I can’t even lie, guys—coming up with a list of 100 goals for the fourth year in a row was hard — ridiculously so. I’m a very different me than I was when The 2013 100 came out, back when free time was still an abundant commodity I didn’t even know I was taking for granted, trying to fill it with countless things that’d keep life interesting.
A problem I most definitely don’t have in 2016!
As I work at surviving the upcoming year—especially with our second child’s imminent arrival—I needed to make the list a lot more realistic; I’m all too skilled at chasing ambitions that exceed my lifestyle’s capacity, and I’ll need to keep wary of that in 2016 if I want to see myself make it out the other side!
So without further ado, The 2016 100. It took a couple of days to polish off after recovering from the gauntlet that was 2015, but I feel like it’s a list that will really make waves in this life o’ mine should I see it finished!
But hey—that’s what I say every year 😂
Thanks for reading!
1) Write an amazing series for Black History Month 2) Win a vacation for my dry cleaner 3) Watch Creed; Mad Max: Fury Road; The Martian; Ant-Man 4) Take Eric to a sporting event so he can stop complaining about getting left from sporting events 5) Phase my old 3.5″ hard drive out 6) Get rid of my old electronics 7) Stop biting my nails 8) Get rid of the wedding thank you cards I never sent 9) Clean out the basement crawl space 10) Build shelves into the crawl space 11) Give my FWD Powershot 2 to my old manager the hockey coach 12) Do the CN Tower Edgewalk 13) Sort out my old TD employee RSP 14) Consolidate everything down to a single notepad
Though a chiropractor I started seeing late into 2015 told me I’d developed some mild sciatica in my back, I didn’t need him to tell me I carry too much STUFF. In a digital age where we can pack mountains of information into a single device, there’s really NO NEED for me to carry all the draft posts and note that I do—save the fact that working from hard copy’s the way my brain’s WIRED.
In 2016, I need a little more focus to keep all my ideas stored in one place so I’m not constantly carrying EVERYTHING in my house made of paper, knowing that I probably scribbled SOMETHING on ALL of ’em.
15) Sort out the Internet situation at home so I can stop relying on tethering to LTE data 16) Learn enough Spanish to understand my sister-in-law’s Mexican wedding in May 17) Find time for date nights, which will involve finding someone who wants to babysit two kids… how about we just find more awesome things to do at home, just in case? 18) Try Uncle Tetsu’s cheesecake 19) Get to 0 drafts on CaseyPalmer.com by converting everything into live posts 20) Install the growth chart for my kids that we got at my office baby shower 21) Update all the old content on CaseyPalmer.com 22) Upgrade the site infrastructure to better support contest traffic 23) Redesign the heck out of the blog (Twenty Sixteen, what up) 24) Find the time to pack more lunches for work 25) Clean up and optimize my Pinterest account (I still have that copy of Pinterest Savvy lying around somewhere) 26) Shave more regularly 27) Hand out my remaining business “cep” cards so I can put in a new order (wait—do we still do business cards?) 28) Clear out the bookshelves to prepare for Baby #2 29) Replace the lost key to our 2011 Ford Edge 30) Figure out what I ACTUALLY need to run my site and invest in THAT. 31) Replace our bathroom sink 32) Meet with the people who I never seemed to schedule in through 2015 (Aaron, Emma, Ria, Adrienne, Dianna) 33) Get a Brookhaven Computer Cabinet
The 1% of the Casa de Palmer workspace I use to do all the things isn’t the best—in fact, it’s falling apart. As I get older and start formalizing my #BloggerLife, Sarah and I agree that my workspace should evolve to show that. It’ll take some saving to make it happen, but it’d be a nice addition to the home.
In a time before blogging was my extracurricular activity of choice, I used to draw like a fiend. On break at work. Zipping around on buses between home, school and work. I’d fall asleep with pens and markers in hand as I tried to draw just a little more (my Mom has the ink-stained sheets to prove it!)
