January 2026

The first month of 2026 is already over. I'm struggling to believe it's already been four weeks. I'm glad January is already over, it's one of my least favorite months of the year. No offense to anyone born in January. It's dark, it's cold, we've come crashing down from the holiday highs and it's back to reality. On the upside, baseball is right around the corner.

My oldest participated in his first non-school conference basketball tournament this month and his team kicked butt and took first. It was really fun to watch the team and watch him. He continues to grow his basketball skills and have fun.

Keeping with basketball, my oldest and I took my dad to see the Minnesota Gophers Men take on the Iowa Hawkeyes at Williams Arena. It was the 200th time they've played and was an thrilling and intense game to watch in person! It came right down to the wire and the Gophers barely hung on to win 70-67. It was a lot of fun sharing that experience. I want to do it again, soon.

Work has been super busy. The busyness of 2025 carried right into 2026, with maybe a slight uptick. It's been kicking my butt and exhausting my mind. The future is exciting but it can definitely take a lot to get there. It's great and inspiring to see the hard work starting to come together.

In exciting news, I purchased a new-to-me truck! A Toyota Tacoma, manual transmission. I've wanted a 3rd generation Tacoma for a long time and finally the right one showed up. I can now pass my Grandpa's truck onto my boys and have a 4th generation Struthers driving it. I'm really happy for that to happen. How cool?!

The latest video game in the house is Hytale. We've been running our own server and having a lot of fun exploring the world and building creations. It's very similar to Minecraft but with some little tweaks and enhancements. I really like the manteling and different tables needed for crafting items. We're all looking forward to where Hytale goes as more and more development happens.

Music wise, the house has been jamming to some Nightwish. And by the house, I mean me and whoever is around to hear it. I discovered the Wacken 2013 live version of "Ghost Love Score" this month and have listened to it a lot. And I really do mean A LOT. For those who enjoy Classical/Symphony music and enjoy Metal, here's a link to "Ghost Love Score" live at Wacken 2013

I think that's a wrap for January. I hope your January went well and your year is off to a great start!

- Ben