10 years ago, yesterday evening, I landed in cleveland to restart my life.
time flies way too fast. it is time for the yearly report.
Hiking remain a major part of the year and the Burton section is near complete- i have about 10 miles of boring road sections left to do. the remaining parts are also on less friendly roads for walkers, winding, narrow and without a side walk, so i have been avoiding them. we have started the next section. Mogadore. which also has plenty of country road sections. the roads are nice, but not as pretty as a park. tomorrow is a warm day , high 40s.. and i intend to hike the trail again. I discovered uber this year. instead of hiking there and walk back. but in these rural areas there is no uber so once again i am slowed, this trail will literally take forever, but i knew it was a long project when i started. i hope this year to finish mogadoe and remain parts of Burton and with it the small loop of the trail around north east ohio.
Orienteering was usually a regular summer activity, but last season I had just one event. every time something would come up. several sitter less days, fell on vacation, and twice kids fell asleep in the car on the way preventing my exploration. but so far 2018 had a good start 2 evens including today. 2 hours solo in the woods, love it.
other sports comes are rare intervals. 0 tennis last year, very little volley ball. only 2 5Ks, not a single adventure race. a low activity summer and that always goes with weight gain for me, but last few months are trending downwards.
Mattan began going to Taikuandu and i would be sitting there with parents doing pretty much nothing and i checked and found that i can join the class. in the last 3-4 months
I wear that thick white costume, kick and run with kids half my height.
it was a strange experience as i was the only grown up in that class. there are family classes with other grown up, but none other in Mattan's class. it took few weeks of strange stares but the kids are and i are used to each other, i am no longer an alien.
I really enjoy this class. fighting was never a skill for me and it feel good to kick targets. i am now a yellow belts and next week should proceed to orange. Mattan will get his green. the belts change every to months or so, by the next report we both should be fairly high belts.
one other activity i started is a crossfit like activity. it started with a 6 weeks challenge- 3 work outs a week at 5am. yes, there is a 5 am now. i now do it regularly. this class has a lot of weight lifting, lunges, squats, box jumping, jump rope. these are the activities I tended to avoid as they would make me near asthma. for the 1st month. i would finish each class mildly hyper ventilating and for the rest of the day i would feel mild dizziness, but that is over now, i am getting back to shape and can lift a little more. the 5 am things is still tough to get used too but its the only time i can commit without some kids activity to prevent me from going.
in parallel, i added one items to the forbidden list. its over 6 years since i stopped drinking diet coke and with it all the other sodas. i do miss it sometimes, especially in commercials in movies but i remain sober. i did have a little stint with ginger ale for a while but i kicked it as well. and now almost 2 months ago i gave up something more painful, chocolate.
this is difficult as i realize how much of it i would eat. Shachar, nuttela, chocolate cake, chocolate mile, chocolate bars of various kids. krembo, hamen tachen and the list goes on. so yummi. the best thing is that i have not replaced it with any other bad things. so far i am holding on strong but it is more of a challenge since the kids love sweets and it is ever present at the house and well any desert. i drove by my favorite custard ice cream place and did not stop...
The last year had some new destinations. off season Sardinia and Corsica were interesting. These are beach destinations, but not in march. instead my brother shay and my dad explored green hills, wild flowers and swimming in semi frozen waters of 2 different seas- yes there is a "Tyrrhenian Sea".
in the summer , i discovered the whole of russia. well 2 days walking st, petersburg.
two days is enough, right, there is nothing more fore russia to offer.
we visited the hermitage museum, gardens and All samples all sort of russian food.
we revisited for a short while the cities of Helsinki, Tallinn. riga and stockholm but this time with kids activities.
kids museums and just walking the towns.
in the fall, i took a little detour from a work meeting and explored eastern Minnesota. not for long, i visited a state park and hike for a couple of hours. i was pretty much alone and i was a bit bear cautious. there are bears in Minnesota but i didn't know if they were in this area. i explored a small town and took a legs up mandatory photo. not the most detailed of trips, but a state park count as minimal requirement to check off Minnesota.
in the fall we visited another state for a more detailed trip and that was just incredible.
walking over hot lava, literally, over red hot lava. amazing.
we swam with dolphins. held an actual octopus and let it grasp my hand, swam with giant manta rays , swam in ancient water holes. yes lots of swimming. other then swimming we ate lots of good food, hiked volcano national park, drove to the peak of the world's tallest mountain and enjoy the glorious sun together. Hawaii is awesome.
we also had shorter trips, at friends in Toronto including yummi shwarma and a short hike.
this year is the year of Pokemon. I definitely spent a significant amount of time in the game. according to the game i walked almost 1000 km with it. i dont think i walked this much, since some of it is driving , but i definitely walked several hundred k this year. i now passed the half way mark in the game, i think its the longest game i ever played, should be done in a year or so.
my dungeons and dragons campaign is now also at least two years old. but we do not play often, once a month in a good month, i do enjoy it tremendously.
cooking was enhanced this year by following lots of Blue Apron recipes. Asparagus is no no longer a stranger on my plate and this year i sample and survived bok choy, rad cabbage, colored greens and tomatoes in new forms in soups. Red cabbage is something i actually enjoy now- well with the sauce at cheese cake factory. i also learned how to better cook chicken and fish.
in public speaking i had a slower year, reaching the end of the program pretty much and as before when i get to this state i slow down. i have one little project to finish and i am seriously procrastinating... more more for DTM..
our apple house is having a fun year. Alla decided to paint the house and this project is already past its due date but should soon end with gray walls. weman have strange tastes. while the work continues, siding fell out of the out side walls and next week that project begins, replacing all the siding, luckily insurance is paying for this. and at the same time, our driveway broke and there is a a hole there. in the summer we have to redo the drive way, expensive year.
on the good side , spring is creeping. the trees begin to bud and tomorrow is a warmer day after the long and very cold winter, i am ready for spring.
that is it, its almost tomorrow by the time i finish this entry and it has been a long while since I last wrote.
but now its plans for next year.
add at least 1 us state- the missing states are few and far between, one more this year will be good. north Carolina, north Dakota or Alabama.
a new country is coming up very soon... another new one in the summer, and i need to find way to add one more...
do at least 7 orienteering events this year and one adventure race
get my DTM
get to above blue belt
finish the Burton section, pass half way on mogadore section.
try Gaelic football (its some mix of soccer and rugby , they have a club here)
and hopefully be lighter next year then i am right now
another year/decade begins...