Over a decade later, and the Sauga City cat’s still at it, as one of the artists performing at the free upcoming The We & We Free concert on Friday, May 9th at the Izakaya Sushi House!
We made it. Despite a 3-hour outage from my hosting provider, I managed to get this done. Thank you for joining me on the ride, and I’ll just leave this up here so I can go get my party on in these last few hours of the year. Enjoy the post!
Somehow it always comes down to this—it’s suddenly December and we look at our to-do lists realizing that we hadn’t accomplished nearly as much in the year as we’d planned to. So we get in a tizzy, try to do months of work in a matter of weeks and end in the year in a BANG on New Year’s Eve!
And we wonder why it’s always so hard to start our resolutions off on the right foot in January!
Ever the overachiever, I set out a list of 100 goals for myself in January, hoping to knock some things off of the list that’d been there entirely too long, and set foundations for others that’d lead to a promising future in the years to come.
Too bad I didn’t put the secret 101st item into the equation: having a kid.
I’ll admit—much of 2013 is a blur. One baby, two Vegastrips and three job changes later, my priorities have definitely changed, with me at home more often than not, trying to enjoy what quiet moments I can before DoomzToo’s more vocal—and more mobile.
But kid or not, 2013 was still a year for the books, and while I didn’t always get it out in the blog, I never truly lacked things to do.
So I wrap the year up with this—a look at what I pulled off in 2013; what flopped; and what will rear their ugly heads once more in 2014 to see whether I’ll manage to finally get them done. It’s all too long for one entry, so I hope you like reading about my hijinks and exploits because it’s going to take 10 to get through it all!
Buckle up, my lovely readers. Uncle Casey’s gonna tell you some stories!
The 2013 100, Items 1-10: Driving, Drawing and Dining
I’ll be the first to admit that I pay way too much for my cell phone. It’s good to have a monster of a device with plenty of features, considering how much time I invest in social media and geo-location games, but I rarely use it like a telephone anymore. So maybe it’s time to revisit what features I actually need and make it a priority to get a new plan in 2014!
There’s something I need to remember about having a traditional 9-to-5 at a large organization—there’re more benefits when telecom companies sell deals in bulk and not haggling individually level. It’s time to get a corporate plan.
2014 Casey Palmer—saving more money to feed his kid!
STATUS: On to the next year!
2: Give Sarah the present I always alluded to but never got around to giving her
Jeez—I think I alluded to this gift from our first Christmas together in 2008! Welp. Sorry, babe—this one’s going to 2014, ’cause you’re not getting it this year! (I even saw it on her Amazon wish list—hold your horses, Sarah! You already got the ring on your finger, yo! Way I see it, we have all our lives for me to work on this one! [Insert maniacal laugh here.])
STATUS: On to the next year!
3: Start a business or two
Somewhere in my mind is this idealized fantasy of owning a business, where I call the shots, wake up when I damn well please, do work in my house clothes and essentially do what I want, when I want.
Then I quickly come back to reality, realizing that it takes a heckuva lot of work before you make money while you sleep like the Dragons on Dragons’ Den.
Owning a business means taking on a lot of risk, a whole lot of discipline, and some prayers — especially if you’re trying to raise a family on that money! If I’d developed the online presence that I have now 10 years ago, going out on my own would be a highly attractive notion. But in 10 years, I got married, had a kid, and built knowledge and clout in my organization. I’m compensated for the skill set I’ve developed, and the benefits package that comes with the job mean that DoomzToo will never be stuck with crooked teeth or poor vision.
While choosing a 9-to-5 and owning a business aren’t mutually exclusive, I’m content enough to take the long path on this one and not search endlessly for a quick payday.
STATUS: Ain’t nobody got time for that!
4: Learn to drive, learn to drive, for the love of God learn how to drive!
For a decade, driving was the biggest cloud hanging over my head.
My hometown in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto, In the ‘burbs, driving is essential to living, as the public transit isn’t world-class and places of interest are seldom walking distance from the residential blocks. I originally tried to get my driver’s license at 20, which was already years later than everyone around me. Spending my Saturday mornings in drivers’ ed with kids who’d celebrated their Sweet Sixteens just the week before is an experience I’m not eager to repeat.
