Friday, December 31, 2004

End-of-year letter to the world

As I write this, there are just under 14 hours left in 2004. Whoa. This has been a year of total and utter change in my little world, most of it good. The rest of the world continued to suck, with the exception of two championships for the local pro sports teams - cool, but not the most significant things, cosmically speaking. Our president continues to suck, and to make things worse, this time a slim majority of my countrymen actually voted for the idiot. And I get the distinct impression that our planet has finally had it up to here with how stupid we are and is now actively trying to get rid of us.

(note to the planet - it's not my fault! I turn my thermostat down, recycle everything, wear natural fibers whenever practical, buy mostly organic foods, and I voted for the other guy. Please leave my house standing!)

When last New Year's came, I was chronically unemployed after a pretty successful career in IT management. Our son was just getting comfortable with his walking skills and starting to talk coherently, and my wife was starting to contemplate the possibility of a return to the workforce. Now, one year later, I run a company (of which I'm the sole full-time employee), and it's definitely shown enough promise to keep on going. I've made some money out of it, and in this week that I was supposed to be taking off I've signed up two more customers. January is starting to fill up now, and we'll see where this ride winds up. I'd really like to keep doing it. I have some good customers, and I have found some good people to partner with who we help with work together. And it turns out most of my customers pay their bills on time - even better!

Jane's recovered from the holiday rush - her first one in years. She's only had to work two days since Christmas Eve, and won't be going back until mid-January. The job she wound up with pays remarkably well, with really good benefits and frills. The lifestyle adjustment is major, but seems to be OK.

As for David, he had the joy of having both parents at home full-time until I started up my business in March. And Jane stayed with him until she started working in September. So he got through almost two and a half years with one or both parents at home with him, and he's blossomed in that timeframe. The biggest change in him over the last 12 months has been self-awareness. He knows things that we're surprised by. He remembers things from months ago that seemed trivial at the time. He's become pretty articulate, can use startlingly complex grammar, and has become much more physically competent at everything. Last night, he even was able to use chopsticks - putting him way ahead of his mother in that regard. We'll probably get rid of the downstairs gate in a couple more months, and I don't see much more need for the other ones, either. And by his third birthday we'll probably let him leave his room at night if he wants to - once he's potty trained that's mandatory anyway. And I think he'll be potty trained before he turns three - the peer pressure of school is wonderful like that.

In technical news, there's nothing major. I bought some equipment to get this company off the ground, but that's no biggie. I am, however, hunting for the perfect Bluetooth mouse - if you can find a two-button scroll mouse that uses Bluetooth but has a power switch, please let me know. I want it.

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