What I Learned & Looking Back & Forward: A Journey Through 2025

Mais, oui! Of course I would like a pastry!

It's February already! You thought I was going to give you yet another what I learned list, but I am not! I had many comments on my What I Learned look back and I thought it would be fun to do a group effort here this year. In the way of Elisabeth and her chapters! Also, I liked the chapters idea too, but Elisabeth said she may not do that again on her blog (E - if this is not true, I can cede the project back to you!), so I plan on doing a monthly chapter and a statement of what I learned in the last month. I would love it if you would join me! Also, since I guess I AM doing a list after all, please join me in answering these questions. 

JANUARY:
1. What is the name of your last month's chapter or the theme of your last month if you prefer that? 
2. What did you learn last month? 
3. What was the weather like where you are? 
4. What event last month was your favorite?
5. What was the best thing you listened to or watched last month?  
6. Tell us one funny recent story. 

FEBRUARY: 
7. What are you looking forward to this month? 

1. What is the name of your last month's chapter or the theme of your last month if you prefer that? 

January: Baguettes and Many Steps

2. What did you learn last month? 

I learned a lot about the silk workers in Lyon, and about the poor Alsatians who got caught in the wars fighting against their brethren, and about how Dijon mustard used to be made with wine but is now generally made with vinegar. 

3. What was the weather like where you are? 

It was very cold at first, in the 20s, with snow and rain, and then at the end of the month, the wind direction changed or something, because now it is in the 50s (and raining). 

4. What event last month was your favorite?

I went to a meetup with a random person and we spent about five hours just chatting, talking about travel and shooting the breeze. It reminds me that even though I hate reaching out to strangers, when I do, I usually have a good time! 

5. What was the best thing you listened to or watched last month?  

I have been watching Jeopardy! I actually am enjoying Ken Jennings and I always have fun trying to guess the clues! It makes me feel so smart when I get one that the contestants don't get! This one was hard for them: As individuals, only Santa Claus & this public service ad icon introduced in 1944 have their own ZIP codes. Do you know the answer!? Also, I just found out that there is a fan based site where you can look up all of the questions and answers! Down the rabbit hole I go! 

6. Tell us one funny recent story. 

I currently have a lot of language barrier stories. Here is one of many. I went to the grocery store and bought my first bottle of wine in France the other day. As I am waiting to be rung up, I see a sign that says something about needing to be 18 to buy liquor. I get to the front, the cashier starts ringing me up, and then she swipes the wine and asks me (in French, of course) for my card. I was thinking in my mind, "WOW, I have not been carded in years, and now I am getting carded in France, where they can drink at 18, and most likely drink wine well before that? This is a first!" So I get out my ID and I hand it to her but in my mind, I am thinking, "she is never going to know where to look for my birthday on my CA drivers license!"

She peers at my card, gives me a quizzical look and says (still in French), "non, I meant your store card!" and she shows me the loyalty card of the store. I say, "no, I don't have one yet" and take the application she hands me. Oops! 

7. What are you looking forward to this month?

I am not really "looking forward" to this, but I booked my admission to Auschwitz and I have wanted to go and see it for so many years and I am glad that I am finally going to go. 

Your turn! Answer the questions if you want and also tell me, have you been to Auschwitz? 

2024: A Year in Twelve Chapters

We don't exist in a vacuum, and other people's great ideas can be our best fodder sometimes. A year ago, Elisabeth started asking us what our monthly chapter names would be, and she kept it up for twelve months. Then Stephany did a post celebrating her chapters, and I love the idea, so I am totally copying it! Thanks ladies! 

PS Happy MLK day to the US folks reading this!

Chapter One – January: Everything Must Go!

As most of you know, in 2024 I decided to quit my job and pursue a life of full time travel. After giving it some thought and looking into renting out my house long term or on Airbnb, I ultimately decided that selling was the best option for me. I had lived in my house for nearly 10 years and it was time to go. Also, I felt that I could invest the proceeds and make more than I would getting a monthly income from renting AND I would have to do less work. 

After deciding that, I also decided that instead of putting things in storage and paying hundreds of dollars a month for an undefined amount of time, the best thing financially and emotionally would be to get rid of everything. Of course, this comes with its own emotional toll, but in the end, I am glad I decided what I did, as I feel like a lot of things I owned were owning me (name that movie!) and I really did not need (OR USE!) them (I am looking at you Nordstrom shoe closet). It was very freeing. 

I also took advantage of still living in the Bay Area and went on a run to the Golden Gate bridge, a walk with a friend around San Francisco and a trip to Big Sur with the girls. 

Selling crap, SF walks & runs, Monterey

Chapter Two – February: The Life Changing Event

Although I had been planning on quitting my job for a bit, I did not actually announce it until the last week of February, where I gave three weeks notice. I contemplated giving more, but in the end, I am glad that I didn't, as the last few days of work were a little slow, and I can't imagine what I would have done if I had to sit there for yet another week. Also, I did not announce anything to the Blogosphere for fear of being jinxed. 

I also spent more time walking around San Francisco, had my weekly time with the girls taking them back and forth to soccer, cooking dinner and playing with the Jelly-monster (the dog). I tried to squeeze in as much family time as possible, and went to Santa Barbara with the family for the long weekend and had a good mid-week ski with Dad. 

More walks around SF, Santa Barbara with the folks,
skiing with Dad & trying to drink all the sparkling wine in my fridge!

Chapter Three – March: A New Beginning

March was a dichotomy. The first thing I did was to finally tell you all about my plans! The first half consisted of wrapping things up at work, going away lunches and hikes and runs coupled with the frenetic pace of trying to sell or get rid of the last few things and trying to eat everything in my fridge, which culminated in some odd and not-so-healthy meals. I barely read any books because my mind was whirling with all of the things I needed to do and all of the things I wanted to do and all of the things I could do. It was a whirwind of stuff. 

Got the rack on the bike, emptied the house, took a run to the dump
and took one last hike in the redwoods

Then March 15th came, I had my last day at work, and my last trip to Goodwill and then my Dad came to get me and the two bikes and a few boxes and take them to their new home, my parent's basement. Yes, I am my meagre amount of stuff is basically "living" in my parent's basement. Just give me a gaming console and I will be good to go. Seriously though, a few books and a lot of backpacking and sports gear is apparently all that I need in life. I spent a week with the folks and had a great time wandering around, getting ready and playing games and then I was off! But only a week later, I was picked up by the girls and we headed to Oregon for some R&R. 

