What happened to BFRD?
Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 12:22 pm
Hi guys!
Prompted by Scott and others who have provided a year-in-review, I thought I, too, would provide an update. It might explain why you have seen so little of me.
Like so many others, 2020 was a year to forget. It started great. My family and I attended one of the best hockey games, the Winter Classic in Dallas. The first few weeks were fine, but the writing was on the wall as far as COVID goes. Our local government announced a lock-down, and I moved into a home office. Working from home and I don't mix, and my productivity went downhill. Almost immediately after, my wife had to have emergency surgery. For the sake of her privacy, I'll say that there were some severe complications. Luckily, we are almost completely out of the woods with her health, but COVID still looms heavy. She is still immune-compromised, and the threat of either one of us getting sick is constant and unrelenting.
In the middle of that happening, my daughter was graduating high school during a pandemic. This meant that she missed out on the only "fun" parts of high school. It also meant that we had to keep my wife's condition a secret. We told her after her graduation so she could salvage what little was left to salvage. COVID also made her moving away to university a bit interesting.
Work-wise we were implementing a software project that was probably 3 years in the making. Trying to do this with a new staff member who was remote proved challenging. Oh, we also moved office buildings for an added speed-bump.
With life throwing everything it could at me, I could not find any focus on making models. I tried to sit down at the bench but couldn't get my mind in the right place. The Duck was the last thing I built (at least model-wise).
I will possibly embarrass Scott, but he and I chatted quite a bit, and his friendship and compassion helped me through a pretty rough stretch. This hobby and the friends that I have made are amazing. Even though the dumpster fire is still raging outside, at least there is some hope that the flames will be put out soon. I am looking forward to cleaning up my workbench and starting on a new model for the new year. I can't decide what to start on.
Prompted by Scott and others who have provided a year-in-review, I thought I, too, would provide an update. It might explain why you have seen so little of me.
Like so many others, 2020 was a year to forget. It started great. My family and I attended one of the best hockey games, the Winter Classic in Dallas. The first few weeks were fine, but the writing was on the wall as far as COVID goes. Our local government announced a lock-down, and I moved into a home office. Working from home and I don't mix, and my productivity went downhill. Almost immediately after, my wife had to have emergency surgery. For the sake of her privacy, I'll say that there were some severe complications. Luckily, we are almost completely out of the woods with her health, but COVID still looms heavy. She is still immune-compromised, and the threat of either one of us getting sick is constant and unrelenting.
In the middle of that happening, my daughter was graduating high school during a pandemic. This meant that she missed out on the only "fun" parts of high school. It also meant that we had to keep my wife's condition a secret. We told her after her graduation so she could salvage what little was left to salvage. COVID also made her moving away to university a bit interesting.
Work-wise we were implementing a software project that was probably 3 years in the making. Trying to do this with a new staff member who was remote proved challenging. Oh, we also moved office buildings for an added speed-bump.
With life throwing everything it could at me, I could not find any focus on making models. I tried to sit down at the bench but couldn't get my mind in the right place. The Duck was the last thing I built (at least model-wise).
I will possibly embarrass Scott, but he and I chatted quite a bit, and his friendship and compassion helped me through a pretty rough stretch. This hobby and the friends that I have made are amazing. Even though the dumpster fire is still raging outside, at least there is some hope that the flames will be put out soon. I am looking forward to cleaning up my workbench and starting on a new model for the new year. I can't decide what to start on.
