Hope everybody out there had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hope you had the opportunity to spend some time with family and friends and reflect (good or bad) on 2025. Now it’s time to put 2025 to bed and look forward to 2026 and what it has to offer.

It was a strange year for me. After getting laid off in October 2024, it’s crazy to look back and think I spent the entire 2025 unemployed and looking for a new opportunity. There were highs and lows, ups and downs, good interviews, and scam attempts, but I survived. I am now focusing on what I did right and wrong in 2025 and what I need to improve on going forward. 2026 will be the year of AverageAndy

Before moving forward, here is a list of things I did/completed at the end of 2025

Books – I read the following books during the year

The Sequel (The Book Series, #2): Jean Hanff Korelitz
Familiaris” David Wroblewski
Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #1): Kawaguchi Toshikazu
Missing in Flight: Audrey J. Cole
Sunrise on the Reaping: Suzanne Collins
The Boomerang: Robert Baily
The Algorithm: Hilke Schellmann
Never Flinch (Holly Gibney, #4): Stephen King
Burn this City (Burn this City, #1): Brenda Poppy
The 5 Second Rule: Mel Robbins
Broken Lines (EMP Survival in a Powerless World, #1): James Hunt
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Mark Twain

Movies / TV – I watched the following movies and TV shows recently

Movies

Bagonia
One Battle after Another
Threesome
Now You See Me, Now You Don’t
Bullet Train
The Family Stone
About My Father
Kingsman: Secret Service


Television

Stranger Things Season 5
Down Cemetery Road
The Copenhagen Test
Ripple
Plurabus


Music – New and Interesting music I have listened to lately

Peter Gabrial (I/O)
Robert Plant (Saving Grace)
Tommy Howell (Dammed Good Man)
Marillion (All Albums)
Helloween (Giants & Monsters)
Guns N’ Roses (New singles – Nothin’, Atlas)
Metal Church


The New York Football Giants won their last two games to end the season at 4 – 13. I was torn whether it was better to win than to lose (and possibly end up with a better draft pick). Looking at things, I am actually glad they played hard and won the last two games. Winning always feels better than losing, and beating the Dallas Cowboys at home let everybody end the season on a positive note. Now they need to hire a new head coach who can bring in a new and refreshing attitude (Unlike the horrible Brian Dabol, who just seemed to suck out any energy and positiveness the team had)

Not sure what the New York Mets are thinking. I know they wanted to shake things up after the team did not live up to expectations the past few years. I realize that the owner, Steve Cohen, did spend a lot of money (some good, but most bad), and the Mets players did not play up to their potential, but not sure if getting rid of everybody is the correct way to go. Teams (and companies) that have constant turnover at kep positions, and place the blame on the employees more than on their management, usually don’t end up performing better. They end up in a constant state of mediocrity.

We will see when spring training starts in a few months if the NY Mets can assemble a team that can compete against the best, or if they slip back towards the middle of the pack

Lehigh Basketball is off to a rough start in Patriot League play. Hopefully, they can get it together and go on a much-needed run before the Patriot League Tournament. It would be fun to continue the winning ways of the 2025 Football team

Over the past year or so, I have been posting the individual person voted off each season of Survivor on Twitter (X). It’s been a fun way to go back and relive each season as we get ready for Season 50 in February. Most of the people I do have a memory of, but there are some that I have no recollection of. I try to tag/follow them on X, as well as add the following HashTags to each post

#NeverTooOldForSurvivor
#GiveMeAChance
#PEACE

I recently typed #NeverTooOldForSurvivor into Google just to see what came up, and was surprised to see that the hashtag is actually associated with me and my quest to get on Survivor. Not sure who looks at hashtags these days, but it can’t hurt.

Would appreciate it if anyone who reads this would give me some love and pass the word around that AverageAndy is the perfect contestant for an upcoming season of Survivor

That’s all for now

AverageAndy

#JeffProbst
#JesseTannenbaum
#SurvivorCasting

#SurvivorCBS
#NeverTooOldForSurvivor
#GiveMeAChance
#PEACE

Marillion – A better way of life