How was your 2018?
 

My annual state of the planet poll. Hang on for a minute while I put a poll up.

Overall it was pretty forgettable. Just a continuation of last year, not much luck as far as finding a job among other issues. But there was a silver lining, and that was it forced us to do a lot of soul searching and trying to decide what is really important to us. This prompted the decision to make some major changes that I'm pretty excited about. 2019 will mark the opening of a new chapter in our lives, hopefully it's a good one.

total shit

lost gf
lost job
lost 20 grand in the stock market

but i made a good investment on the second to last day that should pay off in 2019

it wasn't in a chinese stock

also, doesn't matter have mahomes

It was a weird year.

I made a career change that's been a bit rocky. I accepted a new position in mid-May. Started my first week of training in early June. That Friday they called a company huddle and announced that the company was being acquired by a competitor. Over the next couple weeks they let go of the VP, CFO, the entirety of the payroll department, etc. Eventually they ended up laying me off as well. I had only been there for three weeks total. Really ****ed me over. I'd never been laid off before.

I spent about a month and a half jobless, which really ****s with your morale. You don't realize how much self-worth you place in your job/ability to make money until you hit rock bottom like that.

So I accepted another position. I don't love it but I've got great benefits, medical, dental and 401k match. Despite the setback, my savings have only grown overall this year, so that's great.

I didn't do much travel. The job changes really stifled my travel plans.

I've been with the same girl for going on three years now. We're in the process of figuring out if it's a forever thing.

My health was perfect and I didn't lose any family members.

.......I don't know. There's been a lot of change. It's been good and bad. It certainly could have been worse so I'll say it was an OK year. Hoping for a better 2019, though!

This one is going to take some reflection.

2018 Summary:

High points
1. Health continues to get better and still losing weight
2. Didn't piss away money on any escorts, gambling, stock options or other worthless endeavors
3. Sister's cancer removed and looking good for her 2019
4. Mahomes and the Chiefs HFA for whole playoff run (let's hope it ain't no one and done! I have more faith)
5. Got to hang out with CP members several times including with the tanless legend eDave
6. Hit $2000 jackpot on slot machine on Thanksgiving

Low points
1. Career suffered major setback and got stuck working two part-time jobs at 20-25% my normal income. Cost me about $70,000 and lots of financial pain
2. Didn't get to golf, date or do much fun stuff like 2017.
3. Ending 2018 still sick after 10 days with the end of tonsillitis, sinus infection and cold. Damn thing is still hanging on and won't go away.

Game plan for 2019:
1. Lose last 20-25 pounds and get back to lowest weight in nearly 25 years
2. Get a new career sales and/or business development job of at least $100-125K in a GROWING company
3. Celebrate a Chiefs Superbowl win and Mahomes MVP!!!

2018 was probably a solid 7-9 rebuilding season for me. A lot of moves made for the future with a few setbacks.

In 2017 saw a 25% increase in my property taxes. Prior to that we took out a HELOC to add a new bathroom. Thus, we added about $500/month to our mortgage. In addition, I ended up buying a new car on impulse. It was one of the dumbest things I've done in a long time. The expenses were starting to add up. Just got to a point where it wasn't practical to keep on keepin' on like we were.

Since, we have sold our house and made a nice little profit on it. We purchased a more modest house in September in a nice little part of the city. Dropped our mortgage by about $800/month. Though, we had to use just about every penny of the sale proceeds to renovate the new house (bought it off-market from a guy who inherited it from his mother. It hadn't been touched in 30+ years). New roof, foundation repairs, cosmetics.

Wife got a license that will allow her to command more $$. I got a 10% pay increase. By April her car will be paid off. Mine, not so much.

So, most of the moves that we made in 2018 were to set us up better for 2019. We were really sad to move from our old house. We loved it and loved the neighborhood. The yard was awesome, the neighborhood quiet, set away from the high-traffic streets. The new house is perfectly fine, but it's definitely not home. We're big "vibe" people when it comes to houses. This one just doesn't feel right. But it'll do for now. It's much tighter (smaller rooms, only 1 car garage). About 30% of our stuff is crammed into a tiny garage and the basement. We park tandem style in the driveway. It's been a while since I've had to scrape the ol' windshield (oh, uptown problems). One street north of a really busy street too. I made the mistake of leaving my car door unlocked last month. Someone decided to help himself to whatever he wanted.

I've gained about 10 lbs since 2015. Need to ditch that. Had to be put on a statin in 2018. Other than that, in good health. Wife had a lymph node scare that turned out benign. That was the best news we received in 2018.

Anyway, overall, 2018 was fine—even if we had to do some reshuffling. I suspect 2019 will be a 10-6 type of season. 2020, hopefully 12-4 or better.

Pretty damn good year for me, considering I finally got the student loan monkey off my back that had been making life pretty rough for a couple of years.

A solid 7

Mine was, and is, a solid 10...Hell, I'm 72 and still drawing breath. Folks, it doesn't get any better than that!


Happy New Year!! :thumb:

Great year. My wife and I found out we are expecting our first child (a son).

He’s due in early February. 2019 is looking to be even better.

My son will come into a world with the Chiefs having the best QB in the NFL. I’m really happy for him.

Congrats!! :clap:

Good year, no complaints.

I started the year off with a halo brace still attached to my head from a broken neck in 2017. It came off late January and I spent much of the year doing PT and living my life like it was before the injury.

I got reorganized at work which is always nerve-racking but actually came out in a better situation.

Unfortunately, we got hit with a somewhat unexpected HOA special assessment due to deferred maintenance on our building that put a dent in our 2018 budget. It's a total mess that could eventually wind up in court. The problem is we were planning to purchase a bigger place in 2019 but can't realistically sell our current place until they get the building repaired. So this will definitely be lingering into next year. Don't ever buy a condo in Chicago, they all leak and no one discloses it in the listing. If I could do it all over again, the moment I saw water I'd of painted over it and listed it like everyone else does.

Onward and upward in 2019.

Good and bad. Started off a little rough with some shakeups at work for both me and the Mrs. that proved to be a little stressful for a large part of the year. Got better at the end of the year as I traveled to Montana, New England and San Francisco along with finishing grad school in December at USF and of course Mahomes.