2016 Highlights

2016 in review!  I can't think about 2016 without thinking about the first 6 months of the year completely dedicated to commercializing the Stingray tool.  All those long days and nights working took a toll on me but in the end it was all worth it!  We got the job done!  The tool passed the confined heat test.  The brick also passed its confined heat test.  It was a 6-day work week for 6 months.  But we got paid.  I made so much money from overtime, it was ridiculous!  The one unexpected thing that came out of this was the recognition we received after the success of this project.  Suddenly my name is flying all over the place.  For me, it was all very unexpected.
The success that followed the tool was that it gained interest from NASA!!!  Yes NASA!!!  It began as a round-table discussion to full blown reality.  NASA will now redesign our tool so that they can take it on their next mission in ?2024? to drill in Venus.
Yeah...did anything from the paragraph above make any sense?!  As many times as I've talked about it, I still can't believe it!  I give myself credit for assisting NASA in this assignment as I did help get some measurements for them.  HA!
The success of the Stingray tool didn't stop there.  Just recently, there was news that there has been more than 262 tools out there in the field without any failures.  Just mind-blowing!

During the crazy first half of the year with work consuming most of my life, there was one thing that helped keep my mind off the emptiness and that was working out.  Joining LA Fitness was really good for me.  I was doing really well and consistently going to the gym until the company took away the fitness reimbursement program.  I just couldn't justify the monthly fee so I had to cancel my membership.  I've been thinking of joining Fitness Connection for the longest time now, but can't seem to get myself to do it cuz that place is no where near as nice as LA Fitness.  But I had to move on from that...

It's not so much a highlight of 2016 but it definitely impacted my 2016.  Henry's divorce shocked most of us.  Still can't believe 25 years went away just like that.  It's such a crazy thought.  So difficult for me to conceive of such a notion.  But as a friend, I had to do what I can to show him some support.  When the 2nd half of the year rolled around, I was able to spend more time with him.  We'd just go to the bar or whatever.  I'd just be a friend and listen and let him vent.  I would try to give my thoughts every now and then, but it really was not my place to be.  I have yet to know what it's like to spend 25 years of my life with one person and then to have it all gone in one day.  Me and Donny tried our best to be there for him.  He was in a very dark place, obviously.  We even took a camping trip together up to Austin for a weekend.  That was lots of fun!  I just hope he's at least out of that dark place and now able to deal with his reality of life.

UH Football!  UH Baseball!  Catching these games with friends was just the best.  So much fun doing it.

John Franklin's retirement was not something I was looking forward to but I knew it was going to happen eventually.  I can't believe it came up so fast.  We started working together about 6 years ago on the Stingray project and now it's over.  He truly deserves his retirement.  I'm just not ready to have him go.  But I know I'll still see him for UH baseball games.  I better!