Day Zero Project #38: Write a Christmas letter

Hello and welcome to the first, and most likely only, edition of the Dustin and Katie Hughes Holiday Letter. These sorts of things aren’t normally “our thing” as they are best left to the professionals like Katie’s cousin, Anny. She can write a letter and you’ll laugh and cry and feel that warm fuzzy feeling that is comparable only to how you feel after a night of drinking your good friend’s spiked egg nog. Here you will only find dry humor and some pictures. Hopefully that’s the sort of thing you like.

“If it’s not your thing then why are you doing this?” you might be asking yourself.

And that would be a great question. The answer is that it just came up on a random list that I (Dustin) generated that we’re trying to accomplish this year. If you’re on Facebook, you’ve probably seen my posts on all sorts of weird things we’ve done this year. If you aren’t, I’ve included some handy best-of pictures below.

I believe that the typical thing to do is to use this space to fill-in everyone on all the major milestones that we reached over the past year. A very popular thing to do is to recap the really wonderful things that your children, accomplished so I’ll start there.

First up is our oldest, Mayor Cuddles Von Mystery, Esq. He had a big year in 2014 with highlights including that one time he almost caught the red dot and in September he escaped outside for what can only be described as 3 glorious minutes in the outdoors. He’s still a little upset about having to come back inside, but indoors is pretty much an all-you-can-eat buffet, so he’s learning to be okay with it.

Second, but certainly first in the hearts of many, is Slayer. Like her namesake, she spent a lot of this year being heavy. Seriously… she eats quite a bit. She also listed her yearly accomplishments as terrorizing The Mayor every single day, reducing the amount of sleeping hours of her parents in half and managing to hide every single toy that she is bought underneath the stove for “safe keeping.” 

 But enough about those crazy kids of ours, it’s time to talk about our favorite subject: us.

Katie spent the year at the coffee shop. No joke. I barely saw her, but when I did she was always highly caffeinated. This uptick in energy led her to get a new job, while simultaneously giving her the super power of somehow dealing with the craziness that is me. She’s a saint; a short, curly-haired saint.

 And myself? I had a big year. I got a new turntable, which increased the amount of ridiculous dancing that takes place in our house. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen me dance around the living room to a Stan Getz or Botch record in my pajamas. I also brought up the number of lists that I keep to somewhere around 80, and if you know me, you know that is big news. Next year I hope to reach 100 different lists. 

We also did some seriously awesome things, but if you haven’t figured it out by now this will not be a serious letter. So instead you are left with a mental picture of me dancing. You’re welcome.

I think that should just about do it. I’d certainly rate this letter as a solid C+ and just a “minor waste of your time” rather than a “complete waste of your time,” so on that note, I’d call it a success. And now I’ll wrap it up with a few closing thoughts and an award-winning photography collection:

By the time you receive this letter it will likely be past Christmas, and for that we apologize. But it’s not our fault, really. You see, we live in Florida and it’s at least 70 degrees every day so we were too busy getting tans and sipping on beach cocktails to realize that it was Holiday time again!

Actually, we are just lazy. But tans and cocktails sound like a much better excuse.

In all seriousness though, if you are reading this you are someone special to us and we hope that you and your family have a wonderful holiday season and, more importantly, a wonderful rest of the year, too. Thanks for being an outstanding person and doing your part to make our lives that much more awesome.

No matter what Santa says about you, we know that you are amazing.

Dustin and Katie Hughes

p.s. And now, in case this thing wasn't long-winded enough, we bring you our first, and last, “2014 In Lists” feature.

Best Books We Read In 2014

Dustin	Katie
1. “A Constellation of Vital Phenomena” by Anthony Marra 2. “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” by Michael Chabon 3. “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini 4. “Krik? Krak!” by Edwidge Danticat 5. “Drop City” by T.C. Boyle	1.”The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green 2. “Drinking Closer to Home” by Jessica Blau 3. “Meet the Annas” by Robert Dunn 4. “The Tainted City: by Courtney Schaffer 5. “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen

Best New (To Us) Music of 2014

Dustin	Katie
1. The World Is a Beautiful Place... “Between Bodies” 2. Q and Not U “Different Damage” 3. The Dear Hunter “Migrant” 4. Annabel “Youth in Youth” 5. The Sidekicks “Weight of Air”	1. She & Him “Classics” 2. Houndmouth “From the Hills Below the City” 3. The Menzingers “Rented World” 4. The Sidekicks “Weight of Air” 5. Annabel “Youth in Youth”

Best Comic Books We Read In 2014

Dustin	Katie
1. “Sheltered” by Brisson/Christmas 2. “Blankets” by Craig Thompson 3. “Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth” by Chris Ware 4. “Saga” by Vaughn/Staples 5. “Nailbiter” by Williamson/Henderson	1. “Sheltered” by Brisson/Christmas 2. “Rat Queens” by Weibe 3. “Baltimore” by Mignola/Stenbeck 4. “Saga” by Vaughn/Staples 5. “X” by Swierczynski/Nguyen

Best Concerts of 2014

Dustin	Katie
1. mewithoutYou @ The Social, Orlando, FL 2. Modest Mouse @ The Beacham, Orlando, FL 3. The World Is A Beautiful Place... @ The Fest, Gainesville, FL 4. Mouth of the Architect @ Orpheum, Tampa, FL 5. Broadway Calls @ Orpheum, Tampa, FL	1. Broadway Calls @ Orpheum, Tampa, FL 2. Captain, We're Sinking @ Wooly, Gainesville, FL 3. Houndmouth @ Local 662, St. Pete, FL 4. Less Than Jake @ Orpheum, Tampa, FL 5. The Sidekicks @ Wooly, Gainesville, FL

And now we've reached the end. We hope you all make 2015 the best year ever. We'll be right there with you trying to do the same.

“Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, "It might have been.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

Day Zero Project #17: Create a comic strip.

I would like to introduce the world's next famous superhero: The Classy Hipster.

For the past 12 months our refrigerator has been the home of this wonderful man and all of his zany adventures in beard-growing, PBR-drinking, and popular music-hating. We've followed along as he's gone through numerous wardrobe changes (mostly flannel) and cringed as he's unsuccessful tried many times to pick up ladies (his failures range from Katie to a special John Suarez-drawn appearance of a certain cursing goth lady).

He's probably due to be retired, but I wouldn't be surprised if he pops back up on our fridge from time-to-time for special guest appearances.

So pick up a cheap beer and let's toast The Classy Hipster!

Day Zero Project #27: Play in a poker competition.

This past Friday I strolled into the Derby Poker Club in St. Petersburg, FL ready to play in my first ever Texas Hold 'Em tournament. I had spent a whole 15 to 20 minutes Googling poker strategy and I even watched a YouTube video of Phil Helmuth, so I figured I was in a pretty good spot to win the whole thing.

As I walked out the door I did forget three important things that all poker players need: my hoodie, some sunglasses and my headphones. And (spoiler alert) when I didn't win the tournament, I was pretty sure that this mistake is what cost me the trophy (and cash)

So how did I do? The tournament started with four tables and I was the last guy out before the final table, so I tied for 11th. Not too shabby for my first ever tournament. I was a little bummed about going out at that time because all the final table won something and I went home with nothing more $18 in winnings from the dog races that were taking place during the tournament.

For those who care about how I lost, my stack was running pretty low and the blinds were getting high enough that I didn't have much choice but to take my next decent hand and go all-in. I ended up being dealt a pair of Queens (which gave me some hope that I might win the hand and get back into it). I was called by two people and none of the other cards that were dealt helped at all.

Oh well, I had a ton of fun and plan to hit up a few more tournaments next year and see if I can't start cashing in on some of those prizes!

Note: I stole that bottom photo from Paul W. who was also at the tournament and did a whole lot better than I did, both at picture taking and in card playing.

Day Zero Project #99: Go on a helicopter ride.

I believe I've said it before, but I may as well go ahead and state the obvious again. If you are going to do a list of 101 things where many of them cost money then Groupon and LivingSocial should be your best friends. Especially when there's something like going on a helicopter ride which, it turns out, is a pretty expensive thing to do.

So, before heading over to check out professional hockey's greatest team (aka the Tampa Bay Lightning) we were lucky enough to have a Groupon deal in hand for Old City Helicopters.

And now that we've done it, I highly recommend taking a little tour in a helicopter. It was a really neat way to see views of our area that we wouldn't normally get. I could type about that view, but why not just look at the pictures.

View from the front seat.

Us standing outside the helicopter worrying about if we'd live.

Downtown Tampa

Co-Pilot Katie

Amalie Arena - Tampa, FL

Day Zero Project #69: Attend a music festival.

Originally this goal was on the list as "Camp at a music festival", but a Summer shoulder surgery for my wife made that option a no-go, so I had to modify this slightly to "Attend a music festival." This is probably a good thing because, although I was looking forward to getting to Bonnaroo for the first time, I also know that I am far too old for 4am drum circles.

So last weekend we took our slightly modified goal and made our way up to Gainesville for The Fest 13, a music festival we've been going to anyways for the past seven years. It's basically one weekend in Florida where almost all of our favorite bands are in one spot and you just jump around venues checking out great band after great band. All the while, you are also drinking too much beer and eating far too much vegetarian food.

To sum it up in picture form you'd have blurry, tipsy picture taking while singing along to your favorite songs.

Spiderman crowd surfing as one of your favorite band's plays At The Drive-In songs.

And fun bands with a stand-up bass that is almost as big as the venue.

In other words, it's perfect. You should check it out.

And because I like lists, here are my Top 5 sets for the weekend (in no particular order):

Captain, We're Sinking
The Sidekicks
Solids
Greenland is Melting
The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die

So, yeah, I kinda cheated on this one, but I had a great time and staying at the Econolodge in Gainesville is probably less appealing than camping in the middle of  a mud field.

Day Zero Project #5: Get a caricature done of myself.

This is me as an action figure. Thanks to CartoonMe at fiverr.com

And as a bonus here's my wife via the guy who writes the wonderful comic, Caribbean Blue.

Day Zero Project #12: Make miso soup from scratch.

You may remember that the other day I tried my hand at rolling sushi and I figured that miso soup goes pretty well with mediocre sushi, so I also made sure to get this goal accomplished on the same day.

For those of you who have never made miso soup before it could be the most easy dish in the entire world to make. One could technically mix miso into water and have a very low-brow miso soup that wouldn't be very good but at least you'd get to check it off your list.

But that's not how I roll. I figured I should at least put some effort into it and make the dashi (broth). So while at a visit to the Chinese supermarket I made sure to pick up some bonito flakes (terrible smelling flaked, dried bonito fish) and kombu (a weird looking kind of kelp).

Alton Brown used to be one of my food heros before he gave up Good Eats and started hosting lame challenge shows, so I stuck to his recipe for the most part.

After you have the dashi made, you just throw in some miso, some tofu, some scallions, some mushrooms (if you remembered them, I got lost admiring all the weird foods in the supermarket, so I forgot). Again, basically copy Alton Brown.

That's it. It's a very simple and delicious side dish.

And why did someone feel the need to put this easy dish on their goal list? Who knows, but I think they won't have a problem accomplishing it.