2018 was a year of change. It wasn’t planned (mostly), but change is inevitable, and you have to learn to lean into the change and make it work for you.
First up was that I got a new job in April. I left Northern New England Housing Investment Fund after more than 13 years and became the Director of Asset Management at the Caleb Group. NNEHIF had done a number of deals with Caleb, so we knew each other, and the transition was pretty easy. I’m doing a lot more at Caleb regarding the refinancing of properties which is different from what I had been doing at NNEHIF. Unfortunately, the commute is the same. I had been hoping that if I did change jobs that I would travel less (what, there were no companies that are in easy walking distance to my home?).
The next event that happened was the event that had been planned. My son got married in late June. This was a very happy event – the wedding and reception went off very easily and everybody seemed to enjoy themselves. After the wedding my wife, her brother and his wife and I went to the Jersey shore for a couple of days. That was nice, too.
Nick and his wife Lindsay went to Hawaii for 2+ weeks. They had wonderful adventures there. We had gotten them a week there, which helped with their out of pocket (although they did quite well at the wedding). They spent Thanksgiving with us and will spend Christmas at the in-laws. For now, they live closer to us, so we see them more often.
The last event that happened was very recent – I was rear-ended and my car was totaled in early November. I’m still dealing with the insurance company about this. I finally got a new car a month afterwards – a very similar car to the one that was totaled. I went from a 2017 Camry to a 2108 Camry. I tried other cars but the ride in the Camry was much better than the tanks I tried (and other non-SUV cars).
I’m looking forward to 2019, where I hope that I do not have to go through any changes. I’ll take a year of calm. On the other hand, my wife is looking towards retirement (maybe June 2020 – will have to decide in late 2019), and I have a knee replacement that is in my future, but hopefully I can put that off for years and not just months (the knee had been much better until the accident and is starting to subside again – I keep hoping that it stays at a tolerable level before I head to the next round of shots).
I hope that everyone had a good 2018 and that 2019 is looking up as well.
Let’s get ready for 2019 with tunes from Badfinger, Pet Shop Boys, XTC, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Shriekback, Flock of Seagulls, the Kinks, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Donovan, the Hollies, Bettye Lavette, Crazy Horse, Neil Young, and Dinosaur, Jr.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer – iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too – leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
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