Hello LJ, it's been a while
Sorry for the lack of posts lately. It's been a busy year. I'm really not spending a lot of time online, so I'm still reading here daily but not commenting or posting often. This is going to be a brief summary of the past year, before everything gets really busy again.
Fatherhood: It's been grand. I love my little Eris, and she loves me. We just got back from a road trip. So far, aside from her home state of Washington, she's been to British Columbia, Oregon, California, Idaho, New Jersey (okay, only the airport), Ireland and Scotland. She's been inside of a 5200 year old burial mound, visited the Edinburgh Fringe, and even defiled just about every rest area on the freeways of the NW. Pretty well traveled for 1! It hasn't been all fun and games though. Fathering is not something that comes naturally to me, so I definitely know that I'm not doing my fair share of the parenting work. In the 1950s, this would have been normal, but we're not in the 50s anymore.
Career: Everything is going well. Work is hard, but interesting. I'm being rewarded for my talent and effort.
Home ownership: Full of trials and tribulations as always. Good news though! We're closing on a new home next week! We're keeping this place as a rental until the market rebounds. The new place has an office, a large detached shop, an office for the wife, a formal living room as well as a family room, an attached garage, much better setup for entertaining (anyone who has been to our parties knows what I mean)… basically everything we complain about this house lacking, it has. Money will be tight for a while, but we'll manage.
Flying: Started to work on my instrument rating. I had no real intention of completing it this year, but I wanted to get more training under my belt. It's definitely made me a better pilot so far. I was planning to buy a share in an airplane this year, but decided I needed a better house more.
I posted about Dublin already, never did finish the travel blogs. Of course there was the whole Kidney stones thing, but I don't even want to think about that. I lost 40 pounds too.
That's about it for this year. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it really has been a busy year. Buying a new house right at the start of the holidays is going to make it even crazier!