Quarterly Report to the Shareholders, Spring 2010

Blogging

It has been a difficult quarter for blogging. The Shakespeare Project has gone on indefinite hold, and there has been far less progress and consistency on the Bible blog than I would like. Even the Life & Times has been pretty inconsistent in the late quarter, with some speculation on whether I will even be able to keep the thing going. Vexillophilia, a joint venture with Cartophiliac, got off to an energetic start, but I have since become pretty sluggish with any contributions of my own.

One very fun thing that has been happening lately is that readers -- even some lurkers I didn't know about -- have begun sending me boring postcards for the collection. You'll be seeing some of those on Thursdays and Saturdays in the coming months.

Reading & Movies

I read 28 books over the course of the quarter. But 15 out those 28 were actually audio books that I listened to, and another six were either coffee-table books or other kinds of graphic books. So, only seven books that I sat down and read with my eyes.

I finished the Great Movies project at the end of the quarter, which is kind of a big deal.

Geohashing

During the Spring Quarter I mounted nine geohashing expeditions, five of which were successful. I became the first person ever to attempt a geohash in the Rennison Island, British Columbia, graticule. In addition, I persuaded Niece #1 to complete a successful geohashing expedition as my proxy. However, I have also shown restraint, avoiding the promiscuous use of time and fossil fuels on several possible long-distance hashes.

The Chess Project

I completed 16 games of chess against players from countries I had not played before. I've now played against 97 countries -- 40.4% of them as defined by chess.com -- and won against 55 of them. My rating dropped steeply in May, but has recovered somewhat to its current 1328.

Quilting

Spring Quarter saw an unexpected surge in quilting activity. A full-size blanket and a lap-size StormQuilt were both completed, with significant progress made on two additional long-term projects.

House & Garden

April and early May saw the successful conclusion of the Castle5000 bedroom remodel project. Garden activity has been largely curtailed by said project and unseasonably damp weather, but some late-quarter efforts have represented an initial attempt to control the situation.

Music

I have done hardly anything with music lately.

Counties

I did not visit any new counties during the quarter.

Exercise

I have kept up a vigorous and varied program of exercise! Over the course of the quarter, I have gradually found that I am able to run with confidence again after last fall's mysterious hip pain. Meanwhile, upper body work at the gym has been interrupted by mysterious shoulder pain.

Caffeine & Cola

After a full year clean from diet cola, I let a considerable increase in work-related stress be the invitation to readdict myself during this quarter. On the positive side, my standard order at the neighborhood coffeeshop has changed from the sugary coffee drink that Mrs.5000 and I call the "coffee sugar bomb" to carrot juice.

Weight

After years of stasis, I have finally managed to lose some weight through a combination of reducing portion sizes and the aforementioned work-related stress. I passed down through the psychologically significant 200-pound mark a few weeks back, and hope to plateau at around 195 for a while before trying for 190 in the late year.

Tomatos

I have no current plans to experiment further with tomato consumption.

At this point, I will take any questions from the floor.