I've been missing the outlet of just laying down thoughts, and JimVentions is still here! So here's what 2022 looked like for me:
WORK: My work for Allina continues to be rewarding, though it sure feels like a lot of the time it's all about wrangling vendors to do things I (as a former developer) think their software SHOULD do, versus what it ACTUALLY does: It's entirely possible that I'm the problem here - being far enough out from development that I don't understand the underlying complexity... but I really don't think I am. It's been over 5 years since I started there, and there are fresh challenges and discoveries every week: One of my best gigs ever.
My friends at the Chartis group keep finding me little bits of work to keep me busy: Some highlights from 2021-2022 included swooping in to design an architecture for a south side of Chicago care management network, finally handing the reins of an Indiana healthcare system Data Warehouse team to an FTE, and parachuting in to interim lead a biomedical (read: medical technology repair team) group in Philly. I also consulted on three analytics strategies for other hospital systems. OH MAN I almost forgot I got to do two Radiology system selection projects too! Ok wow that's a lot of stuff. Note that for most of these, it was 80-100 hours total, with me being the "greybeard" subject matter expert, supported by a larger team, so it's not like I had 12 full time jobs. Excited to see what 2023 brings.
While I did do some business travel, it wasn't enough to preserve my Platinum status, and I'll be demoted to Gold status now. Oh, the indignity.
I did travel for fun this year, though - a couple of trips out to see Bella at college in Lansing (two involved moving stuff, one was just a "hello"). She's let us know she plans to stay out that direction, so 2023 will likely have FEWER cross country minivan trips with overloaded cargo spaces. She seems to be doing really well out there, and I'm so proud of her!
I also got to see my good friend Caesar twice this year - once a flyby while I was out doing work in Corvallis OR, and then a 5 day visit to see Heaven 17 and celebrate his 50th birthday (he's just a BABY).
I learned about the existence of the Bartesian cocktail machine - a dangerous tool in the wrong hands. Caesar's got a workout at his 50th birthday bash. At the party, Caesar and I played a 10 song set for his friends, which was a true pleasure to do: I arranged "sparse" versions of our songs using an MPC Live sequencer, Caesar played guitar and sang, and I played drums live.
It reminded me of my Senior Project at Macalester, where I used my Death Star synths to arrange a full backing track, while I played drums. It was me reading "Tales of Houdini" by Rudy Rucker to a big band arrangement.
Speaking of music - LOTS OF MUSIC this year: Caesar and I have been finishing up our second album which should release in January. This one is very different - we've been referring to it as our "Prog Rock" album - and we've both stretched our skills a lot - his singing just keeps getting better, and my arrangements took a more organic feel... really excited to hear what people think about this. We also released 2 EPs earlier in the year - one with our take on covers (including what if Depeche Mode sang Broken Wings, and what if Duran Duran sang Pure Energy), one a more spare synthpop feel (Basic). Also released a single with a newer friend, John Ghadimi, as Other2.
And work continues on Radiant, the musical I'm writing with Liz Heinecke about Loie Fuller and Marie Curie. I have written 5 songs so far, and have learned a LOT in the process - including what reasonable singing ranges are - I've had to do some radical reworking of keys and melody lines to be actually performable. We've set a target of June 2023 for our first rehearsals with local groups, so I need to keep cracking on this!
Add to this the Teardowns had one of our more busy summers with 8 gigs and a lot of new songs added to the repertoire. Playing drums with the Teardowns is just wonderfully therapeutic. We have over 70 songs in our "ready to go" list, which makes our sets a lot more varied, and keeps me on my toes.
Family wise, Pamela and I have really been dedicating ourselves to being there for each other and building up our relationship - it's hard work sometimes, but it's wonderful to have a best friend, especially as we're looking down the road at an empty nest (with Bella already flying the coop, and just 2 more years before Isaac heads to college!). Also focusing on developing our non-kid related adult friendships so that we have a support network going forward.
Isaac has been loving life at PIM arts high school - he asks me to take him early every day so he can hang out with friends before class. He's also had a great year with the Morningside Theater - a "starring" role as Patrick Star in Spongebob, and lots of volunteer time with younger kids, being a role model for the next generation of performers in the neighborhood.
As noted above, Bella is really happy studying Entomology, and has some really good friends at school, and a really sweet partner in Liza. We're so happy for her in her new world, but it's bittersweet to see her out there continuing her life outside of our zone. The empty nest is REAL.
Health: We've all been hit with a variety of illnesses as the masks are coming off and we're sharing viruses in public places again: Pamela and Bella both got Covid, but having been mega-vaxed had relatively mild cases (though Pamela had positive tests for 3 weeks in there, which was super frustrating... but I took good care of her). Isaac and I both had respiratory viruses that had us coughing a bit, but were able to make it through. Both dogs had time "in the cone" - Gesso had a bunch of "schnauzer bumps" removed: Not malignant, but itchy and so he was chewing them and they were getting infected. Zinsser decided to chase a squirrel and leap off our new back steps onto our new concrete patio and tore his knee ligaments. So he had surgery and we're doing physical therapy. The things we do.
Writing all this down, man, 2022 was busy. Maybe I'll update more as I think of it. Happy new year - anyone who still has an alert for when I post. With Twitter going down, and Facebook being sort of lame, I'm happy to have this outlet where I can post my thoughts - it's been fun going back and reading my old posts too.
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