you're not dead anymore

i have survived another year on this planet. i forgot to write one of these last year, so while i was 25, i:

• did my 20th track event, second at road america, first with the exige. realized how slow a 1.8 liter car with lots of downforce is going up the main straight at road america.
• saw the cinematic orchestra play in chicago.
• did my 21st track event, which was more like half of one rainy day, at gingerman with dad. drove over his bag of stuff in the paddock and ruined his jacket. sorry dad.
• finally had the ugly wallpaper taken off in the house and the walls painted.
• was a doctor for halloween. did not perform any surgeries that i recall.
• went back on my no-tv idea and got the biggest tv i could find but just hooked it up to a mac mini to watch movies and stuff. eventually i got directv service but my receiver died the other week and i canceled directv again.
• finally put a fan in my bedroom.
• saw explosions in the sky in chicago.
• went through a bunch of laptops and didn't like any of them.
• did my 22nd track event, back at blackhawk for the 6th time.
• finally got some tables for the living room.
• went to my friend lori's wedding. lori put my name in lowercase on the card.
• welcomed my niece madelyn mae stein into the world.
• drove to lake geneva again with some more exotic cars.
• went to grattan again for my 23rd track event.

then i turned 26, and i:

• did my 24th and 25th track events and 2nd with dad. i did not run over any of dad's things this time as far as i am aware.
• drove to st. louis to visit jeanne during her flight attendant training and saw some bears.
• flew to new york city with dave and saw some bears. attended nycbsdcon and a cocktail party.
• bought a few more laptops and finally settled on a macbook pro. sorry openbsd.
• also went through a few more phones (and then an iphone 3g and then another android phone).
• got into the whole e-book thing and started reading more.
• finally ripped out the carpet that carl (ok carl, and the previous owners) destroyed and got some new carpet for him to pee on. i moved my office out of the green room and have actually not been in there since.
• went to the shedd aquarium and saw some ugly fishes.
• did my 26th track event and probably final one with the exige.
• put the exige up for sale to possibly buy a motorcycle for track days. i kind of soured on the bike idea and am now looking at an ultima gtr kit to put together over the winter. the exige was as good as sold, which made me kind of sad, but then the buyer's financing fell through and i was a bit happy. after many other lowball offers, it remains for sale.
• took my r32 apart to fix a leaking water pump. i stripped out some bolts and didn't have all the parts so this became an 8-day project. it's running fine now.
• went to madelyn's first birthday. she is now walking and saying words but i still can't converse with her.
• saw explosions in the sky in chicago again.
• made it through my 3rd year of self-employment. carl continues to have food in his bowl.
• went on some amusement rides.
• saw el ten eleven in chicago.
• bought a big boy biek (but am still rocking the single speed) and put a rack on the r32. trying to ride often.

and i guess that's it. i'm not sure if i'm taking less pictures, doing less things worth taking pictures of, or just becoming more boring in my old age. if i freak out and disappear with carl one day, don't say i didn't warn any of you.