With the holiday season, I usually look forward to my best of, end of the year, Bluelou Times. In retrospect, 2021 looked so much like 2020 that it was hard gaining enthusiasm to start the letter. I’m going to point out the differences.With the holiday season, I usually look forward to my best of, end of the year, Bluelou Times. In retrospect, 2021 looked so much like 2020 that it was hard gaining enthusiasm to start the letter. I’m going to point out the differences.
Christmas 2020 was about as low-key as it could be. I flew home a few weeks beforehand to take care of the F's. For the first time ever, I went house hunting. The realtor showed me houses he liked instead of what I wanted. It was hard to convince me that it was a seller's market during a pandemic but it's true. With four inches of snow on the ground, it was hard to convince me to buy anything. There were questions answered, questions that remain, and decisions that need to be answered before I buy anything. I decided that I have time before I buy anything.
Like 2020, COVID played such an impact on our lives. Compliments of our client, I got my Pfizer vaccines and booster here in Nogales instead of in the US.
To get to one of our Thailand jobs, one of our managers landed in Bangkok, quarantined for two weeks, took a domestic flight to the final destination where he quarantined for another two weeks. That's dedication! Apparently, starting in April, you can skip the quarantine if you have the COVID vaccine. The Thai government has rescinded their requirement for the second quarantine for domestic travel.
Traveling in to the US was unchanged for Americans but severely restricted for anyone else until the border opened for those with proof of vaccination. To get a Mexican visa, one of our crew got tested, drove south to Hermosillo, flew to Phoenix, drove to Nogales AZ to visit the Mexican consulate. The Consulate is about a mile from the border. After obtaining his visa, he drove across the border where he quarantined for three days.
One of our managers left this project to head to our project in India. His replacement flunked his COVID test and put three of his colleagues along with our admin manager, Tony, in COVID isolation for three days. Tony drove Mr. COVID from the Tucson airport to the hotel. The mechanical managers share an office. All, except the newbie, tested negative after isolating for their three days. Mr. COVID was quarantining from his hotel room and started feeling ill. He called Tony who drove Mr. COVID to a hospital across the border. Tony, fresh out of three days of isolation, went back into isolation for another three days. Again, he tested negative. New job site policy: those that used an airplane to fly anywhere and returned to our job site must now isolate for three days and test COVID negative after isolation before returning to site. We're bringing our work computers home before our leave to work during isolation. Those that have had the COVID vaccine were exempt from isolating. I'm not sure if this is connected to Mr. COVID or not...but I'm giving him credit anyway...thanks for sharing your gift with us Mr. COVID! Mr. COVID's boss told me that Mr. COVID failed his COVID test 17 days after the first test. Another two weeks of isolation for Mr. COVID and he passed the second test. COVID the gift that keeps on giving.
Mr. COVID brought in his wife and two kids and had seemingly settled down here in Nogales. A construction crew was working near their home. Apparently, some of the crew said something that upset Mrs. COVID bringing into question the safety of the Family COVID. We couldn't find housing in a safer neighborhood so...that's it...we're outtahere! This touches the subject we are always aware of but don't talk much about...security of our staff and their families! Having spouses and children ups the security ante. Family COVID went north of the border and Mr. COVID was granted a transfer to another Mexican job. Happy wife...happy life!
I got an early morning call from my friend the day before my flight home. We're talking 130am. She was trying to meet me in Omaha. She got an email from her airline telling her she needed to check in immediately. She went to the airport where she was told that she couldn't travel through Europe as she didn't have a vaccine recorded on her visa. She didn't have a vaccine but that's later. Even though the flight was not possible, Expedia said the fare was non-refundable. She had two weeks to use the ticket. We ate that ticket. We won't be buying Expedia travel insurance again. Trying to find a last-minute ticket was difficult. She lost a day so rather than landing on Sunday, she landed the following day. Instead of flying through Frankfurt and Denver, she flew through Istanbul and Chicago. I have no sympathy as the return was business class.
While I was home, one of the big tasks was getting my friend a COVID shot and getting her prepared for the return home. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine fit the bill as a one and done rather than the two shot approach. I offered to pay the cost of the vaccine but after a bit of discussion, a passport was all that was necessary for the vaccine. Instant impact was a slightly elevated temperature and an ache in the shot spot.
