When The Long Way Up first came out on Apple TV a year or so ago, I noted that it looked interesting, but passed it over because I wasn’t very interested in motorcycles. I completely missed the point though and didn’t realize it’s more of a buddy travel show featuring electric vehicles and how interesting that in turn would be. On top of that, it features Ewan McGregor who on top of being a good actor, is fairly funny and seems like a genuinely nice guy interested in making the world a better place on several levels.

Now, I’m not a big one for New Year’s Resolutions or even one to put too much stock in one yar being all that different from the preceding one, but I do think that a new year means it’s a good time to look forward to the upcoming year and what might be coming. While I don’t think 2022 will be massively different than 2021, there are a few things on the horizon in the world and for me personally that I’m looking forward to.

I have been taking the twins skiing since they were three and a half years old. This year, we not only got season passes to the local mountain, but have a couple of family trips planned both up to Vermont and out to Colorado to ski with friends. They’re starting to get pretty good at it, and I no longer need to take them on leashes or pick them up every ten seconds.

Another Christmas, another year of canceled plans and school anxiety. Thanks to Omicron, we’re in yet another surge of COVID in 2021 and there’s nothing yet to indicate that next year will be all that different. If anything, things are starting to look more like March of 2020 again than like Christmas last year when we had hope for the vaccines coming out, a slowing wave before Delta, and more businesses reopening.

My second ever marathon, and I think my worst one, was the Philadelphia Marathon in 2015. A year after my first marathon, the New York City Marathon, Philadelphia was a huge struggle for me. Pacing was a major issue. I got too excited by the energy of the crowds in the first half through downtown and the historic areas, and really suffered in the out and back for the second half out to Manayunk and back.

Yes, it can be done. While the back seat of a Model 3 isn’t the largest, at least not compared to our other car, a three row Buick Enclave, it’ still a usable option with all three kids in car seats while we run some errands, like picking up our Christmas Tree. While I’m excited for a few more inches of width, especially in the middle seat in the back with our upcoming Model Y, for the next six months while we wait for it to get delivered, we’ll be using the Model 3 more and more for our activities and weekend trips.

Ever since the pandemic started, we’ve been waiting and hoping that the next thing would be enough to get us “back to normal”. Remember “flatten the curve”? Then vaccines came around and we thought it would be a summer back to normal before delta came. Now, with kids as young as five getting vaccinated, boosters, and anti-viral drugs, it seemed like we were just a winter away from a return to normalcy, before the latest variant started cropping up around the world.

I’ve been a proud Tesla Model 3 owner for 2.5 years, but have followed the company long before that. Before that, I had been a bit of a gearhead, though nothing approaching the people who mod their cars for track days and the like (though I did once do a track day with my Mini and raced a Ferrari too). From the time I first drove my first EV, I knew the world was going to change because the thrill and performance of driving an electric motor can’t be beat.

I’m typing this on what is unquestionably the best computer I’ve ever used, and the one I’ve quickly come to prefer over just about every other device in our home. As great as my new iPhone is, especially for taking pictures, and despite the amount of hours I’ve spent running with my Powerbeats Pro, it’s our MacBook that I keep turning back to these days. It’s the perfect device for both consuming music and video as well as getting stuff done.

Yes, that’s a Justin Bieber reference and yes, it’s too late now to say sorry. When you’re sitting poolside in Palm Springs, it’s hard not to channel some Biebs. The same circumstances also make it the perfect way to rest, recover, and restore after nearly two years locked down with three kids. Just as we hoped, a few days away from home on our first getaway since the start of the COVID pandemic and away with our kids in California turned out to be just the break we needed.