get out of town for the weekend, and we had some glorious spring weather. We stayed in this cool old tower in an old village and did a lot of morning and evening hikes.

First, we visited the Carcassonne castle in town!

It was fun to see how excited Calico got 😀. He isn’t so much into history but loves climbing over everything and using his imagination. They had a cool Lego event going on where kids could build walls, towers, and other things.

It is a really special place, and the entire region has so much history with the Albigensian Crusade.

And on Sunday, we went on an awesome hike to explore a Cathar castle!

This is the 4th time I’ve visited Carcassonne. I went with a girlfriend when I was a baby over New Year’s, took Lindsey after we got married, took Lindsey and Calico in 2020 during our Covid road trip around Europe, and now with my 8-year-old son! Crazy! (no similar photo from Linsey and my trip)

It is hilarious to watch Republicans hit the wall of reality when it comes to science, economics, and inflation. The confluence of their stupidity is meeting in the stupidest timeline. It feels like Atlas Shrugged, where they think they can dictate reality and can’t understand why reality isn’t bending to their personal ethos of stupidity.

Of course, the depressing part is just starting… soon, layoffs will start happening due to tariffs, businesses will start to close, people will cut down on spending, more layoffs, and more pain for normal people. And once a business closes those jobs are lost, those owners are burned out, and booting the system back up gets harder and harder. Covid is a great example, as the government stepped in to try to save those jobs because recreating jobs is so much harder. And with no adults in the room who WANT to understand reality, the system will keep slipping downward…

I am sad as it means a lot of pain and stress for people, suicides, and it is all self-inflicted stupidity. There is a lot of room to ensure the right types of industry and manufacturing are happening in the USA, but the Republican party has spent 30 years becoming a party that couldn’t run a Foot Locker.

What am I watching for?

• What can the Fed do as inflation and unemployment rises? They are the only group that knows what they are doing; navigating through this is impossible.
• Will Congress ever find its balls? When unemployment hits 10% or 15% will Senate Republicans override Trump’s veto and take away tarrif power?
• What is happening with US Treasuries? Will China dump them for Euros? Will our borrowing costs rise? They are already starting to.
• Will the Republican dumb dumbs also pass massive tax cuts, drive more debt, more cost to borrow, and make things even worse? They claim they want to improve the deficit, but they can’t do basic math and are going to make it 10x worse.
• How many measles deaths will we have in the coming years? How many people will wait for help from FEMA, only for nothing to show up.

The damage being done is incalculable, and that is GOOD. The people need to be in massive pain so they never vote for dumb dumbs like this again. I hope they learn… but I also expect they might not. It might take a great depression for them to wake up.

I’ve been thinking a lot about AI basically being a frontend wrapper for a lot of data out in the world, as well as a possibly better interpretation. The hard thing is how do you pay for this model rather than our current advertising model? I’ve been thinking about an API for AI to use to do this type of stuff, or I guess it could go right into a subscription. But maybe pay-as-you-go will finally happen.

I’d love to use AI to talk to NYT and pull data on specific subjects, crunch it, and show it different ways. Or with the USA budget, or so many things. It would be great if the NYT made money for that every time it is access, or something like it…

This picture cracks me up!

For Calico’s Winter Break, we went to Valencia!

We were hoping for sun, and we got a little that first week, but the following week was all rain. It was pretty good for February, as it’s always a bit of a gamble.

The trip was not so fun for me; I should have stayed home. I was sick for a whole week before we went, so I was behind on work and struggling to catch up. And Valencia just added more things to my to-do list as the apartment needs a lot of maintenance. On top of that, the move to France has just stacked up so many things that I am utterly buried in other family todos that all have high priority (taxes, etc). I managed a few bike rides but didn’t have much fun as I am incredibly stressed. I also couldn’t eat normally, and that was incredibly frustrating and stressful. We had some electrical problems with the kitchen, and we were not able to get groceries with the things I normally eat (veggies and meat). It was a good lesson, and with future trips, I won’t go unless I can afford to take time off (and I have to remember how much time it takes to get groceries as that is a huge chunk of time).

