1 year later, what have you accomplished?
 

I accomlished nothing.

But being retired...

I'm not finished yet.

I have become a PPOT post ho' :D.

I got fat :(

I'm sure you meant this as a positive, uplifting type of post, Gianni. But this has been one of the worst years ever in many (most?) of our lives. The fact that we're not dead--either through COVID or suicide--is an accomplishment alone, to some degree. A lot of people are suffering, whether financially, medically, socially, professionally, or psychologically. Everyone's got their own individual problems, which affect them to varying degrees. Some will bounce back like the proverbial water off a duck's back, but others won't. It's a mess out there.

I went to work every day and tried to minimize the decimation to the lives of my children.

I made more money than I ever had before by working for myself. I kept on working, ignored most of the BS and things worked out just fine.

Certainly Noah, this has been one of the most challenging years for a lot of us. Being able to say we still have our health, a roof over our heads, and gainful employment is a blessing. Many are still suffering.

I do not mean to down play the fallout of COVID19. As car fanatics we are fortunate to have our vehicles to offer us an escape, whether it be a long drive to clear the head or wrenching to keep us sharp.

Not sure what this "lock down" you speak of is, but I didn't stop until I got covid at the end of the year. In 2020, I acquired, and now have a better job. My thoughts are with those who did not fair as well.

Does "started going insane" count as doing something?

My company sold 20% more on 50k less in wages. It was a difficult but profitable year. Lost my mom in November- she was in a retirement home with covid which has been tough. It’s hard to celebrate the good fortunes of work when both folks now gone.

Did and still doing as best I can to keep life normal for my now 13 year old son. Witnessed first hand the impacts of remote/virtual learning on kids (my own) this in my humble opinion will be the largest and longest lasting impact on our country. Thankfully our school went back to in person full time at the start of the school year back in August. I feel for those families that are stuck with remote learning. Thankfully we (my son and I) had his kart racing over last spring/summer to also keep some sense of normal.

In 8,760 hours and we'll be asking same question.

Much more proficient on guitar and piano in various different styles.
Getting better at dealing with personal issues.
More familiarity working on unusual brands.. Citroen, Lotus, Jaguar
Getting more skilled at fine woodworking
Surviving a year not having a steady, normal job. Thank God for quick, diverse gigs.

Wife’s mom died in May. My mom died in early November of Covid. Dad also had it but lasted till last sat. Wife and I got it from my parents late Oct. almost killed us. Other than that **** it all

I accomplished absolutely nothing. Mom fell down in May 2020, went to a rehab hospital. They had a Covid outbreak, and I pulled her out. Been caring for mom since then.

I've gained about 5#. I figure ONLY gaining 5# is an accomplishment.

I finally learned how to not wear face chonies inside out and upside down.

Hmm, accomplished? Tough eval question, but valid.

As many of you know, I work in hospitals and Diagnostic Imaging facilities daily.
From the beginning, figured I'd get it, but haven't. Yet, I've been uncomfortably close to positive Covid environments easily 3x a week, not counting vacation or other detached duties, since late April 2020. Always taking precautions, but still...

As of late January 2021, I'm fully vaccinated.

Additionally, 20% of our Engineers left by last July, and no replacements. I'm on call every 3 weeks. In 22 yrs, work has never been busier for me.

I need me some vaca.

I've also experienced close loss due to this crap. We should all take close inventory of ourselves.

Goofy how life can( and DOES ) say. "Here, hold my beer..."

I got Covid, 19 lbs.

My younger, 13 year old is suffering from depression. New school, no friends and plays on the computer by himself most times. His teachers are basically bone heads, really boring monotone with repeated videos and even puts me to sleep after 10 min. I get him out to ride our bikes and he seems to be a bit more serious after a couple weeks of riding (SOB likes to climb. We did a 2 mile hill and had my ass handed to me near the end but of course, he's 5'7" 115 lbs. I am 170 same height). I only hope he's serious about bike riding if so, I am all in for that one and take time off to train with him. Since my racing days are in my rear view mirror, I love to help him to be a better cyclist and hopes he takes up racing. I know it isn't for everyone, its a lot of serious suffering.

