New Year's Eve 2015!

12/30/15- Wednesday. Nothing exciting during the first 24 hours of my shift. Snowed all day. Snowed the whole way to Portland during a transfer that evening. Slept all night AGAIN! I could get used to this. Haha.

12/31/15- Last day of 2015! Woke up, showered, drove to Tamworth for the rest of my 34 hour shift. It was also our last day in the old base at 626 Plains Rd. It was sad to be leaving this base, but I was really looking forward to the new one. We moved the rest of the stuff over, cleaned the last bit of the old base, then said goodbye. We spent a lot of time getting situated and setting up the new base. I'm really excited because the property is much bigger than the old one. I have a plan to make a x-c ski track out in the field. The base is MUCH smaller than our old one, and I had to listen to a lot of complaints, but people will get used to it. It's clean. The living quarters are brand new. It's nice. I like it.

My truck in Tamworth and the new base. (We washed the truck shortly thereafter.)

My new ski track, and this doesn't even show the part in the back.

Someone likes the new base! Haha.

We did end up with a couple of calls that day, so with the moving and arranging, it ended up being a fairly busy day. At 5pm, I bolted out of there to go for a run in Chocorua. I hit Chocorua Lake Rd, up to Philbrick Neighborhood and Fowlers Mill then back. The road was covered in thick slush, and I have to say it was a pretty terrible run. I struggled on this one. I don't know if it was due to the slushy road, wearing micospikes for the first time this season or just not feeling it, but I was completely beat by the time I was done. 8 miles, 7:36/mi pace, only 610ft of elevation gain. I wanted to run 8, but I didn't know how many miles this loop would be exactly and guessed it would be 8ish. 8 on the dot. Haha.

I was so beat that I almost bagged my plan to go out to Hobb's Tavern in West Ossipee for New Year's Eve. I showered, got dressed, fixed my hair, put on makeup and then decided not to go...until I realized I was STARVING and had nothing in the house I wanted to eat. That sealed the deal. I headed for Hobb's. Sad as my life is, I went by myself. I had no one to join me, so I just said, "Fuck it," and went by myself. I've been doing things alone for most of my adult life, so it really doesn't bother me. I'm not really that social anyway. That may come as a surprise to some people, but I tend to be a loner more on purpose than it just being the cards falling how they may. The place was packed when I got there, but I was greeted by a familiar face! My old manager at the Wildcat Tavern was working as hostess for the night! It was so great to see her smiling face. We worked together for almost a year and a half and then left the Tavern within two weeks of each other. I loved my coworkers there, so it was a nice surprise. She sat me at a table by myself. I ordered a flight of beer and dinner.

My first flight of Hobb's own beers.

Little did I know it would take over an hour to get any food. I had had popcorn about 5 hours prior, but that was it. I drank the full flight before I ever got food, so it went right to my head. The food was great, though, and I had the server surprise me with five more beers for another flight.

Second flight. I needed something to drink with my food. :)

I can't say any of the beer stood out as great. I gave most of them 3.5-3.75 on Untappd. Not bad, but nothing special. Usually one beer stands out, but they were all a little blah. I hadn't planned to go upstairs after for the live music, but after drinking so much, especially half of it on an empty stomach, I figured I had to stay. I knew I could go a mile down the road and stay at the ambulance base if I had to, but I really didn't want to, so I headed upstairs for the live music and to stay through the new year. As soon as I got upstairs, I spotted Ryan Welts and Kristina Folcik in the crowd. I had no idea they were there, but I went right over to hang out with them for the rest of the night. They were there with a couple from Connecticut. It was a good time. The crowd was definitely an old crowd, but they were all having fun. I liked that it was a little tame; I definitely wasn't feeling the Club 550ish type of night. The bar passed around sparkling wine for the midnight toast, and we welcomed in the new year. I was pretty sober by the time we parted ways and had no trouble getting home.

Should have used the flash