We went to the Aquarium as a family which was fun. I always love seeing Beluga whales and other creatures. I think Lindsey and Calico had fun; they went to the zoo, ate out a lot, and Lindsey visited with a friend a bunch (we got to meet her 17-month-old, which was cool).

We also bought Calico a new bike, as he has outgrown his. We got one with gears, so he can handle hills better.

For the last weekend, Calico and I drove to a rural area outside Irun, Spain (just us, Lindsey is staying in Valencia and a friend of hers is flying in).

We did a two-hour bike ride on Saturday, visited this amazing local city that still has its medieval walls, and ate some steak. On Sunday, we got lucky with a sunny day; we chilled, played soccer, and ended up eating some more steak in a fantastic rural restaurant. It was a good weekend, and we drove back home on Monday (Calico starts school on Tuesday).

I am working hard to catch up, but it is going to be hard as Lindsey is gone, and I am on full-time Calico duty. I am trying to get my responsibility list massively shrunk as there is too much on it, and I need to give up on wide swaths of it. Owning a house is hard, as it adds so much stuff that you have to do and take care of (I am a big fan of renting).

Watching the same mistakes be made as in the past is heartbreaking. Trump is so scared of Putin, and the Republican party is the party of cowards.  They would give the world to dictators and don’t understand the importance of democracy, human rights, freedom, and the world order. Learning that lesson is going to be very painful.

This is unreal to watch.

What a wild time in history.

The president and vice president stage this scene in order to support a dictatorship over a democracy, an invader over the invaded, and an oppressor over the oppressed.

The USA is abandoning the world order it created and the one it benefits so much from economically without strategic thought or reason. America’s broken and short-sighted Republican party finally invades international politics.

I hope the EU can rally, and this pushes them to rearm, unify at a deeper level, and become the power they are meant to become. I feel for Zelensky and Ukraine, what a totally fucked situation.

Now that Calico is eight I felt he was ready to watch the original Star Wars movies. It was really special to watch them all with him. I was half-watching the movies and half-watching him! Some of the father/son moments in the movie hit a very different way…

These movies were such a huge part of my childhood, and it was so much fun to share them. I realized I hadn’t seen them since the new ones came out when I was a senior in high school; they held up really well.

Now I have to decide if I ever show him the travesty that are the new ones…

I had an awesome 4-day visit with my brother, Isadora, and my 18-month-old nephew, Viktor! He is such a smiley, happy baby and so much fun to play with 😀. Plus, Isadora’s parents cooked homemade Serbian food for me, which was delicious!

Next time, I need to do more workouts while there as my back is jacked from the plane, and I am going to take a day to unwind.

What is my theme of the year?

Fun & wonder!

2024 has been tremendously frustrating with Shepherd as Google has swept our legs out from under us. We would be break-even on costs if it wasn’t for their chaos. That is life, and we are going to adapt. I am intently focused on getting to break-even on costs so we can keep working to help authors and readers. Why? Because books build better people, better civilizations, and inspire us to dream bigger. They are among the greatest net positives in the world.

Apart from that frustration, life is good.

My big 3 goals for the year?

1. Keep working to build something special with Shepherd; the goal is to reach profitability and grow actively engaged users (now that we have user accounts in place). I am working on the roadmap and trying to find the best beachhead from which to start.
2. Live a life full of adventure! I am planning a big bike tour for 2025 and many small trip plans with Calico, Lindsey, family, and friends.
3. Support my wife in any way possible with some health challenges she is facing.

Otherwise, I continue to watch world politics like the other peasants…

2024 was fantastic but also a bit insane (which is its own type of fun).

We moved on July 1st from Viseu, Portugal, to Bordeaux, France.

We’ve been in Viseu for the last 3.5 years, and it has been a fantastic home for our family. It is the only home Calico remembers, and it was especially tough for him to leave his world and dear friends.

