It’s been a while. I know. I’m popping in here tonight to give an update on what’s been going on as well as to try WordPress 5.0, which changed up its whole writing experience with an editor called Gutenberg.  I could install a plugin that restores the old editor but what’s the point? Change happens. (I’m also trying to postpone handling the vats of clean laundry upstairs that needs to be folded.)

New Phone! (okay bolding on the fly is pretty neat)

After a literal 8 months of hemming and hawing (during which WM got 2 tattoos and a new Apple Watch) I upgraded my iPhone from the 6s to the XR. Why? Because Apple is never going to bring back TouchID or the headphone jack so may as well jump into the change rather than fight it. The camera is pretty nifty and because I bought it on 12/1, I snagged it in the Product(Red) red color. Which I promptly covered up with a case.  My old phone was 16GB and I kept running out of space. This beauty is 128GB and I haven’t put anything new on it because I enjoy seeing that gigantic free space bar.

That night we went out to dinner to celebrate my brother’s 39th birthday.

Touristing!

Our good friend C was in town for the Pax Unlimited Unplugged show in Philadelphia. He extended his stay and on Monday and Tuesday we did the tourist thing! Now how do I add a photo?

(that wasn’t bad.) This is my favorite photo of the trip:

Professionalism!

On Wednesday and Thursday I was in Atlantic City for the MASAE annual meeting. It’s the local chapter of the association for association executives. I guess that’s me. It was a good meeting.

The meeting was at Harrah’s Marina. I’d probably go back just so I could sit by their gorgeous indoor pool all day. And I lost $60 on stupid craps. (Just kidding. I love craps.) C’s mom came into town because she’d never been to Philadelphia, so WM and I met them for dinner.

On Friday I attended a management training session, which was pretty good. I’m not currently supervising staff (TNP is not a very vertical organization) but the tactics were good nonetheless. Friday night WM and I took C & mom to Iron Hill Brewery in Maple Shade. They have a beer called Reindeer’s Revenge that I love.  It’s 9% ABV, so boozeiat emptor.

By the way, I’m kimberussell on Untappd. A beer drinking app seems odd but it’s helping me narrow down the beers that like. Also, this new editor won’t let me handcode HTML. It’s all WYSIWYG.

Every time I hit return to start a new paragraph it gives me a new “block” on the page. Weird. The drop cap is cool but kind of unnecessary. Because of that I can see myself abusing the hell out of it. The last thing this blog needs is drop-cap pomposity.

Saturday morning we went out for breakfast with C&Mom and then WM dropped them off at the airport. If you’re keeping track, I ate out Friday 11/30, then again on 12/1, 12/2, 12/3, 12/4, 12/5, 12/6, 12/7, and 12/8. Most of those meals included wine or beer.

Tomorrow is the monthly Show Us Your Books linkup! And this is the hair color I think I want.

That was an excuse to test how I embed things.

Maybe this update isn’t so bad after all?