Happy 5th Birthday to my most reliable content!

THE INTRODUCTION!
For a five years now I have annually blogged about how many Happy Birthday Facebook posts I receive. I now have 11 years of data going back to 2006. I think I can safely say that I am the only person in the world who blogs about about their yearly Facebook Birthday posts going back to 2006.

This year didn't see anything earth shattering. I clocked in at 42 Facebook posts. The exact same number as I pulled down in 2015. But for the first time I have also included other birthday messages in the chart using data I have going back to 2013. The non-facebook breakdown came in at 5 text messages, 2 snapchats, 3 emails, 2 calls and 2 cards. I got nothing on my newest social media platform Instagram even though I posted a picture of me having a birthday beer. 

THE CHART!

As Brick pointed out - I was a real asshole in 2011.

THE DETAILS!

I'm down a Rachel Morgan. This year I received a facebook post from only one of the two Rachel Morgans in my life. This is disappointing.

Total Friend Count. I'm officially at 600 Facebook friends, which is up from 590 last year. There were several messages from my newer facebook friends. So maybe I need to make at least 10 Facebook friends each year just to maintain my status. This seems like a lot of pressure. Eventually once I have a little more data the bar graph will feature total friend count as a line on the chart. I gotta save some new features for next year.

The Ray-Man. For the 7th time in 8 years Ray has dutifully left a "Happy Birthday" post on my wall. It's always exactly the same message "Happy birthday". I'm starting to wonder if Ray has a Happy Birthday facebook bot, which apparently do exist! Which would be cheating. But then why didn't I get a message in 2011, and how come in both 2009 and 2010 he left "Happy Birthday" with a capital B? What's the story here? I implore each and every one of you to become friends with Ray Smith and track his birthday postings.

*Also, what if you have a FB Happy Birthday bot, and then the person dies and you wish them happy birthday after they are dead. That would be bad.

More Investigation. In my quest to determine more about Ray I went to another Michigan Alumnus's FB page that has a birthday on March 4th and saw that he too had a "Happy birthday" post from Ray. I suspect he is equally as acquaintanced with Ray as I am. But the real shocker was that with only 690 facebook friends this guy is getting 79 facebook posts on his birthday. You guys need to step your game up.

Lastly. I have now been called a fartface on my birthday for four years in a row by my friend Beth. 

Asia Adventure 2016

I just returned from a 3 week trip to Asia, and have decided to memorialize it via the blog. It was a work trip, so most of my time was spent doing work stuff, but the trip did take me to 4 cities in Japan along with visits to South Korea and the British Indian Ocean Territory. 

The Ramen Game in Japan is strong!

A street in Yokohama

The team I traveled with left on a Friday and after a short 12 hours of flying we landed in Japan on Saturday night. Sunday was a rest day due to the time change so we made the most of it by walking around Yokohama where we were staying. It's Japan's second largest city and had some cool attractions, most notably a HUGE museum to the Japan's favorite invention of the 20th century - instant ramen. 

Me at work. Working.

The work week was long, but during the nights we were able to get some authentic Japanese food and Chinese food, as we were staying in Yokohama's Chinatown.

Yokohama's Chinatown

On Thursday we went to the base of Mt. Fuji. Luckily it was a clear day so I was able to snap a pic with the mountain.

A clear day at Mt. Fuji. The locals taught me how to pose.

On Saturday we spent more time in Yokohama and relaxed a little bit before moving down near Nagasaki on Sunday. Saturday night had a beer festival, which was a great time. I had a coconut stout that blew my mind.

Relaxing by having fish eat the dead skin off my feet. Kinda gross, but it felt terrific.

Yokohama at Night

The team enjoying the Yokohama beer festival

Riding the bullet train

On Monday we traveled to outside Hiroshima, but between the work and travel didn't have much time to enjoy the local culture.

On Wednesday we took a ferry boat over to South Korea. It was a high-speed hydrofoil ferry that put the Seattle ferries to shame. A smooth ride was further made enjoyable by a couple of Japanese beers.

