Accomplishments in 2025

These were my accomplishments for 2025. I had a very interesting and productive year.

Running

I ran fairly consistently in 2025, but I needed a few breaks for minor injuries.

• I ran 516 miles this year, a 57% increase over 2024
• My longest run was 12.5 miles, a little short of a half marathon
• I finished three races:
  • Gobble Gobble Gobble 4 mi (Somerville, Massachusetts, November)
  • Cambridge Winter Classic 5 km (Cambridge, Massachusetts, December)
  • Bill Rogers Jingle Bell Run 5 km (Somerville, Massachusetts, December)

Bicycling

• I rode two late-summer solo bicycle tours:
  • Lorraine Campground (two nights)
  • Cape Cod 2025 (seven nights)
• I finished nine day rides of twenty-five miles or more
• I rode 729 total miles, 25% less distance than in 2024
• My longest day was 46.1 miles on my loaded touring bicycle on the last day of my bicycle tour to Cape Cod
• I watched the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes
• I caught up on blogging about my bicycle tours in 2023, 2024, and 2025

Books

I listened to many audiobooks, but I also read some print books. Reading Les Miserables trained my brain again to read a long book. My attention span had gotten very short.

• PHP and MySQL, by Jon Duckett (print)
• Imperium, by Robert Harris (audio)
• Sodom and Gomorrah, by Marcel Proust (audio and print)
• Gaudy Night, by Dorothy Sayers (audio)
• The Courtship of Princess Leia, by Dave Wolverton (audio)
• Foundation and Earth, by Isaac Asimov (audio)
• Dune, by Frank Herbert (audio)
• Pebble in the Sky, by Isaac Asimov (audio)
• The Complete Art of Detection, by Lindsay Faye (audio)
• A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin (audio)
• Our Mutual Friend, by Charles Dickens (audio and print)
• All Systems Red, by Martha Wells (twice) (audio)
• Foundation, by Isaac Asimov (audio)
• Penric’s Demon, by Lois McMaster Bujold (audio)
• Power Failure, by William D. Cohan (audio)
• A Conventional Boy, by Charles Stross (print)
• Penric’s Mission, by Lois McMaster Bujold (audio)
• Then We Came to the End, by Joshua Ferris (audio)
• The Busybody Book Club, by Freya Sampson (audio)
• Catullus’ Bedspread, by Daisy Dunn (audio)
• Intraterrestrials, by Karen G. Lloyd (print)
• Penric and the Shaman, by Lois McMaster Bujold (audio)
• Maphead, by Ken Jennings (print)
• Penric’s Fox, by Lois McMaster Bujold (audio)
• The House of Silk, by Anthony Horowitz (audio)
• Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo (print)
• What Mad Pursuit, by Francis Crick (print)
• The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman (audio)
• The Man Who Died Twice, by Richard Osman (audio)

Computing

• I relearned enough PHP to reject using it for my projects
• I took an online CSS course
• I taught myself SASS
• I moved my blogging platforms from WordPress to Jekyll
• I used Python and SQLite to create my Audiobooks project
• I used Python and SQLite to create my Crawlers project

Astronomy

• I continued taking courses and attending lectures with the Amateur Astronomers Association
  • Predicting and Modeling Eclipses (4-hour class)
  • Physics in Astronomy (12-hour class)
  • Monthly lectures
• I attended streamed monthly meetings of Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston

Guitar

• I began practicing guitar again in November using the Mel Bay Modern Guitar Method Complete Edition book, Justin Guitar (book and online course), and YouTube videos
• I learned (but did not master) how to comp using shell chords
• I bought my first electric guitar, a vintage cherry PRS SE CE 24 Standard Satin Stoptail, with gig bag
• I bought a practice amplifier, a Positive Grid Spark 2
• I discovered Phillip McKnight’s “Know Your Gear” YouTube channel and watched all of his videos from the past twelve months

Writing

• I built a lot of momentum in my writing this year
• I published sixty-nine blog posts

Gardening

• I had a beautiful front garden and received many compliments from my neighbors