*-Wait Wait Wait!-* You're going to want to get comfy for this. 2010-2019 was an epic string of years for me. I experienced almost as much change as an adult could. Life has been good to me. So get some wine, settle into a cozy spot, this is a big one. (maybe THE big one)
Lets start with how I finished 2009, my predictions for the next ten years:
Gadget Predictions
- I bet in 10 years video chatting over a cellular service will become reality, the quality still won't be very good by 2010 and it will cost more than most people are willing to pay.
- Well this happened, although it's not something that people do as their regular form of communication, it happens. Quality is pretty good when you have a good connection and service but there is definitely room for improvement. The cost is not inexpensive but everyone is willing to pay for mobile internet. Data caps are probably the biggest roadblock for this.
- In the next 10 years we will see home TVs which are 3d ready become a huge flop because people won't want to use the glasses to make it work.
- I don't think 3D at home was hyped enough for it to become a flop, but I haven't met anyone with a 3D TV and 3D movies are becoming more of a niche fandom. Although the new avatar trilogy may turn that around.
- By 2010 a glasses free 3D TV will hit the market and be extremely expensive.
- Nope Wrong. But VR headsets have started some interesting programming already. Perhaps in the next 10 years VR will be in most homes.
- In the next 10 years we will see a revolution in cable programming, be it chose your own subscription or some form of order at will. Similar to streaming your Netflix choices online.
- Cable TV has been a staple in people's homes for so long that it takes a long time for the tides to change but it has begun. The only people who pay for cable TV are sports fans and the people who make couch time with their TV an important part of their lives. We have entered the a la carte streaming era. The question is, will big cable adapt?
- Ebook readers are going to take off as Eink devices become embedded in more everyday items. Especially as color Eink devices begin to appear.
- I will admit, I thought Ereaders were going to be the next big thing, they were big, but just as a blip in time. Turns out people (myself included) like holding/having books.
- Most laptops will cap off at 1 TB of storage many will have "only" 500 GB as the netbook begins to take hold.
- It was awfully silly of me to predict a cap for storage, but 500GB-2TB is normal. The netbook didn't take off but tablets and phones seem to have taken away from people's use of the PC.
- By 2010 most laptops will have some multi-touch capabilities thanks to the iPhone.
- I am writing this from a touch screen laptop and it's not a dream come true scenario. I wouldn't say most laptops are touch screen but there are plenty around!
- I'll be getting married!
- I did it! I married the love of my life in 2010 all of our best friends and family celebrated with us!
- Dear lord it makes me nervous to say this but I feel like 10 years isn't unreasonable to say a child of my own could happen. *shiver*
- I laughed out loud at this. I did it! in February 2015 Lilly arrived in my life and changed it more than I would have ever predicted in 2009.
- Something will cause my departure from Illinois.
- I got a new job! We moved to Traverse City, Michigan!
- A new (to me) car!
- This happened twice in this decade!
- I will see at least 3 new countries.
- Spain, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Niagara falls Canada (and Sioux St Marie for an hour or so), France, Portugal, Italy.
- I'm going to start thinking about writing that novel materializing in my brain.
- Still thinking about it.
- Freelance work of some sort.
- This did happen but it wasn't the big departure from my job that I may have thought it would be in 2009.
2010
I created my first beer recipe from scratch, a pumpkin wheat. It was delightful and I attempted to recreate it annually for five or six years with varying amounts of success. None were ever as good as the first.
I got Married! Laura is still pretty great after all of these years! As far as I can tell, I'm not sick of her and nor is she sick of me! Sometimes I wondered if just planning a wedding was really a marriage test. I believe if a couple can successfully plan a wedding together they're probably going to do well for at least a little while.
I read War and Peace. I maintain this is one of my favorite books ever. It's a classic for a reason.
I got my first internet enabled smart phone, an HTC evo. I'm now on my fourth (or fifth if you count that cheap one I used for a few months) smart phone. I don't see these
I became aware of food ingredients, and developed a hate for High Fructose Corn Syrup.
The splashback story.
