Year in Review

This past year has been a crazy one from a political standpoint. Glad it's over but I don't think things are going to improve much either here or abroad anytime soon. One of these days there will be a financial reckoning and the politicians will be forced to admit that they can no longer kick the can down the road. That's going to hurt.

Here at Shop Teacher Bob Central, however, it has been a great year. Cuzzin Ricky and I went to a couple of midget races, 5 out of 7 races during Sprint Car Week, qualifications and the big race in Indy, a couple of Silver Crown races, and a bike race at Springfield. Also made it to the Peoria TT finally with Surly. Several of the races were at tracks I'd never been to before so that was good. Rick and I also hit the Jungle Park Reunion. So it was a very good year for the race cars and motorcycles.

Also managed to take the ride in the B-17 with my brother from a different mother. That one will definitely be on the highlight reel of my life. We're planning on doing the B-24 this upcoming year.

Managed to get away for a few days with the Missus with a trip to Kentucky. Took another ride on the dinner train while there, so it was definitely a planes, trains, automobiles and motorcycles year for me. Also very good that she is able to get out and about again.

Took a machining class at the college. Not only did I learn a few things about CNC machining but I came away with some parts for my motorcycle.

Made some serious progress on said motorcycle. The sidecar is just about done as are all the rest of the mechanicals on the bike. Still need some paint work and some engine work but the project is a lot closer to being finished than when the year started.

Likewise, I finished most of the sheet metal work on the VW so it's just about paint ready. Still working on mechanical things there as well, but definitely made a huge leap forward.

Did a bicycle race and a long ride this year. Didn't do diddly in the race but I finished in a respectable time for my age and the amount I had trained. Need to do more cycling this upcoming year. I like getting out on the bike and it's a good type of low impact exercise for an old duffer like myself.

Finished up quite a few little piddly jobs around the shack and got a few more pieces of equipment for the shop. Still got quite the list of things to do around here but it's good to have something to look forward to.

Read 54 books for the year with a total page count of 15,060. That works out to just a tick over 40 pages per day. I also read the newspaper every day and I subscribe to several magazines. I'm definitely a serious reader. I also put up 170 blog posts for the year. Looks like my days consist of either working, reading or sleeping, with a little travel and exercise thrown in occasionally. Beats the hell out of sitting around watching television, though. I might cut back on the pursuit of the 50 books next year, however. My time might be better spent working on the projects or some other worthwhile pursuit, like fishing.

Health wise, I'm good, the Missus is good and life is good. Looking forward to next year. Cuzzin Ricky and I are already putting together our calendar for the races we want to hit. I'll continue working on the car and bike projects, maybe take a trip out west to pick up the remaining two states I need to have all 48 of the Continental US. What I should do is book a trip to Alaska while I'm still working.

 However, I do have a tentative ride scheduled in this thing for next year. That should be fun.

Last but not least, I've had a large increase in my page views here during the past year. Thanks to all of you for stopping by. I hope 2016 has been equally as good to all of you. Hope 2017 will be even better.

Felice Anno Nuovo!