Quarterly Report to the Shareholders, Fall/Winter 2010

Blogging

In late November I reached the decision to discontinue blogging as of the New Year.  In mid-December, I reversed that decision and commenced scheduling out January and February.  I guess I'm just a blogging fool.

I am somewhat irritated that Michael Reads the Bible has been dormant for so long.  I blame Isaiah, of course, but I concede that I am partially to blame as well.  My challenge in coming weeks will be to bring that venerable project back to life at the same time I am faced with another Dostoevsky novel whose time in the Reading List has come round.  And, I'm also thinking to be more active with Vexilophilia.  We'll see how it all pans out.

Reading & Movies

I consumed 27 books over the course of the quarter. Eighteen of these were audio books ranging from the fairly serious (Our Mutual Friend, Germinal, Brideshead Revisited) to the fluffy (Love Among the Chickens, The Swedish Waif Who Kicked Some Ass). There were nine books that I sat down and read with my eyes, of which the most virtuous was probably The Canterbury Tales and the best perhaps The Last Samurai.  (Although there were two Patrick O'Brian books in there too, which are in their own way so perfect so as to make it hard to designate a "best" that is above them.  Avast!)

I completed the "More Movies" project and declared the end of my career as a movie critic, forgetting that Avatar still lurks deep in my library queue.  Meanwhile, on Christmas Eve I began a new, albeit much more specific, movie project, to which you will soon be subjected.  Lucky you.

Geohashing

The Quarter saw six geohashing expeditions.  This is dramatically down from summer's 17 expeditions, but this is what you would expect during the winter.  On Christmas Eve, Mrs.5000 and I became the first to geohash the Coos Bay, Oregon graticule; we have now pioneered no fewer than five Oregon graticules.  Basically, we own the southwest of the state.  

The Chess Project

I completed only 5 games of chess against players from countries I had not played before. This, however, got me over the halfway point of the project: I've now played against 122 countries out of the 240 defined by chess.com.  After reaching the halfway point, I took a little bit of a break, but began issuing challenges again over the Christmas holiday.  Note that the second half of this project will become increasingly difficult, as I have checked the Russias, Frances, and New Zealands off the list, and am now hoping to find Naurans, St. Kitts and Nevisites, San Marinans, Equatorial Africans, and so on.

Quilting

A lot of quilting happened in October and November.  I'll show you some outcomes in a few days.

House and Garden

P'shaw.

Music

None.

Counties

I did not visit any new counties during the quarter.

Exercise

Despite the onset of winter, I ran a over 150 miles during the quarter.  This included an organized 15K race, the longest run I've done for six or seven years.  I've been enjoying filling in my "box" of streets.

Biking mileage plunged, however, to only 35 miles for the quarter.  This reflects the onset of winter, but is nevertheless a disappointingly low figure.

Caffeine and Cola

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, I surprised myself by ceasing to drink cola.

Weight

I been consistently under 200 pounds for half a year.

Tomatoes

I have again successfully avoided the consumption of tomatoes qua tomatoes this quarter.

Dr. Who

My Dr. Who watching has advanced to May 1964, still within the era of the "First Doctor," William Hartnell.  A stumbling block has been introduced by the MCPL's incomplete collection of the Dr. Who corpus, which will add considerable but hopefully not insurmountable difficulties to the project.

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Questions to the Prime Minister

Any questions from the floor may be posed at this time.