Laura and I volunteered at Sleepy Creek Vineyards to help pick grapes. Little did I know this was my first taste of many more grape harvests. We did it for fun and the discount on wine.
Honeymoon in Spain! Spain was so cool, we had so much fun exploring another country. Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, and Tarifa were all super great!
Amanda and Andy moved to Nashville and we made our first trip of a few trips over the years to explore that neck of the woods.
I started running for exercise and signed up for my first and only full marathon.
2011
Laura and I had a romantic getaway in Door County Wisconsin!
I changed my life forever. I quit my job as a graphic designer and began a new career as a winemaker! Joe and Dawn Taylor took me under their wing and we learned and grew together and I began making commercial wine that didn't suck. I resigned from my design job with a letter written in comic sans.
A family trip to Chicago!
This was the first year I didn't ski at all since 1994 when I first learned. This tragedy occurred annually for most of the decade.
My first annual BockFest took place. I set my benchmark low with my first beer being both not cold nor carbonated.
My first grey hairs were discovered!...on my butt!
I did a lot of running, I completed my first of many half marathons at the Illinois Marathon. Laura and I also met the Davis family in Georgia to complete a warroir dash, I shaved my hair into a Mohawk. Also I completed my first and only training (and race) for grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN. My time was 4:28:12 with a 15 minute final 1.2 mile.
We got a new Grill! We still have it, it's starting to fall apart and bits that used to work don't work anymore but it's made a lot of meals for us.
I went to Las Vegas for Justin's Bachelor party. Many memories were made and a few good stories came from the trip.
Laura and I ate year old wedding cake and it was good!
Chip died by my side.
Scott planted the minimalist/barefoot running seed in my head and changed how I shop for footwear forever. As a result trail running is one of my favorite things!
2012
On a whim and a cheap ticket find Laura and I took an adventure out to Boston to visit my good old pal Sarah Fuller. We hiked the freedom trail, drank chocolate, bought a hat, carried a growler everywhere, and took in a Donkey Show (but not that kind).
We visited Family in Peachtree City, Georgia!
After attending a Christmas party where we got drunk and threw hatchets in someone's basement I decided that I needed to build a hatchet throwing target to practice at home. Many hatchets were thrown both in and out of sobriety when it was complete.
Laura and my Dad re-roofed our garage with a little help from me!
I sort of abstained from alcohol for a whole month. If anything I cut way back for a month.
I got together a group of friends and family to complete our first Tough Mudder!
I went up to Chicago for an afternoon and evening of shenanigans and tomfoolery for Nathan's Bachelor party!
I brewed the "flamin' Anus" Ghost Chili Brown ale. My first all grain brew!
Laura and I explored the wineries of Southern Illinois! So much wine was had.
My GRAND PA died. His parting words for me were "Just live a good life". I'm working on it Grandpa, thanks.
I bought my first (and only) motorcycle! My 1999 Triumph Legend has taught me a lot about mechanics and DIY repairs. Most have been my fault but others are a result of owning an old bike. Nonetheless I've loved my journey with it thus far.
I made my first batch of yogurt at home! Andy taught me his ways and I evolved them slowly over a few years before we just finally wore ourselves out making/eating so much yogurt.
Laura and I made a road trip adventure to Florida, first stop was Nashville for a night we'll never forget, then we spent an afternoon in Peachtree city, next we spent a couple of days with my Grandma in Sarasota, then we had an Epic day at Universal studios where a wand chose me, and we were scared witless at halloween horror nights.
I was fortunate enough to inherit from my grandpa his car and John Deere lawn mower. Getting his '05 Sebring with about half the miles was great. We then sold my Stratus and Laura's Vibe to buy her 2013 Outback in...2013.
2013
We started the Year off by buying Laura a new 2013 Subaru Outback. We did a lot of research and ended up settling the deal online. I don't think I'll negotiate a car in person ever after this experience.
For Laura's Birthday we stopped at wineries and breweries around Indianapolis. We discovered the smoking goose which was one of our favorite things about Indianapolis.
We made a fun adventure to Asheville NC, we visited a couple of breweries and took a tour of the giant Biltmore mansion! This was a fun trip with the Davis side of the family.