Getting a test was needed for her return flight to Tunisia. Set the appointment on line and headed straight to the car. Tests were given right out of the car in the parking lot of a local shopping mall. The next day, we had a negative test result but we needed a q-code. It took about an hour to get the representative on the other end of the line to spell my friends’ name correctly. Like the vaccine, no complaint about zero cost. She flew back to Tunisia and promptly contracted the COVID virus. Thought it might be her COVID vaccine creating the symptoms but her test came back positive. COVID made it in her system before the two-week burn in process could expire. FYI, COVID is spiking in Africa.
During the June trip, my friend and I made a KC road trip to visit Mr. Ed. Recent trips home would often have plans for KC only to get canceled due to flooding or snow. With short trips home, devoting an entire day or two to make the KC run, it was easy to cancel. I could find no excuse. We planned on a KC Royals day game. If it wasn't COVID friendly, we'd eat the ticket cost and make other arrangements to watch the game. Problem was, the game wasn't weather friendly. It was too damn hot! We drove by the stadium but kept driving to Mr. Ed's where the game was on the TV with the volume muted. We had pizza and talked about everything except baseball.
A stop at Stroud's for their famous pan-fried chicken and to meet a former colleague/long time BLT follower was next on the list. The three-hour return trip home seemed like forever.
I'm still watching Mass on YouTube. That may change but not too soon. I assume they're open but...it’s that social distancing thing...He gets it!
In a joint effort between my company and our client, at least three of our projects have given our crews COVID-19 vaccines. Here in Nogales, our workers and their family members got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Many opted out as they had already received the first shot in the two-part vaccine series. Some opted out completely for the same reasons as we Americans. Some opted in because they knew they needed the vaccine when they head north of the border for the more lucrative jobs. Overall, there were 600 people vaccinated with the J&J vaccine, either working on, married to, or dependents of, someone on this project. That number excludes management who received the Pfizer vaccine early this year. There will be another round of vaccines and boosters early next year. No, I wasn't part of the effort but I still take pride knowing of the small impact my client and my company had in people's lives.
An amusing tail after I received my second COVID shot... I hurried home after the COVID shot as we were supposed to have our weekly Zoom chat with Ma. I reached my apartment and the neighborhood car washer was being followed by a policeman carrying the usual automatic rifle with a large magazine which I have no doubt was fully loaded with bullets. It wasn't a Super Soaker. The car wash guy asked if I lived in this building. "Si". The officer, still carrying his ominous rifle spoke in Spanish. We had one thing in common...neither spoke the other's language. I thought the officer was here on something official like a shooting and time just seemed to stand still. You got a gun and you're looking at me...come on in! That gun kept getting larger by the second in my eyes. It didn't take long for me to figure out that Mexican law enforcers don't bring a knife to a gun fight. I called Leo, a colleague, who does a lot of my translations but got the company switchboard instead...it's in Spanish too! The officer got on his phone to Google translator which asked if I had the landlord's phone number. He wanted to rent an apartment in the building. One way of having a secure building if you spoke Spanish. "No" is the same in English and Spanish. He understood my Spanish version of the word no. The company pays my rent and handles all interactions with the landlord. I occasionally see the building maintenance guy but he wasn't there at the time. Normally, if there's a vacancy in my building, there's a big sign on the fence surrounding the parking lot compound. It wasn't there. I successfully communicated this through physical gestures to the officer. He went away without any shots fired from his long, long automatic rifle. Crisis averted and the rifle went away. Feeling my own mortality, the rifle looked like a canon about now. Heart...start beating!
It was a short Zoom chat and I missed it as Ma, the night owl she is, had a late night and cut the meeting short to get some sleep. This isn't uncommon with Ma. I suggested we move our zoom meetings to midnight but there wouldn't be a nurse to handle the technology for Ma. My sister and I had a good laugh about my recent experience with the rifle and his officer...
I did get to watch the Super Bowl live this year. Long story but YouTube TV doesn't let me watch live broadcasts of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, or PBS unless I'm stateside and I disclose my location. That's the beauty of my VPN. If I disclose my location when I'm not at home, I can't watch it at all. There's a couple of web sites for watching live sporting events anywhere in the world. My go to web site crashed due to excess traffic. I wasn't discouraged and got in with about six minutes gone in the first quarter. This web site let me pick from a number of free web sites so I watched the game on Sky Sports' web site which meant I missed the commercials. I've been a long time Tom Brady fan but KC is closer to my home. Brady plays with some of my Husker alums. I couldn't lose. I did, however, lose two-hundred pesos (twelve dollars) on two squares on the Super Bowl pool. Email me for the link to my sports TV web site.
In June, an aunt on my Fathers' side of the family passed away. She was one of the early survivors of COVID. Her son, my cousin, a doctor of radiology like his father, prescribed hydroxychloroquine and she was one of the first in her nursing home to recover. Her funeral was held the following month in Chicago. I hadn't seen her children since my cousin's wedding 35 years ago. Like other family funerals on this side of the family, the turn into family reunions. This was no exception. Not wanting to fly to Chicago without any fun, I booked my return for two days after the funeral where a friend and I wandered through the riverfront. It was too hot to see the Cubbies for baseball.
In November, her husband, the brother of my father passed from a suspected broken heart. His funeral was held in the same church as his wife and his son's wedding held 35 years ago. Again, I flew to his funeral. In the previous funeral, my cousin, the radiologist, and her husband, got COVID. Masks were mandated for the uncle's funeral. I told my cousins that when I said we should get together more often, their fathers' funeral wasn't what I had in mind.
My uncle followed my father's footsteps and became a Catholic deacon...does some of the duties of a priest but cannot do many of those duties. Deacons can be married where priests cannot. The homily was about my uncle. Looking at my uncles’ picture, I could hear the words about my uncle but thought of my father. They were the same life stories being told, only the names were different. It was a tear jerker. As I wrote previously, there were many similarities between his deceased wife, my aunt, and my mother. It was too real!
Theresa was the solo vocalist for both funerals.
Back in 2016, I wore this suit to a family wedding. It was tailored by the same tailor who made the suit Bill Clinton wore while posing for his statue in Pristina. I've written about my ditching the COVID-20...the weight I’d gained during COVID. Years ago, I shed fifty pounds but slowly gained it back over the years. I used to go to the gym and ride my bike while I was home which would offset the food part of the five Fs. Due to a lack of time, I phased out the gym and the bike at home and the weight I'd lost slowly returned. COVID added to the weight creep. Phitness, got phased out of the Fs. Fast forward to now. Losing the weight hasn't been difficult. Since COVID, my formerly 24-7 gym reduced their hours. No longer are they 24-7 closing at 11pm nights and at 2pm on Saturday. They aren’t open on Sundays. I still go to the gym during the week but I started skipping lunch on the weekends which started shedding the pounds. I donated the slacks I'd outgrown in a recent company charity clothing drive but swapped them out for new pants. Since I started losing my COVID-20, my pants started hanging on me. I'm proud of that. A friend said that a good way of ditching my "chick magnet" (my facetious term for my sleep apnea mask) is losing weight. As a personal trophy, I wore my Kosovo made suit again for my uncle's funeral AND IT FIT!. Next goal…let's see if I can lose the chick magnet.
The photo...well...it's a German pancake with cinnamon and apple. We'd been to this pancake house many years ago. A cousin worked there in his youth. My sister found the name of the place and the GPS guided us to utter deliciousness. I wanted to go smaller but they didn't make this pancake in a smaller size. The apple burnt the mouth but it was worth it. Made trips here during my two Chicago trips. I have a recipe and well...may just give it a try for the sake of experimentation. There was a restaurant in Tucson whose web site advertised this German pancake. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed seemingly a business casualty of COVID.
After my uncle's funeral, for nostalgia, we drove by his former home where we spent a lot of our youth. We looked up the value of it on Zillow and the annual taxes alone were 60k. This whole trip was closure as was the trip by the house.
I had a good laugh that started with the husband of another cousin. Part of this story was shared by my deceased uncle years ago. For my cousins' honeymoon, she and her husband went to Uruguay. They left everything in their rental car including their clothes on their back and headed to the beach. Upon their return, they discovered the car had been broken into and their possessions gone. Somehow, they made it to the embassy who helped them get some money and other required items [like clothing] to get back home. I hope they had a couple of towels before they walked into the Embassy. He asked me why were the doors and windows at the embassy were so thick and heavy. I told him that it was to protect those inside. I asked him if he remembered Benghazi. Had the US upgraded the Benghazi embassy, chances are that nobody would have died in the terrorist attack of the Benghazi embassy. Google it! I also told him of the locals using a telephone pole as a battering ram to a similar door at the Skopje embassy. The door didn’t break. The vendor used the photos in their advertising.
Nogales winter weather does change. I wear a coat in the morning to the office as the temps are near freezing. When the sun comes out, I wear sleeves to shield the skin from the sun. In the evening, I may carry or wear my coat home. During a flight back to Tucson, I heard someone say that he ran the heater at night and the AC during the day...ditto!
Even though I'm in Mexico, my Spanish has minimal improvement. Was walking through the Walmart bread section. I needed hotdog buns and sandwich bread. I put the Walmart brand for both in my cart. Two sales folks were waiting for me. In Spanish, they were asking me if I wanted their more expensive versions of bread. I didn’t specifically know they were saying that but...they held up a loaf of bread with cupcakes attached so I guessed the rest. Looking at the price on the shelf, I would pay more but get more. I wasn’t familiar with either brand nor the cupcakes. If you took away the cupcake, the price should have equaled the Walmart bread cost. Here came the hard sell. In Spanish, I told them I don't speak Spanish (No Habla Espanol). The two laughed at my deception...I didn't know how to say, "I speak very little Spanish" (Habla muy poco Espanol). I know a handful of Spanish I learned as a child from my sister and brother along with a bit I picked up in the time I lived in Mexico.
FYI, the Walmart here in Nogales Mexico hasn't gone to self-service registers. The store right across the border as well as the others I've shopped at in Arizona have the self-service registers. My hypothesis is that there's enough merchandise that walks out the door by itself and self-scanning out only increase that.
For fans of my mom... Ma's nursing home vacillates between open and closed due to COVID with great frequency. We still have afternoon Zoom chats with her weekly. Her clarity of mind happens sometimes but she is a night person so it's hard to tell if the lack of sleep is having an impact on her. The official medical diagnosis is that she is "fine". I'm not in the medical industry but it's hard to tell if she's fine when the dementia is taking a bit of her each day. I can clearly see that. During her rare, true, moments of clarity, her hearing prevents us from carrying on normal conversations. Shouting is required so it's hard to tell.
Add a great niece and great nephew to the list of those calling me their great marginal uncle this year. Crash had her third son. During her pregnancy, she got COVID from her teacher husband. All are doing well. Add nephew Tyler and wife Jess to the list of new parents in 2021.
Shout out to the C2 and Josh! They had a location wedding in Breckenridge. Yes, Mick and Pat are the happy parents. Crash and Adam have in-laws. COVID kept it intentionally small. We got FB teaser posts of the affair along with a commemorative leather coaster.
I made three trips home in June, September, and December. Largely, the trips entailed the five F's: food, family, friends, finances, and fhysicians...but no phun or phitness!
Does anyone remember Flat Stanley? Stanley was supposed to travel inside the US but we got carried away. He came to visit me in Beijing where I took him to some tourist destinations. I sent Stanley to a colleague in Skopje who later took him to Prague and Berlin. From there, Stanley went to another colleague in India. Well, some friends asked me to send a Mexican post card to a great-grandson back home as part of a school project. It took a bit of thinking but the Mexico post card is tied to the trip to get the Mexican replacement ID. I mailed the post card when I crossed over the border on my trip to Omaha. Yes, it would have been better to have a Mexican stamp on it but I wanted to make sure the card made the trip home.
In the September visit, I got to see the sis and bro-in-law sing the National Anthem with their church choir at the Storm Chaser's game. I got their performance on video. Click here or view it on the player to the left. It's a big file so if you download it, it may take a while. In the video, Sis is standing in front of the Bro-In-Law who's to the far left in the red shirt/black slacks. We stayed until the fifth inning. Stormies lost 6-5.
In the fall, I finished my clearance update. The last one was ten years ago. I love my friends all around the world but trying to capture all the information I could about them is not something I’d wish on my worst enemy. After I hit send, a colleague asked if this update was the last update...hadn't thought about it but I'll be sixty-eight or older for the next update...probably not.
Years ago, I wrote that you really don't get to know who your friends are until you lose your wallet. Yes, I'm back in losing stuff mode again. Last I remember having the wallet was in the grocery store paying for groceries. I went back twice to the grocery store the next day. The manager said he saw me on video putting money back into my wallet. I checked the car three times, several times in the likely spots in the apartment. The last time I lost my wallet, I learned to keep the contents to a minimum. The wallet had a credit card, my US driver's license, a small amount of pesos, and my Mexican ID. There was no action on the credit card other than what I put on the card and the card was cancelled. From previous lessons learned, I have debit cards I can use until I get the replacement card. I have paper copies of my driver's license and Mexican ID.
Stay with me on this...fast forward two weeks. I'd been to the police to report a lost wallet. The company started the process to get me a new Mexican resident ID. I'd ordered replacements for the driver's license and credit card.
I was at the gym. I was just about finished with my workout when I got a call from Air Med. I believe it's a part of SOS, our emergency evacuation service. Do you remember my evac from Laos to Bangkok? SOS provided the transport. I was told someone had found my wallet and wanted to return it to me. Apparently, he called the hospital who called Air Med. Carlos from Air Med called me on my Skype phone number saying someone wanted to return some lost documents to me. Carlos asked if I could I identify three of the items in the wallet? Credit card, driver's license, and Mexican ID. I was given a phone number. Shortness got a voice mail which she forwarded to me. Carlos told me the finder didn't speak English so I called Leo the Translator. You met Leo in earlier updates.
Leo scheduled a meeting in ten minutes at the location where I thought I'd lost the wallet. The rendezvous location split the distance between my location and my apartment and ten minutes was the right time to get there. The finder was a security guard at another grocery store. No idea about his name. He saw I dropped the wallet and he picked it up. He and Carlos, were concerned about me getting my cards back. Eventually, he got in touch with me in a very convoluted process. All I had were questions but I'm eternally grateful. Why he waited two weeks to return it is beyond me. There were business cards inside the wallet. The wallet was intact other than the cash which I didn't expect to see again. I gave him what cash I had on me at the time...about $20 in pesos and about the same amount I recall being missing from the wallet. I called off the ID replacement though it may be late and I owe the company $67 for the new ID (Wink! Wink! Nod! Nod!).
Getting the wallet back was a huge relief. Not having the wallet and my IDs was the worst. The mind raced…what if I had an accident with no ID? I had paper copies of the IDs but how far would that take me? I couldn’t wander far from the apartment and work. Any plans to travel north of the border were nixed due to the potential of getting pulled over without a license. That’s all over! Huge sigh!
Somehow, that replacement credit card got lost in the company mail. I ordered another card and had it express shipped to my sister's house. Life without a credit card, as I discovered, was hell. Checking/changing credit information for all of my accounts is a complete pain in butt. Fortunately, it was delivered and I got it activated.
Two weeks after my September Omaha trip, I received my Mexican replacement ID. I had the original which I undoubtedly believed would have gotten me out of any pinch I'd get myself into but since I started the process, I had to follow through with the new ID.
Gigi posted photos of her first shrimp boil on Facebook. I'd been to a few in Jakarta...(left arrow to minimize your clicks for the shrimp boil photos) and another at Micheles’ home but I was jealous. Gigi shared the recipe link with me. The recipe looked simple enough. Why not give it a shot? I invited three others from the office. One of the attendees was going over the border the day before the affair so he bought the shrimp, sausage, and corn on the cob. Nobody seemed to notice, or at least, complained that we didn't have shrimp sauce. I had a few adlibs with using two smaller pots in lieu of a large pot, golden potatoes in lieu of red, and using Bud Light in lieu of a designer beer but I followed the recipe the best I could. I was on cloud nine on how well my first ever shrimp boil turned out. It was INCREDIBLE and worthy of a repeat performance! I found out a month later that a restaurant not far from me has the same shrimp or crab boils without the mess. As of this writing, I’ve been there twice. I’m still learning the menu but it’s very good.
In October we had our topping out party...praise and accolades for the non-participants...and we had one for our workers. I went to neither. I had work to do. Anyone that went to both got sunburnt. The Consulate even made a Facebook post which I shared.
Had visitors from the home office and even a video chat with the big boss who's a longtime friend before he's my boss. All had the same question...when am I going to retire? My reply hasn't changed. If it were only money, I could retire yesterday. I don't really like working here in Mexico. With many of the chain franchises I get from back home visible from my apartment, it's not my why I got into national work. I will finish this project because I signed a contract which said I would finish the job. If more jobs from Mexico are offered to me, I won't sign the contract. If future projects in location(s) that interest me are offered to me, I will continue doing what I do for the company I work for. I facetiously told the boss "don't send me to the job in ____"...wink! wink! nod! nod! I won't go! Then the boss finished my statement..."so you can retire there". No, I honestly wasn't thinking that but...now that he mentioned it! Sounds good to me...wink! wink! nod! Nod! Let's top off the old retirement tank! Note that this project hadn't been awarded at the time of this conversation but the project timing would fit my availability status perfectly! Well, we were awarded this project. Let's see if the cards fall in my direction. I'll be in Mexico at least until the end of 2022, the phone rings and the boss tells me to go elsewhere...or ????
Though I admit, I'm out of bicycling shape, I did get in a couple of rides on SYB while in Omaha during my September trip. It was like a visit from an old friend. I concede that even a 30-minute ride while out of shape is better than anything I've done in the gym. No, I refuse to ride a bike in Mexico. I would need to notify my next of kin IN ADVANCE!
My brother-in-law is into growing really huge pumpkins. One died about a month before Halloween at 200 lbs. (90 kg.). One pumpkin made it to Halloween at 480 lbs. (218 kg.). My sister shared videos of the biggie being moved for transport to the local zoo for consumption by the elephants. She recorded the elephants eating the pumpkin and shared the stills and video on Facebook. Looks like the elephants had a feast. The zoo saved some seeds for my brother-in-law to plant next year. The video file is large and may take some time to fully view.
The company held a potluck Thanksgiving dinner on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The boss emailed the invite. I replied that I'd bring either corn bread muffins or potato salad. The boss responded that he'd prefer the muffins. Now, I'm not talking made from scratch but Jiffy muffins straight from the box. Of course, I had my own traditional turkey dinner on Thanksgiving made entirely in a crock pot.
A week after I arrived in Mexico, on my 2019 birthday, we had snow. 23 months later, we had more snow. Construction was shut down for two days but I kept plugging away on my computer. Most of our office staff went home and many carried their computers with them. If there's a snow shovel in Mexico, I saw no indication it existed. Before the first flake of snow fell, it was announced that public transit would be shut down for two days. Like before, it melted the next day. While the folks back home were complaining about snow, we'd had our share of the white stuff. We did receive a notice that because Texas had snow and everything was freezing, that our electricity and natural gas supplies might be interrupted. It still gets around freezing as we're going to work. That coat gets carried out the gate instead of worn at noon and the close of the work day because the high is around 70 F° (21 C°). I've seen evidence of two additional snows south of the border this winter season. The two didn't stick around in my neighborhood.
On a trip to Tucson, we saw the latest Wonder Woman movie. As the seats were recliners and the theater provided wait staff to bring food to your seat, this theater is the dream of the couch potato. Unlike my previous visit, they didn't ask me my age. They just gave me the senior citizen discount. My friend paid the same price for an early bird discount. I'd rather get the early bird discount.
Call me a fair-weather fan but my beloved Huskers had too many close losses so I stopped watching. Granted, we had one of the most difficult schedules in the country but if we couldn't beat Purdue, we had no chance with the rest of the season. I saw improvement, even in defeat, but I began to believe that it was our goal to see how many games where we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
There are some closet Cornhuskers on the job. Without setting foot in Lincoln, the boss got his master's degree from Lincoln. I brought him a Husker dress shirt though his Texas A&M Aggies did much better than the Huskers. I've seen one other with a Cornhusker sweatshirt though this may be just something to keep him warm. I've seen a couple of shoppers at Walmart in Husker gear though they were just wearing this as clothing.
For those of you who've noticed that I've repeated the photo to the left without explanation for several of the 2021 issues. Roger Crumrine, AKA the Rahajneesch, and I were college buddies. Brothers in corn...a weird connection followed us until Roger passed early this year. I'm saluting my brother from another mother, the Rahajneesch! I miss him. Email me for details.
Mr. Ed and I penciled in a spring game next year for the Royals in Surprise, AZ. We may just keep heading north to Vegas. Both events are subject to permission of the COVID gods. If we do make the Vegas trip, I'm warming up my future apologies now.
My senior class normally holds the class reunions to coincide with the big summer shindig, Gateway to the Midwest. Normally, if memory serves me, Gateway to the Midwest is held the second weekend in June. I booked this round of doctor visits so I could make both affairs. The reunion pencil in date was August then it moved to July. I intentionally skipped it as I avoid large gatherings due to their COVID super spreader potential. My aunt's funeral was the following weekend which turned out to be a super spreader. The Facebook pictures from the class reunion looked real fun but who are all those old people?
In the 2021 issues, I hinted that there may be a family reunion in 2021. Didn't happen! You'll have to be content reading about the last reunion. Photos are here.
Yes, February 2021 was my two-year anniversary in Mexico. May 2021 is my fortieth anniversary in construction.
During my June trip home, I scheduled my next round the five F's between Christmas and New Years. The boss gave me a verbal approval. There was a lot of horse trading to make that happen...your teaser…is covered in the next issue of the BLT or the next best of BLT.
Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Happy Kwanza! Happy Chanukah!
