2013 Sean's Ramblings Year In Review

Welcome to my 9th annual year in review, where I take the first few lines of the first entry of each month in order to produce a random and (hopefully) interesting summary of 2013.

January - Have you ever wondered who visits Sean's Ramblings and how they found this blog? No? Really, it's just me?

February - With the Super Bowl over, it's time to turn our attention to hockey, college basketball and even baseball's Spring Training. Dan, who formally announced his retirement from blogging and one of the people who inspired me to start Sean's Ramblings, passed on this story from last week.

March - We're going all the way to Kuwait for the first video.

April - Today's post comes from Ya Jagoff! ,and is part of a special day of shenanigans from other Pittsburgh Bloggers. Enjoy (and make sure to read all the way to the bottom to see where you can find my guest post)!

May - Although I'm not in the market for a new home, it never hurts to look, right? I've lived in Northern Virginia for almost 12 years, so staying in the Washington DC area makes sense. Obviously, I would want something bigger than where I currently live.

June - The Pittsburgh Penguins are in the Eastern Conference Finals and the Pittsburgh Pirates are tied for the second best record in the majors. Therefore I'm writing about, um, the Pittsburgh Steelers today. I recently received an e-mail from NFLShop.com selling Steelers swimwear.

July - Although this video is a month old, how often have you seen Thomas Dolby perform "She Blinded Me With Science" with astronaut Buzz Aldrin?

August - Although I've followed the Pittsburgh Pirates as closely as ever, I've avoided writing this blog post for many weeks. After collapses in both 2011 and 2012, my fear is that the Pirates will collapse again as soon as I write about the team's success.

September - My son starts his first day of preschool today. It's a brand new place for him with teachers and other kids he has never met. Plus, instead of sleeping in a crib or pack-and-play, he's going to sleep on a mat for the first time.

October - Today should be a happy day as the Pittsburgh Pirates are playing in their first playoff game since 1992. After 20 straight losing seasons, it has been an extraordinary year watching Andrew McCutchen stake his claim as the National League MVP, Pedro Alvarez tie for the league title in home runs, and the pitching staff seemingly always getting key outs. Unfortunately, one of the biggest Pirates fans I know, my cousin Bob, passed away Friday night.

November - You may have noticed that I don't update Sean's Ramblings nearly as often as I used to. I could share a variety of excuses, but really, it's President Obama's fault.

December - You've seen matryoshka dolls (I looked up the name), or Russian nesting dolls, where there are dolls of decreasing size placed inside other dolls. Personally, I think these are really cool. I have no idea where my aunt found this but she gave me one of former Pittsburgh Penguin great Jaromir Jagr.

I hope that you enjoyed Sean's Ramblings in 2013! Thanks for your support, and I'll "see" you here in 2014. Have a Happy New Year!