Daniel J Isom

  December had spurts of slowing down a little and then lots all at once. We returned from Thanksgiving on the last day of November, so we went from that straight into our regular routine the next day. The first week was a little slow but then at least one person had something going on every single day during the second week. We got to watch Grace at her winter band concert and Ben at his winter chorus concert. The following week was much more chill. It started with some snow on Sunday that I used as the perfect day to do chili and cornbread for dinner. Then it was all about getting ready for the onslaught of people coming during Christmas week. That meant baking cookies, planning meals, and straightening up the house. It was nice having people in and out of the house, but everything just felt a bit off this year. If I had to guess why, it was due to scheduling changes so we didn't follow our traditional routine. As the month came to a close, I got sick with some non-flu, non-covid...

  This post marks two years of posting these monthly wrap-ups. I look forward to coming up with content for each of the segments and trying out new ones (including one this month!). As I've written previously, this blog has taken over for my social media as the place where I share what is going on in my life. I'm still on Facebook, X, and Bluesky, but I use them all for very different purposes. This October was just as busy as last year's, which I stated was one of the busiest month's I've had in years. Work was very busy doing a lot of outreach events, including two all day Saturday events and two late night events in Kent and Sussex County that we added this year. I also moved buildings from Dover to Smyrna into the new Delaware Public Health Lab building. I'm enjoying my new space, even if it's lonely without any of my team here. I'll be hiring for two positions that will join me in our new location over the next couple of months. On the family side, ...

  The holidays came and went and while there were some good times, December wasn't exactly the best month of the year. In an effort to not drag down the New Year energy, I'm going to focus on the good stuff in this last wrap up post for 2024. Blah Blog Log I snuck in a couple of year end gaming posts on the last day of the month to actually hit my resolution goal after months of not getting there. November 2024 Wrap-Up - New single month gaming record, my favorite breakfast, and a new snack. Top 10 New to Me Games of 2024 - These were my favorite new to me games in 2024. Deep Dive December: Under Falling Skies - A summary of a solo board game challenge Bored  Board Games Sickness ravaged my household so plays saw an overall dip. I ended up having to cancel all of the in person meetups of our local gaming group. I'm hoping we can pick right up in the new year. For this month's highlight, I'm going to share the game that has my second most logged games of all time:...

The year is over and this is a snap shot of the busiest month of the year across the board. Blah Blog Log December was a very busy gaming month and the posts reflected that. Here's what you may have missed. November 2023 Wrap-Up  - The second wrap-up post of the series. Top 10 New to Me Games of 2023  - These were my favorite new to me games in 2023. Deep Dive December 2023: Scythe - A summary of a solo board game challenge Bored  Board Games Despite only having three in person meetups, I did more gaming in December than any other month thanks to  Board Game Arena . These are a couple of games I'd like to highlight: Sea Salt & Paper  - I played this after writing my  Top 10 New to Me Games of 2023  post and this would have slotted in close to the top 5 had I played it before. I've played about a dozen games on BGA of this really smart hand management and set collection game. The hook of the game is how the scoring happens and how players can deci...

 I'm a big fan of BBQ ribs but because these didn't have the smoky and sweet spices that I normal go for, I didn't jump at making them right away. I knew Christine wouldn't really go for them either since she isn't much of a BBQ or pork fan, so I'd have to eat the whole rack myself. The original recipe calls for 8 pounds or approximately 4 racks of ribs. Since I was the only one likely to eat them, I picked up a single rack. I had most of the ingredients except for the main flavor, balsamic vinegar. It may be a staple in many people's households, but I rarely use it but maybe once or twice a year. So I grabbed a decent bottle along with the rack of ribs and headed home. Unlike BBQ dry rub ribs, this used a mixture a fewer spices with sugar, rosemary, and lots of garlic along with the balsamic vinegar. Following the style of many of the recipes, it's got few ingredients and a couple of techniques to create the finished project. Something I found incredibl...

      December followed November with 2 blog posts, no games, and lots of baking. The year as a whole went really well for blogging and baking. I was successful of doing at least two of each of those activities each month, but we didn't make it on the board game challenge. It was a bit of a risk including that one, but it's given me some perspective going forward regarding my board gaming goals. Overall, I'm happy with what I was able to accomplish in 2020. For 2021, I decided to be very aggressive and set 6 goals. You can read all about them here . For now, here is what I accomplished in the last month of 2020: 1)  Write at least 2 blog posts each month I stated that  Christmas is Canceled . Wrote a recap of the unplayed games I was able to get to the table in 2020. 2)  Complete the 10 x 2 Board Game Challenge As I stated in the intro, we didn't get anything played in December. It was part giving up and part canceling gaming with friends because of COVID....

     November was an uneven month when it came to accomplishments. Even though I only wrote two posts, they were more involved and a couple of my favorites for the year. The chance to succeed at the board game challenge is basically dead in the water, but I did some really good baking. 1)  Write at least 2 blog posts each month Did a little health update and things are going really well. Shared our Christmas traditions and some new ones we're starting. 2)  Complete the 10 x 2 Board Game Challenge We played none of our games for the challenge. That means we still have 7 total plays left to do before the end of the year. It's nearly certain that we won't complete the challenge. I'm sad. I've already decided not to include any board game related resolutions next year. 3)  Bake at least 2 different baked goods each month There's never a bad time to make biscuits. I decided to do a Twitter thread on the steps as I made them. I had a lot of fun doing it, so I ...

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we can move on to Christmas. I'm one of those people who wholly believe that we should celebrate Thanksgiving as it's own holiday and that Christmas doesn't start at midnight on November 1st. Before this gets into an entire rant post about how Thanksgiving get ignored even though it is the best holiday, let's move on. You can one of the earliest post to this blog all about the greatness that is Thanksgiving here . Today we're talking about Christmas traditions.  Ever since James was born, we've been having Christmas at home in Delaware. We used to travel back to NY and while it was nice doing that, I hated travelling during that time with little kids. I wanted them to wake up on Christmas morning at home, not in a hotel room. Since we've made the switch, we have started some of our own traditions and plan to add a couple more this year. While it isn't my favorite holiday by any means, I'm a scrooge you know, some of my ...