Thursday, May 17, 2018

Catching Up

There has been a lot going on around the Flynn household since we were in Delaware. I've been totally unmotivated to write about it, but big things are happening!

Yesterday I got accepted into grad school! In August, I'll be starting the MBA program at UNC-Wilmington. It's been 20 years (May 1998) since I was in a college classroom, so this should be interesting. I'm excited about the new challenge. Work is paying for it, in-state tuition is only about $15k, and it should take about 2 years to complete. It's 11 classes taught in 7 week blocks, one class at a time. At my company, now I am part software architect and part manager. I did recently get a promotion, but the title is still short of being either an architect or a manager. There are no architects or managers in the building (700 employees here, 10,000 worldwide) that do not have a masters degree or PhD. Not having a masters degree is not holding me back right now, but I fear it will limit my options going forward if I don't go ahead and take care of it.

Another huge change is that I have dropped the monthly fees for the RAM swim team as of June. I've been on this team since 2011 and absolutely love swimming. But since I got this promotion, I can barely make one swim practice a week. And with the arthritis, that one practice is very painful. Availability, pain, and lack of conditioning. It's a bad combination. I'm really enjoying running right now, so I'm just going to stick with that. But I will really miss my teammates, the workouts, and being competitive in open water races.

Some other cool stuff happened too. I got to work for a day on a Habitat for Humanity construction site with my teams!

Sheeting the exterior walls


Someone gave Tejal a sawsall, terror ensued

Adding a sill cap

I love construction!
Also I've gotten in some good family time lately. Loving on the wife and taking the whole family out for a Durham Bulls game

Love at the front door

At the Bulls game

Full crowd!

The kids loved playing the video games in my office

It's getting warm and things are blooming!

Got a new medal holder. 59 and counting, if you didn't know

Evil Genius got some artwork on display at the mall

Enjoying the fire pit on a cool spring night
We also got to enjoy a day at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. EG is obsessed with the Titanic movie, and they had some costumes on display. With her birthday coming up, we had to get out there and see those or she would never let us hear the end of it.

it big




I love that chandelier

holding hands with Jack

Panorama from the wisteria patio


Wow, that took a few cups of coffee. Welcome to summer! We're in full swing already.