Sold the car, packed the bike, got on the road. 
Learned how to use my gear, hiked with the girls in OR.

Chapter Four – April: An Unquenched Hunger

After getting dropped back off in California by the girls, I started riding again, this time in earnest. Of course, the snow held me back a little at first and I had to figure out new routes a couple of times, and it was very cold. However, I made it through Califoria, Oregon and Washington and I even crossed the 1,000 mile mark and made it to Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast. I did take a break in Porland with a friend, but otherwise, I had a few times where I had ridden over two weeks in a row without breaks, and the result of this was a hunger that I could not quench! I ate and ate and ate, and even tried eating an entire half gallon of ice cream several times but I still was hungry! I found some new snacks, although sadly the TJ's mochi bites are seasonal and only can be found in April/May. If you are near a TJs during that time, you must try them! 

Riding in the snow, snacks, OR, CA, WA and Canada!

Chapter Five – May: The Next Province

I was in BC for a total of 32 days and I love it. It reminds me of home, of green trees and mountains and fresh pine air. It has oceans and bays and islands; it is just so peaceful and I could totally see myself living there. In May, my Dad came up to Vancouver to meet me, and I closed on my house, and set off through the moutains of BC. The great part is that finally I was out in the moutains again, although still there was snow in the high reaches and some passes could not be conquered. Note to self, start further south next time? However, at the end of May, I finally crossed over into my 2nd Canadian province, Alberta, and it was wonderful. Once again, I tried to go over the mountains, and once again, I was turned away by snow. But that did not stop me from having fun, riding on roads that were still closed to cars, and waving at no less than half a dozen bears as we passed each other! 

Peter Lougheed PP, Banff NP, Bear Spray, Ice Cream

Chapter Six – June: From Freezing Snow to Burning Sunshine in Three Days

I rode the Icefields Parkway, and spent some time in Banff before the girls came to meet up with me in Canmore and we had a great time hiking, eating and hanging out. Then it was off to the races, and I started riding the Tour Divide, heading towards Mexico. I went through the provinces of Alberta and BC and the states of Montana, Idaho and into the state of Wyoming by the end of this month. 

I also ate a shitton of food, got massacred by mosquitoes in Wyoming, had my tent break in a thunderstorm and windstorm in Montana, and had a recurring flat tire issue. I sent my Mom a postcard from the Tetons, and even got to camp in the National Park, despite it being very close to a holiday weekend. It was also at this point when I was having breakfast with a racer who was going the opposite way, that I realized that the fun was just beginning, as he told me that NM was the hardest state. I had thought it was going to be the northern ones, or maybe CO, but nope! Yay. I also made some cycling friends! 

Icefields Parkway, Banff, Peter Lougheed PP, Idaho/MT line, grizzly

People I met on the road

Chapter Seven – July: The Path Less Taken

It was hot, I was tired. Haha! Actually at the very beginning of the month, I crossed the Great Basin of WY, which was a 100 mile stretch with no water, cars, or people. It was very dry and windy and dusty and it was quite the adventure. Afterward, I could barely talk, and had to eat a pint of ice cream and drink a Snapple to recover. Then I crossed into Colorado, and even went through Steamboat Springs on Independence Day weekend. I would not recommend it. After that, I got to climb Boreas Pass, which is over 11,000 feet, which was actually not too bad, and then I had to knock on the door of a firehouse and ask them if I could stay the night! It was an adventure. For the fourth of July, I was with a buddy, and we crashed a small town party and they gave us cold watermelon and ice cream! Thanks Savery, WY! After CO, there was hell NM, and then the Tour Divide was over. Yay. 

Hot, rainy, cloudy..but beautiful.

The second half of the month was a flurry of riding and visiting. I got to meet up with a few lovely ladies and even used Lisa's house as a home base to get some errands done before setting off again. Oh, did I mention that July was hot? No? Well it was over 100 and with one million percent humidity as I rode through Wisconsin, and I think I lost about 800 pounds of water weight. It also rained a lot, which is not my favorite combination. The Midwest: Love the People, Hate the Weather. 

Birchie was in September, but I am too lazy to edit this collage.

Chapter Eight – August: The Great Expanse

I left Lisa's house and I headed towards the Great Lakes. I had only ever been to Lake Michigan before and had actually never been there in the summer time, so had not touched it. In July, I did touch it, and in August, I touched Lake Superior, Lake Huron and Lake Erie. Now I was four down, one to go! 

Lakes Huron & Superior, a mouse,
the forest of Michigan and the town of Kincardine

Chapter Nine – September: Taking A Step Back

After popping over to Buffalo to meet up with Birchie and try to figure out who has the best Buffalo wings (or ice cream), I rode to Toronto and spent some time with some friends, put my toes in my last lake (Ontario) and then headed to Portland for a week of petsitting and time visiting friends. It was a nice rest, and it was not boiling hot and humid, so it was nice to be back on the west coast again, let me tell you! I went back to Ontario from Oregon and set off again towards the east, or namely, Montreal, where I would spend two weeks petsitting before heading to Nova Scotia. 

Toronto, Lake Ontario, Portland & Buffalo

Chapter Ten – October: Unwinding

I had a great time petsitting in Montreal, getting in my 10 minutes of walking every day and getting some more downtime. By this time, I was getting a little decision fatigue from riding and I was kind of ready to have a break from that. My time in Montreal was the perfect opporunity to get into a bit of a routine, take a few runs, explore a new place, and spend time with a couple of buddies (furry ones). Then it was off again, through Quebec, for a visit to QC before heading to Nova Scotia on the train. Once I arrived, I took a few days to cycle around before meeting up with Elisabeth and hanging out with her and her family for a few days. Too soon, it was time to go, and I hopped on a plane for Bob's first plane ride. He was quite nervous, but I was totally calm. Luckily I had Elisabeth and her neighbor there, as her taking me to the airport was priceless and the neighbor had the perfect tools to take apart my bike (I actually ended up having the right ones too, but it was still nice to have his support!)