We ran another Tough Mudder, the last of the decade. It was great, but I decided it was a lot of effort to coordinate so I said I'll do another one when someone invites me along.
We got our vitamix and it's still great, although we don't use it like we used to.
We built a pergola on our back porch and it was a great thing/experience.
We made Strawberry jam from our own strawberries! Lots of it!
I joined reddit.
We made our First trip to the Great Pumpkin Patch. It is one of the places we miss most in Illinois since our move.
I began reading the Game of thrones book series. It's a fantastic series (A dance with dragons does get long though) Laura and I also began watching the show, which finally came to a conclusion this year.
I changed my phone number and my new number was Sarah Hibbler's old number she had problems, and I got 20 calls a day from people related to them. It was obnoxious enough to make my decade in review list.
We visit St. Louis Missouri! We took in a tour of Schlafly, Anheuser Busch, crawled all over the City Museum, Walked around under the Arch, and got out of town to visit a bunch of wineries too!
The Santa Hustle half marathon. Frozen water/gatorade/cookies/candy with no promised after-party. It was a bust. But we ran the whole thing together. It was memorable.
2014
I surprised Laura with a to Puerto Rico for her 30 days of 30 Celebration. Due to a storm I changed litterally every single reservation I made in some way. The trip ended up working out great, we spent her birthday on the beach smiling. Puerto Rico is awesome.
I sang I got you babe with a Cher impersonator. I told my string joke on stage too.
This is the year my blogging began to decline.
We saw Phantogram live at the Virginia theater in Champaign. It was one of the most memorable concerts I've had the pleasure of attending.
I came to an understanding with my body. I'm losing hair on top of my head, and that's just life.
We made yet another road trip to Minnesota and Wisconsin. This time with an air conditioner condenser that leaked onto the passenger floorboard. This was a problem that despite paying to get it fixed was never fixed. Part of the reason(s) we sold the car.
The maple and bacon donut at Royal Donut changed my donut perspective forever. IT WAS AWESOME! I miss that donut from Danville.
I began classes for what I thought at the time was an AA degree in enology, it has since morphed into a masters degree (finishing in Spring 2020!)
Laura became sick with child! I was going to be a Dad! EEK! (linked to my epic post about my feelings of becoming a Dad)
We visited Justin and Allison in Dayton Ohio! Laura's condition of pregnancy meant she wasn't drinking and we hadn't told anyone yet but Justin and Allison found something was up on night one and we spilled the beans. I think we told our family a week or so later.
A wine I made won a major award at the Illinois Wine Competition! Winey Mary our Tomato Jalapeno won double gold!
Laura and I carried out a scouting trip thinly disguised as a wine tasting trip to the finger lakes region in New York. We went there expecting to fall in love with the area and surprisingly found it to be simply a lovely place to visit. We had a great trip relaxing, exploring the wineries driving through the country during fall and taking in a few great hikes.
I ran another half marathon, this time in Indianapolis, I got my best time of 1:49:14. I believe I was in the best shape of my life when Lilly was conceived due to training for this race. Yep, now you know that.
We started the prepping process for bringing a new baby into our lives!
2015
We adventured to Indianapolis for a rendezvous with Justin and Allison. We stopped by the state museum, and watched Marvel Universe Live which was like part circus, part play, but all fun.
Baby showers!
Baby Room Renovation!
Baby is born! Lilly Lynn Jacobson entered my life. My life has forever changed and there are new challenges along with new delights that have come with sharing my life with her.
2015 was the first year in 14 years that I didn't go to Justin's Cabin for memorial weekend. As I wrote, "I realized that for nearly half my life on the same weekend every year I went to the same place and had a great time."
I quit Facebook. I can honestly say my life is better because of it. It's been four almost five years away from the social network and especially during recent political times not having an account has been a blessing. Especially considering all of the hot water the facebook company has been in during the past few years.
I won a folding bike! I ride it sometimes!
We went to St. Louis again! We visited Matt & Amanda and the zoo and art museum!
We attended the National Sweet Corn Festival in Hoopston Illinois. Much Corn was consumed.
