Happy 2013 from robohara.com!

Hello, and Seasons Greetings to you and yours! I hope each and every one of you had a great holiday season!

I had originally intended to e-mail this message exclusively to my e-mail subscribers. However, only around a hundred of you rascals subscribe to my e-mail update list and since robohara.com currently receives (on average) 2,000 unique visits each day, I decided to simply post it here so everyone would get a chance to read it.

First and foremost, I want to thank each and every one of you for visiting robohara.com and reading my posts. While I spend my days working with computers, my true passion is writing. Whether it’s sharing family adventures, writing reviews, or working on my next book, I love taking stories and putting words to them and I appreciate each of you who stop by to absorb them.

For most of 2012 I stuck to my guns about not writing about drama and not writing about work, although a couple of non-offensive work-related topics tend to sneak into my posts from time to time. Unfortunately since I don’t write about work and because I’ve been doing so much of it lately there have been some dry stretches on the site over the past six months. I’m sorry about that, and I’ll be working harder on updates this coming year. When I started blogging I was posting new updates every day. There have been times in 2012 where I only updated the site once a week. In 2013 I’ll be shooting for updates at least every other day.

In 2012 I spent a lot of time working on projects for other people. In 2013 I plan on doing a better job on picking the projects I work on. I still plan on writing articles for The Retroist, but instead of writing for every single zine, magazine, and website that asks me to, I’m going to draw some hard lines and funnel some of that time and energy into my own projects. For example, I would like to dramatically increase the output of You Don’t Know Flack, my podcast, from every other month to perhaps once a week. (I know, that’s crazy.) I have plans and plots for half a dozen books now, none of which I seem to be able to finish (or even properly start) because I am so sidetracked. For me, 2013 will be less about writing on Facebook and more about writing real books.

Some of the highlights of last year include:

– In January, my buddy Jeff moved to Atlanta.
– In February, Mason and I built an Angry Birds Valentine’s Day Box.
– In March we attended our first (of many) Roller Derby bouts.
– In April Mason got a basketball goal.
– In May we drove to Seattle and took a cruise to Alaska.
– In June I attended OVGE in Tulsa.
– In July we got to be the very first customers at Five Guys in OKC.
– In August we went geocacheing for the first time.
– In September Susan and I almost got killed.
– In October I spent a week in Atlanta and a week in Washington DC.
– In November I went to see and meet Guns and Roses in Vegas.
– In December I painted a giant Mutant Alien.

My favorite thing about running this website and the reason I continue to run it is because it allows me to share with you all the weird, wacky and wild thing that happen to us on a seemingly regular basis. For every trip I go on, every product I write about and ever picture I share, I feel like I have all of you with me. I always appreciate your comments and feedback on my posts, and most of all I appreciate every time you come back. Thanks for giving me a reason to continue to do this, both for you and for me.

Rob O’Hara
1/1/2013