Getting off the Ferry in Busan, South Korea

We were only in South Korea for two nights, but it was a fun little adventure. I found the part of South Korea we stayed in to be very interesting, but the people didn't seem as friendly as they did in Japan. Due to the language barrier we ended up accidentally ordering Chicken Feet for dinner the first night. The second night we played it safe with a seafood barbeque hot pot type meal.

Enjoying some Soju before the accidental Chicken Feet order.

The accidental order of Chicken feet. I tried to eat one but gagged.

The better meal the second night. It was real spicy!

The second weekend we spent in Tokyo at a very nice hotel that is run by the DoD. It is in a great location.

We were close to nightlife in Roppongi, so of course we had to leave our mark on Tokyo by becoming the shot champions. And then going back the next night to re-take the record away from our challenger.

Becoming shot champions of Tokyo the first time.

Becoming shot champions the second time.

We also did a tour, since we felt we should do at least some tourist things and see the sights.

The view from the Tokyo Tower

We hit up the Tsukiji fish market, the worlds biggest and enjoyed our last sushi of the trip.

The fish market had lots of fish and other odd foods.

Sunday was a hangover day.

Monday we flew out to Diego Garcia which is in the British Indian Ocean Territory. We flew 8 hours to Malaysia and then another 5 to Diego Garcia. We flew in a plane than had been converted to mostly haul cargo. It took a long time to get there.

Diego Garcia from the plane

We were only in Diego Garcia for 30 hours, and then started our trip back to San Diego. That trip was even longer, and took about 36 hours, including 22 hours in the air. I was exhausted by the time I got back to San Diego.

I got to spend a total of about 10 minutes on the beach at Diego Garcia

Everything is a long way from Diego Garcia

We went to a Mardi Gras party in Diego Garcia. The cover band's guitarist did this during the solo of Freebird. Epic.

It was a good trip, but very tiring. Lots of moving around, and long work days. But it was cool to experience the different cultures and while I would go back, I wouldn't ever travel to or from Diego Garcia without a stop in between! 

Happy 9th Blogiversary!

My loyal readers,

I don't know how many of you still exist, but to those of you who do - kudos on your commitment to this blog. It's been rarer and rarer that I post here, now that I have the twitters, the facebookers, the snapchatters, the instagrammers and the grinders. While many moons have come and gone since my last post, this here blog has never been far from my heart. So with that, I wish myself a happy and successful 9th year of blogging, which is about a third of my overall life thus far.

Getting married - it didn't happen in a field though.

Seeing as my blogiversary post has either been forgotten or delayed the past several years, I'm proud to write a few lines for the 2016 blogging season. My last on-time blogiversary post was on my 3rd Blorthday in 2010. And if you haven't picked up on it yet, I intend to continue to mostly blog about how much blogging I do. I should blog more!

Golfing in Puerto Rico whilst very hungover

My last post was in May. Since then, just a few minor things have happened. I got married in June which was nice. I went on some trips to Puerto Rico, Seattle, DC, Detroit, Costa Rica and the Caribbean. I didn't blog about any of them, but looking back I probably should have. I've continued to work on my house and still like my job. So there is the Christmas Card for you.

I have several things I should blog about, and perhaps one of my goals for 2016 will be to blog more, but it seems like I'm sticking with a kind of outdated system. But whatever, I do what I want, and it's my blog so if I don't want to post for 9 months then deal with it! So there.

Skiing in Tahoe

Blogging is easy. Convincing myself to blog is hard. But either way, here's to a great 2016 and an even better 9th year behind the keyboard of whatever this blog is called now.

The Critical Decade

I graduated high school in June of 2005, which was 10 years ago. Next weekend I will get married, and that will complete a decade long journey from adolescence to adulthood. It's been quite a journey and quite a critical decade. It's crazy to think that 10 years ago I was 18 and going out on my own in the world for the first time, and now, a decade later I've found my way in life and am about to settle down into married life. It was a decade full of inflection points both good and bad, and they each shaped my life in a different way.

