Login required to started new threads

Login required to post replies

My year in review
Quote | Reply
Getting a little tired of the Trump and "why did they get banned" threads, so thought I would post something here. Please feel free to post your own year in review. This is somewhat inspired by Fatmouse's Friday Random Thoughts threads that some of you may remember.


My wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this past December. We knew each other for six weeks when we got engaged. Six months later we were married. We went from introducing ourselves to planning a wedding. We had some struggles the first few years, but she is the sweetest and kindest person I know. When we discovered that my son is autistic, she started reading everything she could to find ways to help him. He is high functioning because of his mother.

I spent about six months on the road working as an insurance adjuster. Most of the time was in Omaha, but I also spent some time in Denver, Melbourne Florida, Minneapolis and South Carolina. I was surprised at how much I liked Minneapolis - though I wouldn't want to be there now. What is kind of funny, is that of the five cities I worked - my software company has school districts that use our software in four of those cities. Between the adjusting and my software company - I earned 4 times more than I ever did working as a programmer. In fact, after hurricane Irma - I made as much in 2 1/2 weeks as I earned in a year as a programmer. It was unbelievable. Still, I hate being away from my family and hope that my software company grows to the point that I can focus solely on it.

Since I've mentioned the software company here before, I'll discuss it. It is growing, but not real fast. We're getting a lot of referrals from existing customers who appreciate our customer support. It would be growing even faster if I didn't spend so much time out of town adjusting, but the adjusting pays the bills. If I have two more years like the last one - I will be able to pay off our mortgage and we will be debt free. I can then cut back on the adjusting and put more time into the software company. Fortunately, the adjusting allows me to set my schedule so we haven't had any issues with customer support; but it does cut into my marketing efforts.

I've started cooking more when I'm at home. I've always done the grilling, but have wanted to try new dishes so I have expanded. I'm actually enjoying the cooking and my wife certainly appreciates coming home and not having to figure out what to cook for dinner.

On a similar note, we went to New Orleans after Christmas. Since they are known for the great food, I made up my mind that we would eat local and I wouldn't worry about the cost. Usually when we travel, I try to be somewhat frugal about spending money on food. NOLA had some great food. I think our favorite place was The Ruby Slipper. I had two different eggs benedict dishes and they were probably the best breakfast I've ever had.

For the 25 years that my wife and I have been married - she wanted an inside dog. We never had an inside dog and I knew it wouldn't be comfortable with one. But about two years ago I was swayed a little bit after watching the Westminster Dog Show. Then, I had a claim in Mobile AL where the lady had two inside dogs that were sweet as can be. I came back home and told my wife that I would be open to getting a dog. She didn't waste any time and we started looking on Craigslist.

We found a Cavapoo puppy on Craigslist about 150 miles away. He is a cross between a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Poodle. We called and arranged to meet the lady at a place along the interstate. He was a tiny black ball of fur. You can barely see his eyes because they are black like his fur. As soon as my wife got out of the car and saw him - I knew we weren't leaving without him. She immediately took him and cuddled with him and didn't let go of him. We named him Nico DeAngelo (Nico for short) after a character in the Percy Jackson books that my kids love.

He is a smart and sweet dog. We thought he would only be about 7-10 pounds, but he weighs about 18 pounds. He loves to have us put up the recliner and then he'll take a nap alongside our legs. He'll even "talk" to us to let us know that he wants to get up there. He'll do a sneeze, shake his head and then make a noise. He is quite active and loves chasing the squirrels on the feeder in the back yard. I put up a chain link fence so he doesn't run off.

He needed a companion for when we were working or in school (kids), so I found him one. He is a Bichon Friese mix. He is dumb as a box of rocks but is a real sweetheart. He is white and has soulful eyes. He always wants to be near us. If we are on the couch and get up to eat, he'll follow us and lay on the floor so he can be nearby. He will go along with almost anything we do to him (bathing, grooming etc...). He may not like it, but the most he'll do is grunt and groan. He is a funny dog and makes us smile. His name is Teddy

It didn't go well when we first introduced the two dogs. Nico didn't like him and didn't want him in the house. Now, they're buddies and spend a lot of time chasing each other in the house. I now understand how much people love their dogs and why they are such good companions.

