Happy Halloween, all!

I'm still working for a non-profit in central NC, although I'm doing more eLearning stuff and making plans to move more of the web stuff off my plate. I'm doing the single, middle-aged chick with a cat thing, and it's working pretty well for me.

This summer I took a vacation in the northern part of Michigan's lower peninsula and it felt like home. (I'm originally from around there.) So I've been weighing my current situation (decent job, awesome friends, nifty town, nice surrounding area) with possibly moving back (no friends but family would be a lot closer, some nifty towns, utterly gorgeous surrounding area, snow, far fewer 90+F summer days). The ongoing unemployment rates in the Traverse City area have tipped the balance towards staying in NC so far.

Ok, update for 2012. Last year's post was here: billytea "Delurking 1: Because we don't always check our e-mail." Oct 30, 2011 7:27:15 am PDT.

Not much has changed. Ryan is still awesome. I'm still in the same job. I deferred my Maestro of Finance studies this year to focus on building the firm's new capability, which has been pretty successful. It looks like we're signing up our first external client before year end.

We visited China in April, and Ryan celebrated his third birthday at Biyi's parents' apartment. They'll be back in Australia in about two weeks, this time permanently. We shall be marking this occasion with a cruise to New Zealand (of all things), and by converting the laundry into a second kitchen.

It's all heady stuff; but the highlight of my year was that I had the opportunity to see David Attenborough in person at the Regent Theatre. It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

In conclusion, Ryan would like everyone to know that dinosaurs came from birds, fish lay eggs but they don't have shells, and his favourite animal is the echidna.

Jars, I think TCG is going to be taking off the week between Christmas and New Years off, and we'd love to see you! We're also planning on resuming out New Years Day gathering this year, and would love to have you join us here, if you can.

Jars, thirty is going to be awesome and you're going to rock it. Don't stress.

I've been so lurky, I haven't even thought about how to delurk.

It's been a rough couple of years. Lots of loss, lots of illness and not much in the way of the kind of magic I have come to expect in my life.

Bartleby's death, so close on the heels of my own nearly checking out at the end of 2010, just did me in. And continues to color my days, often in surprising ways. Nearly every day, someone still asks me where he is, or even worse, calls my new dog by his name. Little kids tell me that they miss him. As painful as it is, it's also kind of beautiful that he touched so many people. Such a small soul, such a big impact.

The new guy is adorable and sweet and, sadly, just about as dumb/untrainable as a dog can be. I feel like it is some sort of karmic payback. I had the perfect dog, now I have one that looks at me regularly with an expression that says, "I know you are talking to me, but I have no idea why and, frankly, could not care less."

The challenge has been great and my efforts to meet it have not been very successful.

As for business. Oy. It's bad. But, I'm hoping the passing of election season will un-paralyze this company town. Everyone is in a holding pattern, wondering if they will have jobs in the new year.

My next big plan is to help folks overcome public speaking and meeting stress/anxiety using video. Hopefully, it will be fun and fruitful.

On the canine side of the house, I plan to start a Dog Scouts of America chapter to get neighborhood kids involved in leadership and dog powered scooters. If all goes well, I will put together a band of scooters for charity runs and fundraisers for local shelters and for folks like me who need help with major medical expenses for their pets.

I cannot express the depth of my gratitude for this community and their help when things were so bad with Bartleby. The money was a huge, HUGE help and the kindness actually kept me alive.

I love it here and resolve to be around more in 2013.

Sneaking in under the wire.

Personally, 2012 has sucked. So let's talk about nothing personal.

But my mother finished chemo, and she's in remission, so good. My father's eye surgery seems to be working out, and my sister had an amazing time turning 40. So those things are good.

I'm not a lurker, but I figure I'll toss my 2 cents in and maybe encourage more actual lurkers to contribute before the day is through!

since last October, things have been hard. Tom's mother died in late October/early Nov last year, and I'm starting to see that we haven't recovered from the stress of that too well, and when other relatively minor problems come up, they knock both of us over a lot harder than they should.

Hoping to flip that script by tackling my depression, which has come back strong this past year.

Still in New Orleans, and I do love it. I don't even know what kind of rough shape I'd be in if I were still in New England with this depression.

Got to see lots of buffistas this year, both with them coming to me in New Orleans and also when I went to San Francisco a few weeks ago (wheee!)

Good on you, Nora.

I'm glad for your mom, ita.

So yeah, last year my post was on the last day of the thread too.

It's been an interesting year. The basics are all still the same: loving the house, still amazingly working for ourselves hanging out with kids and playing instruments, dog is happy, husband is amazing.

Things have been a little harder overall. The SO is working a ton of extra hours, and now it's physical labor instead of lessons at the music store. It's not infinitely sustainable. But I love him, and I appreciate how hard he's working for us.

I came through the minor depression pretty well and this year has been pretty good, although not without its bumps. The big major thing is that I started working with a trainer and have shed 10 pounds today! But it does take time, so I feel like while I'm keeping up with that, I'm not necessarily keeping up with everything else I need to be.

Anyway, more introspection in Good Riddance, but on the whole, it's been a pretty good, if more physically difficult and tiring, year.

have shed 10 pounds today!

Wow. That's amazing. How many did you shed yesterday?