2021 Alek's Annual Email: Even despite Covid, it was a decent year

I wrote last year that "2020 will go down as the year of Covid" ... and unfortunately, the same can be said about 2021. While there has been some "opening up" (and then "shutting down"), this continues to be devastating for humankind - both medically and the immense societal impacts. My heart goes out to those affected, not just the deaths/medical issues, but also the young people who should be having "fun" and the older generation that feels locked up in isolation. As I write this, the exceptionally transmissible Omicron variant is whipping around the world ... here's hoping that it doesn't cause major medical issues and is the last hurrah for Covid.

Needless to say, it's been real challenging for Wendy's company Natural Habitat Adventures ... as it is difficult to run super-cool wildlife trips to the far corners of the world ... when you can't travel there. But the company (and Wendy) are hanging in there and they are seeing a LOT of pent-up demand as people want to get-out and travel. Wendy has been mostly working from home, and especially after she relented to some technology upgrades (and free coffee reloads in the morning from yours truly), it has been a decent working environment for her. But Wendy is quite the intrepid traveler and not one to sit at a desk. In addition to several domestic trips, she traveled internationally three times and already had some scheduled for next year ... including two new countries which would bring her to 99 visited.

Our oldest son Dirk continues to work at McKinsey Consulting. As Covid relaxed, he was actually being a road warrior for a good part of the year, racking up a lot of BIS (Butt-In-Seat) airline miles ... and bringing home copious quantities of hotel soaps/shampoo's to offset the rent we are charging him.

Our youngest son Kyle is an Engineering Junior at the nearby University of Colorado-Boulder which keeps him busy along with a variety of outdoor activities. We don't see him that often - one reason is probably more fun for him to spend time with his girlfriend (who he went to Spain with) rather than the "old folks" ... ;-)

Alek continues to keep himself entertained with various zany activities - Watching Grass Grow is still going strong since 2005! ;-) And while I didn't go on any major wildlife trips, there's always a bit of action close to home as seen in the pictures below. Plus the invariable house projects which I don't mind as a fix-it person. My Mom was willing to put up with all my eye testing/analysis when I visited for her Cataract Surgery which went well. I continue to volunteer helping people with their taxes at the local library, but we've gone mostly virtual. I'm also still playing Ultimate frisbee, although my speed and ability on the fields is on the decline ... but it's fun and helps keep me in some sort of shape.

Below is a semi-chronological pictorial for 2021. Overall it was a good year and we had it much more fortunate than others, especially those that struggled with Covid. Here's hoping that 2022 will no longer be a "Year of Covid!"
alek

P.S. Late-breaking "bad news" was the awful fire we had on 12/30/2021 - this clobbered over a thousand homes in the neighboring communities and is the most destructive fire in Colorado history. Thankfully, it didn't get closer than a couple of miles away from our house, but we know people who lost their homes in this terrible tragedy.