Well, that's it. Tell us about your year.
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Moved to a different department at work. No longer in IT.

Travelled to Germany for work. Drank beer.

2nd son was born. Much poo and screaming.

Travelled to US for work. Twice. Thanks Trump.

1st son has finally come around to liking his brother now that he can make him laugh.

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [BLeP] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
BLeP wrote:
Moved to a different department at work. No longer in IT.

Travelled to Germany for work. Drank beer.

2nd son was born. Much poo and screaming.

Travelled to US for work. Twice. Thanks Trump.

1st son has finally come around to liking his brother now that he can make him laugh.



Sorry. TLDR; :)

The "much poo and screaming" makes me think of the trump is a racist thread. <edit - Actually, it makes me think of Trump>

What are you doing for your company? Did they hire you to increase your post count?
Last edited by: rick_pcfl: Jan 12, 18 8:32
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Moved from IT to Service in a car company.

My post count probably dropped this year. Hopefully will continue to drop. You people are idiots.

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Big year for the BCtriFamily.

Started the year off still adjusting to life with our new fur baby, and my wife being a few months pregnant.

Was balls deep in a major home reno - finishing a basement rental suite in time for the arrival of baby.

Baby came in August, and it's been a blur of survival mode since then, really. As BLeP said, there's a lot of poo and screaming.

Long Chile was a silly place.
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [BLeP] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
//Much poo and screaming//

I assume this relates to,your travels to New Jersey?
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
My year in review;

Jan 7, 2017. Buy house cote d'azur
April 19 leave job move to London
Jul 12 move to house in France

Jul - Dec continue to haemorrhage cash on apartment in france burnt down in June 2016

Oct 17, sued by crooked tenants in London (entirely my fault lesson learnt)

Jan 7th settle crooked tenant case

Jan 11th, 2018 list house in France and London for sale

Jan 15th, start work in Beijing

Appreciate it went a little over a year but context is important

What an awful year. First world problems but stressful none the less.

I love France. Genuinely no where else I would choose to live EXCEPT for the tax. Which is outrageous. In fact it is so outrageous that in spite of the transaction fees on purchase and sale, and work done to house the difference in tax on earnings depending on where we move to offset it...........
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
   




This is Lily she is our new dog. She arrived in May. I didn't want a dog but my wife got her anyway. She is really nice. Our two exchange students from Australia and Austria enjoyed her when she was a younger pup in May to July. Exchange student from France arrived in September. Maybe I will post more later going swimming now.

I'm back.

So year started off with Austrian international student in place. Nice girl but a bit difficult to connect with. Spent alot of time in her room on internet. So much so that we had to increase our GBs. Very social with peers. In March we welcomed girl Australia because things were not working out at her host family place. She was friends with girl Austria and we had her over a number of times so we already knew her. She was facing being sent home if she couldn't find a place and it seemed we were her only option. She was pretty brash at times and had a bit of a history but we took her on anyway. She was good at drawing girl Austria out of her shell so it ended up being a win. Both girls stayed past the end of school because their parents wanted to come and visit. Austrian parents came first. Nice people. Lots of tears when they left turns out Austrian girl really was quite attached to us and had a great time. She never seemed miserable but we were worried at times she wasn't as happy as she could be. After they left Australian parents came. They were interesting. Father was unapologetic Trump fan. Lots of gritting our teeth leaving that one alone. They stayed for four days then group back to Australia.

Decided to do the international student thing again in late July. Wife and daughter were reluctant to try again because daughter is in last year of highschool and lots of things to do like visit Unis etc. Which was kind of funny because last year I was the one who was not too hot on the idea. Initially offered girl from Estonia but she was allergic to cats. Then nice girl from Italy but she bowed out. Finally very nice girl from France. Fits in nicely with our family as her family are French Protestants. Super social and impecable manners.

Looking for recreational property/investment property last four years. Goal was land with trout stream. Looked at five properties this year and found one that was ideal and not scooped up before I could get too it in November. 112 acres of Maple bush with 1000 ft of stream. Deal closes in two days. Pretty happy about that. It is adjacent to conservation lands on two sides and forest from neighbours on other two sides. I plan to preserve it as bush and maybe do some selective horse logging to pay property taxes.

