April 2020

Most of 2020 sucked. But, there were some good moments that made memories to cling to. I'm going to review some of those moments from each month. (Disclaimer - my memory isn't what it used to be so this is my story and I'm sticking to it regardless of reality.)

April is the month I went hard core online. Our club events and NFW as well as weekly meetings with my friends Crash and Jim,  nearly weekly meetings with the Verzaks and Rodriguezes, Wolf Pack gatherings and my Book Club all became Zoom or Google Meet events. My friend Steve had started a weekly home game on Pokerstars.net in March and that became a bright light for the end of the work week.

I was online meeting tech support more times than I can count and it's a role I continue to play. #blesstheirhearts

Why am I not in this one?
Oh, well, it was the best I could find of the many screen shots - someone always looks goofy.

Some of these events might become permanent. Crash, Jim and I are in three different states and it's been awesome to talk to each other on a frequent basis and it's also allowed us to get to know Jim's daughter Kacee better since she pops in now, too. Book Club going online allowed our members who had moved away to rejoin and, while not everyone shows up each month, we are definitely getting a higher level of participation.

Playing a little Sushi Go! which I am only good at if there are just 3 players

We also went online with #boardgamethursday. Our game master, Kyle, suggested we try using boardgamearena.com as our platform and it's been great. We've played some games we already knew and tried a few new ones. I'm completely hopeless at Potion Explosion. Kyle set up a Google Meet so we all login with cameras on and get caught up with life then jump into a game while we eat lunch. My buddy Ben is a really loud chewer, for the record.

Adam, Karen two of their friends and I also played with the platform one night. We did card games and it was pretty cutthroat which is the only way to play. Adam turned into Whiskers so he only played in the first half of the evening. :)

Contact Free delivery from the O'Malley Babes

All the things we couldn't find plus a toy for the #terrors from Yvonne.

#terror approved.

I will declare with my last breath that my friends are better people than I. Because it's true. While we were all supporting each other emotionally and reporting where toilet paper could be found (what a self inflicted drama that was America - be better), some of my friends took it a step further. The O'Malley Babes brought me Easter treats and consistently deliver to Shorty and Steven. Yvonne sent a big order of needed supplies along with a toy for the #terrors. It's one where the balls roll around on the tracks. It's really loud in the middle of the night.

I only consider the following as a highlight because people are entertained. I set up my work space on my kitchen counter because I didn't have an ethernet cable long enough to go from my router in the living room to my office. It's for my VOIP phone. My days are near constant struggles to work around, behind and in front of cats. They're jerks.

That's not convenient for me at all.

Angelic but don't be fooled.
This was the first move in taking over the mouse pad and blocking access to the phone.

Somehow, April was busy and rewarding despite the uncertainty.