I actually stomped grapes at work because the crusher broke. Life goal complete.
I started job hunting. Laura and I had always said that we didn't want to raise a child in Illinois because we wanted our kid to grow up in a place similar to where we grew up so we started hunting. Laura mentioned to check out Traverse City because "there are some wineries up there, and it's close to the lake"
Laura, Lilly and I drove up to Traverse City Michigan so I could interview at this winery called L.Mawby.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is released, I was in LOVE!!! I even got a chewbacca onesie to wear for the movie. I accepted a Job at L.Mawby on the way to the movie while wearing said jammies.
I stopped Blogging. It was a slow extinguishing of the tradition starting way back in 2014. I've spent a lot of time thinking of why I stopped. There were many reasons. Here is my list of excuses, I got slow at uploading pictures from my camera, my computers stopped working great, I had a kid, I moved, I was taking classes, and probably the most legitimate of all, I quit facebook. Without readers and these few other excuses I just stopped. It wasn't on purpose, but I spent a decent amount of time finely crafting these posts. As I got older they got more thoughtful requiring more time, and time is something that I didn't have excesses of in 2015-2019
2016
We went to bed after attending a New Years Eve masquerade party at my parents house.
I quit my job as Director of Fermentation at Sleepy Creek Vineyards.
I burned my winery hats.
We bought a house!
We sold our house in Oakwood! We "made" $8k on the sale from the purchase price. It was a good little house, and I was excited to leave Illinois, but sad to leave all of our friends that we made there.
I moved up to Traverse City about a month before Laura and Lilly to close on the house, and start painting and get supplies. It was a fun and busy time! Mom and Dad visited for a weekend to help with painting.
We moved! I began being stressed for about one year straight. Life and everything in it at the time was a challenge.
I made my first batch of maple syrup from trees growing around our yard!
We began exploring our new surroundings. We are still doing this.
On May 16 I received my first hug from Lilly. Luckily she's been doing her best to make up for lost time.
We took the ferry to Milwaukee for a visit with Laura's family. It was a lovely ride there and ROUGH ride back. Fortunately we were able to stand outside with Lilly strapped to Laura's chest and just watch the horizon.
Attended our first Cherry Fest including a Free Blue Angels airshow.
Visited Washington and California for work. This was a big deal for me, my first air travel for work!
Coincidentally Pokemon Go also went live just before this trip. I think I will always associate the Columbia river with catching pokemon now. (or at least that little stretch of it)
Saw Lindsey Stirling at Interlochen It was AWESOME! We almost didn't go because I apparently didn't "buy" the tickets. Fortunately a few opened up and we were I was saved!
We went to the Minnesota State Fair. Lilly had like 20 mini donuts also many other foods were had. It was glorious.
One day in September I thought, lets check out our local comic shop and see what it's all about. I ended up with a Darth Vader comic and had no idea that I was starting a new passion/mild obsession. It's a fun hobby that I've finally gotten under control. I do love digging through comics, enjoying the art, finding new stories, and scoring the occasional deal. Recently I've managed to do a lot of trading keeping my habit fairly cost neutral. I've also learned a lot about collecting things in general.
Laura and I took a day off in the fall to hike and visit a few wineries. It was a fantastic way to explore our new home area.
In November I voted. Our political landscape has never been so polarizing in my life. Things are downright ugly. I got really drunk on the couch as the news rolled in. My like-minded co-workers shared my lack of enthusiasm and the following day was unusually quiet. Fortunately the world hasn't ended but I'm not happy about the direction our glorious leader is taking us.
2017
I was admitted to the Master of Science in the Plant Science/Environmental Plant Science Department at Missouri State University! My AA/mild indirection had a finishing point! I will be done in Spring 2020!
We visited Washington! We spent a few days with the Davis family on Vashon Island, explored downtown Seattle, and then headed out to Olympic National park for hiking and exploring!
We took Lilly skiing for the first time! She stood on my skis and we went up and down the bunny hill a few times at Hickory Hills in Traverse City!
I built a proper maple sap evaporator thing in the woods.
