Long Overdue Update

My last update was regarding my trip to Disney World in early 2018. Three years has passed and so much has changed for our country, if not for me. Here are some of the things that happened to me in the past 3 years.

Traveled to NYC in summer 2018. It was a long weekend trip to mostly southern Manhattan. I got several good pictures in that I framed and many others I just couldn’t afford to frame but wanted to do so. Among the highlights was getting to see The Book of Mormon on Broadway, and getting a tour of NBC at 30 Rock.

Traveled to Toronto in June 2019 for a week. Got a lot of walking in as I visited the Ontario parliament, the University of Toronto, a castle of sorts, and a set of islands on the Great Lakes that are similar to NYC’s Central Park. We even managed to grab a souvenir hat for a coworker just as Toronto’s basketball team was in the NBA playoffs.

Traveled to Lexington, KY for a work event in September 2019. My boss retired in summer 2020, and I got passed over for that promotion, but frankly I probably dodged some major stress. In the meantime, we also implemented two pieces of federal legislation, which including the transfer of over 10,000 beneficiaries into our health plans and shored up our pension plan. So I still have a job.

Traveled to Arizona in January 2020. Got to see my parents in Tucson (they later relocated to New Brunswick), and my sister in Flagstaff (she relocated to Phoenix). Also got to see historic Tombstone, the Grand Canyon, and a few other neat places for which I got a lot of good pictures.

I am now a contributor for Getty Images, but like my books I’m not doing a lot to release or promote all of my useable pictures.

I began a weight-loss journey in March 2019, during a bout of depression, but being the holidays later that year and then the virus shutting everything down in 2020, I’ve fallen off the wagon there. At one point I had lost 60 pounds but gained some of it back. On the other hand, my job was unaffected by the pandemic, except for now I work from home in Alexandria full-time rather than at my DC office.

Also in summer 2019, I moved out of my apartment of 14 years so the landlord can renovate it. I ended up in a similar apartment in basically the same building with a nicer kitchen and its own washer/dryer, but it costs a little more and comes with almost no closet space. I don’t mind it, but working from home does make me stir crazy and wishing I lived any closer to a more socially active area of the city or suburbs.

I upgraded some tech, including buying my first iPad. I also got lucky as some of my otherwise tiny investments really took off last year, including the electric vehicle maker Tesla, a Canadian renewable energy company called Brookfield Renewable Corporation, and a hydrogen fuel cell company called Plug Power.

Also during 2020, I went to my first presidential rally in support of Mayor Pete, who withdrew from the race a week later (but has gone on to be nominated to Transportation Secretary). We also saw a solid defeat for President Trump in favor of President-elect Joe Biden, and a Trump-inspired mob of insurrectionists try and fail to inflect violence, disrespect, and anger on the Congress for doing its job. Along the way Trump got impeached twice.

Labor Day 2020 and then Christmas 2020 were supposed to have my brother and sister-in-law visit with their dog, but travelling during the pandemic was soon ruled out. The two bought a house, and adopted some pets, and are now expecting to make my an uncle later this year.

What happens in 2021 will depend on the virus. A trip to Ireland and another to New Brunswick are on my wish list. I might even get back to writing my last Adams book which is always on my to-do list but never gets priority attention.

I think those are the major highlights. Check me out on Facebook or Twitter to know more.