HC Housekeeping 2020

The Hoagie Central 2020 Census is complete. 

I decided not to make any new world/society predictions as my 2010 predictions were for 50 years into the future and are still pending. 

So yeah, hope we're all still alive in 2030!

2020 Census: Projecting My Future

So no joke, I've thought about this post a ton over the last ten years. Not about projecting for 2030, but about seeing how close I came to achieving what I predicted back in 2010. 

From 2010: 

Where will I be in 10 years?

Well, let's recap where I'm at right now in 2010. I'm 26, a 5-year copywriter in Chicago. I'm married, no kids, and write in my free time but have nothing published.

In 2020, I predict I will be an ACD in Denver. I'll be married, have 2 kids, and I predict I'll have at least gotten one thing published.

ACD? I did become an Associate Creative Director in late 2016, but am currently a Senior Copywriter, one step below that. 

Denver? I lived in Denver for over five years but am currently in Kansas City. 

Married? I got divorced but then remarried the same woman.

2 kids? Yep. 

One thing published? I self-published 3 different books (which probably doesn't count) and then this year got articles published in other publications on Medium (which I think does count.)

- - -

In 2016, I had a choice to make: become an ACD in Kansas City or become an ACD in Denver. I chose Kansas City and that ultimately fell through. Final score on the prediction was 3 out of 5, although I did achieve the other two at some point in the last ten years. 

- - -

Okay, so let's recap where I am right now. 

I'm 36, a senior copywriter in Kansas City. I'm married, 2 kids and I make a lot of things in my free time. 

So where will I be in 10 years?

Dang. Who knows? I guess that's the point of this exercise. Okay, fine let's say Creative Director in Kansas City. I'll be married with 2 kids and my oldest starting college at NYU. I predict I'll continue to make things, including in some form or fashion that I haven't done yet. I'll go ahead and predict I'll be under 200 pounds too, something I'm not right now. 

2020 Census: Favorite Movies

So I don't really rewatch a ton of movies. I feel like I used to do that more. Now there's so much content that I'm always ready to watch something new. Plus, a lot of my old favorite movies I've seen so much, that I'm not in the mood to watch them anymore, with a few exceptions. So how do I treat something that I have great fondness/nostalgia for, but that I haven't watched in 15 years? How do I compare that to a movie that I liked such as Ex Machina, but that I saw once a few years and barely remember?

Last year, I defined my wheelhouse AND made an ultimate movie calendar, so some of this work has already been done. 

Alright, I'm just going to start listing movies that I like and see where that gets me:

Groundhog Day

Edge of Tomorrow

Mission Impossible franchise

Shawshank Redemption

Inside Man

National Treasure franchise

Now You See Me franchise

Ocean's 11 franchise

John Wick franchise

Back to the Future franchise

The Game, Seven, Fight Club, Social Network, Panic Room, Gone Girl

Memento, Dark Knight, Prestige, Inception, Tenet

Inglorious Basterds

Good Will Hunting

The Martian, Arrival

Anchorman

The Big Sick

Lebowski

Anything with Hanks or Denzel and just about anything with Cruise

Okay, so that's a lot of movies. And I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch. 

I saw Pulp Fiction and Fargo a few years ago and they weren't as good as I had remembered. Maybe I had just seen them too much. 

I haven't seen Adaptation or Eternal Sunshine in forever, so I don't know how to rank them. 

And what do I do with all these franchises? It's hard to make a top 5 of favorite movies with so many franchises. 

Sorry, 2030 Dave. This list is the best I could do. 

2010 version

2020 Census: Favorite Video Games

 With most of the categories, it's interesting to see how things evolve over time. Do the same music, movies and books that I liked in 2010 still appeal to me in 2020, that kind of thing. But video games are different. 

My favorite video games from older systems aren't going to change.

At the moment, the only consoles I play are PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Aside from that, I'll play the occasional PC game, but that's <1% of my video game time. 

So my favorite games from NES all the way though PS3 aren't going to change. The only thing I can do is list my favorite games that I've played since 2010. 

Favorite Video Games this Decade

Hitman 1 + 2 (PS4)

Rocket League (PS4)

Far Cry 4 (PS4)

Just Cause 3 (PS4)

Firewatch (PS4)

Assassin's Creed III (PS3)

Grand Theft Auto V (PS3)

Red Dead Redemption (PS3)

Portal 2 (PS3)

Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch)

2010 version

2020 Census: Favorite TV Shows

TV is hard to approach. So many different genres. Plus, some series you might only watch once, some you might watch over and over, and some like Arrested Development, I watched too much to the point where I haven't been in the mood to watch it in ten years or something. 