Then I was in Vancouver, on the last long ride of the month, to Burlington Washington! Halloween was in full force and it was nice to wander around the PNW again in the fall. 

Ice cream, Bellingham, Quebec City, Montreal
Last camping of the fall, Burlington WA Halloween

Chapter Eleven – November: Tides, Tasks and Trails in the Emerald City

After Burlington, I went to Seattle and spent the majority of the month of November there. I got to stay in two different neighborhoods, and I liked both of them (NE and SW). I also met up with my cousin a few times for lunch and for a Seahawks game, and he took me on a tour of his Navy ship. I walked the dog a lot, and spent a lot of time exploring. I even took at 10 mile run, my longest run for the year! 

Frankie, the Navy ship, Seattle, Fremont Brewery
Seahawks game, US Customs

Chapter Twelve – December: West Coast Whirlwind

I ate, I visited, I scanned photos, I took hikes! I left Seattle and took the Amtrak to Oakland, where I met up with G-money for lunch. Then I stayed with K for a few days, spent some time hiking and eating with friends, and then headed to my parent's house for Christmas. That time went very fast, but we had a great time playing games, taking hikes (my brother even walked in the rain with me, and our hike went longer than planned; oops!) and cooking and eating! We went to a Christmas market, and I got to see several family memebers and friends before getting everything packed up again (but first, unpacked!) and getting back in the car and heading to the airport! Then it was NYE in Germany and the year was over. PS the Germans all set off fireworks and it is loud, but in typical German fashion, there must be a curfew, as the noise basically stopped abruptly around 1 am! It was great. 

Seattle, home, Germany

And...that is a wrap! Just like I thought when I read everyone else's wraps, when you lay it all out, it does seem like a lot of stuff, even though sometimes when you are in it, you don't realize all that is going on. 

Did you participate in the Chapter a Month this year? If not, what would a few of your monhtly chapter names be, or what would your 2024 book be titled? 

Looking Back: 2024 Money Pie

If you are a long time reader, you know that every year I reveal my spending for the year in the form of my favorite kind of pie, a money pie. Okay, not really; I actually prefer apple with a side of vanilla ice cream, but as I have mentioned in my Money Monday posts, I do think the number one step to financial freedom is tracking your expenses so that you know (a) where your money is going and (b) how much you would need when you retire or (c) what you would need in an emergency if you lost your job or something like that. Knowledge is power. 

Luckily now there are many different ways to do this, the easiest probably would be by putting everything on one credit card and then just looking at their breakdown at the end of each month, quarter or year. However, I love Excel and pivot tables and so I continue to do my recap by using Fidelity Full View to aggregate my spending, downloading that to Excel and then playing around with it in Excel a bit. You could just use Fidelity alone, but I like having some extra info, like what country I was in and whether my meals were breakfast or lunch. That is just me though and most people don't need this level of detail. 

2024 was a strange year for me though, as I was only in a permanent place for the first three months of the year, and then I sold my house, which cost me an arm and a leg, and also made this the year that I spent the most in one year that I have ever spent before. This was despite the fact that once I started traveling, my average spend per month was about $2,600 a month. So this year's recap will be a little different; first I will show you the pie with the home costs included. Ridiculous, right? 

Also, here is a chart showing month by month. As you can see, I sold my house in May, and also had to pay for an (expensive) plumbing job in Octotober. 

Next, I will talk about the costs excluding the home costs, since when I have them in, they make all the other slices way too tiny and skew the data too much. 

From most to least, excluding the home category, here is where my money went: 

Accommodation: 32.31%. This includes Airbnb, motels, hotels, camping, a subscription to the Warmshowers (cycling accommodation swap) network and a subscription to the Trusted Housesitters (pet sitting) network. 

Shopping: 15.85%. This category includes toiletries, clothing, misc. home items & appliances, electronics and books. I also put any cycling related items in this category, which is why it is so high. I spent a lot of money on bike maintenance, bike accessories and gear, and I also got a new laptop. I probably should have put the bike mainenance in the transportation category, but...I didn't, and in 2025 I won't really have to worry about that as much. 

Dining Out: 11.86%. This category includes eating out, coffee, booze and ice cream. This one is crazy, and way higher than normal for me, probably because I had 19 breakfasts, 43 lunches, 42 dinners, 48 coffees and 10 ice creams out, plus various drinks and snacks, bringing my total number of times dining out in 2024 to 192 times or basically once every two days! Yikes!! As a comparison, in 2023, this number was 52 (6 breakfasts, 16 lunches, 12 dinners, 16 drinks including coffee and 2 desserts), so I nearly quadrupled my normal amount. 

When I stayed with or met up with people I often bought them a meal, so the dollar amount is a little higher than it would be otherwise. However, time spent with friends is priceless and so many of them (you!) were willing to put me up, and I appreciate that! 

Groceries: 10.05%. Despite being on the road for much of the year and therefore having to buy groceries in smaller (more expensive) quantities, and more often (I went to the grocery store 162 times in 2024!), I only spent about $700 (or $58 per month) more in 2024 than I did in 2023. Go figure! I would have assumed it would have been a lot higher. I guess only being able to carry so much on the bike kept me from overbuying! Also I definitely dined out more than I normally do, so much of my food cost probably went to that.

Utilities: 8.95%. This cateogry is a new one for me, as I was putting some of these items in the Home category before, or the Misc. category, but now they bascially cover most of my fixed costs, aka non travel costs, such as computer security, credit card fees, phone, computer software, cloud storage, and subscriptions. I do pay a lot in credit card fees, but I used the bonus points from these to pay for four tickets to Germany, so I think it is worth it for the time being. I will reevaluate at the end of 2025 and will cancel any that are not worth paying for anymore. 

Health: 8.59%. This category includes health insurance, out of pocket costs, massages, medicines and vitamins etc. I did most of my medcial stuff before I quit my job, which did cost me a little bit out of pocket, but the bulk of this is from my monthly insurance premium. 