Moving is always chaos, and we added to this by deciding to buy a house in Bordeaux  (which we randomly visited during Spring break). It all worked out, but it was a crazy spring and summer as we prepared. We added to the crazy by arriving in Bordeaux and promptly leaving to visit my nephew Viktor, Isadora, and my brother Nick! Then, a few weeks later, we flew to the USA for a month to close out a storage unit in Colorado, visit Colorado friends, and visit ALL the family in Arkansas. Once we got home, Calico started school in France, and luckily, the school is outstanding! He has been so happy and made a lot of friends.

Lindsey and I spent the rest of the year getting settled in France, and I think we only accomplished this in mid-December. We still have a lot of things to figure out, but we are delighted with our house, neighborhood, and new city. Bordeaux and its people are wonderful. The paperwork side of moving to the EU is pretty crazy; the EU has a lot of work to do to improve these processes. France has been easier than I thought, especially for starting a new business entity and paying taxes from it (all online).

The Amazing

Lindsey and I celebrated our tenth anniversary! We are in a good place. That is a wonderful feeling—much better than the early years of our marriage when we were still trying to figure things out. Lindsey is an amazing person I look forward to many more decades together!

Calico turned eight years old! He is such a sweet kid, and seeing him grow and develop is a gift. Now that he is old enough to do a lot more, we are putting some extra thought into what we want to do in the summers as a family. I am planning some camping trips, biking trips, and a trip to play in the snow.

I did an epic 1,000+ km bike tour across Spain and into the French Pyrenees. It was one of the most beautiful routes I’ve done. I am so glad I found bike tours; after I lost the ability to run, I was worried that I wouldn’t find anything that would get me into such a zone of zen.

What fun stuff did we do this year?

• Calico and I did a father/son windmill adventure weekend! We hiked, grilled, watched movies, carved sticks, played games, went to the beach, and made fire. It’s always a blast!
• Calico and I did a bike day on this awesome route in Portugal. We climbed some rocks and tried to do some moderately dangerous things that wouldn’t result in our deaths.
• We spent our Spring break in Bordeaux, France, and bought a house! It was a pretty busy trip as we were vetting neighborhoods, but we ate a lot of delicious treats and had a really fun day at the beach. The only bummer was that I got a cold and didn’t get to cycle much.
• Calico and I went on a boy’s biking weekend in Northern Portugal! It was a good weekend with bike rides, ice cream, a road trip along the coast, and soccer. We were both exhausted, and Calico had a nasty cough, so we did pretty short rides.
• I did the full Ecopista do Dão! It is my local daily ride but I never did the whole thing. It is a beautiful 101km round-trip ride that I highly recommend. I miss this route as Bordeaux doesn’t have the same views.
• In May, I cycled for three weeks across Spain. It was one of the prettiest rides I’ve done. I did as much gravel as possible and can’t wait to revisit Spain and the French Pyrenees (Catalonia especially).
• Over June, we packed up and prepared to move from Portugal to France. We drove to our new home on July 1st and we are excited to be in a bigger city with a lot more activity.
• We all flew to Serbia in July to meet my new nephew Viktor!!! We also got to meet Isadora’s family who are very kind (and Mom and Tony flew in as well). It was a fantastic trip, especially as it coincided with the Euro Cup, and we watched many games together.
• We spent August in the USA! We spent 10 days in Colorado, and it was amazing to see friends and spend quality time with them. I miss them! Arkansas was equally great, and it was great to see family. We took Calico to the state fair and Silver Dollar City, which was a blast. He even did Fire In The Hole (a roller coaster), which he thought was extremely scary.
• I did a quick one-week bike trip to get my new gravel bike and take it home. The mountains were incredible, and I rode through one gorge that I still think about. The last few days were canal paths, which were good for thinking!
• We had a fantastic Family Fall break in the mountains! We scored an amazing Airbnb, built some fires, read in the hammock, hiked, and cooked. It was much needed. I love the French school calendar; it was nice to get 2 weeks off in one go.
• We had a quiet family Christmas in our new home. It was a perfect end to the year 😀.
• Lindsey and I had a ton of long lunch dates throughout the year. With Calico in school, that is an incredibly nice time for us, and we hope to keep going.

