It's my birthday! A lovely day. Thought I'd dust off this blog, which isn't quite as old as I am, but as blogs go, it's pretty ancient. Like a million in blog years. I think I would like to make better use of it from now on, since I have plenty of time to do so. Back in July my long career at the ole coal mine came to an end. The photos above show my firstish day- maybe it was taken my first day, maybe a few weeks in, I honestly don't recall- and my last day, standing next to the exact same truck! Camera technology changed a little bit in the intervening 27 years so I guess my iPhone has a .... slightly more fisheye effect? Or wider angle? I'm not too sure about the specifics. But I tried to capture the same angle, just didn't quite nail it.

So much has changed, even since I wrote the essay in the previous post- indeed it did come to pass, going into decline and all that. But the virus changed everything. It didn't really affect the mine closure much- that was going to happen regardless. But it sure made the "well, now what?" phase much scarier for a lot of my colleagues. Some of them got jobs, and some haven't yet. As for me, I am able to stay at home- for the first time in my married life I won't be gone from home half the time! Which is huge for us. The girls are in school, Michelle is working, and we have the flexibility to deal with any changes in that situation. Well, short of getting the virus at the same time. I have no idea what will happen then and I don't mind admitting that thought scares me. Anything else I think we can handle. 

So yeah, I have more time to pursue writing, so I will write here from time to time, though my focus now will be on getting published in other venues. I've had some small success with that over the years, even when constrained by the Harrison Bergeron effect of shift work. 

And I get to work out more- also something that I did fairly well while living with the constant near-jetlag effect of shift work. No more night shifts! That's so huge for me. I can string together a much more impressive run of workouts now. My Apple Watch is much happier with me, lol. I'll sign off with a selfie even!