Transportation: 7.40%. This includes airfare, Lyft/Uber, public transportation, car insurance, maintenance, registration, gas, tolls, car rental & parking. Most of the cost here was gas, trains (I took Amtrak three times and Via Rail Canada once) and ride share, because when we were done riding from Canada to Mexico, we were in the middle of nowhere and it cost $250 to have someone pick me up and take me and my bike to El Paso. 

Misc.: 4.83%. This category includes gifts, haircuts, legal fees, tax prep software and education expenses. I had to pay some taxes out of pocket. The biggest expense here was gifts by far; the second biggest was my CFA yearly fees, which cost about $300 per year. 

Entertainment: 0.16%. This category includes music, theater, sporting events, museums, tours etc. However, the only thing I did was one "free" walking tour in Seattle, but otherwise, my entertainment in 2024 was mostly riding through or past places, walking around in towns, or eating, which is covered in a different category.  

So, 2024 was a little unconventional and I am looking forward to seeing what 2025 brings. Just for fun, if I took what I spent for the year minus the home category and prorated it then adjusted it to be over a year again, I would have spent about 67% of my normal spending for the year at home in the Bay Area. This seems a little high so I am wondering if I will spend less for a year of international slow travel than I did for a year of moving every day but camping sometimes. 

What do you think? Do you think I will spend less or more in 2025 than I did in 2024?

In 2025, I will give actual dollar amounts per month and will also break down which country I am in so that I can compare these at the end of the year. I know that some places I plan on being are known for being cheaper, but I am also curious to find out if some of the places that we (I) assume are more expensive end up being cheaper than I thought. 

Do you track your spending? What was your highest spending category? How many times do you think you went to the grocery store and/or dined out last year? 

Best of 2024: Books

Happy New Year! According to Goodreads, I read 173 books in 2024 and DNFed 27, which comes out to roughly 70,300 pages. Here are a few stats.  

Breakdown by star rating:
5 stars (loved/it was great): 8 (4%)
4 stars (liked a lot/it was good): 82 (41%)
3 stars (liked a little/it was okay): 68 (34%)
2 stars (barely liked/it was not that good): 15 (7.5%)
1 star (it sucked but I finished it): 0 (0%)
0 stars (DNF): 27 (13.5%)

Average rating including DNFs: 3.01
Average excluding DNFs: 3.48

As you can see, this year if it sucked, I did not finish it, which contributed to a high amount of DNFs compared to most years in the past. Also four stars was my most common rating, but still there were enough threes and twos that the average was not that great. 

You can find a list of all of my favorites from prior years on my bookshelf page or on Goodreads. 

My two favorite books this year were: 

The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown: As a California native, we heard about the Donner party a lot! Any time we cross over Donner pass, we think of how they had to eat each other to stay alive. Any time we pass by Donner lake, we stop at the plaque and read about their struggles. I have heard it a million times. However, the author has a way of telling a story that just resounded with me. I really enjoyed this book (side note, see below for another one of my favorites by him) and the way he detailed the struggles of the Donner party. 

The Mountains Sing by Phan Quế Mai Nguyễn: This book tells the story of the Vietnam war and more, as seen from the point of view of a Vietnamese native. It is a multigenerational story and starts with the mother in the early 1900s and details the conflicts within both the country and the family as time goes by. Another book by the same author, Dust Child, was a four star read for me but didn't quite make the top cut.

The following books (in no particular order) were all five star reads: 

The Secret Book of Flora Lee by Patty Callahan Henry: A teenaged girl loses her sister during the evacuation of the children of London during WWII and she is traumatized for life. Then, as she is reading a manuscript for her job in editing, she reads a story that only her and her sister would know. This sparks a renewed search for her sister and we go through twists and turns to find out whether or not her beloved sister is still alive. 

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell: Who doesn't love a good thriller. I am constantly entertained by this author, and this book was no exception. It is the story of a true crime podcaster who interviews an interesting women, who later turns into a liability and the podcaster becomes the subject of her own podcast. Twists and turns at every corner make this an entertaining read. 

The Women by Kristen Hannah: I probably don't need to say much as this was a hot book this year, but I enjoyed learning more about the women who went to Vietnam to serve in the war. Also the story of how they were treated when they returned, as well as the mental struggles they had in both places were heartbreaking. 

Facing the Mountain by Daniel James Brown: If you have not heard about the Nisei soldiers, you have to read this book. This details the struggles that the first generation Japanese Americans had when they went off to fight in WWII against the Japanese. Many of them were sent on fool's errands, and they were treated badly by their own countrymen (Americans) even though they were fighting alongside them. 

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt: I already did a write up on this, but in case you missed it, the book goes into some of the issues that the younger generations are having due to the amount of screen time they are using, as well as the platforms and apps that they are using on their phones/screens. 

The Wedding People by Alison Espach: Here is another book that will probably be a best of book on many people's lists. A woman goes to a hotel to kill herself and realized that there is a week long wedding party taking place at the same hotel. She is understandably annoyed, but things take a turn and the end is not what you think it will be. 

-----

The following (in no particular order) were at the top of my four star reads for the year: 

Outlander (#1, #2, #3) by Diane Gabaldon: Men in kilts, romance, war. Need I say more? 

Kill Show by Daniel Sweren-Becker: A 16 year old goes missing, and a television network decides to make a reality show about trying to find her. It is written in interview form, which I liked, and also keeps you guessing what really happened until the very end. 

Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford: Basically the Great British Bake Off, as told from a very lovable older woman's perspective. However, we do find out that more lies beneath the surface than expected. 

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell: Basically the Great British Bake Off, but with murder. 

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger: A high profile townsman is murdered, a Native American man is blamed, and the sherrif has to sort it all out. 

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters: A four year old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from a Maine berrry field, and her family searches for her for years. Cut to the future, when a girl named Norma grows up in Maine and doesn't feel like she quite fits in. The author does a great job of detailing the trauma involved, as well as the struggles and love that bring the whole thing together in the end. 

All My Rage by Saaba Tahir: Told from the perspective of a young Pakistani boy whose family moved to America to open a motel, it is a tale of struggles and family and love and regrets. 

Never by Ken Follet: What would it be like if WWIII was on our hands? Follet does a good job of creating an event that many may be dreading. Also there is a woman president. Yay. 

Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall: Stories about the taboo subject of abortion and how girls would have to sneak around to try to get someone to help them in their time of need. Alongside this, we also have children that were taken from their parents by force at birth and the stories of trying to figure out later what had happened in those desperate times. 

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore: A wealthy teenager goes missing at summer camp, but the kicker is that she is not only the daugher of the camp owners, but her little brother went missing from nearly the same spot many years ago. We spend our time trying to figure out who took her or whether or not she has been killed, and of course there is a twist at the end. 

What was your favorite book of 2024? Do you mostly read audio, eBook or paper books? 

Looking Back: Books

As I mentioned last week, I have been struggling a little bit to concentrate on books lately. However, I am happy to report two things. First of all, per Engie's recommendation, I started reading A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. I am about two thirds of the way through it and so far, it is just what I needed! It is light and fun and easy and there are gingerbread men who come to life. I will report back when I am done, but I think the reading funk has been banished! 

Secondly, just because I have not had a lot of luck in March does not mean that the last quarter was all bad. Here are several books that I read during the first quarter of this year that I did enjoy! 

The Secret Book of Flora Lee by Patti Callahan Henry: In 1939 Hazel and her younger sister Flora are sent out of London to the country to live to escape the bombs. One day, while playing near the river, Flora vanishes and Hazel blames herself for her sister's death. Years later, Hazel is working at a publisher when she reads a manuscript of a story that only her and her sister would know. This makes her believe that maybe her sister is still alive after all. I enjoyed the story itself and the author's writing style, and was even surprised from time to time as the story progressed. 

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell: Unassuming Josie bumps into famous podcaster Alix in the bathroom of a local restaurant at their separate birthday celebrations. After that Alix runs into Josie several more times and eventually even agrees to interview Josie for her podcast. Of course Josie ends up being different than expected, and there are many twists and turns along the way before we find out what is really going on. This is another typical Jewell novel, but I mean that in a good way. Some of hers have been a little less exciting than others, but this one did not disappoint. 

The Paris Daughter by Kristin Harmel: This is the story of two friends during WWII. When Elise becomes a target of the Nazis, she entrusts her daughter with her friend Juliette to care for until it is safe to send for her. When the war is finally over, she returns home to find Juliette's house reduced to rubble, Juliette nowhere to be found and no knowledge of what transpired during her daughter's final moments. She searches for years to find Juliette in order to get answers about her daughter so that she can have some closure in her life at last. 

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King: This is not your typical King horror novel; it is a thriller about murder and an ex-detective named Hodges who tries to solve the mystery of the killer and of course there are some twists and turns along the way. I was pleasantly surprised, as I was not sure what to expect after years of not reading a King novel (but I did read most or all of them back in the 90s!). 

Evil Eye by Etaf Rum: The tale of the expectations placed on Palestinian-American women, this is the story of Yara. She married the right guy, moved to the suburbs, had children and is doing everything right, as her culture expects. However, after her husband forbids her to go as a chaperone to a school trip, she begins to wonder if she really is happy, and if she is not, how she can be happier but not rock the boat with  her family. This seems impossible and is an interesting look into the struggles that some woman face even still.

The People We Keep by Allison Larkin: April leaves home early after a fight with her Dad and goes off to make her own way in the world. She moves from city to city trying to find her place in the world, and meets a lot of interesting people along the way. This is more of a character driven novel, which I am not always a big fan of, but I did find some of her trials and tribulations interesting and felt engaged with her throughout the story. 

Kill Show by Daniel Sweren-Becker: This one got accolades from many of you, and I jumped on the bandwagon a little late, but I am glad that I jumped, as it did not disappoint! It is a story of a girl who goes missing and her family's struggles to find her. To do this, they agree to make a reality show about her disappearance in real time. The best part was that it was done in an interview style format, which really kept me engaged the entire time. It has an essence of Gone Girl, in that it keeps you guessing and tickles you a bit at the end. 

What was your favorite book over the last three months? Have you read any of the above and/or did you enjoy them? What is your favorite genre? 

Looking Back: 2023 Money Pie

Who is ready for a slice of money pie? As you may know, I always do a debrief with myself at the end of each year to see where all my money has gone! I also do a quarterly net worth statement just to get a read on where things are, but I will not be posting that here! :) 

In 2023, I am happy to say that I decreased my overall spending from 2022 by about 12% and came in below my yearly (8 year) average by about 9%. The main drivers of this decrease were the travel and home categories, which I will talk more about below. 

Here are the categories in the order of largest percentage to smallest. 

Home: 63.2%. Interestingly, last year my home category was 63.7% of my overall spending and in 2021 it was 64.1%, so I guess no matter how you slice it, the home category continues to be almost two thirds of my spending! This category includes mortgage, utilities, taxes and insurance, as well as other misc. items, such as home improvement, maintenance and furnishings. 80% of this number is mortgage and property tax.  You may remember that I mentioned last year about how I was paying a little extra into my mortgage? This year, given the good rates on cash, I stopped doing that and put the money into high yield savings instead. Due to this, I decreased the actual dollar spending amount in this category by about 13% from last year. 

Transportation: 12.2%. This normally includes Lyft/Uber, public transportation, car insurance, maintenance, registration, gas, tolls & parking, but this year I added bike maintenance and parking fees to the category as well. Despite commuting by bike from July to December, I still had public transportation costs, but the main culprit in this category was body work after my car got broken into. I also got four new tires for the Red Rocket and did a full body tune up on Bertha. 

Travel: 6.6%. This category includes airfare, car rental, lodging and any groceries, dining out or transportation incurred while traveling. Although I did not travel internationally and much of my travel consisted of tent camping and eating my own meals, some of the other costs incurred during travel were quite expensive this year. I went to Alaska, and the rental car alone was about $1,500!! It was an SUV though and we actually slept in it several times, so saved on hotels, thank goodness. However, even with this, I spent about 50% less on this category than in 2022. 

