1. The Reading Goal:
Read George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels 2, 3, and 4
Goal complete. The stretch goal of finishing book 5 sees me at about 80% done.

2. The Photography Goal:
Shoot and blog about one macro photo per week ("Macro Monday")
Here you go. More food!

3. The Music Goal:
Listen to one new band per month
On recommendation from Kimbot, I listened to some tracks from a band called Milky Chance. Their debut album isn't out yet that I'm aware of, so I decided to just listen to a couple of the tracks that were available. "Down By the River" and "Stolen Dance" are both solid alt-folk-rock songs that I can swear I've heard before. Commercial? TV episode? Anyone know?

Also, on recommendation from Kevin Spencer, I listened to a new (to me) band. Although they've been around the better part of two decades, I can honestly say I've never heard the band Godsmack other than possibly whatever singles they may have released to the radio. So I checked out their new album 1000hp and it's amazing! I've listened to it a handful of times and walk away liking it more and more each time. Considering the brand of metal this band produces, I can't believe I never listened to them. It's right in my wheelhouse. I think I must've mentally lumped them in with other era bands like Limp Bizkit, who I loathe, and that's why I never gave them a shot. I'll have to go back and listen to some of their older stuff.

4. The Food Goal:
Try three new recipes per month
Sorry, only one this month. A recipe for chimichangas that Katie got from her mom. Her mom made them once and then Katie made them a couple weeks later. We want them again. Now.

5. The Fitbit Goal:
Take an average of 10,000 steps per day
It started off as a really good month. From September 1 through 24, I hit more than 10,000 steps every. single. day. Then I had a midweek day off on the 25th during which I wasn't really feeling that good and broke my streak. From September 25 through yesterday, I exceeded 10,000 steps only twice in six days. My monthly average was 12,260 steps per day. Second highest month this year. A great month overall but I wish I ended on a higher note instead of becoming a bump on a log.

6. The Blog Goal I:
Convert to new blogware
I'm altering this goal for good. I've decided I'm not switching to new blogware. Plus, a Wordpress update this month created a lot of headaches for friends of mine using the service (most peoples' templates were rendered inoperable by the security update and they all had to complete transitions to new templates in order for their blogs to be readable). I just don't have the time to deal with that. It could legitimately take me a week to log in and take care of something like that. Sure, there are other services besides Wordpress, but they still require me to take manual control of updates and backups and the like. I enjoy that Typepad does that for me.

But I am going to redesign my blog and am partway through that process. My current design is more than three years old and not very good on mobile devices. There is no really good way to deal with mobile sites on Typepad so I'm going with a responsive design that is more spartan in terms of design elements but will work on all devices. Pretty nicely, too. I've checked it out on iPhones, iPads, and laptop and desktop computers and it looks pretty good on all of them. I have a test site up if anyone is interested in seeing it, but just know that I am still doing some tweaking, particularly to the header banner. That's the only thing I'm not really keen on with this design.

I've noticed a lot of friends on services like Wordpress, Blogger, and Drupal have mobile sites set up to mirror their full site. But have you ever noticed that you lose some functionality with a mobile site? Sidebar elements are gone. Menu items may not be there. Maybe not all, but some. While it may not be the prettiest site in the world, my responsive design keeps all my features. I like that. It's more important than a flashy design, IMHO.

7. The Blog Goal II:
Post 50% of the year
I blogged every day in September and don't plan to slow down. I've actually already got more than half of October sketched out in terms of topics. Marty's August challenge really fired me up and, although it may have resulted in shorter posts and no Snippet Wednesdays, it has kept me typing regularly and that is key. I'm now at 194 of 273 for 71.1%.

8. The Blog Goal III:
Post monthly updates on my progress
Here she be.

9. The Katie Goal:
Read Sue Grafton's alphabet novels, A through L
Also done. Katie stretched the goal out to include the entire series of which she is now on V is For Vengeance. There is only one book left after this.

There you have it, folks! Hope you've had a productive year thus far, too.