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Accomplishments in 2024

I reviewed my journal, and these were my accomplishments in 2024.

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By Conrad Halling
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Accomplishments in 2024

These were my accomplishments for 2024. I had a busy and productive year.

Running

As I described in my running summary for 2024, I had a so-so year of running in 2024 when I had two long gaps in my running. I was training to run a half marathon in September, but an injury led to my not running that race and taking a long break from running.

I ran a total of 327 miles, and I finished one race.

Bicycling

I attended the Mass Bike Lobby Day with Massachusetts state legislators on January 25. There I met bicycling advocates from AMC and learned about their bicycle touring workshop and tours. In April attended the AMC Bicycle Touring Workshop in Worcester.

I rode 969 miles this year.

I finished three early-summer bicycle tours:

I completed sixteen day rides longer than 25 miles.

My longest day was 47.35 miles from my home to Massasoit State Park on my loaded touring bicycle.

I also did two rides in Oregon with my brother, one on the Vernonia Bike Trail and the other the Providence Bridge Pedal in Portland.

I watched the Tour de France, Tour de France Femmes, and La Vuelta a España on Peacock this summer as well as the bicycle races of the Summer Olympics.

Books

I read or listened to a surprisingly large number of books this year.

  • The Last Enchantment, by Mary Stewart
  • A Stitch in Time, by Andrew J. Robinson
  • The Wicked Day, by Mary Stewart
  • Paladin of Souls, by Lois McMaster Bujold
  • Demon Daughter, by Lois McMaster Bujold
  • The Element of Fire, by Martha Wells
  • Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson
  • Pilot X, by Tom Merritt
  • Trigor, by Tom Merritt
  • Flashes of Creation, by Paul Halpern
  • Our Moon, by Rebecca Boyle
  • Clouds of Witness, by Dorothy L. Sayers
  • A City on Mars, by Kelly and Zack Weinersmith
  • Pavaria, by Tom Merritt
  • Strong Poison, by Dorothy L. Sayers
  • The Kraken Wakes, by John Wyndham
  • The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers
  • The Allure of the Multiverse, by Paul Halpern
  • Boom Town, by Garrison Keillor
  • The Sharing Knife: Legacy, by Lois McMaster Bujold
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
  • News from Lake Wobegon, by Garrison Keillor
  • The Many Hidden Worlds of Quantum Mechanics, by Sean Carroll
  • The World We Make, by N. K. Jemisin
  • The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham
  • The Sharing Knife: Passage, by Lois McMaster Bujold
  • Fall: Or Dodge in Hell, by Neal Stephenson
  • Lake Wobegon Boy, by Garrison Keillor
  • The Horse, the Wheel, and Language, by David W. Anthony
  • A Series of Fortunate Events, by Sean B. Carroll
  • The Good Virus, by Tom Ireland
  • The Sharing Knife: Horizon, by Lois McMaster Bujold
  • The City and the Stars, by Arthur C. Clarke
  • Knife Children, by Lois McMaster Bujold
  • Termination Shock, by Neal Stephenson
  • An Unkindness of Ghosts, by Rivers Solomon
  • The Cloud Roads, by Martha Wells
  • Mischief, by Charlotte Anderson
  • The Serpent Sea, by Martha Wells
  • Astrochemistry, by Olivia Harper Wilkins and Geoffrey A. Blake
  • The Many-Colored Land, by Julian May
  • The Siren Depths, by Martha Wells
  • Autonomy, by Annalee Newitz
  • The Traders’ War, by Charles Stross
  • The Revolution Trade, by Charles Stross
  • Dead Lies Dreaming, by Charles Stross
  • The Element of Fire, by Martha Wells
  • Saturn’s Children, by Charles Stross
  • Quantum of Nightmares, by Charles Stross
  • New York 2140, by Kim Stanley Robinson
  • The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien, narrated by Andy Serkis
  • Stories of the Raksura, Volume I, by Martha Wells
  • Halting State, by Charles Stross
  • The World of J.R.R. Tolkien, by Dimitra Fimi
  • Stories of the Raksura, Volume II by Martha Wells
  • Tolkien’s Ordinary Virtues, by Mark Eddy
  • Season of Skulls, by Charles Stross
  • The Revolution Trade, by Charles Stross
  • The Naked Sun, by Isaac Asimov
  • Domina: The Women Who Made Imperial Rome, by Guy de la BĂ©doyĂšre
  • The Robots of Dawn, by Isaac Asimov
  • The Edge of Worlds, by Martha Wells
  • Termination Shock, by Neal Stephenson
  • Rule 34, by Charles Stross
  • The Harbors of the Sun, by Martha Wells
  • The Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom, by Stephen M. Stigler
  • The Songs of the Kings, by Barry Unsworth
  • The Death of the Necromancer, by Martha Wells
  • We Solve Murders, by Richard Osman
  • The Spirit Ring, by Lois McMaster Bujold
  • Between Worlds, by Martha Wells
  • 1177 B.C., by Eric H. Kline
  • Weavers, Scribes, and Kings, by Amanda H. Podany
  • City of Bones, by Martha Wells
  • The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts, by Neil Asher Silberman and Istrael Finkelstein
  • Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For, by Alison Bechdel
  • Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart, by Carrot Quinn
  • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
  • 2010: Odyssey Two, by Arthur C. Clarke
  • France: An Adventure History, by Graham Robb
  • 2061: Odyssey Three, by Arthur C. Clarke
  • 3001: The Final Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
  • Hidden in the Heavens, by Jason Steffen
  • The Rules of Programming, by Chris Zimmerman

Computing

I worked a little on learning Swift and graphics programming, but I didn’t make a lot of progress. I worked sporadically on Python tutorials from books.

In November I replaced my 15-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro with a 15-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro with 1 TB of storage, 48 GB of RAM, and the nanotexture display. I set up a web development environment and began taking online tutorials in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

In December I bought a 15-inch Surface Laptop 7 with the Snapdragon X Elite 12-core processor, 1 TB of storage, and 64 GB of RAM.

Math

I bought a full set of calculus textbooks with the intention to thoroughly review three semesters of calculus, but I didn’t use them very much.

Astronomy

I took the following classes from the Amateur Astronomers Association:

  • Universal Timekeepers
  • Cosmology 101
  • Introduction to Astrochemistry
  • Clocks, Calendars, Coordinates, Orbits
  • Evolution of the Universe
  • Cosmology 102

I attended lectures provided by the Amateur Astronomers Association, the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston, and the American Association of Variable Star Observers.

I viewed the partial solar eclipse on April 8 from the Somerville Library grounds.

Writing

I wrote 33 blog posts on my two sites.

Gardening

I did my usual gardening, planting a seeds and seedlings in the ground and herbs in pots. On July 28, I planted a mix of wild flower seeds in the front yard, an unusually late time for planting. This was very successful, and my front garden lasted well into October. In late September and early October, I planted mums that I bought inexpensively at our local Market Basket. And I grew two small watermelons that we did not eat because the soil is probably contaminated with lead paint.

Dogs

We adopted a bonded pair of dogs, Celyn and Holly, on January 4. They are brothers two years apart. This was a year of adapting to life with dogs again.

Summer Olympics

I streamed the Summer Olympics using Peacock, concentrating on track and field, especially the women’s and men’s marathons.

Jury Duty

I had a day of jury duty in Woburn in March. I am old enough that I no longer need to serve if I decide not to.

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