So it goes without saying that the site and the blog have been a bit of a wasteland for about a month and a half. It sucks, I know. That being said, a LOT has happened within that span of time that absolutely needed to occur in order to pave the way for more content on the page. For starters, I have FINALLY graduated college. Got myself a fancy Bachelor’s degree in Network Engineering and Telecommunications. In terms of my actual life/career goals, this was a huge milestone for me, and while I value my role as an entertainer and love what I do on the podcast(s), it had to be put aside. Early in my academic career I learned about something called, “selective failing”, wherein which you purposely tell yourself, “There’s no possible way I can do everything set before me within the given timeframe, so I have to take the hit/half-ass on at least one of these things in order to do the very best I can do on the rest.” I see no difference in this situation. I had to selectively fail at providing content in order to excel at finishing school. It sounds like a bit of a cop-out, because in a way, it is. I know plenty of people who could do both with stellar results. I’m sadly not one of those people. Managing my time to that degree without turning myself into a big ball of stress and anxiety just aren’t in my wheelhouse.

Secondly, Jen and I had planned months in advance, I think before I even said I was going to finish my degree, an international trip to Paris and London for our fifth wedding anniversary with tickets she won in a trivia contest (because she’s easily more resourceful than I will ever be in these regards, even with all the random bullshit I’ve filled my head with in my lifetime). We were gone for nine days and it was fucking amazing. I’m going to do a separate write-up of those travels for next week’s post, because man. So much to tell there.

Third, the holidays. For some people, the holidays are merely things that happen two or three days out of the year and then they’re done. For us, not so much. Both Jacob and I are in IT, and while there are year-end freezes that occur across a lot of enterprise environments, the normal workload can go one of two ways: dead as a doornail or busy as FUCK. It’s been the latter for both of us. Meanwhile Chris is in the throes of football season, killing it at Everbank Field, and his wife Tabbi has been in that retail end-of-year craziness that comes with extended shifts and customers galore. With two little kidlets for them to take care of, it leaves absolutely zero gaps in the schedule. To say that planning our recording sessions has been troublesome is an understatement: it’s been downright fucking impossible this year.

Also, speaking of kidlets, another thing happened: JEN AND I ARE EXPECTING OUR FIRST CHILD! I seriously could not be more excited about it. We’ve confirmed with docs that everything is going smoothly and in just about four weeks we get to know what the gender is. We’re both hoping for a girl, because I was an absolutely shitty little pyromaniac growing up and my hope is that the lack of a Y chromosome means I don’t have to buy additional fire extinguishers. In any case, while Jen and I are incredibly happy about it, preparing for this monumental life change has most definitely taken time from our schedules that would otherwise be set aside for content generation. As if the holidays weren’t busy enough!

I go into 2016 with the normal slate of resolutions: learn more, weigh less, diet, etc. and I definitely plan on sticking to those, as last year I made great progress (I dropped from Large to Medium shirt sizes and I’m never fucking going back, not ever). But more than that, I want to get better at running these sites and providing you guys, our loyal fans and listeners, more content than ever. Part of that is me accepting what’s possible given the parameters and not getting stressed out about it. Can’t record a podcast this week? No big. YouTube video it is. The blog is getting updated at least weekly. No exceptions. I have a goddamn English degree. Writing should not be an issue. We’re FINALLY going to start the, “Hey, Ahnold! Podcast”, which I think is going to be one of the best shows we’ve ever provided and I absolutely know you guys are going to love it. Jen’s fantastic on the mic and even better at snarky commentary, and any Arnold fan knows that the catalog is rife for it. I’m going to shoot for daily content uploads on the YouTube channel, whether it’s gameplay, talking head, or otherwise. Getting the rest of the roster involved is also on the docket. I absolutely would love to have some Degen video content and I’m sure you guys would enjoy that too!

2016 proves to be a very exciting year for our little network. Hopefully the biggest one yet. The outpouring of support and congratulations for having been in circulation for a year back in October was so incredibly heartwarming, and it’s my promise to you guys that we won’t let you down. Until next week, hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, have a Happy New Year, and we’ll see you guys in 2016! Keep hope alive, kids!

-Mike