2023. It’s hard to believe, but this is my tenth year doing this end of year blog. Wow!
Another year of parenting has come and gone in the blink of an eye. Mae has grown and changed so much in the past year, it is an amazing thing to witness. She learned to talk, walk and take advantage of us, all while becoming more social and even making a few friends. We love spending time with her every day, as enjoyable, and sometimes frustrating, as that may be.
My year of “Dad Exercise” looked like this. I walked 480 miles on walks with Mae & Cheddar. I only ran 54 miles and biked 275 miles indoor. Follow me on the app “Strava” to stay up to date on my daily exercises. I took on our pushup challenge for a fourth consecutive year and completed 23,000 pushups in 2023 (on to 24k for 2024… it’s only 66 a day, join us).
This year I coached my 8th and final varsity lacrosse season for the cats and we finished with a 17-4 record, unfortunately exiting in the second round of playoffs in dramatic fashion. My boys hooked me up with an awesome gold chrome cats helmet as a parting gift. Thanks fellas! I leave as the winningest coach in school history with a 114-36 record. Some day I’ll write a blog about all that.
In 2023 I got “hip” and started to log my movies watched on “Letterboxd”. If you like movies, you should definitely get the app and follow me. I watched 112 movies this year, but you can find my favorite movie from the year below.
I only managed one blog this year, which was a multi-year project, “Ranking All 40 Jewel Signature Select Ice Cream Flavors” & I only made one video, which was a John’s 30 Year Acting Career for his wedding. Here are my “best” lists from 2023.
You can find my best lists from the previous 9 years here: 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014
Best Moment: Raising a wild and rambunctious toddler. Mae is not even two yet, but keeps us on our toes every day. The best moment of the year was when Mae took her first steps on July 27th. It was a long time coming and we were so proud of her! She hasn’t looked back since.
Best Vacation: The best trip of 2023 was when we flew down to New Orleans, Louisiana for John and Melissa’s wedding. I was able to explore the quaint city, both by running and walking around. We only got a little taste of all the culture and character the city has to offer in the four days we were there, but would love to go back some day. The wedding was absolutely perfect and this was also our first trip away from Mae, she did great with her grandparents!
Runner up Vacation: We traveled to Asheville, North Carolina via car in August for a High School friend reunion trip. Seven families stayed in this massive house in Mars Hill and we did some hikes, breweries, sight seeing, but more importantly catching up with old friends. We also did a quick trip up to South Haven Michigan this summer with Mae’s cousin and found our favorite hot sauce, Mikey’s!
Best TV Show: This was an interesting year in TV. Having a child means there is nearly no time to watch TV during the day, and at night I focused more on watching movies along with the hundred other things to do around the house. Additionally, Netflix made big changes to the streaming game, ultimately losing us as viewers. We enjoyed another year streaming on HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon, Disney and Apple TV, but it will be interesting how much longer these streaming services remain relevant to us, as they all restrict viewing locations, increase prices and move around the programming… There is a reason I own 1873 movies… With all that “old man” complaining done, I would have to say my favorite TV show of 2023 was The Bear (Hulu). A show based in Chicago about the restaurant industry was amazing and fun, but so damn stressful. Rachel and I absolutely loved this show and flew through the first two seasons! I also enjoyed Barry (hbo), Dave (hulu), The Last of Us (hbo) and Succession (hbo).
Best New Movie: Another year of not seeing a movie in theaters, probably like most people, but I miss it and if we didn’t have a baby, I imagine we would have made it out to a theater. My favorite movie I saw in 2023 was The Fabelmans. It was nominated for The Academy Award Best Picture, and was a movie all about film making. A young Steven Spielberg picks up a camera and we see his growth and development into a high level director he is today. This movie really hit me in the feels and made me miss my Jcubedproductions days. Film making is amazing, whether for a big production company, or in the backyard with your family and friends.
Best Documentary: Documentaries are always a fun way to see into the lives of others. The best documentary of 2023 was Kelce. The inspiring true story of the NFL’s Jason Kelce and how he was near retirement after last season. Turns out professional football players are just like us when it comes to having a home, raising kids, and living life.
Best Album: Deer Tick is back! My best album of 2023 was Emotional Contracts by Deer Tick. The boys put together their deepest album since their double LP of 2017 and it has some jams on it. Their single “Forgiving Ties” has even been playing on local radio station WXRT all winter long.
Runners Up: Jackman. - Jack Harlow, Olivia Rodrigo - Guts, Volcano - Jungle
Click the photo of each album and give a listen.
Best Songs: 152 songs by 152 artists in 2023. Listen to them all now by checking out the Spotify or Amazon Playlist below.
Spotify Playlist / Amazon Playlist
If you don’t stream, here are my favorite 25 tracks from 2023:
Ninety Three ‘Til Infinity And Beyonce - Andre 3000
Impurities - Arlo Parks
Hell n Back - Bakar
More Than a Love Song - Black Pumas
Migraine - Boy With Uke
Players - Coi Leray
Once in a Lifetime -Deer Tick
Think Fast - Dominic Fike
Dance the Night Away - Dua Lipa
Leaving The Light - Genesis Owusu
They Don’t Love It - Jack Harlow
Bad Bad News - Leon Bridges
Call Me What You Like - Lovejoy
Chicago - Mac Demarco
No Bad Days - Macklemore
Flowers - Miley Cyrus
Namesake - Noname
Dial Drunk - Noah Kahan
Sold Out of Love - Nude Party
Vampire - Olivia Rodrigo
Rich Men North of Richmond - Oliver Anthony Music
Lil Boo Thang - Paul Russell
Emergency Contact - Pierce the Veil
Chemical - Post Malone
Every Little Heart - The Tallest Man on Earth
The best music video of the year was actually from the show Dave. Hilarious, clever and catchy. If you haven’t seen this, give it a watch. I am looking forward to a new Lil Dicky album in the coming year (hopefully) for the first time since 2015.
Best Concert: At the end of a long weekend celebrating my future brother in law in Wisconsin, Deer Tick happened to be playing at a super small venue in the Wisconsin Dells. What a way to cap off the bachelor party and this was definitely the concert of the year. They played for over 2 hours and we got to see tons of new music! Peter even caught the pick! Luckily you can see the entire show below as well.
Best Podcast: Only podcast I listened to for a third straight year. Pardon My Take, a sports podcast that makes me chuckle and is mainly about football with guest interviews. Big Cat and PFT make me laugh every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you like sports, especially football, but don’t take it too serious, check this one out.
Best YouTube Channel: We could not have made it through 2023 without this beautiful and amazing woman, Miss Rachel! I’ve watched more of her videos in the last year than anyone else by far. If you are a new parent, she is a must watch, and it is positive learning screen time!
Best Jcubed Video: As referenced at the beginning of this blog, I put together a 16 minute summary of Jon’s Acting Career in Jcubed videos over the last 30 years. It is pretty much a historical timeline of the videos we have made. Watch John, Johnny & I grow up!
That sums up my 2023 and all my “best” things from it.
Bonus shout out to my little sister Squid for becoming a married woman this year. Phenomenal wedding that our whole family had the pleasure of being a part of!
For those of you still I reading, I also tracked a few additional things this year including trips to McDonald’s (22) and drinks drank (1135). Hope to reduce both of those numbers in 2024, while upping my exercise numbers as I attempt to run every street in Downers Grove!
See you on the streets, at the park or at the zoo in 2024.
Josh
