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Change Is Finally in the Air

I stopped updating this blog on a regular basis because, after months of hoping for the best, nothing was really changing. Fortunately, that's not exactly the case several months later. I mean, don't get me wrong, there's still plenty of COVID-19 cases, deaths, pandemic-deniers, and people just not taking things as seriously as they should. But hey, we've just had more vaccinations than cases in the US, which is such a freaking relief to see.

Oh yeah, there are a few vaccines available since I last posted any pandemic updates and more on the way, and we now have a president who seems to take the pandemic seriously, and the last one instigated a failed coup d'état attempt, and in retrospect I really picked a bad time to stop blogging about these things.

That said, I'll leave all of that stuff for the history books to explain, and keep this blog focused on my own experiences during the pandemic that has now overflowed into 2021.

Through some combination of being worn down over time and the fact that winters in Wisconsin are always a shelter-in-place season for me, I feel like I've gotten used to this self-isolation thing. I still miss seeing my friends, going to places, and having bigger family celebrations, but I feel like I've finally settled mentally into this "new normal" that everyone was talking about. I'm used to it, at least for the time being. Supposedly things should go back to the old normal in the last quarter of this year, so we'll see how I do over the summer being isolated again. All I can hope for is my family and friends to stay safe.

My new job is going well. I enjoy the freedom that it provides as a contract worker and the fact that I'm treated like an expert in my field rather than just some cog in the machine. I also enjoy getting paid again. That part's pretty cool.

There are only a few more months until our second child will be born! Our family built a bed shaped like a house for our daughter so we can use her crib for our incoming baby (who we found out will be another girl!) and have been busy converting the third bedroom from an office into a nursery and building a new office in the basement. The house projects never end.

Oh yeah, and I was able to purchase the parts for and build myself a fancy new gaming computer. I'm sure that also has something to do with me being more comfortable in the pandemic—not only is it something new to play with indoors, but it's one more thing that signals the forward movement of time.


Overall, I'm just happy to report that things are happening again. There's a change in the air, and just knowing that is enough right now.

Stay healthy and sane.

-Ryan

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