Yes, this year has been a bit of a dumpster fire for just about everyone. Thankfully, my own family has remained healthy throughout the year, at least physically. Emotionally, we've all taken a bit of a hit. It's been that kind of year.
In January, we lost Bender, the cat we'd had since 2005, when we lived in Colorado. You can click through there for a more in-depth obit. I miss that cat.
Then in March, the quarantine began. I started working from home, and my brother Glenn joined us for three months, which actually ended up being pretty cool.
The kids didn't do great with home-schooling at the end of the 2020 school year. But the district had a plan when the fall 2020 school year started. My older daughter Lia started hybrid, and is still going in just every other week. My younger daughter Ella has just started going in 5 days per week, with all the kids wearing masks. It's going very well so far. Although there have been students in town who have tested positive, and we've received email notifications every time that's happened, none of them seem to have gotten COVID from anyone else on school property, so that's good news.
Over the summer, we made an addition to our family when we, like so many others, got a quarantine puppy. She's a mini goldendoodle, and the kids named her Coco. I've never before in my life owned a dog, but it's going well.
Another big 2020 story began earlier this year when our upstairs tub clogged. After trying everything, we called in a plumber, who shot pressurized water into the drain to clear it. It wasn't until the following morning when someone took a shower that we realized water was streaming down through the kitchen light fixture. We had to call in someone to tear up our kitchen ceiling and patch the pipe. I've currently got canvas stapled onto the ceiling as a temporary fix until we can address all the issues properly rather than sticking band-aids on things.
In mid-September, on a random Tuesday, I got a call from my employer's HR department. Hmm. That's odd, I don't normally hear from them. Well, they eliminated my position. I spent the next couple days just dumbstruck. Thankfully, I jumped on every job site I could find, and called a bunch of recruiters, and within a few weeks I had multiple offers to consider. The one I accepted was a software developer position with the Mohegan Tribe in southern CT. I'll be working from home for the foreseeable future, writing software to support the casino and surrounding businesses. I haven't yet completed my first week, but it all seems incredibly interesting.
Meanwhile, we've also just completed a refinance of our house. That while I was changing jobs was an interesting experience. At least our mortgage is going to be significantly less now. Theoretically, I could take that money and use it to make a car payment, but I think I'd rather bank it for the time being.
So, yeah, 2020 has been a roller coaster. But it could have been a lot worse.