We signed Lilly up for the Imagination Library. We have received a free book every month since then and will until Lilly turns five. This is a charity I plan on giving back to someday. The gift of books and reading has been wonderful.
We made a garden! There is a 6 foot deer fence and more shade than a vegetable garden should have, but it's ours and I'm happy about it!
A skunk died under our back porch step. It was as bad as it sounds.
I helped a mobile sawmill guy cut our giant Oak tree into Lumber. It was a cool experience. Nothing has been made as of yet but something will come of it soon.
Star Wars: The last Jedi! Laura and I were some of the first people to see it and it was Fantastic! I loved the new direction and awesome throne room scene. Middle school me I was happy! After this movie I thought to myself. I think I can bring Lilly to the next one...!
We got Lilly her first skis! We signed her up with a trade up program from a local shop. It's a great deal. It took a lot of patience but we got her to ski little bits by herself by the end of the season.
2018
I went on a snowmobile adventure to Marquette Michigan with Justin and Alex. We rode sleds, one broke, we drank, we did some VR, it was a great weekend.
I went to Pennsylvania for a wine conference. It was a great experience. I saw a few sights while also getting a chance to learn a lot about winemaking!
I had a rough year boiling sap. I learned that I should attempt no more than 30-40 gallons per day, but also taking on maple sap boiling in cold weather while doing homework is not only not fun but both tasks get half assed. My maple syrup hiatus began after this season.
I got Laura a plane ticket to San Diego for her birthday. Lilly and I had a few days for just us and we ate junk food, stayed up too late watching movies and had a great time. She also gave me a haircut.
Laura appeased one of my major bucket list items, to see Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphy's play together on tour. We headed to Detroit for a fun night of concertgoing. It was just like I remembered way back in the days of seeing Flogging Molly at First Ave in Minneapolis. The next day we went to a costumes of Star Wars exhibit and it blew me away! The costumes from Star Wars are so iconic and for some reason I didn't think of how cool of a visit that would be. Also to see the real Yoda puppet along with many of the original costumes was something I never thought I wanted until I got it. I would love to go back.
I got my first ever new car! I sold the Sebring affectionately called the Grandpa mobile for $400. The grandpa mobile was called that because A. It looked like a car a Grandpa would drive, and 2. It was from my Grandpa. Why did I get so little money? If the dealer actually sold it to another soul they were in for A head gasket repair. Air conditioning that leaked into the passenger floorboard. Missing bushings on the rear struts. And a 2005 cheaply made Chrysler with all it's random failures. I ended up with an Orange 2019 Subaru Crosstrek which I really enjoy compared to my previous two vehicles from the decade. Again all negotiations were done online. We jsut showed up to test drive/pay.
I got a vasectomy! Unless life, uh, finds a way, I'm set on having one kid! This decision was made after much discussion and it ultimately came to two conclusions. Mine was, I don't want to do this again, Laura's was, day care is expensive and we can't afford it. I set an arbitrary time of I don't want more than 4 years between kids so if we didn't decide to have a kid before then I was going to get fixed. The rest is history!
The week after my vasectomy we did our first family race! The Traverse City Turkey Trot! We all walked and Lilly was carried for quite a bit but we did it!
We got a working fireplace installed in our house!
2019
Certainly a year to remember.
I went to Houghton, MI to go snowmobiling with Justin, Alex, and Brian. Most of the snowmobiles broke in some way, and then we got snowed in for an extra day. We ended up bar hopping and closing several of them down as they closed early for the snowstorm. I got to ski some runs at Mt Bohemia in like 18 inches of fresh snow. It was fantastic.
I took a work trip out to California where we toured a couple of wineries and did some warehousing recon. I also was able to try the famed Pliney the Elder AND Pliney the Younger IPAs from Russian River Brewing company. As as someone who doesn't like west coast IPA's they didn't live up to the hype. Certainly not worth waiting hours for. But the full board sampler and the donuts were delightful.
