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The Kessler year end newsletter has been on hiatus for a few years. But much like the endless Rolling Stones farewell tours, just when you think it might be over, another one comes along. And much like the Rolling Stones, this will go on for far too long. But there’s a lot to cover. So strap in for another random edition of the Kessler’s year (or 2) in review.
As I mentioned in the 2020 newsletter, we were gifted with a grandson in 2020 who I described as quite possibly the best baby who ever existed. Well, his run at #1 is over because grandson #2 appeared on the scene on September 24th, and, is definitely giving grandson #1 a run for his money in the best ever department. The judges’ ruling is a tie. We could decide it on penalty kicks. But we all know that’s a stupid way to break a tie. So a tie it is. (Sorry soccer people, but it is. Play until someone scores. If that would take days, and it might, make it easier to score. Your sport is dumb.)
The new grandson’s name is Jasper Thomas Ruiz Kessler. We were quite surprised and pleased to learn his second middle name is Marion’s maiden name. It was a very sweet gesture on Daniel and Rebecca’s part. It was such a surprise when announced, I didn’t have the camera ready to capture Marion’s surprise and joy as Daniel planned. Oops. But it was there.
Ok, so I have to admit, I did watch the World Cup final, and it really was pretty exciting. At least the second half, the random additional time, the overtime, more random additional time, and even the penalty kicks. And anytime the French lose at anything, that’s fun to watch.
Speaking of sports, how about them Phillies? The perennial losers made it to the World Series on a magical run that was fun to watch. Unless you’re Marion and hate baseball in which case it results in more than ample ammunition to pretty much watch all the baking and home improvement shows you want during TV time as compensation for all the baseball. At least for a few weeks.
And the Eagles too! It’s a good year to be a Philadelphia fan. I await their inevitable collapse in some tragic or stupid way. This is Philadelphia after all. But for now, good times.
One excuse for not writing a newsletter last year was we were in the midst of a kitchen remodel. After a false start with the loser remodeling people and months of wasted time, Marion found us the right people, and in a couple of months we got a revamped kitchen, salvaging a good chunk of the existing cabinets, making the flow much better, getting rid of the damn tile countertops that were WAY too hard to clean, under cabinet lights (which are a revelation, so nice) and new cat-barf-proof and toddler friendly flooring in the kitchen, family room and living room. And under budget! It was exhausting and stressful (don’t try this at home unless your marriage is strong – ours is) but we love it.
After numerous articles and news stories about the lack of teachers in the schools, Marion answered the call to be a substitute. As a former teacher in the Beaverton school district and based on the ‘if you can breathe oxygen and stand upright, we want you’ tone of the news stories, you would expect a simple ‘welcome aboard, when can you start’ process. Ha ha ha ha ha!! Oh please. The Beaverton school district is a bureaucracy like no other. She had to apply and fill out all the forms as if they had never heard of her. Including providing her college transcripts from 40 years ago, even though they already had them from before. Background checks. Training courses up the wazoo. Licenses. More forms.
But she persevered. And I am grateful, thanks to COVID isolation, she was not in close enough proximity to shiv any of the people involved in the process, which while richly deserved, I’m guessing would have disqualified her (there’s probably a policy against it, but the document is out of date and currently unavailable on the website…). In April she got a call to ask if she would be a ‘long term sub’ as an art teacher. It seems one of the art teachers, in her first year mind you, was bailing before the year was over. (Harder than it looks, huh?) So, with very little notice, Marion was teaching full time to the end of the year.
But if there’s one thing Marion knows how to do, it’s teach and manage a classroom. The students, who were slouching along with the first year drop out teacher, playing on their computers or phones and not doing anything, didn’t know what hit ‘em. That’s my girl.
One downside was despite masking 100% of the time, she still managed to catch COVID and then I did too (damn kids!). But it was a relief to some degree to get that out of the way. And fairly mild because of vaccines and boosters. But sadly, we got it the day before Tucker’s 2 year birthday party so we had to beg off, even though we were already in Tacoma. But grateful we didn’t infect a bunch of 2-year-olds and their parents. Let’s hear it for testing!
We did get to see everyone later in June though, when Daniel, Rebecca and Tucker (and Jasper in utero!) came down to visit, and my Mom, step father and younger sister Laurie came up from California. It was Laurie’s first time meeting Tucker and they got on famously. She taught him to say “badda bing badda boom”, which was hilarious.