At 18. At the beach in North Carolina.

I think years down the road I'll look back at this past decade as the defining decade of my life. Sure, my adolescence was important, and future things to come may be just as meaningful, but I postulate that the experiences of the past decade will outshine much else in the story of my life.

At 22. Graduation from college.

Life, love, self-reliance, education, work ethic, values, friendship. They all come at you very fast in those years. Just when things start to make sense, so much can change. People, cities, jobs. In the past decade I've lived in 4 cities, lived with 30 different people, held 4 jobs and moved 11 times. The only time I moved as a kid, I was a 1-year-old. I have moved more than once-a-year since then. I made great friends and watched as they slipped away. I traveled. I saw amazing things and had amazing experiences. I did things I never expected. I quit jobs. I quit relationships. I have been at the top of the mountain and at the base. But I enjoyed the ups and downs of the climb.

At 25. Visiting Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

So here I am. At the precipice of marriage. I feel wiser than I once was, but still a fool. I know there will still be excitement, and am looking ahead towards future experiences. But the era of me against the world is over. I'll now have a teammate in life. Someone to enjoy the journey with. It's hard not to look back and wonder where I would be if some of life's randomness had unfolded just a little bit different in the past decade. But here I am, and I'm proud and happy to be here.

At 28. Married.

Sustained Success

It's time for everyone's favorite post. My annual birthday facebook post analysis. For new fans of the blog, the general process is to count the number of "happy birthday" facebook posts I get and then either gripe about it being lower than last year, or celebrate it being higher.

As you may have guessed the title "sustained success" is there because overall this was a pretty good year. In fact it's the third year in a row that I've been happy with my results since a disastrous 2011. Overall I clocked in at 42 FB posts, 2 emails, 3 texts, 2 calls, 1 set of flowers, 1 card and 3 snapchats (a first). So here is the updated chart of facebook posts that you have all been waiting a year for:

Onto the details:

Statistics
Taking out 2011 which has been deemed an outlier, I now have N=9 data points. For a first time in birthday post history I've done higher level math. The mean number of posts is 40.6, and the standard deviation is 6.63 posts. With 42 posts I'm just above average, but I think I'd have to use a T-score to know exactly what the probability of this is, which is a bit too much math.

Total friends
Last year was the first year I tracked my total number friends, since I theorized that my post number might be dependent on the number of friends I have. Last year I had 587, this year I have 590. Which means I'm losing FB friends almost as fast as I make them, and probably not a major factor in the number of posts.

Fartface
There was more than just sustained success in number of posts. I also received my third annual "happy birthday fartface" post from my friend Beth. I enjoy how she remembers to call me a fartface each year without fail.

Ray
Since profiling Ray in my 2012 birthday post I've been tracking whether my most acquaintance-ish facebook friend wishes my happy birthday. This year he came through with a simple "Happy Birthday". The guy might have 1,900 facebook friends, but the 20 minutes we spent together in 2009 must still be fresh in his memory. Thanks for keeping the faith Ray!

Double Rachel Morgans
I got a happy birthday post from BOTH Rachel Morgans I know. If there is someone I know named Rachel Morgan it's pretty much a guarantee that they will wish me happy birthday on facebook.

The self-aware poster
I did have multiple people mention this post in their birthday post. But surprisingly it turns out it's the nearly the same people who mentioned by birthday blog post last year. Which means I can safely say I have 2 people that post on my facebook because of the blog post implications.

Twitter
In other news I did tweet on my birthday that the Statute of Limitations on all my underage drinking officially expired on my birthday. That got 2 favorites, which is the only twitter birthday interaction I've ever received. I guess twitter is just not a good birthday message medium.

A late happy blog birthday

I missed the birthday of my blog once again. I always remember that it's in January, but I can never seem to remember the exact date. Anyways happy 8th birthday to the blog. I guess I never thought I would still be updating this thing 8 years later. In a way I barely am. But let's keep this thing limping along for another few years.

