I’ve got a confession to make. Every year, typically starting around November and lasting through into the new year, I kinda sorta feel… left out (?) when I start getting holiday cards in the mail from my friends and family showing off pictures of themselves, their spouses, kids, and sometimes, pets. Occasionally, there is a note attached talking about their big news for the year, but usually its a generic “Happy Holidays from the So-and-Sos” message. Well, its kinda too late to send one out now, but I’m going to write a quick note here to let you know my news for the year. Here it goes:
- I bought my first house.
- This house has been in my mom’s family since it was built in 1928. It belonged to my great-grandparents, then my great-aunt before me. I’ve actually been living in this house since I moved to Dallas about 3 years ago, but I finally reached an agreement and bought the house from my aunt and uncles in January of 2017.
- Once the sale of the house was completed, I hired a crew to come in and tear out the existing 50-plus-some-odd old chain link fence and replace it with an 8-foot tall, board-on-board, cedar privacy fence. Its made a huge difference on how the backyard looks and now I can enjoy the backyard without feeling like everyone and their mother can see me back there.
- I’ve done quite a bit of work cutting down crepe myrtle trees, runaway bush and vine growth, and digging up root stumps, chunks of broken concrete, and almost 2 tons of oil-field grade steel pipes and sheet metal. And I’m not done with that yet.
- I got a new job.
- In September, I was in DC on a work trip and met with a friend for dinner who told me she knew people at John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) looking to hire experienced system engineers. Well I wasn’t interested in moving back to the east cost, but I sent along my resume anyway.
- My resume was passed along to a friend of a friend of my friend, and I was later approached by a recruiter for Rockwell Collins here in the Dallas area. I went in for an interview and was offered the job later that same day. The job more along the lines of stuff I used to do up in New England, and there was a significant pay boost too. So…
- I quit my old job of almost 13 years.
- Raytheon made an offer to keep me, but they just couldn’t match the increased salary RC was offering. I think I did a good job not burning any bridges and on my last day, I actually found it a little… emotionally taxing leaving.
- I took a week off and started my new job at my new company. So far, everything is going well.
- I bought a 36-year-old, used Airstream travel trailer.
- This was kind of a out of the blue opportunity. I came across a listing for a 24-foot, 1981 Airstream Excella II in early December. It does need quite a bit of work before its ready for use, but my plan is to gut the trailer and rebuilt it from the inside out. I will likely write about this in greater detail in the future.
And now we are in 2018. Earlier today, I did something a bit… dramatic. I shaved off my beard. Its the first time I’ve been clean-shaven in 10 years. It feels wierd and now my face is cold (doesn’t help that I did this on a day where the high was in the mid-20s). But never fear, the beard will be back. I just felt I needed a bit of a reset in the New Year.
Speaking of New Year, I hate resolutions. I haven’t made any in years, and frankly, they’re largely considered a joke nowadays. Instead, I’m setting goals for 2018. And since “they” say people who write down their goals are more likely to reach those goals, I think I’ll list mine here. They are, in no particular order:
- Get to, and maintain, a body weight below 300 pounds.
- I weighed myself this morning; my starting point is 329 lbs.
- This is going to include making adjustments to my diet, exercise more, and cut back on eating out. I’m not going to say I’m going do anything more specific than that because I think saying “I’m going to run a 5k” places the focus on the wrong metric. Plus I hate running. Hate it. Unless I’m being chased by a bear, or chasing after Natalie Dormer (and assuming her security detail isn’t subsequently chasing me), I don’t plan on relying on running for much of anything.
- Save or invest 50% of my income.
- I don’t want to wait til I’m 65 to retire. Right now, my goal is to retire by 55, but sooner would be better. But to get to that, I need to do more than just dumping money into my 401k and Roth IRA accounts. By saving/investing 50% of my income, I’m way more likely to be able to retire earlier rather than later. In order to do this, I really need to control my spending, and right now, I tend to rely on the credit cards a little too much. So, there’s a starting point for me there.
- Resuscitate my comatose social life.
- I’ve largely been a urban hermit since I moved to Dallas. I haven’t met many people outside of work, and I hardly see most of my neighbors (I re-meet many of them few months at neighborhood block parties where we all re-learn each other’s names). It doesn’t help that I hate going out by myself with no plan/agenda. Dating websites are crap. So I really need to start hitting up Meetup.com or some of these trivia nights. And, more importantly, stop being such a lazy SOB in the evenings.
So that’s all I’ve got for now. I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas/Hanakkah, a Happy New Year, and may your return to work be not-too-miserable.
Bob