What would a yearly review be without reviewing the home improvements done throughout the year? After all, homeownership is much like a hobby, isn’t it?

This year got off to a great start when I threaded cable conduits into the attic and crawlspace of the house. This allow me, the biggest geek on the planet, to easily run more copper throughout the house whenever I feel the need. It wasn’t easy work but it makes any future work that much easier.

Since I apparently can’t get enough of hanging out in the attic (and crawlspace), I worked with Kelly for a few hours to add insulation to our attic. It was a fantastic return for three hours work and 120 bucks! Now our AC can keep our upstairs cool, to pretty much any temperature we set. The noise from outside is greatly dampened, too.

We did some yard things, too. We finally dug up the dead trees lining our front walk and replaced them with crepe myrtles, (which may or may not be dead, too). We moved the apple tree from the front yard to the back. We also created a flowerbed on the south side of the house.

We put in a vegetable garden behind our garage, filled with tomato plants and others. Through neglect or poor soil the tomato plants yielded few fruits. The garden did yield an opossum, which had shacked up under our house. Amazingly, the opossum lived to see another day. We still have occasional critters pry open our outside garbage can. Ah, living on the edge of wilderness!

We had a carpenter replace the rotting wood on our porch, the victim of a poor porch design. The original builder neglected to put treated wood on the porch, or even to prime the wood he used. Things look much better now, though there is still some work to be done.

The highlight of our home improvements, though, is the new playset in the backyard. We bought it at BJs and had it delivered and built profesionally. It soon became the hub of activity for the neighborhood kids, as well as instantly boosting the athleticism of our kids. It’s been one of the best investments we’ve made this year: one that will pay off for years to come.

Two thousand six was the year I took stock of my not-so-flowing locks and dispensed with them. I made the move right before Thanksgiving, surprising most of my relatives and friends with a totally bald head.

“So, what happened to your hair, Mark?” my neighbors would call. “You lose a bet?”

I chuckled along with everyone else. I looked so different that people who have known me for years would basically trip over me before recognizing me. Still, I decided the bald-with-goatee look wasn’t for me. Now the goatee is gone and the hair is staying short, but not shaved.

I think its a good look. I don’t know if I’ll keep it, but my hair isn’t getting any thicker nowadays. Time will tell.