I guess I should start writing down shows I like and see where that gets me. 

Community
Arrested Development
Broad City
The Good Place
The Office
Seinfeld
30 Rock
Silicon Valley
Always Sunny
Veep
New Girl
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
American Vandal
Master of None
Russian Doll

Sherlock
The Wire
Breaking Bad
The West Wing

Survivor

Okay, so that's lots of shows. I bolded the ones that speak to me personally on another level.

Shows I'm Not Interested in: Game of Thrones, Schitt's Creek

2020 Census: Favorite Music

The point of this is not trying to rank the objectively best bands. It's a time capsule. What bands am I listening to the most. What bands do I want to listen to the most. 

Here are the 7 that I immediately put into my top ten, in alphabetical order:

311

Alkaline Trio

Dashboard Confessional

Motion City Soundtrack

New Found Glory

Panic! at the Disco

Vampire Weekend

(After debating about including Vampire Weekend in the 2010 top ten, they firmly belong now.)

So that leaves three spots for the likes of The Hold Steady, Seaway, Sublime, Brand New, Ozma, Third Eye Blind, The National, The Stereo, Weezer, Twenty One Pilots...

I narrowed that list down to a next four: Third Eye Blind, Ozma, Brand New, and The Hold Steady. 

I realized that I've listened to Third Eye Blind and Ozma recently, so they're in. 

So now it's down to Brand New vs The Hold Steady. Let's go with The Hold Steady. 

So my 2020 top ten Favorite Bands:

311

Alkaline Trio

Dashboard Confessional

The Hold Steady

Motion City Soundtrack

New Found Glory

Ozma

Panic! at the Disco

Third Eye Blind

Vampire Weekend

- - -

Here's my favorite album by each of my favorite bands in chronological order:

Third Eye Blind: Third Eye Blind (1997)

Alkaline Trio: Goddamnit (1998)

Dashboard Confessional: The Swiss Army Romance (2000)

Ozma: Rock and Roll Part Three (2001)

Motion City Soundtrack: Commit This to Memory (2005)

The Hold Steady: Boys and Girls in America (2006)

Panic! at the Disco: Pretty. Odd. (2008)

Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City (2013)

New Found Glory: Resurrection (2014)

311: MOSAIC (2017)

- - -

A note on 311's MOSAIC: It's not their best album, but because it's newish, I haven't played it out yet, so it's the one I want to most listen to right now. 

A note on Alkaline Trio, I almost wanted to pick Crimson or even From Here to Infirmary. 

A note on Dashboard Confessional, I almost wanted to pick A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar

A note on New Found Glory, it's not really about any one album. I could have easily picked self-titled. 

2010 bands

2010 albums

2020 Census: Favorite Hobbies

Cooking/Eating

Gaining & Losing Weight

Board Games

Video Games

Watching Sports (NFL, NHL, March Madness)

Competing in Calcutta, Fantasy and Brackets

Creative Writing

Shooting Hoops

Playing with the Kids

Watching my subscribed YouTube channels

Listening to Podcasts

2010 version

2020 Census: Favorite Books & Podcasts

This is the saddest confession, so I might as well get it out of the way. I don't really read books anymore.

The last real book I read was last year, Raised in Captivity by Chuck Klosterman. I bought Point B by Drew Magary but haven't been able to dive into it. 

The time in my life when I read the most books for pleasure was when I lived in Oak Park and commuted on the Green Line for an hour a day. It was really nice to have that dedicated reading time, before and after work. 

Now, I listen to podcasts on my commute. And I've been reading more on Medium, though these short takes don't provide nearly the substance of a book. 

Once my kids go off to college, I can see myself being bored and turning to books once again. When I do I should use Goodreads or something similar to keep track, as I end up forgetting them. 

- - -

My favorite authors are Palahniuk, Vonnegut, Klosterman, Serrano and Gladwell.

I also think Chabon is excellent, though I haven't read of him as much as I should. 

Same for Ta-Nehisi Coates. 

I still remember reading Savages by Don Winslow, and thinking the plot was just okay, but the prose itself was beautiful. 

I also really enjoyed 11.22.63 by Stephen King even if I didn't like the ending. 

Also, shout out Hemingway. 

- - - 

Seems like I should note my favorite podcasts as well, since they've replaced my leisure reading. 

The best podcast that I listen to is Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladwell. I love the premise of diving into something that is misunderstood and the stories are usually eye-opening and thought-provoking. Even if every season, there's always one episode where I disagree with his conclusions. 

Radiolab is amazing. 

The Dollop is great too. 

