2009: Shortest Year of My Life

2009 was definitely the shortest year of my life. Seems like I turned around and it was already Thanksgiving.


First, and the most impactful, was the arrival of Caleb Orion on July 13th. If the year wasn't already going fast enough, it hit hyperdrive around this time. The days blended together and life became a three-hour repeating cycle. Caleb is absolutely perfect and I wouldn't change a thing about him. It's amazing to watch him grow daily and I look forward to what he has in store for us. Like I was telling Ashley, I can't imagine what I would do with my time here in Muncie without him. With Ashley's work obligations, I would be bored out of my mind without Caleb to keep me company and to watch football with on the weekends.


My beautiful wife graduated from Med School and chose Muncie, IN as the place to perform her residency in Family Medicine. We packed up and moved everything to our new home in September. This also marked our first official home purchase. In Lexington, we were blessed to live rent free since Ashley's parents owned the house. We spent two days and looked at 20 houses, but found one in Muncie that fits us perfectly.


Apax, my software company, continued in 2009. Due to a downturn in business, we had the unfortunate duty of laying off a number of our employees. (I'll write a full blog post about things I've learned during that process at another time) I'm happy to say that every employee that left our company has already found another job. They were all great employees and I was able to give my full recommendation for all of them. Also, since Caleb's arrival and the move to Muncie, I have decided to reduce my role at Apax. I don't feel like I'm contributing as much and am really looking to reduce work responsbilities (since the home responsibilities have increased so much).


I took a position as a developer for a software company in Fishers, IN. So far, so good with them. The first week was fairly shaky, since I got exactly what I wanted -- a fairly consistent 8 hour day with a lot less responsbilities. I'm still adjusting to this since I don't believe it's in my nature not to take full ownership of things I'm working on. The great thing is that I'm working with some of the smartest people that I've ever worked with before. These guys definitely know what they're doing and have years of experience designing manufacturing systems.

I competed in a partner triathlon with my brother (Little Miami Triathlon). This is the only triathlon around where you canoe rather than swim. This was my 2nd time in the race (Ashley and I competed a few years ago) and was Adam's first. With a better hydration plan, better bike, and better pre-race nutrition, I was able to knock 1/2 hour off of my time from two years ago.

I participated in Muncie's Academy for Community Leadership put on by the Chamber of Commerce. I was looking for a way to get introduced to some people in Muncie as well as to learn about some of its history. The class provided just that. Most of the participants were a little older, but I did meet a lawyer who just moved to Muncie from Minnesota. He's glad to have Tubby and I'm glad that he has Tubby. I also learned a lot about the city of Muncie and other avenues to get involved.

So, in recap: new child, new job for me, new job for Ashley, new city to live in, and new house were a few of the things that made 2009 the shortest year of my life -- thus far.