Merry Christmas 2022

 A year of relative stability, after the "decade" of COVID!

In January, I came down with the first "cold" I'd had since 2019. Or...was it? Hard to know, because if you may remember, January was a month of no COVID tests available. My "cold" lasted about five days, and I continued to work from home; I'll never know if I actually had a mild case or not. But, with now five shots in me, I'm pretty confident in living life as we transition into the mid-decade.

My company, after an aborted "return to office" in '21, actually did have a return to office in the summer. It's very much hybrid and very much flexible - I'm at our offices 1-2 days a week, usually. It's almost like a second orientation, as I meet and interact with colleagues in person after months of interacting with them virtually.

Nick and I were able to spend more time together as well. Sometimes it was in his neck of the woods, like Acadia; sometimes it was my neck of the woods, like Zion and Bryce Canyon. Nick continues his vinyl record collecting, and there's a big market twice a year in Amsterdam. I'm making plans. :) 

There was traveling for both work and pleasure during the year - including for the wedding of Aaron and Rosie just after Labor Day. They have settled in nicely in Arlington, VA, walking distance to Georgetown, where Rosie is picking up her PhD. 

Jim & Joe are, of course, a short hop away in Redondo Beach. Nick got to meet them in November, and best friend Mark Cobb joined us in January while he was in town for the Super Bowl.

(Yes, Mark is quite possibly the most sports-disinterested person who gets to go to the Super Bowl free every year!)

Stability. It's been much needed after all the stress, crises, changes, and upheavals of the past few years. Will there be more change? Always. Just as one for instance, I'm thinking hard about how Nick and I could be at least a little closer of a long-distance relationship. In the immortal words of my Dad: We'll see.

But for now, it's Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and may you all have a stable New Year!