Life has a way of distracting us from our goals. Four years ago when I decided to retire CMS Report, I did so in the hope for opportunity to find a new voice in my online presence. It didn't work out so well. Instead of being more creative in my writings, I spent more time maintaining the nuts and bolts to my websites and publishing other people's articles than I did expressing my own thoughts and ideas. I know for many of you, you find yourself in a similar predicament. Between career, family, and other personal interests we have had too many reasons and made up too many excuses for not writing despite valuing our time spent blogging.

I have spent the last five years trying to teach Jasmine, our family dog, to fetch my paper. As you can see in the video, she wants nothing to do with the paper. In fact my friends will argue she has taught me well in picking up my own paper.

With snow on the ground and long stretches of subzero temperatures, I wasn't sure I was going to get in a motorcycle ride for the month of February. Then on the second to last day of this short month, the temperatures rose to the lower-mid 40s and the roads were mainly dry. That was good enough for me as I took my 2017 Spyder RT out for a 20 mile ride from home to downtown Sioux Falls. 

As I write this blog entry, I just completed shoveling a couple inches of snow from my driveway. The streets and the lawns are covered with a new fresh layer of white snow from our latest winter storm. Earlier last week, knowing that new snow and colder temperatures were fast approaching, I decided to take my Can-Am Spyder for a spin on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2021. The trip was short with only 18 miles for the round trip to and from work but I was all smiles the entire time I rode my three-wheeler.

So my 15 minutes of fame for 2021 has already happened. I was interviewed by Dakota News Now at the end of 2020 which aired on KSFY and KDLT the first day of this year.

My son asked me why the local news was doing the interview. The short answer, I'm getting old.

Out of boredom, I decided to post this video of our cat Maya.

For whatever reason, our cat prefers to watch people in the kitchen from the bar stool with paws over the counter. If she had a beer in hand I'd call her Norm (from Cheers).

So without any additional introduction, here is a video to enjoy or waste three minutes of your time.

The value of vinyl records is still determined by whether you enjoy listening to the music or not. You're not going to get rich from your collection...and that's alright.

From the article, "How Much Are Your Old Vinyl LPs Worth?":

We've all heard stories of rare vinyl selling for thousands of dollars, but does the average music collector have gold buried beneath their record sleeves?

The answer is no.

While some vinyl records may indeed be more valuable than the plastic they're pressed on, Doug Allen, the owner of one of the largest vinyl records stores in the world, Bananas Records in Saint Petersburg, Florida, tells The Penny Hoarder that LPs aren't really comparable to other big-business collectibles, like stamps or coins.

In the final hours of the Great Cycle Challenge, I completed my goal of riding 160 miles in the month of September. Not bad for a guy in his early 50's but I'm sure 20-something me would have been able to reach this total in half the time it took. But the truth is I probably worked harder for these miles than anytime in my life given my current weight and all the windy days I rode.