Best of: 2021

Last year in December I wrote about my best things from the year. I wanted to keep the tradition alive, so here are my best things from 2021.

The beginning of A Christmas Carol, “Marley was dead, to begin with” is fitting for this beginning, save I will modify it: “Redbeard was alive, to begin with”: my best thing about 2021 is that I am still here. What I could not have know when I wrote my best of for 2020 was that just about two weeks later, I would be in the hospital hoping to make it out alive. I contracted a very bad case of Covid+pneumonia. My thanks to the medical teams and medical science that helped me to survive. Seriously, to go from not being able to sleep because I simply could not breathe, to alarming doctors with how bad things were, to a week later walking out of the hospital, albeit on oxygen, is nothing short of a modern miracle. So to begin my best of for 2021? Life.

Best of

#2: iPad Air

I started my best of: 2020 with the iPad Air 2 that I received from my father, and talked about upgrading. Reader, I did upgrade to the green iPad Air that I wanted. It is still a magical device, just quicker and slicker and greener. I also did get an Apple Pencil, but I just didn’t have a space in my workflow for it, and never used it artistically like I thought I would, so I sold it and recouped my money. And that is ok, in fact it is necessary for a progressively better life. Find what works and keep it; find what doesn’t work and part ways with it.

#3: Bluetooth Keyboard

While the Apple Pencil didn’t make the cut, an iPad accessory did: a Bluetooth keyboard by seenda, a brand I found on Amazon. It is backlit, and has a slot to stand up an iPad that is wide enough to accommodate an iPhone at the same time. Would work for other tablets/phones I suppose, but I use Apple. It has been magnificent for writing on this blog, and all other writing that I do. It isn’t the lightest Bluetooth keyboard, but it is portable and about the same profile as my iPad, so I can take them both with me to write on the go, which I did this summer on my vacation.

#4: Ewoks and Jawas, oh my!

My wife is a master crochet artist, and has been making me mini Star Wars characters out of yarn. I have a stormtrooper, a Chewie, a Jabba the Hutt, and many, many others. They are tiny and soft and adorable. Two of my favorites are the diminutive Ewok and Jawa. They sit by my computer and keep me company while I work. If you want your own, contact me and I will see if I can convince her to do more on commission.

#5: Vans

I bought a few new pairs of shoes this year, and by far my favorite have been the pair of Vans SK8 Hi Mte shoes I bought. They are more of a hiking shoe than the traditional skateboarding shoe that Van is famous for, but boy are they comfortable and fashionable (to my way of thinking). I put red laces on mine. The only “flaw” is that they have extra lining to make them warm, a feature I don’t need during the majority of the Texas year, but these days when it is (sometimes) 50F or below, they are really the best.

#6: My Room (Name TBD)

I converted our downstairs spare room into my hobby room. I still haven’t found a name for it. Man Cave? Too bro. Workshop? Not quite. My room? Too child. I don’t know what to call it, but it is the space I have to work on making, taking photos, building LEGO, painting, and I write down there sometimes, too. I’ve made, and continue to make it, a room where I can hang out and do anything I need or want. My wife found me a curbside find that has been wonderful: a wooden easel/drawing table. I can’t believe someone was getting rid of it, but I am glad they did. It has been perfect for painting. By the way, have a name suggestion for my room? Email me.

#7 HomePod Mini and Mac Mini

I am grouping these two together. I upgraded my 9 year old MacBook Pro for a brand new M1 Mac Mini this summer. I only use my computer for work, and occasionally other things (eBay is annoying to use in the iOS apps), but I did need some new hardware for the future and it was a good time to upgrade with the new Apple Silicon being released. Plus, not having a laptop means I cannot take work with me on vacation, and I really appreciate being able to say that I need to take a break from work and not feel guilty for doing so. I simply cannot work on the go, and that is a fantastic feeling.

We have a nice TV, but were using the built in speakers for sound, and reader, they were not great. A dedicated sound bar was not my cup of tea either. I wanted a bit more personality, so I settled on a paired set of HomePod Minis. They work flawlessly with my Apple TV 4K (future proof (for a while)), and utilize voice command to play music or answer queries via Siri. Sound for movies and TV shows is respectable and much better than before.

#8 Disney+

Lastly, I have been watching some incredible Marvel and Star Wars TV shows through my Disney+ subscription. My wife and I finished season 2 of The Mandalorian and await The Book of Boba Fett coming next week. I have also watched WandaVision, Loki, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and am about to finish Hawkeye. All have been amazing. I can’t wait for more to arrive next year. And that isn’t even mentioning the movies, Pixar entertainment, and other things I’ve been watching on the platform. All in all, it remains worth every penny I spend each month on the subscription fee.

Honorable mentions in this list include the record player my dad bought me for Christmas last year (I love relaxing to a record in the afternoons), a few LEGO sets such as the large R2-D2 I admire every time I see it, various Star Wars Black Series action figures to photograph, and a digital scale I bought for shipping things that my wife and I sell.

So tell me: what are your best things for 2021? Objects, life lessons, media – all are acceptable. I’d love to hear what you have found to appreciate this year. Looking back on our blessings helps us focus beyond all the terrible things that, rightly sometimes, bring us down. Life is balance, and can’t all be a pile of bad things. It must also be a pile of good things. So what are yours?

See you in 2022, and truly, may it be better than 2021 in all ways!