The Challenges!

No Family Vacation 😐
Because of the move, we didn’t get a family vacation this year, and I missed it immensely. Spending four weeks chilling is so good for Lindsey and me as a couple. Plus, it gives Calico and me a lot of open time to play and hang out. The Colorado/Arkansas trip was great, but it was non-stop action.

Lindsey’s Health
This year was worse than 2023, which is incredibly frustrating and demoralizing. It feels like the medical establishment is just starting to study women and doesn’t know how much work (it seems like health care barely understands the human body; we have a long way to go). We are optimistic that 2025 will bring insights and improvements. I am doing whatever I can to support her.

The long chaos after moving…
I always forget the hardest part comes at the end as you try to get everything sorted once you arrive amidst all your normal todos. I don’t think we really got to a good place until mid-December, and it was very exhausting at times. It was a struggle to find time for everything.

My Health
My health has been great. The only negative is that in December, I had a slightly high number of intestine inflammation. It could have been a virus or due to increased workouts. Regardless, I am back on a strict diet, and I will test in January to check again. The strict diet is tough.

Shepherd
2023 was rough for Shepherd, but 2024 has been ten times worse. Google pooped the bed and destroyed large segments of the independent web. We lost ~60% of our traffic from Google, and they have lost control of their search engine. They have at least admitted the problem, and we will see in 2025 if they have the will to fix it. I am not sure they care, and with the coming AI wave, we are entering a new world where large segments of the web will die. It has been an incredibly demoralizing experience because we do everything Google recommends, and our user engagement scores are off the chart. Luckily, we are not dependent on Google, and our traffic from every other source is up. Our long-term goal is to become an app and bypass Google’s monopoly for discovery on the web (I hope the DOJ takes them apart; their search engine should be split from their properties and AI). Otherwise, Shepherd has been immensely fun, and I have a lot planned for 2025 and 2026!

How did I do on my goals for 2024?

I had 3 goals for 2024, and I would say that I accomplished 2.5 of them.

1. My first goal was to build a home in Bordeaux. We have done that!
2. My second goal was to do a big bike tour and a lot of trips with Calico, Lindsey, and family. I crushed this one. The only one missing is the Ireland trip with my mom and Tony (but we will do that in the Spring this year). I am also working on a bike trip with my dad.
3. My third goal was to improve my energy management. I am giving myself half a mark here. I did better, but I still redlined several times this year. I am struggling to find the headspace and physical habits needed to replenish my energy between work, family, and physical activity. It is like I am missing a layer in my sandwich but not sure what it should taste like.

2025…

A longer 2025 post is coming soon…

For 2024:

• I did 408+ hours of tracked workouts (2nd best year on record👏).
• I worked out on 235 days in some form (not even in my top 5…)

How do I feel about this year?

The move was very disruptive, and I am proud of how well I managed, given the chaos. Even with the impact on my time, I kept working out, which kept me pain-free and happy.

The post-move period was harder. There were large chunks of time when I didn’t have my bike or workout gear, and that was hard. The long flights, time in cars, and working from kitchen tables weren’t great for my back.

Overall, my back felt great for 94% of the year (tied for the best year ever), but that hides two bad months:

• For July, my back only felt good 74% of the time.
• For August, my back only felt good 81% of the time.

But a lot of good came out of this.

I did a 10-pack of Zoom training sessions with Jeff from Boulder. He helped me rethink what I was doing (as my workouts had stagnated). Between Jeff, what I know about my back injury, and ChatGPT I redesigned my rehab sessions and how I track them.

