Now

This year has been packed. As it winds to a close, I’m trying to piece together everything that happened.

In January, I was baptized into the Orthodox Christian Church. It has been wonderful to be an official part of the church and to receive the Eucharist with my fellow believers.

Late last year, the architect of the software I help develop left the company. He was brilliant, and he built a lot of our infrastructure on his own. That meant this year involved a lot of reverse engineering to figure out how things worked. I picked up many skills that I didn’t have a year ago, and I’m grateful for that. I obtained one Microsoft Azure certificate. Currently, I’m working on the second, but unfortunately, the 23-hour course I took on Udemy didn’t cover much of what is on the exam. It’s tough to spend all that time on something and then realize it didn’t fulfill its intended purpose. I can't pretend that I’m not a bit miffed. So, I’m now digesting another course over my holiday break. It means this isn’t a complete break, but the activity is necessary and useful.

In joyous news, my youngest sister had her first child in Albania. She and her husband are over the moon, and I’m so excited about it. I’m praying for a speedy recovery from the birth. I’m hoping to make it to Albania + Italy next year for a visit. My oldest son went to China to visit my sister when he was 13. My mom promised my youngest son that he could go somewhere when he was 13 (which he turns this coming year). He picked Italy, which is a convenient hop across the pond from Albania.

I attended more music shows this year than any other time in recent memory. The late-summer into fall schedule was packed with bands I wanted to see, which is a rarity. I got to see:

• Washed Out
• Bathe Alone
• The Jesus Lizard
• Wishy
• Guided by Voices
• Ducks Ltd.
• MJ Lenderman
• Wednesday
• Snail Mail
• Christian James
• Moon Womb
• My Sister Maura
• Small Black

There were other bands that I would have liked to see playing locally but just didn’t have the time and/or energy. I'm grateful that I can still go to live shows (even if I do have to wear compression socks). It would be too optimistic to assume that I’ll have these kinds of opportunities in the future, so I’m relishing the memories.

Pics or it didn't happen…

My oldest son completed his first semester at the nearby NCSU with a set of all A’s. He’s enjoying school and considering adding a minor in Middle East Studies to his major in Sociology. The kid ordered a book by Max Weber to read over the holiday break (you know, something light).

My oldest sister and her boyfriend are in town for the holidays, so it’s nice to be able to spend time with them and hear about their adventures in LA (they had lunch with Butch Vig and his wife a few weeks ago at a charity function).

I wish you all happy holidays and a blessed new year.