Went to New York city during March break. August was France. Did Ironman distance triathlon while there but didn't make it to the top of the mountain on bike leg in time and had to drop out of the race. Got to bike 100 K in the French Alps though so it was a win. Raced 7 other times in olympic tris and road races and a 5K swim. Sept was Italy with wife as 25th anniversity trip. Italy rocks. The art in Florence and Milan wow just wow. We saw alot of Michelangos work including the last major thing he did which was unfinished. I didn't realize this until I was told but he died in his early 90s.

Despite having great job and great wife and great kids remained depressed. This all started in 2015 after my dad died and my best friend from med school got divorced and a colleague with whom I shared hospital call with for over 20 years died at age 53 from ovarian cancer. Sometime in early summer got myself on anti-depressants and it has helped alot.

Had the pool dug up and the hole filled in.

Took up painting to cope with depression. Did about 5 Van Gogh copies in oil so far. I like it but have not done much in last few months on that.

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Last edited by: len: Jan 14, 18 4:57
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Won a local 5k

Ran 2480 miles, swam 250 miles, biked 800 miles

No injuries

Got a PhD

Got a job - teaching math and trying to help have a university our football team can be proud of

fostered a pregnant momma cat, watched her give birth, raised the kittens until they were ready for adoption

discovered what reddit is and now lurk there

dealing with the stress of a sibling trying to make a gender transition. I think sibling is not actually transgendered but is creating a protective bubble so does not have to deal with other psych issues

read a lot of books

the cats were the best part :-)

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
January- June HOCKEY and the Stanley Cup Finals. Oh yea, there was some work and a little travel in between games.

July - find out I have three infected teeth which were causing major sinus issues so they yanked those suckers out. First time in about six years I don’t have sinus issues!

August - joined a new gym and met a fantastic trainer that I love. Immediate bond and he totally gets me. Get back in the gym and start getting back in shape.

September - have to postpone work travel to Houston and Austin due to hurricane. Have to postpone another work trip to Miami due to another hurricane. People at work are starting afraid to ask where our next trip is.

October - Hockey is back! Work trip to NYC. No hurricanes.

November - work, hockey, work out, travel.

December - finally get to Houston, Austin and Miami. Work, work out and hockey. Trainer moves back to Austin. 😢 clm starts plotting how to get transferred to our Austin office. Down 25 pounds since the end of August.

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [ironclm] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
//Down 25 pounds since the end of August. //

Nicely done!
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Took some deferred paternity leave in the first half of the year. Whole new respect for stay at home parents - love my son, glad I did it, but it nearly drove me around the bend.

Started BJJ and kickboxing. Love them both, haven’t been this engaged in a sport in close to a decade.

Went to Scotland with the wife and kid. Had a blast tromping around the Isle of Skye in the wind and wet.

Grew a beard. Looked kind of raggedy, plus the beard in addition to a close-shaved head got me a couple first pumps of approval from white power motherfuckers passing by on the street, so I shaved on Jan. 1.

Watched my dad’s health continue to decline, physically and mentally. It’s brutal - getting old is no joke.
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [JD21] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
JD21 wrote:
//Down 25 pounds since the end of August. //

Nicely done!

Thank you.

Quote:
Watched my dad’s health continue to decline, physically and mentally. It’s brutal - getting old is no joke.

We are dealing with this also so I totally understand where you’re coming from.

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [ironclm] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
I visited my Dad at his assisted living facility a couple days after Christmas. Brought a photo we had gotten restored and framed, of him around age 40, sitting with his wife/my mother. He didn’t recognize himself, thought his wife of 35 years was his mother, and then politely asked me who I was. I kept it together for the rest of the visit, and promptly lost my shit down in the parking lot. Told my wife she should find a way to put me down before I even get to that point.
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Lots going on. Several good things, a few bad things and an end the year uptick

Year started with 13 y/o stepdaughter getting arrested for shoplifting and sending out a snapchat of her smoking weed.
She decides she wants to live with her dad (no rules over there).
Mrs. Trispoke was devasted

We sold the farm, literally. Did FSBO, saved money and made a nice profit from appreciation
Construction finished on new home. Timing lined up well between sell and new purchase
Went from unincorporated rural living with no neighbors to single family, high density can walk to dozens of places living
It's nice to have a greenway to run on when it is dark.
I miss the quiet nature of the country where I could open my windows and not hear a thing.
Both my neighbors smoke. I didn't realize people still smoked.

