The most surreal year of our lifetimes—defined entirely by a global pandemic that changed everything.

COVID-19 - In the Beginning

COVID-19 dominated every aspect of 2020. That’s not hyperbole—it literally reshaped how we lived, worked, and related to each other.

While no country handled the pandemic perfectly, the United States’ response can only be described as a catastrophic failure. President Trump and the federal government dismissed it as a hoax for months, while many states—primarily those led by Republicans—refused to implement basic social distancing or quarantine protocols even as their death tolls skyrocketed.

By year’s end, the U.S. approached 20 million total cases and nearly 350,000 deaths.

Though vaccines were developed in record time, the reality is that most Americans won’t have access until mid-2021 at the earliest.

COVID-19 - The Remote Work Revolution

Cities, businesses, and individuals worldwide were forced into the greatest remote work experiment in history. We’re witnessing—and will continue to see—a massive demographic shift: people fleeing cities for smaller towns, small towns for rural areas, all enabled by the sudden viability of working from anywhere.

It’s been nearly a year since I’ve worked in an office regularly, and Miranda’s approaching the same milestone. It’s hard to imagine our employers forcing us back to physical offices with any regularity in the future. How could they possibly argue that over a year of successful remote work “just wasn’t working”?

Remote work benefits everyone: businesses see increased productivity, employees gain precious time back, and the environment benefits from reduced commuting. It’s a rare win-win-win scenario.

COVID-19 - When Time Loses All Meaning

Events from January 2020 feel like they happened in a different decade. Life was essentially canceled this year—no travel, no social gatherings with friends and family, no movies, theater, concerts, brewery visits, beer festivals. Nothing.

Fortunately, many of my favorite activities happen to be quarantine-friendly: watching TV, playing video games, cycling, backpacking, camping, and long walks.

While 2021 will probably improve on 2020, I’m not holding my breath. Maybe—just maybe—we’ll start resuming normal life in 2022.

Le sigh.

New Car

In the context of 2020’s upheaval, buying a car seems almost trivial, but Miranda and I purchased our first vehicle together: a 2020 RAV4 Hybrid XSE.

The Mazda 3 was aging, and we wanted to sell it while it still had some value. Why a RAV4? More cargo space, higher ground clearance for easier trailhead access, all-wheel drive, impressive hybrid fuel economy, and it looks pretty badass too.