I was fortunate enough to be invited on a trip to learn about sparkling wine products in Portugal, and Italy. I started in Paris a whole day late because of some weather issues at O'Hare. I crammed a lot into that day. Then spent a couple of days in Champagne, it was so cool to drink Champagne IN Champagne. Next I zipped over to Lisbon and later Porto and we learned about Cork production. After that we jumped over to Italy and Learned more about the production of capsules, wire hoods, crown caps, and bidules. We also stopped in another winery to check out their cool production methods and some great art. I got to spend a day walking around Milan before I headed home. I missed my family and they missed me but it was the trip of a lifetime.
We planted 20 Zweigelt vines in our front yard for a small home vineyard!
This summer we celebrated my Dad's retirement and I got to see both my brothers and sister at one time! It was great, we don't all get together in the same spot very often. In this decade I think it only happened once or maybe twice.
We stained our back deck! It took way longer than expected.
I got the LEGO UCS Millennium Falcon for my birthday. When we started building it I realized Lilly had an interest in Lego, so I began a massive sorting project of my old Lego. Hopefully Lilly and I have some fun builds in our future, I spent a lot of time digging through the old bricks. Laura and I have been really enjoying the falcon build thus far.
The several weeks of December have been full of flying squirrel and mice. We've caught at least 7 flying squirrels and maybe dozens of mice in the shed and basement (more from the shed...whew!)
We took a family trip with the Houston family to Disney World! There were so many great things from the trip. Lilly's first big roller coaster, meeting characters at breakfast, rides, shows, STAR WARS! cocktails, smiles, costumes, and more. We had a great time and I'm excited to go back to Disney with Lilly when she's much older and able to spend entire days in the parks.
One of the last highlights of 2019 was taking Lilly to see the final (?) movie in the Skywalker saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Lilly dressed as Rey and I was so happy to share this movie with my little girl.
This year I found myself saying that I'm in a great age with Lilly. She's super fun, silly, not all that whiny, and is gaining some independence. We have so much fun together! Also you might remember some of my fears and reservations from before having a kid, well now I'm to the point where I am sharing my life with her, I've rekindled some old interests to share and happily continued current ones with her as well. I like being her Dad.
2010 -2019 has been a decade of some truly epic change. I got married, changed careers, had a kid, moved to a new state with a new job, and traveled the world. My interests have evolved quite a bit in the last 10 years as well. I'm very excited to look back on these words in ten more years to see what has evolved from this point.
So with that said I'd like to present my predictions for the next ten years:
Life:
By 2029 Lilly will be 14! That means high school is coming, learning to drive a car will be in the near future. So the question is, will Lilly inherit the pumpkin or the outback? Or will she be getting a new old car? Also how long has she had a phone of her own? 5 years? less? MORE!?!? Also I'm assuming her ears will be pierced by now, but who knows when that happened, hopefully last year. On a related note she's hopefully been on at least a few motorcycle rides with me. Maybe we've been skiing in the mountains by now?
After earning my masters, maybe I'll be teaching some other people about making wine.
A trip into Canada! I don't know where when or why but we live to close to not go.
Aside from my Canada trip one new country, or one trip with more than one country.
I'm going to finally build some furniture with the wood we milled!
A major house project!
40 Years old.
World:
Trump is elected for eight more years! :( Hopefully our political climate moves to some sort of common sense middle ground. Hopefully Trump's first 4 years were really all we have to endure.
The self driving car revolution is hopefully rolling out. Conservatively maybe in warm/mild climates, automated driving in a snowstorm sounds tricky.
Electric or hydrogen fuel cell cars are the norm. Maybe half new cars sold are alternative fuel by now.
The stagnation of the smartphone has begun. They are now just like any other utility, even the cheap ones are still pretty decent.
VR is going to be in most homes in some way.
Facebook went the way of myspace. (fat chance but one can dream!)
Will we finally see A La Carte Cable subscriptions as a final competitive factor for the numerous rising streaming services? Will there be a streaming service the consolidates them all?
I'm anticipating the next 10 years will be full of adventure but my life will probably be on autopilot, with a child to raise into a teen and a career in winemaking solidifying and having moved to a place we are incredibly happy in I can't foresee the major changes these past 10 years gave me. But that doesn't mean life will be boring, hopefully just the opposite but with more fun and fewer major life altering events sprinkled throughout.