I am working a lot with people beating down my door but will take one day a week off and have my little one help me build the upstairs deck. Delivery of materials is this Friday. Going to be a long Saturday after our morning ride to breakfast. Best time is the three of us eating like bums on the sidewalk. I can't wait.

face chonies.. great band and porno name.

I stick built a 12x20 gambrel roofed greenhouse that we are now starting plants in. I completely restored two John Deere 318 garden tractors, I have been re-fitting my work shop with new drywall, a new workbench, and a roll up garage door. I rescued a 12' fiberglass jon boat, and built new casting decks, carpet, electronics, and found/refurbished a trailer for it. We just finished carefully applying two coats of paint to all of our kitchen cabinets, after dismantling, and replacing hardware.

We went camping for 5 weekends last year, and look forward to getting out again on our kayaks, and hiking again.

Oh, BTW, I worked full time (in the offices) at my prototyping job for a rubber manufacturer every day since June 1st of last year....no boredom here !

Better health.

I bought into it when it first came out. But then I decided that hiding/working from the house wasn't living at all. So I decided to get out and live a little. A few highlights were camping with my son for a couple weeks. Lots of fishing with him too. Took my daughter south on a spirited drive in the mountains of Va and Ky. Installed a lift in the garage last fall. Most recently I've been finishing my basement. That might be done in the next few weeks.

But honestly, as bad as c-19 is it really gave me an opportunity to spend time with my teenagers and I took advantage of that. Pre-covid they were pretty much gone all the time with sports, school, work and friends. So in the future when someone brings up covid I'll remember all those great times with them.

Got into a relationship (I like her)
Gained 8 lbs
Changed my dining out habits
Learned to shop more on line
Put more money in savings
Spent more time outdoors (nature)
Re-evaluated my retirement plans - made adjustments
Re-evaluated my art hobby - much more effort in 2021
Overall - a learning experience, made some life adjustments

Accomplished? Let's see:
We've kept my 90 yo MIL safe and in her own home, with adaptations to help with her mobility issues.

We had our house wiring upgraded with a generator installed and wired in in a re-purposed building. The barn wiring had to be upgraded at the same time. Solar panels went on in August so we should now make more electrical power in a year than we consume.
I re-roofed the barn in steel added some eaves trough and drain to take the water away from the barn yard. Some fences got moved to take advantage of the available pasture in the drier summers we've been having.
The restaurant where I have played for ten years is under restrictions, but in Oct. I got an audition at another venue and have been playing monthly since January.
The wife and I are enjoying our (soon to be) 7 year old grand daughter. The kid plays a mean game of crazy eights.

Life is pretty close to normal (whatever that is) around here.
Best
Les

Stained my house and garage. Landscaped the front area of my house with fire resistant flora. Cut down and split 7 100 foot plus pine trees. Remodeled two of my rental units. Now remodeling my guest house after having my chain smoking mother in law live there. She passed away at 96. Not from COVID.

Work has been pretty much on track - the art of tele-conferences is a learned behavior!

My part of Maryland never shut down in a manner that impacted us: Before CV we ate out maybe once a month...the restaurants adjusted quickly and got smart on deliveries and no contact take-out. 99% mask wearing and sd...

Both kids spent time here: My son finished law school from our dinning room. My daughter left NYC and spent a three months here before her move to Charleston, SC.

She worked from our home as well.

I had to find a better internet solution:)

I have gotten out once a day for a "drive-about"...an errand a day has been important. I can't imagine having been house bound.

The hours I used to spend commuting I've turned into stretching and daily AARP Shuffles or elliptical time. No weight gain so far!

My best to all.