From the Ringer, I'm a big fan of Rewatchables. I'm in on anything with Shea Serrano or Klosterman, which include The Connect and Music Exists at the moment. 

I think it's pretty cool that 3 of my favorite 5 authors have podcasts producing new content in 2020.

2010 version

2020 Census: Favorite Foods

I like food a lot. Too much really. 

Which explains why I write posts like these.

But since I like food so much, I think it's worth noting which foods. First, some general observations. In my opinion...

Pizza is the world's most perfect food. The way the dough, sauce and cheese all cook together at the perfect time, the way that it combines bread, cheese, veggies and meat into one bite, that it can be a snack or a meal, the way everyone can get what they want on it but also a slice of plain cheese is always delicious. There might be 100 perfect foods in the world, but pizza is the most perfect.

Warm, buttered bread is the simplest perfect food. As I just said, there are many perfect foods. But a nice piece of bread like sourdough or Italian, still warm with some butter. It's perfection at its simplest.

It doesn't get any better than a cheeseburger. Like, you can choose to go to a very expensive tasting menu and try seven chef-inspired dishes...or you can have a good cheeseburger. At minimum, it's a draw. You just can't beat a cheeseburger.

My personal favorite food is barbecue. No other food brings me as much joy. You can taste how much time was spent preparing it, you can feel the love in it, and there's nostalgia wrapped around it for me as well. Burnt ends, ribs and fatty brisket are my favorites. 

- - -

Okay, let's get into it. I'll break it down by breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

Breakfast

At a restaurant, my go-to order is biscuits and gravy. 

At home, I love to make Aunt Gerties, the thin pancakes my Grandpa taught me how to make. Complete with sausage and country hashbrowns and orange juice. 

 

Lunch

When I'm eating whatever, Five Guys, Which Wich, Raising Cane's are some of my favorites. 

When I'm on track (which needs to be always), I can find good stuff at Chipotle/Qdoba, Twisted Fresh, Zoe's Kitchen. 

Dinner

I used to rave about steak, but now I'd rather eat barbecue than steak. 

I also prefer cast-iron food (like burgers) to grilled food.

The best dinner I make is probably the angel hair carbonara. 

At holiday meals, I love the white cheddar mac & cheese, twice baked potato casserole, and no-soup green bean casserole. 

Buffalo wings are a big winner for me.

For dessert, chocolate chip pie, pecan pie and dutch apple pie. 

- - -

I just looked back at my 2010 census post.

I still love Mint Milanos, Kettle chips and Tostitos with Lime. I don't get to have it much but I still love deep dish pizza and Italian Beef Combo (half italian beef, half italian sausage with hot peppers.)

Who would have known that my sports teams would change more than my tastebuds in a decade?

2010 version

2020 Census: Favorite Sports Teams

After looking forward to this series last year, it turns out I'm running out of 2020. 

Wait, that's a bad start. Let me start over. 

Welcome to the 2020 Hoagie Central Census. A personal time capsule so that every ten years I can take stock of who I am and what I'm into. First topic is an easy one. My favorite sports teams. 

The first is a no-brainer. 

After that, the next three are pretty close. I'm thinking about which teams I follow the news on the most, which games I watch the most, and which teams I'd most want to see win a championship. What makes this hard is that it's basically impossible to imagine Illinois Football winning a national championship. Even a Big Ten title seems out of reach. This shouldn't matter, but it ends up affecting things. I don't sit down and watch Illinois football games because they lose so much. 

If I could choose between seeing the Avs lift the Cup and the Illini cut down the nets in April...I'd rather see Illinois. For one thing, I am an Illini. I went there and graduated. I was born in Kansas City and moved to Colorado, but neither of those provides as much ownership as choosing where to go to college and actually becoming an Illini. 

Also, and maybe this is silly, but if the Avalanche won, I feel like the hockey world wouldn't care. It's no different if Tampa or Dallas win, just another franchise. They've already won this century. But if Illinois won a title? That's a reputation changer. College basketball fans would see Illinois differently. 

So here's where I stand right now:

(basketball)

(football)

Those are the four that I care about. Still don't have an NBA team or MLB team. I was a bandwagon Royals fan in 2014 and 2015 and thankful that I can go back to not caring about that team. 

I've been in KC for almost 4 full years now and never been to a Sporting KC game, so I'm not even bandwagon status there. 

Really, after those four teams above what I care about most is my Calcutta teams or my fantasy football team. 

And then when US Soccer or Olympic curling or whatever has a moment, I'm ready to hop on the bandwagon. Still hard to believe that after almost advancing to the final 8 in the 2014 World Cup, that the US missed the 2018 World Cup. 

2010 version