There's been a lot of posts lately taking a reflective look at 2025 and trying to break down what could have been better, could have been worse, etc. I'm not going to do that. 2025 was definitely a disappointment for me when it comes to the crypto markets, but outside of that, it was just another year. I did some boring things, I did some cool things, I went on some amazing camping trips, and my wife and I also found our way to some new areas of the country we haven't yet explored together.
I got some new appliances, I put a pretty awesome canopy on my back deck, I smoked a brisket, I bought some silver, I played a lot of disc golf. You know, those everyday things that happen in the valleys and actually make life worth living. I've already got some "mountain top" experiences planned for 2026, but my hope is I can fully appreciate the valleys and not just live for those higher highs...
So yeah, 2025 is over. Bring on 2026...
Sadly, this mall, like the two other malls that were later built in the area is basically dead. Now filled with empty storefronts that will likely never open again. In fact, they didn't even have the heat on in the mall. It was about -20 C outside with the windchill on Thursday morning, and I think it was just about as cold inside the mall.
The main reason for our visit was to go to the Kay Jewelers outlet to get my wife's jewelry inspected. They actually had their own heaters running to keep it warm in the store. The young lady helping us let us know that next July when it would be time to have her diamonds and gold inspected again, they would be out of the mall across the street in a different location.
We can't say we were that surprised.
It's just sad to see how things have declined in the retail space. As I said, malls used to be the central hub of a town, and now they are just sprawling blight.
Since it is January 2nd, the 
I'm sad to say I failed in epic fashion and I will not get the achievement this year. Actually, I'm not too mad about it. I was sick on the 24th and 25th, so I'm actually surprised I even snagged one of those days. The 7th does confound me a bit, but since it was a weekend, my guess is I got busy Saturday morning and by the time I got around to clicking I had missed the window since I am in US Eastern time. It was technically still the 7th when I clicked, but apparently not based on whatever time zone they are using for this thing. Kinda lame, but probably my own fault.
I'm still plugging right along with my ZING holdings. I cut back on my delegation since the APR for that is pretty minimal at this point. I also am getting close to having nearly 1 million ZING pooled in the liquidity pool. Given the fact that the APR on that pool is over 50%, I am not sad about that. Along with my 1.17M ZING I have staked, I hope I will be in a good position for when the game finally drops. I actually might consider pulling back my delegation even more to focus on having more liquid HIVE.
I'm not going to dig too much into my other crypto holdings or my stocks this week. I finally got my numbers back from my capital gains and dividends for the year. I'm happy to say I was able to roll a solid five figures back into my investments. That's pretty cool for just letting it sit and do its own thing. I look forward to seeing how it can continue to compound in the next five to ten years.
I mentioned a while ago that I decided to take some of my HBD and move it into HIVE. There were a couple of reasons for that. Most importantly, I wanted to be able to say I actually got something fiscally out of HIVE. Sure, the intrinsic value of HIVE is amazing, but after all the work I put into my blog, I wanted to be able to have something to show for it. So along with a new Garmin Watch that I already shared here, I found someone who was willing to sell some of their silver for liquid HIVE.
I picked up four pieces of silver total. One of them was a Canadian Maple Leaf that I already shared with you awhile ago. The other three pieces were part of the legendary warriors series. I will share the other two another time, but today I am going to share Achilles. It's a really great looking piece and it is in fantastic condition.
I really like that I was able to get something tangible from my blogging. I also like that I was able to keep the HIVE on chain since the other users is planning on powering it up (probably already has). For me that is a win/win. I get to put more silver in my stack (especially at today's prices), and a smaller HIVE account gets to grow their stake. How cool is that?!
That's all I've got for you this week. I hope 2026 is a banger year for all of us!
Or Check out my Grilling and Smoking Community on HIVE
All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or