Starting November 18th, I rebooted them and have a better plan. They now take ~85 minutes, and I do them three times a week. They have been harder, but my back is very happy. Plus, I have a better tracking program, so I can incrementally increase the load as I get stronger.

I will see how the pace holds up once Winter ends and cycling becomes the #1 priority.

Biking

• I rode 265+ hours on my bike (my 3rd best year on record👏).
• I biked 166 days of the year (my best year on record 🥳).
• I covered km 4,921km (my worst year in 5 years, but not by much).

What biking records did I set in 2024?

I’m not a fast biker, so these are just for me personally, as I get a kick out of them.

• 1st and 3rd fastest 100k
• 1st and 3rd fastest 20k
• 2nd longest ride ever (117km in 6 hours 26 min)
• 2nd and 3rd biggest climb ever (652m and 633m)
• 3rd most elevation gain (1,077m in a day)
• Most 5-sec power (845W)
• Most 30-sec power (575W)
• Most 1 min power (419W)
• Most 5 min power (333W)
• Most 8 min power (308W)
• 3rd most 20 min power (279W)
• 2nd most 30 min power (274W)

The most important thing is my big ride of the year was fantastic. In May, I cycled a 1,051km route from Salamanca, Spain, to Ille Sure Tet, France. I rode for 17 days and rested for 4. I had some big climbing days, with two over 1,000m and another 3 days over 900m (a lot for me).

I didn’t have a lot of time to train as I kept getting sick last Winter. Making every 5th day a rest day really helps ease into the tour. Fun times!

Strength Training (Rehab)

• I did 103+ hours of strength training over 111 days this year (45 days shy of my goal of 3 a week).
• I averaged 56 minutes per workout (I was aiming for 60 min, but sometimes cut them short if I am not feeling it).

As mentioned above, I totally rebooted this in mid-November 2024. I am hoping I can hit my 3x-a-week goal in 2025 and get my back in an even better place.

What else?

Sick
I was sick for 7% of the year. That isn’t as good as last year, and I have an entire set of things I am trying to do when my sinuses feel off. I was sick 29% of the time in January, 17% in February, 17% in April, and 13% in May. Calico brought some stuff home from school, and I am extra susceptible when I red-line my energy. I will see how this year goes…

Not 100%

I was “not 100%” 19% of the year (versus 13% in 2023). This is a vague metric, but its helping me track down some energy issues. This year was high partially due to energy. I’ve been working to build better eating habits, and figuring that out is hard to do in a way that doesn’t sap all your energy.

Sleep
This year, 76% of my sleep was rated as good sleep versus 76% last year. And I got “enough sleep” 70% of the time versus 67% last year. I’d like to break 80% on both measures. I had many months where I hit 80%+ in both categories, so I know it is possible.

Back
My back felt great 94% of the time this year.

How did I do on my 2024 goals?

What goals did I dump?

• I dumped the yoga goal, it didn’t work for me right now.
• I had to dump my dips goal. I love them, but I don’t have enough strength to do them with the right posture yet. Jeff helped me understand that a bit better. One day, but not yet…
• My daily biking goal didn’t work; I dumped that early on.

What goals did I do well on?

• I maintained a good base on my bike so I could do long bike tours.
• I did “ok” maintaining my rehab/ST sessions 3x a week.
• I did a great job shifting some eating/food habits. I lost 6.6kg (14.5lb), and that feels good.

What are my goals for 2025?

1. Maintain a good base on my bike so I can do long bike tours.
2. Do my rehab 3x a week for ~85 minutes (keeps back happy + it’s fun).
3. I will continue to work on bad habits around food. I’d like to get closer to a 21% fat ratio and see how that feels. I also want to stop eating when I am tired as that is a bad habit.
4. I will continue to improve my energy/stress management so that I don’t redline. I think I will be working on this every year for the rest of my life.

Past years: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 workout summary.

Since 2010, I’ve participated in a yearly challenge to read 100 books.