For Mrs. Trispoke's birthday, I surprised her with a 72 hour trip to Orlando to spend 2 days at the Harry Potter theme park.
She cried, literally, when we entered Diagon Alley.
We went on an off day and were one of the first people to enter the park and the first to enter that area and rides. It was kinda cool to walk through Universal with NO ONE in front of you. Pictures turned out perfect. Plus we rode in the front cars with no lines for nearly an hour.

In March I started getting recruited for another job within the system in which I work.
I was hired in June.
It is a great and awesome opportunity
Within two months, I realize my supervisor is a micro managing, control freak monster who doesn't really understand what she is doing.

My stepson got a nice scholarship to the college he wanted to attend.
He moved out in August (one less in the house).
He had a great semester and seems to love college.

In November, stepdaughter moved back in with us (mama happy)
She seems to be coming out of the teenage girl phase.

Other stepson got word he will be deployed for nine months next June.
He proposed to his girlfriend
Wedding in spring of 2018.

Mrs. Trispoke and I went on a nice weeklong vacation to celebrate our 5th anniversary.
Our marriage is the strongest it has been in years. That is a far cry from where we started the year.

Due to my promotion and frugal family budgeting we are in a great financial position
I hate my boss and don't see how I can stay in this position much longer.
Great opportunity but a bad situation.
I have 100% support of my wife to quit.
Being in a great, financial position to do so feels really good.
I got accepted to the Doctoral program I applied
Big decisions to make in 2018.
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
At the beginning of the year my father was still hospitalized but I remained optimistic and mentally planned on him getting a bit better so that together we could still travel and shred shit up, even if that meant him strapped to a reclining wheelchair. He was tired and passed February 3. It was the absolute worst day of my life. I never thought the one person I had to bring me happiness and laughter would also cause so much pain and sadness. Not having him with me will never be easy.
Weeks after his passing friends and I scattered his ashes from a plane around the same area he and I did with my sister nine years prior. He told me it was what he wanted because he thought it was a nice way to go. I agree. Three good friends came up with me. One was afraid to fly but went up for him (and survived), another lost her husband 362 days before my father and another helped with all of the arrangements. After dealing with my father, the friend who lost her husband mustered up the courage to so the same with his ashes weeks later.
Days after his passing I decided to carry on with the volunteer work I set out to do at the VA to help other veterans and overcome my dislike of hospitals and medical centers. The work is good and enjoyable but not easy because of my father.
Early Spring some assclowns went on a high speed pursuit ending in my neighborhood at 3:40a or so. One of the dummies knocked on my door and rang the doorbell twice so I called the police. As one office was checking the side of my house I saw one of the clowns in my backyard. The entire police department and dogs were at my house while I stood outside for about 45 minutes. Dumb kid was caught and I went back to watching Dr. Phil. I was hoping the LivePD cameras would have shown up.
For months until the end of the year I traveled twice to Mexico, Colombia, Texas, Oregon, Costa Rica, Malaysia and Singapore. The trip to Texas was only 25 hours long but one of the most profound. The hurricane lead me to raise $2600 in two weeks so with the help of a friend here, my friends son and I flew to Houston to distribute goods to three nursing homes and give $100 gift cards to 24 families and individuals. Seeing the devastation was rough but the hugs received surpassed it all. We will return sometime this year to see our new friends.


_____________________________________
DISH is how we do it.
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [travelmama] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
The world is better with you in it.
Quote Reply
Re: My year in review [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
My year was boring...

Well except for the 1st business day of the year when the manager got in a fist fight with an employee...
Well except for going to Victoria, met the now banned Owen at one of the local pubs.
Well except for getting a fishing boat - finally
Well except for finally have a spot at the lake to go to whenever - finally
Well except for my wife getting her cancer check ups down to every 6 months. Thank God for that.
Well except for my wife and I both getting drawn for cow moose (bad planning) and then getting 2 moose in about 2 minutes. Loading was a nightmare.
Well except for my stepson starting university after 17 years in the military.
Well except for moving my mom into a seniors lodge ahd she went willingly. (so strange for a person so stubborn)
Quote Reply