Each of the past few years, I have believed I have lived the best year of my life. That theme continued in 2025. A year was had, a moment I thought was the best moment of my life followed by the worst. Recognition at work, opportunities to shine, deepening relationships with friends. A great year.
I've already touched on the birth of Charlie, an absolute whirlwind in my life and a rollercoaster to start fatherhood. It has all been worthwhile. He is an absolute blessing. That small 5.5 lb boy that came on June 20th is now nearly 18lbs and has crushed every expectation that has been set for him. He'll continue to have many doctor appointments, but we're at the point where they are more of a reassurance that all is well with him.
I post this in March of 2026 and he is now 8 months old. He's an absolute sweetheart with a smile would make the sun blush. Nana is smiling in heaven knowing that I kept my promise, and named my firstborn son Charles, for my grandfather, her husband. I sure do miss Nana, she would love Charlie. We've read to him nearly every night of his life and he has enjoyed falling to sleep to Grimm's fairy tales. I quite quickly need to finish that book before he is able to comprehend the contents. Grimm's has hundreds of stories in the collection and nearly all of it is about death in some way. Enjoyable to read as an adult, but don't think I'll be reading it to him when he can comprehend them.
Charlie isn't quite crawling yet, but he has this maneuver where he pivots and will rolllllll to his destination. He loves untying my left shoe. Yes, specifically the left shoe. I set him, seated in front of me, while I'm on the recliner and he goes to town on the left shoestrings and will ignore those on my right foot. Wonder if he'll be left handed like his grandfather and grandmother...
Charlie's eating great, we've been fortunate that Becky has been able to produce milk enough to not only cover his needs, but also his cousin Annaliese. We've come such a long way since the NG tube feedings. Back in the days when we measured each bottle to the ml and I had a tracker that measured progress over time, showed which windows were his best, and determined his pace and whether he'd hit his goal ml to have the tube removed. In other eating news, we've been fortunate to have had a halfway decent harvest last year. We saved much of the veggies and nearly all he has eaten as purees go have been veggies that we grew ourselves. With concerns with the number of recalls for food/formula, we're blessed to be able to provide real food for him and kick the preservatives to the road.
Life with Becky has been tremendous. It was only a few short years ago that I was a living in a bachelor pad with two friends knowing that I needed more responsibility in my life. I give credit to Odin for making me mature in a hurry and putting me in a place to be with Becky. Now we are married and have our wonderful son. The thing about Becky is that as great of a person and wife that she is, she is an even more remarkable mother. My proudest moments with her are when I see her overcome with joy when she is playing with Charlie or he is cheesing for her. She makes motherhood look easy when I know it's not. She works a full-time job, remotely, and raises our son at the same time. Soon I'll be able to have her stay at home with Charlie and the next children of our line (Theodore or Evelyn.) I love you Becky. I couldn't be more proud that you're my wife and Charlie's mother.
Work has been great, over two years of highest possible reviews, and in 2025 I was awarded a trip to Scottsdale, AZ at the Princess Resort for my work in uncovering a credit card kiting scheme. At the time I caught it (not my job) it had eclipsed $800K in fraud and that number was doubling each week. I saved the company untold millions as the team in charge was not doing a proper job. Four days in Arizona on Valentine's day weekend at a beautiful resort. All food, drinks, stay comped. The tour of the city was a great time. I found myself really enjoying the Southwestern culture, inspired greatly by the natives and hispanics. The bright colors on the buildings, clothes, and food were a treat for us Ohioans that were coming from snow. It was quite something to be socializing with the executives. Becky and I found ourselves with the CEO & his wife, the next CEO, the head of Wealth & his wife, and the head of HR. So we're talking about $8MM or so annual salary and I make up the teeniest fractions. Perhaps with continued efforts, we'll find ourselves at the other end of that table in the future.
2025 also saw me take over the entire retail bank incentive plans and incentive support. I continue to ascend in the workplace and am now not just a 'doer' but someone that is trusted to opine on decisions large and small. In 5 years I see myself in a role with even more decision making and managing a group of analysts. As far as goals for work this year, I want to learn python. I've been studying each night after Charlie goes to sleep. Python will assist in automating much work and allow me more time to contribute even greater to the bank.
Some personal things now. Good lord I love DND. Becky and I started by inviting Weaver to play Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion and that turned into Jordan joining us as well. I had ordered the Gloomhaven 2nd edition in March of 2025, it took about 7 months to arrive due to tariff complications. Well, in need of a game, Jordan began DM'ing Dungeons and Dragons and I'm obsessed. We now have Kyle playing as well every two weeks. What is better than time with family and friends? Nothing. I now have 10 books for Dungeons and Dragons whether that be official content or books that are helpful to be a DM. My goal is to start DM'ing for Lou and Chloe as practice and when our children are of age, be the DM for their adventures. I've recently written the first two sessions of a mini campaign and am quite pleased how it turned out. I'll post it in the thread. That said, I do look forward to playing Gloomhaven. It ran me about $200 or so and weighs 35lbs, it should be an exhilarating Dnd'esque experience.
The DND experience has led me to begin writing a story. As you are reading, you'll realize that I'm not the greatest author. There is little eloquence with my words. I find it a struggle to 'put pen to paper,' however I have diligently worked on the story and in my opinion it is quite interesting. I've enjoyed having an avenue in life for creativity, whether that be DND or the story I am writing. Though the book will never be published, it has been a joy to create a story from nothing with deep webs of characters and locations. I intend to finish it and read it to Charlie at night, I hope he enjoys the story of Durin (Big Tolkien Guy).
AI has been around for a few years, but is just now starting to become notable. It was a cool thing for a while, but not of much use yet. Now though, it is tremendous for work. It's like having an assistant that you can assign things to. Not 100% accurate yet, but has saved me tons of time with VBA & SQL code. I created some reference guides for Excel, SQL, and Python with a goal to get to mastery of each. I'd rate myself as Master level Excel, Intermediate SQL, and well I haven't learned Python enough yet to use it. I'll post the reference guides after this post.
Weight is still an issue. Not to make excuses because this wasn't an issue in the past couple years, but the stress from Charlie's situation put 25lbs on in 6 weeks.... I've been slowly shedding it back off. I am determined to not be a fat father for Charlie, must be a model for him to follow in deeds, work ethic, how to treat others and physical fitness. Bench Press is at 445 right now, going to shoot for 500lbs while continuing to lose weight. I could take the state record for my own with the loss of some of this weight. It'll happen and Charlie will be by my side.
With that, I think it's time to wrap things up. It's nearly 10pm and Becky is waiting for me in bed. I bid you adieu from the past and hope all is well with you.