So it is now 2019 (where has 2018 gone?). While I wasn’t upset to see the door close on 2018, I would like to know why time flies faster at certain times and then crawls at others? There were several extremely low points for 2018—we lost three dogs last year (2 to cancer—Spelunkers in February, and then Chewi in October; and we also lost Piranha in October as well [four days before we lost Chewi actually]). So we went from a house with four dogs to a house with one dog (though Arick does visit with his puppy every now and then).

So 2018 was a year of ups and downs (I’ve already mentioned two major downs in the previous paragraph). But what were some of the highlights?

Going to Roswell, the White Sands National Monument, and Carlsbad Caverns National Park in May for a mini vacation. I’d never been to that part of New Mexico before (we’d been through the northern half previously). I loved the whirlwind trip, and I would love to go back and actually sign up for an guided tour of some of the other caverns within the national park (the main large cavern is the easily accessible one), though those tours can take up to five hours (round trip). So that is something to try to add to my bucket list.

I went back to the Boston area in October (actually about a week after losing Chewi) for both a mini vacation and to go to a couple of networking events. I’ve decided that since I want to relocate for my next job (the hopeful transition into industry), I need to show that I’m willing to relocate by going to some local networking events. I enjoyed the day that I took in Salem and walking the Freedom Trail in Boston (though I did it backwards).

Finishing a workout program. Beachbody had released a new program in September (but I bought early access to it at the end of summer), which is called LIIFT4. The program is basically 4 days and alternates between resistance training and HIIT exercises. This was the first program in quite awhile that I managed to actually go from start to finish (usually I’d been giving up within a week or so).

Figuring out what I don’t want to do in terms of my career. I know that it sounds funny that I consider this a highlight—but in truth knowing what you don’t want to do is just as important as knowing what you want to do. I’ve figured out that I really don’t want to be in a position that requires excess amounts of traveling. I know that travel is important for any career—but I don’t want to be traveling basically four or five days out the week. This basically takes out about a quarter of the different types of jobs that one can do with a PhD. I’m hoping that by slowly starting to write science blog posts/pages I can recapture my enjoyment of scientific writing and maybe see about doing some of that on the side.

2018 was a year that I’m happy is over and one that I don’t care to repeat (namely in terms of the low points). There were good things, but the loss of pets will take a good amount of time to get over and hopefully it won’t hurt as much to think about the dogs as we progress through 2019 (and yes I will be making Chewi her memorial collage during the early part of 2019).

If I had to decide on a word for 2019, I will choose the word change. The reason(s) are simple–I want to change (i.e. a new job), and I want to start exploring more (different vacations in other areas of the country/world). So, yes the word for 2019 will be change.