Honestly 2020 was less impacting for us than 2021 has been so far. Our families stayed healthy. My wife and I both had jobs that transferred to remote work easily, we enjoyed our kids, spent time at home, and worked on the house and yard.

Last October we made a cross-country move for a job opportunity for me. Since then life has been much more stressful...The job wasn’t advertised accurately and is a total ball of stress, my wife just lost her job out of the blue, and living someplace new with no other family or friends around has been very isolating. We are actually working on cutting our losses, finding me a job back home, and bailing out of the new situation.

If you would have told me that 2021 would be “worse” than 2020 I wouldn’t have believed you, but here we are. I count myself lucky to have our health, relative financial stability, and of course for having the options we have. Even if in the moment it feels overwhelming.

What is the opposite to accomplished?

Added an old class B RV to the unending restoration projects in the Garage.
Left the gym --now returned to the gym.
Lost about 5 lbs in 11 months -- i fear the wrong kind of weight loss- muscle not flab.
Left the Special Needs Transportation gig.
Went back to customer support for the old company (what people in my world used to do when they joined the company). Fulltime /part time.
Decided to fully retire in May.
Every day still kinda feels like Groudhogs Day.

Played a lot more golf and tennis.
Went to the casino a lot less.
Did a bunch more hiking and visiting nearby national parks.
Deferred some travel, and planned/planning more trips for when this lockdown eases up.

I've also started a relationship (and like her. Coming up on 1yr in 2 days).

I spent a bunch of money on things that make me happy.
- A new performance PC that I built (I7 10700k, 32gb 3200ram, NVMe M.2 drive, RTX3090)
- A road bike (Specialized Roubaix, carbon frame, disc brake, shimano ultegra Di2 running gear) I've put about 300miles on
- Lowered my little 190e

I also learned a new skill: Leathercraft. I've only made a few projects, but I really enjoy it.

A coaster
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1614881001.jpg

A journal cover
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1614881001.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1614881001.jpg

A dog collar
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1614881001.jpg

Absolutely nothing has changed in my world. Busier than ever. Just have to wear a ridiculous mask in certain settings.

It actually has changed in the sense that airfreight moves in and out of the country differently. As a result, O'Hare is at or beyond capacity as far as cargo goes. We are extremely busy because of this. Freighters in to Rockford are now a regular growing thing.

Very nice.

This interests me in the sense that I am always fascinated how businesses adapt. Have they refitted passenger planes, etc.?

Just curious.

Damn nice leather items! One thing I've been looking for is a large-ish coin bag to put loose coins in and save them from rolling around in the car.

^^
That leather coaster looks fantastic. I have a hell of a time with coasters around here. Glass ones stick to the bottom of the glass. Cork is OK, but that leather - wow. How do you do the stitching?

The other airports in the country have decreased their international service. This is causing a lot of freight to be trucked in the Chicago due to it's central location. This started out as a temporary fix. But now it seams the forwarders like the efficiency of running more charters. Problem here is, O'Hare can only handle so much.

RFD has been trying for a long time to get the cargo carriers to land out there. UPS had been the only thing out there for a long time. Amazon has big new facility there and there are three new 100,000 sq ft buildings going up shortly, to accommodate various freight forwarders and ground handlers.

It will be interesting to see what 10 years does to that airport. They have two very long runways out there. I think Rockford is going to see a big resurgence.

House is in tip top shape now. All car projects I can do are completed. Had a deck built in the yard that became a home office on warm days. Replaced commuting with early AM walking. Taught kids "home skills" after school (knowing and using types of tools, some basic electrical, repairs, tire changing, trivial stuff even like using a can opener or wine bottle opener - they're young - etc...), am now a pretty damn good cook, can make mean bread, & got vaccinated.

Mostly got used to working from home. Will be hard to return if it happens. I miss colleagues and camaraderie at work, but no commute is hard to beat.

Thanks. I had to take a peek.

https://flyrfd.com/history/

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1614895860.jpg

I bet getting the freight out, traffic-wise is much, much easier than O'Hare.