February 2025 Wrap-Up

After the absolute slog that was the month of January, I felt like February kind of flew by. Sure the month is shorter than most, but the ending came so quickly despite not being that busy. We did have a small snow storm that dropped enough to give me a day off. The kids and I got out and played a couple of times since it was perfect packing snow for snowballs. We decided to visit the National Aquarium again in Baltimore before our yearly membership runs out. Other than that it was a lot of our usual schedule and I was thankful for some simple weekend days.

Blah Blog Log

There were a couple of posts early in the month and there may be more coming now that I'm inactive on Meta owned apps.

• January 2025 Wrap-Up - TikTok ban, a psychological triller miniseries, and a board game I've wanted for many years.
• 100 Games 100 Plays - A new long term gaming goal.

Bored Board Games

I set a new personal record of number of plays in a given month with 220. While I was still doom scrolling TikTok at night, I replaced some of that with gaming on BGA. I also started playing during lunches at work since I haven't been taking an actual break since starting this job, I typically just eat at my desk. Basically I'm just fitting gaming in whenever I have any sort of free time. I'm also working towards a new long term goal of playing 100 games 100 times. A new game that I got to play a couple of times in February and could definitely see making that list is this month's highlighted game:

Rebirth - From the prolific and probably most well known game designer of all time, Reiner Knizia, is new tile-laying game that I adore. While the board is static, players are laying tile pieces within the hexagonal grid island that represents each clan’s contribution to rebuilding the land. There's area majority, unlockable abilities, race to complete scoring opportunities, and two different maps that offer different experiences.

It's a lighter complexity game with an average rating of 2.03, which puts it in line with other games I really enjoy like Kingdom Builder, Finca, and Tiny Towns. The simplicity of only having one option on your turn, drawing a tile and then placing it on the board may not sound that exciting, but it's the tactical play and maximizing what you can do with that tile that makes it interesting. You could continue a chain of similar tiles to score more and more points, you could steal a castle location with a surrounding majority, or you could focus on scoring open/secret objectives. It gives me Kingdom Builder vibes with some extra wrinkles. After playing it the first time, I immediately added it to my wish list and after playing the second map, it's definitely a game I want to add to my collection and play many, many times.

Enjoyable Eats

We didn't go anywhere new in our during the month, so I'm sharing a much healthier snack that I made than the one in the Whatcha Snackin' segment. I've made these once before but did two different batches of sourdough discard crackers. One was made with a cheese blend and garlic salt seasoning and the other had jalapeno everything bagel seasoning. 

I always have a jar of sourdough discards in the fridge along side, Lucillle, my sourdough starter who gets fed each week. Normally I'll make bread with the discards and just add some yeast to them, using the discards more for flavor since they don't have the power to make the bread rise well enough. These crackers are really easy to make and super tasty. The key is to roll them as thin as possible and rotating the pans in the oven to ensure even browning. Having a little container on the counter is perfect when I want a little snack while making dinner.

I'm Watching 👀

We've only watched the first episode of Chernobyl, but it already feels like it's going to be a fascinating show that draws you in and makes you feel for horrific things the characters will go through. Since it seems to be a very emotionally heavy show, it might take us some time to get through it. We're experiencing the same this with the Netflix show DAHMER. Knowing what happened to the people in real life, coupled with seeing how graphic the show is going to be makes we wonder what emotions we're going to feel. I spent a lot of the first episode in complete disbelief with an open jaw, even though I know the end results. The filming and sets have been beautifully crafted to immerge you into peak 1980s Soviet Union.

Resolutions Update

I decided on a single resolution for this year: Read all 35 issues of Simplify Magazine. Which means I'll need to read 3 issues each month. Each issue is about 75 - 100 pages long and is comprised of short essays on whatever that issue's topic is. 

• Goal Progress - 6 out of 35

Read three more issues that focused on Decluttering Your Life, Technology, and Money, Savings, & Debt. Got a little lazy with this but found time towards the end of the month to keep on pace. I'm thinking of making it a goal to read one issue each weekend, which will allow me to skip some weekends when we're busy or traveling. The nice thing is that it's a digital only magazine so I can access it where I go.

Whatcha Snackin?

I'm rarely impressed by the new Oreo flavors that have been coming out over the last few years, but the new Oreo Loaded are quite good. They're thicker than even double stuffed Oreos with crushed Oreos mixed into the filling. Unfortunately they're almost 100 calories per cookie, so I can really only have a couple, which happens to be a serving. A few of us in the house liked them so much that we went through a couple packages in February. 

Wrap It Up

Please comment below with any thoughts or comments on anything I've covered. Thanks for reading!