♫ It Was a Very Good Year♫

2019 turned out to be a very good year.  And for me, that was a bit surprising because I am much more partial to even numbered years than to odd numbered years.  I was born in an even numbered year in the 1950s and so each even numbered year, I am also an even numbered age.  Even all of the cars I own or have owned (with few exceptions) have been even numbered model years.  But despite it having been an odd numbered year, a lot of good things happened this year that make it worthwhile to reflect back as we approach New Year’s Eve and a double even year of 2020.

2019 represented my 2^nd full year of retirement and without a doubt was another enjoyable year as documented here.  It is so nice to never have to set an alarm, sleep as long as I want (although I still get up around 6:00 or 6:30 out of habit), exercise as often as I like, and get to do just about whatever I want to do almost every day (I do have some obligations to fulfill).  If these all sound good to you, you might want to consider retiring at an age when you can still do all this.

There were a number of fun projects I worked on in 2019 and searching on “Entropy” in my search field, you can read about many of those.

After basically taking off the entire year of 2018 from work, I began to do some consulting this year that I had hoped I would get to do.  I retired in October 2017 after 35 years fulltime employment in the pharmaceutical industry but still enjoy dabbling in the field (I teach two professional-level courses on analytical topics that I love and thus do not consider this work).  Three organizations contracted with me and for two of them I spent quite a bit of time working for them.

The first consulting opportunity allowed me to reconnect with many professional colleagues I had worked with in a professional trade organization in which I had previously led a team of stability experts.  The team had developed two new stability guidance documents for our industry, and I was asked to revise and edit them and get them ready for publication.  Working with this organization also afforded me the opportunity to attend their annual national meeting in Washington, DC and to make a stability presentation (which was most fun).

The second consulting opportunity was with the organization I have been teaching for, for over the past 20 years.  It has challenged me to become more knowledgeable about topics outside my area of expertise, but it has been rewarding in the sense that my work has been most appreciated by management of that organization.

It was an exciting year watching our youngest son achieve a number of significant milestones, the most momentous of which was his marriage just last month.  But earlier in the year, after both having completed their advanced degrees in 2018, landed excellent fulltime jobs that they both enjoy very much.  This was promptly followed by them purchasing together their very first house.

2019 was a very big travel year for me as will be expounded upon early in 2020.

It was a big year for being a granddaddy with three trips to Seattle to visit our daughter and her family and five trips to San Francisco to visit our oldest son and his family.

Twice I was able to visit my favorite place in the world, Montreat, NC, first with my oldest sister and then with my brother.  I got to revisit many of our memories from vacationing there every year growing up and with my brother accomplished a worthy hike up a mountain we had first ascended over 50 years ago.

The trip with my brother also afforded us ample opportunity to taste many local craft breweries in the area, but mainly in Asheville, a growing craft brewery mecca.

These two trips to North Carolina also included exhilarating runs on the Tail of the Dragon.

But by far the biggest trip of all was the wonderful one my wife and I took to Hawaii just a few weeks ago to celebrate our 40^th anniversary, one I also just wrote about.

So even though I prefer even number years, 2019 will be most memorable to recall for many years to come.  Hopefully your 2019 was a very good year for you as well.