This year, I met my goal and read 116 books. My goal was to read more books outside my comfort zone, and I did that. I tried a lot of new authors and read more nonfiction than usual.

For 2025, I am trying to apply a little more intent to what I read. I want to think about why I am reading each book and how I met it. I tend to lose track of how I met books in my TBR pile and want to change that. I want to know who recommended it and why it clicked for me.

(Note: You will notice this is different from my favorite reads of 2024 on Shepherd; that is because the Shepherd book year runs from October 1st of the previous year to September 30th of the current year.)

If you only read 3 books this year, I recommend the following…

1. The Cold Cold Ground By Adrian McKinty (Sean Duffy Series)

This is one of the best detective series I’ve read since Bosch.

There is something about Detective Sean Duffy that I find utterly fascinating. He has a personal sense of justice (like Bosch), and he has an intense desire to see it applied no matter the cost. And as a Catholic policeman in a Protestant system, the tension of being this one-man island is heavy.

The entire series is set during “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland, which makes for an exciting backdrop. I always like books that mix in history like this. I had fun jumping into Wikipedia as I encountered unfamiliar historical events.

The writing is fantastic, and I blew through all seven books in the series in just two weeks.

2. The Aggressor series by FX Holden

Have you ever had a book that felt so real that you couldn’t quite remember if you were reading the news or a book in the days after finishing it?

That is how Aggressor felt.

I kept forgetting if the Chinese blockade of Tawain was real or not. Luckily, it was a book, and I hope it stays purely as a book. I do not want the world to experience World War 3, as the author paints a terrifying picture of the future of warfare.

F.X. Holden is a true heir to Tom Clancy. The picture he paints of of drone warfare, AI, robotics, and the speed of war in 2038 is insane. It feels so real, and it is incredible to see how he sees some of these emerging technologies play out. The only thing missing were the characters as they felt a bit light (except for Bunny who I adored).

3. The Comfort Crisis By Michael Easter

This book is so good, and it should be required reading in high school (along with robust discussion). We live in a sheltered, unchallenging world, and I think this is killing us. Our minds are creating challenges that fail to satisfy fully, and mental illness is eating large segments of the population. This book feels similar and lays out a scientific and emotional case on why. The format is great, as he alternates between his own story, interviews, and data from scientists and leaders in the field.

I highly recommend you read this book. The audiobook is great and I am very thankful for this introducing me to rucking (which I love). I stole so many ideas from this book.

Rereads?

I reread the Wheel of Time series which is one of my all-time favorites. This is my 4th reading (first read in my 20s, then when I was 30, at 40, and this year as I needed some comfort food). They are so good and I love the characters so much. Every time I read them I see something new about the story and myself.

What books do I want to highlight?

Nonfiction

• In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Mate

I had a hard time picking between The Comfort Crisis and this book.

This is a stunning book about addiction and recovery. I wish I had been taught this book in high school. It should be required reading along with other texts on the subject to help prepare people when they are young for this danger (and to instill the empathy and understanding of why this is such a seductive path for so many of us). I read it with my dad and brother as part of our book club, and we had awesome discussions about it afterward (our best yet).

• Wounded Tigris by Leon McCarron

This book is not something you can read and forget.

Leon and his small team travel down the entire Tigris River. They start in Turkey, go through all of Iraq, and end in the marshes. I picked it up, thinking it would be an interesting adventure with a heavy dose of history. Instead, I got an utterly fascinating account of the river, its ecosystem, the heavy impact of pollution and water management, and the cultural impact of all these changes on the people who live alongside it.

Leon weaves individual stories against the backdrop of this river in an incredible way. There are beautiful moments as well as stories that will haunt you. Different stories about the barbarity of ISIS and the disgusting raw pollution being dumped into a river are something I will always think about.

It is hard to imagine this region in 50 years as climate change and bad governance wear it down even further. One estimate is that water flow might be reduced by 30% to 50% by 2100. I can’t imagine that the people who rely on this river would be able to survive that. The optimistic part of me hopes that water management, diplomatic negotiation, and pollution clean-up will win the day. I wonder if I will be alive to find out.