Misc.: 4.4%. This category includes gifts, haircuts, legal fees, fees for credit cards, tax prep software and education expenses. I had to pay for my yearly CFA dues, legal fees to set up a trust and annual credit card fees, but other than that, the bulk of this category was for gifts! (PS no haircuts in 2023 😊)

Groceries: 3.7%. This category went down by 38% from last year, mostly due to the fact that part of my purging process was to stop buying new stuff until I had used up older stuff! I would say that I did a pretty good job and have had fun being creative with cupboard items, but I still bought the regulars like butter, eggs, fresh veggies and cheese. My other saving grace for this category was less trips to Costco and/or only allowing myself to buy what I went in there for! I do have a tendency to grab yummy looking things oh a whim, but this year I put a stop to that! Funny though, out of my six visits to Costco, I bought tortilla chips on five of them. Some habits you just can't break. 

Dining Out: 3.5%. This category includes eating out, coffee and booze. This one is a little misleading this year, as I decided that in an effort to spend time with people and have experiences rather than buying more things, I would enjoy meals with them! Given this, I bought meals for friends several times. I could technically call this "gifts," but for now I am going to leave it as dining out. However, it does inflate this category a bit, and I had a 200% increase over last year. 

Entertainment: 3.1%. This category includes music, theater, sporting events, cycling and running & camping expenses. In 2023, I went to two shows (Les Mis and Book of Mormon), a couple of sporting events, but my biggest categories for this are still running (32%), hiking (20%) and cycling (19%). My biggest purchases were race fees (three races), a new GPS watch and a new rain jacket. 

Health: 2.6%. This category includes health insurance, out of pocket costs, massages, medicines and vitamins etc. This year most of my visits were covered as preventative, so the bulk of this cost is the insurance itself. 

Shopping: 0.8%. This category includes toiletries, clothing, misc. home items & appliances, electronics and books. Basically this year I bought three things in this category: a new camera, a 3-pack of underwear that I hated and feminine products. Trying to purge more has really made me think about things more before buying. Also some of the camping etc. items I did buy are included under the entertainment category. 

I do also put some money aside for investments and saving each year, but since this money is not yet "spent" I do not count it in this analysis. I also do not include income taxes, but if I did, they would probably be my highest category! However, since I don't have much control over them, I am going to leave them out for now. 

Do you do a yearly review of your finances? Do you have a budget? What is your biggest spending category? 

Best of 2023: Books

Happy New Year! According to Goodreads, I read 205 books in 2023, or roughly 70,000 pages. Here are a few stats.  

Breakdown by star rating: 

5 stars (loved/it was great): 14 (7%)

4 stars (liked a lot/it was good): 80 (39%)

3 stars (liked a little/it was okay): 75 (37%)

2 stars (barely liked/it was not that good): 23 (11%)

1 star (it sucked but I finished it): 0 (0%)

0 stars (DNF): 13 (6%)

Average rating including DNFs: 3.2

Average excluding DNFs: 3.4

Breakdown by type: 

Audiobook: 165 (81%) 

eBook: 27 (13%)

Paper Book: 13 (6%) (of these, 8 were from my own shelf)

Published in: 

2023: 63 (31%)

Other years: 142 (69%)

I guess the moral of the above stats is that if a book sucks, I just DNF it, rather than finishing it, hence the case of no one star ratings. Also this year my proportion of audiobooks read increased by about 6% over last year. My number of books read in total increased by about 29%. I would guess that much of this increase is due to the fact that I have been listening to less and less music and/or podcasts and leaning more towards listening to books. I still find the need to pump up a run from time to time with some Lil John, don't get me wrong, but I often stray more towards books. 

You can find a list of all of my favorites from prior years on my bookshelf page or on Goodreads. 

I am usually a little bit stingy with my five star ratings on Goodreads. However, this year I had fourteen books that I thought deserved that high rating! Here they are, in no particular order! 

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. What can I say, this is a cute book. I did not hear all of the hype; I just picked it because it had a bright cover and came up on my list on Libby when I was searching for books. It is about the relationship between an old lady and an octopus and a younger, kind of troubled boy. I enjoyed the characters, the story was engaging but not too fluffy, and I was entertained throughout. 

Dinners With Ruth by Nina Totenberg. I do like RBG and enjoy learning more about her as well as hearing each different point of view from the different authors I have read. Nina was a reporter who became friends with Ruth despite their age difference. This book details their friendship as well as some of their accomplishments, especially geared toward equality for women. 

The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama. In this novel, Obama talks about her relationships in life, but especially the ones with her mother and her kids. She has some words of wisdom like "start kind" which could be kind of corny coming from the wrong person but from her it makes sense. 

All The Broken Places by John Boyne. This book is about an elderly woman living in London. When a new family moves in downstairs from her, it brings up some memories of the past, which are mostly surrounding her escape from Nazi Germany at age 12 and the fact that her father was the commandant of one of the concentration camps during the war. It goes back and forth between the two time periods, weaving a story of guilt, complicity, grief and remorse and in the end, she has to decide whether or not to reveal some of her long kept secrets. 

Quit Like a Millionaire by Kristy Shen. Although I work in the finance industry, I enjoyed this book because it is written in a simple manner that anyone can understand. Shen talks about growing up in China where her family lived on pennies per day, to moving to the US where she learned how to invest so that she could quit work early and travel the world. Her plan is pretty simple and you may have heard it before but it is still a nice reminder that we can live more simply than we do and perhaps spend more time enjoying our lives now rather than always working so hard to make more money for the future. 

In Love by Amy Bloom. Get your tissues out for this one. This is not a spoiler, but this book is about a woman whose husband gets diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and he decides to die with dignity rather than living out his life with the disease. Obviously this is not an easy decision and Bloom goes through some of the struggles that they face as they work through the plan. 

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys. Although this is a YA book, it touches on something that we sometimes forget about here in the US, and that is the fact that as late as 1989, people in Romania were still under communist rule. The main character is a teenager who has normal teenage dreams but is held back by the government oppression and has to decide whether to do nothing or to fight back and risk the lives of his family. 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. This is not the first time I read this book and it will not be the last. It is about a girl in Brooklyn and her family struggling to survive as they go through life. Life is not easy, food is scarce, and some of the lessons are hard, but Francie and her family persevere. The reread was heighted even more by the discussion had as part of Engie's cool blogger book club. 

