2000 - The Year in Review

Well, once again it's time to get you all overly excited about reading what's been going on in our pitiful lives. We both hope you're sitting down for this, since it's a wild ride, and there's lots of bumps. Be advised that children under 42 inches tall and persons with a heart condition will not be allowed to continue to read.

OK, now that we've gotten rid of all the small children and weak hearted, let's get on with things. :)

Narrator's note: After writing most of this, it seems that David is the complete center of the universe, and that nothing exciting ever happens to Kelley. This isn't true at all. However, she does prefer to sit back and watch David go through all this stuff, while she makes sure he'll be OK.

This year we'll be going over the year in reverse order. Well, OK, we won't really, but it scared you a bit, didn't it? The early part of the year was actually pretty unexciting. David was working on some access issues with his MCSE studies, and finally got all the texts and stuff from Course Technologies. The problem he was having was that he had to learn how to study all over again, and that turned out to be a long process. Also in January Kelley went to Hilton Head, SC for the yearly sales meeting, and had a pretty good time.

In February, or was it March, David ended up in the hospital again because he was having tummy troubles again, but it turned out to be some kind of viral thing, and he was very dehydrated, and came home after 1.5 days. No biggie really, but he was pretty pitiful for a while.

In April we started another big job hunt push for David, everyone searching the web, a number of different job hunt sites, and all that. David spent hours a day trying to get recruiters to give him the time of day, and to return his phone calls or emails. This was extremely frustrating, and went on for a couple of months. This distracted from studying, and did little more than get a couple of interviews that didn't pan out. This activity lasted through both May and the first part of June. After a good long hard think, David decided that without the certifications, the recruiters wouldn't be giving him the time of day, so he decided to focus all his energies on studying, and in late June, (July to the rest of the world) he went into major study mode, and got into a rhythm that still hasn't let up yet. (More about that later)

Also in July, our friend Beverly took David to WV to go white water rafting on the New River. They had a really good time, and came back thinking they must go again. (See September) Also in July, David had a sleep study done. Kelley had expressed concerns about his snoring and gasping while he was asleep. The sleep study did show that he had sleep apnea, and in August he found out how bad it was. After that appointment, he requested a referral to a ENT surgeon. (See September)

August was pretty cool. David took his first Microsoft exam, and passed, becoming a Microsoft Certified Professional. (card carrying geek) With the first exam under his belt, he started right in on studying for the next one.

September brought us to the doc for David's apnea, and the ENT surgeon said David needed his tonsils taken out, (they were HUGE) and also needed his nose fixed. His septum was very deviated, and so they scheduled that surgery for Oct 9th. (See October) Also in September, David passed exam #2, and went into high gear for test 3. He passed test #2 on September 21, and wanted to pass the next exam before his surgery on the 9th. As previously forecasted, David and Beverly went back to WV for more white water rafting on the 18th of September, except with an added bonus. David asked his brother Darin and Dad to come along for the fun. Darin's friend Jack also came, and this time they rafted the Lower Gaulie River. For a complete description of that adventure, click here.

October was kind of stressful. David took exam #3 on October 5th, and it was much different than the other exams. The format was confusing, and he thought for sure at the end he had failed, but in fact he passed with flying colors. He actually got this exam done in 15 days, and that was very impressive.

In October, Kelley's aunt Joy and uncle Don came into town for a conference at Duke University. We decided to take them to a Greek restaurant for dinner, and ran into a large brick wall. The owners of the restaurant, (Zorba's) wouldn't let us in with Cooper. For the full story, and most recent update on Zorba's, click here. Needless to say, legal action is pending, and updates will be forthcoming.

David's surgery went well. He was only in the hospital for less than a day, and while there Beverly stayed with him to make sure he received "proper medical care." (Beverly's faith in the nursing staff at UNC hospitals leaves much to be desired) Needless to say, having her there with David was a very good thing for both David and Kelley. After about 2 weeks, David was back to normal. (This is a relative term, as most of you know) Normal for David is well... never mind.

November arrived right after October, and Kelley had a lovely birthday. The Friday after that, David passed test #4, and it was much less stressful than number three. Thanksgiving was its normal low key event for us, and we managed not to go shopping that whole weekend.

Right after Turkey Day we decided to go to Iowa to visit David's family. Rumor had it that there going to be lots of people there we hadn't seen in a while, and it had been at least 4 or 5 years since we had visited. Also in December, David's 5th test went off without a hitch, and he started studying for the last exam.

The trip to Iowa was very relaxing, except that David hurt his back on the Saturday before Christmas, and had to go visit the doc in the box to get some meds. It got much better in the next couple of days. David and his mom managed to make 3 trips to "the boat" (riverboat gambling) and both won a good chunk of change. :)

Also during the trip, the relatives mentioned above did appear. We saw Aunt Judy, her daughter and son Kim and Greg, Kim's daughter Sarah, and Sarah's new baby Zack. David's grandmother also made an appearance, as did Dan, Leener, and Riley, and it was nice to see everyone.

In January there are three items of really exciting news. Kelley was sent to Switzerland and California for work related meetings and stuff. She spent 12 days in Zurich, and 3 days in CA. David passed his last test while she was in Switzerland, and is now a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. (in layman's terms, this means "major computer geek") The other really cool item is that we bought a house, and have moved to Durham, NC, about 20 miles or so from where we used to live, but about a 35 minute drive from the old house. We're both very excited!