2013 Year-in-Review

Note: This post is AI-generated based on my twitter archive.

If I had to pick a defining theme for 2013 based on the Tweet Archive, it would be “getting outside.” Between major vehicle upgrades, diving headfirst into the camping lifestyle, and spending quiet evenings walking around the neighborhood with the kids as the streetlights came on, we made a real effort to unplug and enjoy life in Nova Scotia. Here are the high notes from 2013:

Family: Trucks, Trailers, and Campfire Smoke: Early in the year, we decided we wanted to spend more time together out on the road as a family. That kicked off a few weeks of test-driving family vehicles, which culminated in us bringing home a brand new 2013 GMC Sierra truck in March. Naturally, you can’t have a truck without something to tow, so by April, we officially became an RV family when we purchased a Zinger ZT28BH camper trailer.

I had a parking pad poured in the backyard, and by May, we were hitched up and enjoying the classic camping experience—which mostly consisted of me getting campfire smoke in my eyes while trying to cook hot dogs. We also made a conscious effort to eat better and support local by signing up for shares of fresh produce from TapRoots Farms.

Back at home, the kids were still tearing up the yard in their John Deere Gator, though I found myself constantly wishing the plastic tires had a little more traction.

Technology: Casualties and E-Ink: On the technology front, 2013 started with a tragedy. While shifting things around for my daughter on an airplane, my butt found my beloved Nexus 7 tablet and cracked the screen. However, every cloud has a silver lining. I replaced it with an Amazon Kindle, and it completely reignited my love for reading; I was powering through my seventh book by May.

In the living room, I finally unplugged the Boxee Box after a good couple of years. It had become a dead-end product, so I swapped our Apple TV out for a Roku 2 XS to give it a test drive for our cord-cutting setup. I also pre-ordered an OUYA console to emulate some classic retro games, and binged the pilot episodes of MacGyver, Knight Rider, and Airwolf on Netflix.

I also spent some time tinkering with smartphones, temporarily ditching a physical keyboard after a decade to test out the BlackBerry Z10, which felt surprisingly smooth and modern.

Work and Sports: Work at the Halifax Regional Municipality was incredibly busy. I was heavily involved in transitioning our SAP hosting and support to an external supplier, and I spent a lot of time recruiting to fill senior roles on our Service Desk.

When I needed to unwind, I signed up for NHL GameCenter Live. It was a great service that let me stream the hockey playoffs in high quality directly to my devices.

Looking back, 2013 was a fantastic year. We set ourselves up for years of family camping memories, I read more books than I had in a long time, and we continued to enjoy the pace of life here in Nova Scotia.