Good For a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World by Lauren Fleishman. I really enjoyed this inside peek into the world of elite running. Lauren not only talks about the difficulty of being a woman in a mostly male sport (or at least one where the males are more prized), but she also gets into some of the eating disorders that the young runners had and it was very eye opening. I also read The Longest Race by Kara Goucher (4.5 stars) and was appalled at some of the things that were done to some of the elite running women. 

The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin. This one is all about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Okay, maybe more like drugs, jail and redemption. I am not going to lie; I had no idea who this woman is, but she was the ghostwriter for Desmond Tutu's book and The Sun Always Shines, which I enjoyed. The first chapter had me railing against her, as she dragged her three year old from place to place in an effort to score drugs. I wanted to slap her! Then she gets arrested, and chronicles life in jail, which I found fascinating. When she finally gets out, it is a struggle to manage life, try to find a job, not break parole, find housing, and stay clean. She finally does all of this, becomes a successful writer and even gets to meet Oprah and the Dali Lama in the end! So yes, it is a feelgood "rags to riches" kind of story, but I enjoyed hearing the ins and outs and some of the struggles that people face in a world that I am not part of. 

A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney. Get your tissues out again; this is a father's heart wrenching story about his young son getting diagnosed with terminal cancer. I didn't really know who the author was, but he is a comedian and actor, and he does a good job of putting his emotions into this book but still making it light, if that even seems possible. 

Drowning by T.J. Newman. I know that I joined the momentum train on this book, but I found it was a fast, easy, entertaining read. Was it profound? No. Did it make my runs go by faster? Yes. A plane goes down over the ocean and it hits the water, bursts into flames and sinks. What happens to the passengers? Do they survive? And if so, how? Read on to find out. (P.S. I also read Falling but was not as enamored by that one). 

Go As A River by Shelley Read. This is a story of a girl growing up in Colorado in a farming town in the 40s. It goes through her life of love, her relationship with her family, the hardships of life at that time and her struggles to get by. There were some details in the story that sounded so real that I had to fact check and they were real! 

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent. Birchie recommended this with the caveat that it was strange and she was not sure what to think of it at first. It was a thriller about a woman in her 40s who lacks the mental maturity of someone her age. When her father dies, she puts him out with the trash, just as he has told her to do. This gets the attention of the police and the surrounding community, as well as the media. Due to this she later gets some unwanted attention and finds out things about her past that she did not know about before. It's twisted and dark, but I enjoyed every minute of it. 

A couple of additional nearly five star reads were You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith, Kindred by Octavia Butler, I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai, and The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb. 

What was your favorite book of 2023? Do you mostly read audio, eBook or paper books? 

What I Learned: 23 New Things

Happy Boxing Day! I hope that everyone had a great weekend and a great holiday with their loved ones. This week is a short one workwise, plus we have another three day weekend to look forward to next weekend! I thought that I would start wrapping up the year early by getting started on some of the year end lists. Last year, I went over 22 new things I had learned, seen, done and new places I had gone over the year. I really like injecting new things into my life, as it keeps things fresh, even if it is sometimes a little uncomfortable! I liked the list so much that I decided to do it again, so here we have, in no particular order, 23 new things from 2023. 

1. Alaska. This was one of the 50 U.S. states that I had not yet been to. I had a great time hiking, running, looking at mountains and glaciers and experiencing light basically all night. I did not see the Northern Lights though, so this is still on my wish list for now. 

Hiking the Bomber Traverse

2. Overnight bikepacking for the first time. At the beginning of the year I finally took Bob out for his first off road experience. I biked from my house to the Samuel L. Taylor state park, which is a cool camping and hiking area in the redwoods. I spent the night there and then biked back home the next day. It was very fun, a little harder than I thought it would be, and it made me want to do it again (see #22)! 

3. Selling stuff on the internet. Before this year, I had never really sold anything on the internet. As I have mentioned before, I broke the seal with shoes as they are rectangular and easy to ship, and then moved onto other things. Are there scammers and bots and people from Nigeria messaging you? Yes. Can you ignore/mute them? Yes. Was it as bad as I feared it would be? Nope, in fact it was not bad at all. As an added bonus (?) I also am now quite proficient at Venmo, which I was not really a user of before. However, if you want to sell on FB marketplace, you gotta get used to using Venmo. 

4. Hiking the Arizona Trail (AZT). For Easter weekend, I took an extra day off and spent five days hiking on the Arizona Trail. It was much different than what I am used to in my neck of the woods, which was fun. Also, I got lucky that it was a high snow year and so I had enough water and it was not scorching hot. For those who don't know, this trail is normally hiked in the spring or fall, as the summers can get into the 110+ range at times. 

Picketpost Mountain - AZT

5. Life on Mars. I have a friend who is doing a Mars simulation, meaning that she is stuck in a habitat for a year as if she were actually living on Mars. This deserves a post of its own, but for now you can read about it here if you are interested. Being on Mars means that there are no phone calls, no video calls, basically no real time communication. Even emails are delayed due to the "distance" from Mars to Earth. Luckily we can send emails up to a certain size, so I have been sending her voice recordings so that she can hear my voice from time to time. I never really liked the sound of my voice, but I have gotten used to it, as I often listen to my last recording before sending a new one so that I can remember what I already talked about. 

6. Not quite a century aka 97 miles in one go. Bertha and I completed a century minus three this fall. I know, I know, I should have just ridden another THREE miles to get to 100 but I didn't feel like it. I know that if I can do 97, I can do 100, and I will do it eventually. This was from Davis to Oakland and it was quite a journey. What I learned from this is that I prefer non-city riding over city riding. 

7. Ninth (and penultimate?) Quad Dipsea. After you run the Quad Dipsea ten times you get a fancy finishers jacket. I keep telling myself that I just have to run it one more time and then I am done!! We shall see though, as I know many a friend who has said that and is now on their 13th or 14th time. 

Headed downhill to Stinson Beach during the Quad Dipsea

8. Watch a Japanese movie. I do not know what the style is called, but I watched The Boy and the Heron. My brother loves this style, and so do K's kids, but I was just ho hum on it. I am not opposed to cartoons; I love Finding Nemo! However, I am not sure the two dimensional drawing style or the pace of the movie was my favorite. When I said this to my brother he said that this style is "very beloved" and he was sad to hear that... 😞 I guess one thing I did like was the background scenery drawings, as they resembled watercolors. 