• The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester

My brother picked this one for our book club and it was fantastic. It is the story of Joseph Needham, a genius eccentric who fell in love with China and helped elevate the West’s understanding of its massive role in world history. It is well written and incredibly hard to put down.

• Dark Wire by Joseph Cox

I heard an interview with the author somewhere and picked it as part of our book club. The premise is this, the FBI starts an encrypted phone company that only global crime rings use. It is well written and an unbeleiveable story that sheds a bright light on global crime syndicates and how ill-prepared the world is to fight them. Great read!

Fantasy

• The Empire Of the Wolf Series by Richard Swan – I finished this series this year (books 1 and 2 another year). This is an incredible series that I would recommend to any Fantasy fan.
• Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch – This is urban fantasy as it’s finest and a must read if you are a fan. The main character is wonderful and hilarious. I am on book 8 now and going to finish it this year.
• Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by KJ Parker– A hilarious fantasy war book that made me laugh so much. It isn’t big on world building, but it is an amazing focus on one character’s head. The sequels are equally great and the same character focused style. 

Science Fiction

• Artifact Space & Deep Black – These are big space sci-fi by one of my all-time favorite authors. Book #2 enlarged the world massively and I can’t wait to see where Miles goes. They are not my favorite books by Miles Cameron, but they are very good. 
• Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway – A fantastic sci-fi noir about a detective in an era where drugs have emerged that allow you to live effectively forever but grow you in size. I really enjoyed this one and I am looking forward to reading the next one by the author.
• Theft of Fire by Devon Eriksen—This was a fun science fiction heist book, and I will definitely read the second. The author is hilarious and I loved the characters. 
• The Space Wolves Series – This is Warhammer so really fantasy science-fiction. They are just fun crazy Warhammer books and I loved all of them.

Random

• All The Sinners Bleed by SA Cosby – This was so GOOD! Gruesome but good. The dialogue is so sharp and I wish he wrote movies (although I think they are making it into a movie shortly). 
• The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck. A fantastic book about occupation (I love Steinbeck).
• The Raven Viking series (Blood Eye, Sons of Thunder, and Odin’s Wolves) – I enjoyed this one, a bit of historical fiction with a heavy dose of adventure. Very entertaining Viking books!

In 2024, 88% of the books I read were fun, and 12% were serious.

If you want some reading ideas from past years, check them out here: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Happy birthday my son!

This year was a busy one for Calico. In July, we moved from the only home he really remembers in Viseu, Portugal to Bordeaux, France. He has amazing friends in Viseu, and that was really tough on him. I am very thankful that his new school is fantastic and he has made more friends. Plus, the dual French/English model is one he feels very comfortable in (and his teachers are great). His favorite subject is math.

What else?

Calico read his first “big” books this year. Over the summer, he read Harry Potter 1 through 3! He even planned out how many pages he had to do each day (I was so proud!!!). As a reward, he got a Kindle, and he proceeded to read Harry Potter 5 this autumn. It’s magical to see my son reading.

I am so lucky that I get to spend so much time with him. This year, we had a lot of fun: windmill weekend, bike day, Spring break in France, father/son bike weekend, Castle weekend, Serbia trip to meet my nephew!, a big summer trip to Colorado and Arkansas, and a Fall mountain trip.

We have a lot of adventures planned for 2025! Lindsey and I are trying to take extra care to plan a lot of family fun between the ages of 8 to 12. We are guessing that as he gets closer to his teens, things will get busier at school and in his own social life.

We had a quiet family Christmas this year. It was a nice way to celebrate it in our new home in Bordeaux. Our couch arrived two weeks before Christmas, which was much needed. It feels a lot more homey now.

Sandy got us some amazing tickets to Harry Potter 4, where they had a full symphony playing while watching the movie. Calico loved it! It was a magical night.