So let's get into the things that have become more important to me than blogging.

1) My job. I started my current job 54 weeks ago, and I really couldn't be happier. I love what I do, and the people I work for. Unfortunately it looks like my boss might get new orders (he's active duty), and his boss who is also great might retire in the next year or two. But for right now, my job rocks. Especially because I've been getting to travel more which I really enjoy. I just got back last week from Japan which was cool. Next week I'll be in DC and then in a few more weeks I'll be in Twentynine Palms, CA. It looks like this might be the year I take a run at mad Delta status.

2) My wedding. I'm getting married in June to a girl I met on FarmersOnly.Com. Just kidding it's to Carly. Planning a wedding is a lot of work. For Carly. So I've been trying to help out - she lets me lick the envelopes after she addresses them all. I do have real responsibilities, but mostly I follow the instructions of Carly.

This is where I clean dirty jeep parts

3) My house. I've done a lot to the house in the last 8 months, but it seems like there are always more projects to do. I've gotten some of the most urgent ones out of the way. Right before I left for Japan I put in a utility sink in the garage. That was a fun project because I got to use my new PVC cutters instead of a hacksaw. My next big project is building a The Cooper Howell Memorial Chicken Coop. I'm still miffed that Ann Arbor's chicken ordinance was so restrictive. Luckily San Diego has a pretty lax ordinance. Also egg prices in CA are up 30% due to the state requiring 119 square inches of space per bird. My birds will have 1,584 square inches. I might not build the coop until after the honeymoon.

Looking good in the hood

4) The Jeep. The Jeep has been keeping me busy - in a good way. Last month I started changing out all the fluids including the differentials, transmission and transfer case. Yesterday I fixed the engine temperature gauge and started work on the tachometer installation. I'm still working in my head what I'm going to do for a sound system. I love working on the jeep, and on the weekends I almost exclusively drive the Jeep because it is awesome and I love it.

5) The Cats. While no Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, the two Siamese cats we have are really growing on me. I had one in my lap today while doing my annual blog-year-in-review. The one cat likes to sit on my keyboard while I type and then sit on my chest while I sleep. It likes the warm.

So to summarize, I have a full and happy life with no need to use a blog as an emotional crutch or fill the major stints of boredom. But I guess the same could be said about me in 2007 when I started blogging. The beer, roommates, and schoolwork was just replaced by something more real life. But I'll keep trying to blog, not because you want me to, but because I want to.

Watching the days go by

Yesterday was a great average day. In the history of days that will ultimately be forgettable, yesterday was quite memorable. Just the type of normal boring day that should be blogged about because I eventually will forget it ever even happened.

Wednesday November 19th, 2014
5:40am - Woke up, showered, played with the cats.
6:20am - Left for work. Smooth commute, got in 10 minutes early.
9:00am - Left work for the doctor's office. Finally went in and talked to a sleep doctor after not sleeping well for 5 years.
Noon - Got back to work from the doctor's office and went to play basketball. I haven't played in about 3 years, so it was great getting back on the court. Also it was a helluva a workout. The nice thing about my job is that I can go do physical fitness during the workday. Getting paid to work out? Awesome.
2:00pm - Got approval to go to Japan for a work trip. I've never been and I am pretty excited about that.
4:30pm - Left work. Went home, internetted, played with the cats, relaxed and watched some TV.
6:45pm - Left home to go play trivia.  My team played extremely well. Not only did we win the toss-up round which netted us a free shot of bartenders choice, we were right in the running at the end. The final question of the 2nd half I got because of my encyclopedic knowledge of John Stuart Mill which sprung us into first place for the final question. Now this trivia is a little weird in that you can bet it all on the final question a la final
jeopardy. The final question was about a retailer founded in Seattle in 1901. Boom. Nordstrom's. Bet it all. We won.
10:00pm - Returned home a champion of the day.