Failing that test at 20 led to a decade of avoidance, keeping a schedule filled with just about everything else in the world, not helped by my parents living in a subdivision a mere 10-minute walk from a train into the city.
Why drive?
Toronto already had too much traffic as it was—I could read, draw and sleep on public transit, making far better use of my time than I would if I spent it stuck in gridlocked traffic every day.
But DoomzToo coming along was a wake-up call. I’ve seen the parents trying to navigate the subway system with a stroller, struggling to get up and down stairs as just under half of the TTC’s stations are elevators for accessibility. I didn’t wanna be one of those parents. How dare they take up valuable space on the rush hour subways? Why don’t they find another way to get their baby from A to B?
So I celebrated my 30th birthday at a Ministry of Transportation DriveTest centre, nervously waiting to take my G1 exit test and see whether I could drive the 2011 Ford Edge Select (with All-Wheel Drive) that we’d bought just that weekend. It was nerve-wracking. It was tense. And it was in Port Union. But I passed after waiting ten whole years to try again, and I’ve driven since, ferrying us to distant places like Bouchette, Quebec, while Sarah makes sure I get plenty of practice for my G2 exit test!
STATUS: SO done.
5: Sell all the stuff I’ve meant to sell
I suck at selling. Not because I’m unconvincing, but because I’m unwilling to rip someone off nor am I enough of a penny-pincher to spend time listing thing on Craigslist, courting buyers, making time to meet with them, etc.
Ain’t nobody got time for that.
So instead, while cleaning up the house for the baby, we packed a number of boxes with books, clothes and electronics and drove ’em to the local Value Village so someone in need could get them.
Everybody wins. Go give something, people!
STATUS: Please see above.
6: Start drawing comics on some sort of regular schedule
I finally started drawing again in December, taking a real crack at costume designs for my characters that’d stick — not just clothes that looked like they came right out of a clothing ad. Comics are a difficult medium to create for—where literature relies on description and pacing to paint the world for a reader and keep their attention, a comic must do it blatantly and appeal visually on top of all the things literature needs to do!
Fish ‘n’ Chimps will be no easy undertaking, but it’s a labour of love. It’s a story that’s been in my head for damn near a decade, and the time for everyone else to see what’s been going on in my cranium is long overdue.
STATUS: On to the next year!
7: Get my clothes tailored
Somehow I imagined myself living the male equivalent of Sex and the City (Entourage? Californication?) and having my “go-to-guy” for making sure my clothes fit “just so”.
All I’ve managed to do is get my dry cleaner to mend my clothes when accidents happen and let pants out since my body shape’s already change from those carefree newlywed days.
Shout-out to Kathy for making sure I still look decent, and I doubt I’ll have the time (or the money) to get a tailor anytime soon.
Besides—what good is shopping at Harry Rosen when your ridiculously expensive wardrobe has baby spit-up all over it?
STATUS: Ain’t nobody got time for that!
8: Get up-to-date on my emails
Simple truth—there is no catching up on email. The sooner one accepts this fact, the sooner they can accept the deluge of data that is their daily life.
It’s especially futile now that I’ve become a Redditor, there’s no time for stuff like lifehacking. Links to click, things to see!
STATUS: Ain’t nobody got time for that!
9: Cook at least one meal
When I included this item on the list, Sarah was thinking of an extravagant meal that’d leave Susur Lee salivating in envy.
While not quite as elaborate as she may have hoped, I did manage to cook a couple of times this year:
1: A while back, I’d received review copies of Julie Anne Hession’s 175 Best Mini Pie Recipes: Sweet to Savory and Tammy Algood’s In a Snap! Tasty Southern Recipes You Can Make in 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes. While I didn’t get a chance to use my buddy’s key limes to make a pie (sorry, Jon), I did try my hand at some bacon grilled cheese on raisin bread—one of Tommy’s 5-minute recipes.
