February Check-In
February felt like a busy month, it seemed like every weekend we had something going on keeping us moving about.
As I mentioned in my January Check-In, I ended up brewing not just the one beer, but ended up brewing a second beer, an all-grain beer as well. The first beer was an extract brew, a Belgian Blonde, which is currently bottled and waiting for it to be ready to crack open. The second was an all-grain brew, my first attempt at an all-grain batch which I decided to go with a Red Ale. I was hoping to have it ready for St. Patrick's Day, but it's still fermenting so it will likely be a few days late...oh well. The hardest part is waiting to find out how they turned out. They could be fantastic...or they could be ruined. I won't know until I crack open the first bottle.
I also started a bullet journal. I had been using Notion to keep track of things, but I decided I liked the idea of going more analog and using a Moleskine notebook.
I'm also trying to find a nice balance for myself with keeping up with the news. At the end of the month, Putin decided to invade Ukraine so the firehose of all the horrors going on has left me trying to stay informed while not feeling all gloom and doom all of the time.
I ended up really just spending a lot of evenings on the couch with my wife watching our TV shows. It really is the perfect way to wind down.
Monthly Roundup
Running & Biking: Still cold out which limited me to some extent
- Ran another 43 miles this month
- Didn't end up biking any...the stationary trainer I have is kind of boring to me so I have to be in the mood
Lifting: I ended up setting two new PRs...I'm now 92.5% of the way to the 1,000 lbs. club!
- deadlifts (375 lbs.)
- squats (325 lbs.)
Reading:
- The Apollo Murders - I enjoyed this book. It had a good story that pulled you in. As a space fan, I definitely enjoyed the tie-ins with the Apollo program. The ending wasn't my favorite part, but it did tidy up the story arcs. Would still recommend it to anyone.
Writing: Wrote my first technical post of the year.
- Wrote about setting up GitHub Actions for a .NET project.
Gaming - Continued my Halo series play-through.
- Halo 3 - I have obviously already played the heck out of this game, but played through it again for my Halo series play-through.
- Halo 3: ODST - This is the only Halo shooter I never beat. I got bored with it when it first came out, but wasn't gonna let that stop me this time. Finally beat it and it does provide a nice little side-story to go along with the Master Chief Saga
- Halo 4 - Played through this, again for my Halo series play-through. It was the first game done by 343 Studios and as I remembered, the story didn't quite feel the same as the original trilogy.