9. Hike to Lake Aloha in the snow. Last winter was a very high snow year and this meant that even in July, hiking was very snowy! However, although it was difficult to get to, we had Lake Aloha basically to ourselves and it was beautiful. To top it off we had to jump in for a swim, even while avoiding the icebergs! 

Camping above Lake Aloha

10. Switch from Comcast (Xfinity) to Sonic. My Comcast was getting very expensive, at about $75 for just internet. So I decided to finally take the plunge and try a new carrier, Sonic, which has fiber and was only $39 per month. My first three months were free, the speed was great, and then it got bumped up to $39 BUT...as it always is, the price was more than I thought. They charge $10 for a voice line, which I do not use but cannot cancel, and with the taxes and the router rental (which I could not use my old one for), it ended up being $70!! Haha. I guess I am saving $5 and it IS fast, so there's that. 

11. Mendocino. I had driven past Mendocino before but never stayed there, and it was a treat. It is a small coastal town and you can walk along the bluffs. It was a rainy weekend when we were there, but we had fun walking on the beach, eating and riding on the skunk train! 

Pacific coast near Mendocino

12. Ride to Santa Rosa for the weekend. On New Years Day I rode to my brother's house in Santa Rosa from Richmond, which was my longest ride ever at the time, and was about 55 miles each way. Later in the year, I beat my own PR by riding from my house to his, which was about 75 miles each way. 

13. Ride the Amtrak with a bike. The weekend that I rode 97 miles was part of a journey I took where I took the Amtrak from Oakland to Auburn and then over the next two days rode from Grass Valley back to Oakland. The experience was good and I would like to do some more train rides, and knowing I can put my bike on them fairly easily was a relief. Maybe one day I will just ride off into the sunset and if I get tired, I will take the train back home. 

The bike car on Amtrak

14. Throw away all old Christmas cards. I was saving these because now a lot of them have photos and those are memories! However, now there is Facebook and other places on the internet where I can find photos of people so I decided that I did not need to keep them in a box that I never look through. I have to say, it feels like a weight has been lifted. I am sure I will have moments where I wish I had that cute photo of three year old soandso, but right now, it feels good. 

15. Three Michelin star dinner. For a client dinner, we went to SingleThread, a three-star Michelin restaurant in Healdsburg, which is part of the Sonoma county wine region. I am not going to lie, I don't think the bang was worth the buck. I am glad I got to try it, but I will probably not go there again. 

16. Complete a snowshoe race. In February, I went to see Lisa for her birthday and we did a snowshoe race. It was fun but we used old school snowshoes and there are actually running style ones that would be easier to run in. However, we had a great time chatting and staying warm by moving as fast as possible and drinking the (warm) water at the aid stations! 

Lisa getting it done! 

17. Gluten free biscuits and gravy. B&G is my favorite breakfast item. However, in 2022 I realized that wheat gives me some tummy issues so I have been avoiding it ever since. I was very sad to give up both biscuits, which are obviously made of flour, and good sausage gravy, which is thickened with flour. But Lisa and I found a good GF bakery near the snowshoe race and they had B&G and they were really good! I meant to try duplicating it on my own, but I have not gotten around to it (however, I have done a bit of GF baking and I find that the results are actually pretty good!) 

18. Bike accidents. I am very careful on the bike, but I would be amiss if all I did was talk about the good. In Spokane, I hit a goat head thorn, blew a tire, and tumbled (and skidded face first) right on the pavement. Luckily I was wearing gloves and the car next to me was stopped. In Oakland, I got hit by a car turning right. Luckily, he was not moving fast and I just bounced of his passenger door and onto the ground. I took a trail ride and went over a bump and accidentally squeezed the front brake too hard and went ass over teakettle over the handlebars. Luckily all of these have been minor, but accidents do happen! 

19. Driverless cars. I knew they were around, but it still made me do a double take when I saw my first driverless car in San Francisco. I signed up to try it, as they offer ride shares, but still have not had a chance yet. There have been some controversies over these, but aside from a couple of kinks, I think a robot is probably better suited to driving than many of the humans I see operating motor vehicles. 

A Cruise car with nobody at the wheel. 

20. Hike in Castle Crags State Park. I have driven by and even hiked near Castle Crags, but had never been inside the park before. In June, for my Dad's birthday, my family went and hiked up to the Crag Dome, where we had a great view of Mt. Shasta and the surrounding area. For those who don't know, Mt. Shasta is about 14,180 feet high, which I think makes it the 5th highest mountain in California. It is volcanic and is part of the Cascade Range, which extends all the way to BC and includes well known mountains like Hood and Rainier. 

21. Drive through the eastern part of Oregon. Once you leave Bend and head east, it just gets more and more sparse and the trees go away and it gets hot and there are no amenities. Really, there are none! We almost ran out of gas. We also camped off the side of the highway and there were these huge crickets, which could be Jerusalem or Mormon crickets, but whatever they were, they were gross and they hitchhiked in my car and I kept finding them in random places for days afterward. 

High desert of Oregon

22. Bike across Washington state. K's daughter A told everyone that I rode across the US, but I had to tell her that I may someday, but this trip was only across WA! It was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed the Olympic Peninsula and the varying scenery of the state as a whole. This trip had a lot of firsts: longest multi-day ride, first time taking the bike on the ferry, lots of new rail trails, riding through Seattle and riding through a two mile long tunnel! 

23. Soccer mom duties. Once a week I go and spend time with my friend K and her daughters A and L and often on weekends I will chauffer and spectate whatever sport is happening for the season. This has now been a regular thing for a couple of years, and it has been fun to be chauffer, confidant, game buddy, soccer/lacrosse "mom," bike instructor, cook and friend to all three ladies. Even though sometimes it is hectic and we don't have time to chat, more often than not, it is a chance to catch up a little with what is happening in each of their lives, which is priceless.

So there you have it, 23 new things in 2023. There were many more than this of course, but these were some of my favorites. 

What new things did you do/learn/try or places did you go in 2023? How do you feel about driverless cars? How do you feel about the Japanese drawing style?