Speaking of illnesses, we had a scare around Thanksgiving when Tucker came down with RSV, likely from the Petrie dish that is pre-school. That was bad enough. But 2-month-old Jasper caught it too and ended up in the emergency room for a couple of days after scaring the bajeebies out of his parents and grandparents by starting to turn blue. But the little guy’s a trooper and all better now. We did manage to catch it from them though. So now we just need the flu to complete our punch card. Then the next illness is free!
You may recall in the last random newsletter, my small company (Care Innovations) was purchased by a large company (PRA Health Services). Well, turnabout is fair play and in July of 2021, PRA was purchased by an equally large company, and major competitor, ICON, which more than doubled the company’s size from around 16,000 to now around 40,000. The good news, I thought, was that at least the corporate colors were a nice hunter green vs the shocking pink of PRA. But no, the geniuses in the marketing department decided a combination of green and hot pink was the answer. It’s not. But at least the web site doesn’t feel like a porn site anymore.
ICON manages clinical drug trials, which is great. But it makes everything extremely process-heavy thanks to FDA regulations and just big company-itis. They make the Beaverton School District look like a marvel of efficiency. Very much a 10 people from 6 different groups defining, coordinating, overseeing, documenting and testing the work of the one person actually doing anything. (Why are you behind schedule? When will you be done? Let’s have a meeting to discuss…) Even with 15 years of Intel process training behind me it’s a bit of a struggle. But just a few more years (or maybe months, we’ll see) until retirement. The pay and the health insurance are sure nice in the meantime. And at least we’re doing something worthwhile for the world.
One benefit of getting COVID was it took the pressure off a bit. Remaining COVID-free was like maintaining a Wordle streak. It gets tiresome after a while but once the streak is over, it frees you up some. So we’ve loosened up a bit and taken some trips and have gone out to a variety of shows and events. We’ve focused on comedy and music more than theater lately. Looking for something guaranteed to be happy I think.
Daniel and I managed to get down to LA last year for our annual baseball trip after having to take 2020 off because of COVID. We hit Cincinnati this year and now have only 4 cities left before we’ve been to every city (Detroit, Cleveland, Tampa and Miami if you’re wondering). Then, of course, it will be time to start over with the grandsons.
We had arranged a few days at the beach in Seaside with Daniel, Rebecca and Tucker, but Rebecca got COVID just before and they had to cancel. It’s bad enough to catch these illnesses. But they seem to always come along to mess things up just when something good is about to happen. Like Republicans. The reservation couldn’t be canceled so Marion and I went anyway and had a lovely time. And we were able to go again about 3 weeks later, with the kids and grandkids this time. Tucker (and Greg, the Corgi) loved the beach. I think it was the first time for both of them.
Tyke, our cat, continues his maniacal reign of terror, and woe be unto those who dare to oppose his wishes. He has trained us to feed him 3 or 4 times a day, plus once (and sometimes twice) in the middle of the night. He will only drink water from the bathtub faucet, even if a perfectly serviceable kitty fountain is right next to it. So we get to stand around in the middle of the night while his majesty drinks his fill. But pets are a joy and a delight. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.
Tucker’s pre-school had a Christmas show in mid-December. We were able to get up to Tacoma to see it along with Rebecca’s Mom, Dad, sister Shannon and Shannon’s boyfriend Tim. It was adorable and hilarious. It was hard to tell when the songs started or ended. The kids were more interested in playing with their props (jingle bells, stars on a stick that were handy for bopping other kids on the head) than singing, but with a few exceptions, they seemed to have a good time. Tucker was smiling throughout.
Three songs for his class, then 3 for two more classes while poor Rebecca tried to keep Tucker engaged and Marion performed her Jedi mind tricks on Jasper to keep him calm and quiet. She actually managed to get him to fall asleep but was almost foiled when the third class started in on Go Tell It On The Mountain with a very robust shout of GO. GO! , mumble mumble mumble…… GO! , mumble mumble mumble. Each time Jasper startled but didn’t wait up. The force is strong in Marion.
We continue to walk every day, rain or shine, or in the case of right around Christmas, 22 degrees and 30 mile per hour winds. The ice storm kept the mail delivery and garbage pickup away the day after, but we still walked. Ok, it’s not curing cancer or anything, but we are quite proud of ourselves.
As always, to all our Christian friends, Merry Christmas. To all our Jewish friends, Happy Hanukkah. To all our grinchy and scroogy friends, Bah Humbug. To all our pagan, druid and wiccan friends, Happy Solstice. To all our atheist friends, Happy Day Off. And to everyone else, happy whatever it is you believe or do. We don’t judge.
Peace, love and joy everyone and here’s to a happy, healthy and prosperous 2023!
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