Turned out okay—I’ll admit that microwaving bacon was as crispy as I usually like it when done in the frying pan, but the sandwich was decent overall.
2: On the morning of DoomzToo’s birth, Sarah gave me a verbal crash course on making scrambled eggs, and while they didn’t turn out perfectly, I’ll learn more egg recipes for the future—never know when you’ll want a better breakfast than Just Right or Oatmeal Crisp with Raisins!
STATUS: SO done.
10: Make an app
Still interested in making an app, no time to do it right.
I’m largely an ideas guy. I like coming up with new ideas and schemes, so I learn a little about everything so I can translate my ideas to various kinds of people.
What apps need are experts. People who eat, sleep and breathe design and code and get paid handsomely for it. If I want to make an app, I need to align myself with the skilled people to build them—and the wealthy business people to pay them—in 2014.
Even if I get something like a 10% cut for the idea on an app, if that app profits $1,000,000—well. Let’s just say I wouldn’t be too sore about the $900,000 I didn’t get.
STATUS: On to the next year!
That’s all for today, y’all! Make sure to come back tomorrow, when we discuss birthdays, BiSC, and what really happened to Mansformation. See you then!
P.S. Gratuitous link to get my blog registered on Bloglovin’!
“SaugaTweetup is like a tweetup in Toronto… without the Toronto douchiness.”
–unattributed
SaugaTweetup is worth the trek to Mississauga.
As someone born and raised Mississaugan, I know the city hasn’t been without its shortcomings in the past. Nothing to do but hang at the mall. Next to nothing open past 9 o’clock. You need a car to get anywhere. Mississauga doesn’t scream glitz, glamour or an expansive nightlife, but no matter how long I stay away, there’s still one word that resonates with me when I think of the city just west of Toronto:
Home.
You Can Take the Boy out of Sauga….
Despite how often I make fun of Mississauga (see “Mississucka”, “Miserysauga”, “My 27-year prison stint”), I will fiercely defend it against any outsiders looking to speak ill of it. Yeah, its transit system sucks, but I spent 15 years on it and earned my stripes to know how badly it sucks. The club scene was less than ideal, but I danced on those floors and got rebuffed by more Mississaugan women than I care to remember. (Note: I also did rather well with some Mississaugan women, but that’s not the point of this post.) Square one was my mall. Hazel McCallion was my mayor. You can take the boy out of Sauga, but you can’t take Sauga out of the boy.
Which is why I support SaugaTweetup as strongly as I do.
The Skinny on SaugaTweetup
On Wednesday, August 7th, we socialized like we were out of control, making new friends and reacquainting with old ones around the wooden tables that made up the atmosphere at the newly re-christened SCADDABUSH, which was the Alice Fazooli’s just north of Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga.
One thing that makes SaugaTweetup a little different from the events you’d attend in downtown Toronto is the crowd. People were representing various parts of town that night, from Scarborough all the way across the lake to Hamilton; Oakville, Kitchener-Waterloo, Brampton, Barrie, Keswick—SaugaTweetup has cultivated its own culture, far removed from the one you find in The Big Smoke with its gridlocked traffic and sullen faces. Dozens upon dozens make the journey out to SaugaTweetup, and I haven’t heard anyone leave disappointed yet!
SCADDABUSH made sure to offer a sampling of their menu, ranging from pizzas to stuffed meatballs and fresh mozzarella. I’ll leave someone far more qualified and who was far less preoccupied with stuffing their face while trying to drink a beer, take photos and keep up conversation—but I enjoyed what I had. I found the pizza especially tasty!
Conclusion
So why go to SaugaTweetup?
More than the food, the atmosphere or the low price tag that comes with free parking and a casual dress code, you go to SaugaTweetup to belong to a community. Before I moved out East, for a long time I was steadfast that the West was the best. The East is nothing to overlook, but until a PickeringTweetup gets to the same level as this… well, let’s just say that the choice is obvious.
See you in the fall!
HYFR and YOLO,
Tell your wife, tell your kids, tell your husbands:
