You’d think I’d remember – but I don’t. Linkedin reminded me though…..”Hey you’ve been in business X years”. Was it 12? 14? 11? I can’t remember.
I always try to write something just to remind myself of “where I am” in life. This year I find it exceptionally difficult to write anything without going back and doing a complete edit. So I decided this was the final Edit.
One February 12th I drove to Charlottesville VA for a quick speaking engagement at a conference. Went out to eat with a group. Had some excellent conversation. I finished up the talk and left the next day and headed back. Remarkable? No. What is remarkable is that may actually be the LAST IN-PERSON CONFERENCE I have this year. IN FACT – I said this weekend “Had I known I would have stayed an extra day or done something to enjoy some place greater than 5 miles from my house.
Every year I dig myself deeper into Open Source and deeper into data. I look back at me in 1992 and GIS was this fun thing to make maps with. I haven’t made a map as a final product in years but I’ve churned through a lot of data. This year things were looking up more than other years and I’ve been toying with “Maybe put someone on contract to help” which would give me more time for canoeing and what not.
Well…..Pandemic. I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t grasp the initial idea of a pandemic when it started. I’ve been through several: AIDS, Swine Flu, and watched in horror at Ebola. None of those actually hit home or caused me any personal discomfort. AIDS Should have. Swine Flu seemed to have came and went quickly. Ebola was one of those things you watched as a GIS person with some morbid fascination.
…But Covid 19.
So I watched work die. Finally 8 (are we at 10?) weeks in things are starting to loosen up as people are calling and today I at least do an estimate.With work starting to look probably again my mental attitude has gotten better.
….but…My Stupid Home Town. YELLOW ISN’T GOOD
It’s a somber work anniversary. Four weeks into Quarantine I had decided “this might be it”. Eight weeks in and “What could I do if I wasn’t doing this…”. There are parts to this job I love and parts I hate – but I do love maps. I do love data. I do love the Community I’ve wedged myself into.
With that – I have no great end to this post.
Good People – Stay Safe!
