In 2010 I revived my site and said I was back. After a few cursory entries I slacked off on writing once again, partly due to alternating work-craziness and social media-driven distractibility, and partly because of Star Trek Online and Minecraft. To compensate for the deficit I’ve been backdating new retrospective journal entries. In fact, I’m backdating this one right now.

We kept living in our condo, and I kept working at that news magazine (which canceled print and went web-only ), while Amy continued at the library. Pandora the cat lost a lot of weight and the vet diagnosed her with hyperthyroidism, necessitating a daily regimen of thyroid and kidney pills to maintain her otherwise surprisingly good health.

Travel-wise, we went on a cruise to the Bahamas; visited Hong Kong, Manila, and Boracay to see my brother get married (while I got shingles); for Thanksgiving weekend we saw the Tenement Museum; and for Christmas we saw Amy’s grandma in Schenectady. Amy’s parents also came over to visit us for the Fourth of July weekend, and toward the end of summer we checked out the National Arboretum with Jason.

In 2010 I went full-iOS and bought an iPad, which pretty much became my go-to portable computer for travel and couch use. (Indeed, I didn’t even bring my MacBook to the Philippines; the iPad sufficed.) Around October I also treated myself to an iPhone 3G (secondhand, jailbroken and unlocked for use on T-Mobile) — and then promptly lost it on a train in New York. After that I bought an iPhone 3GS (also secondhand, jailbroken and unlocked) and managed to not lose that one. (The old Android phone did serve okay as backup between iPhones.)

We bought a car in October: a 2010 Hyundai Elantra (HD). I hadn’t driven for years and did not have a license yet, so Amy drove the car exclusively for a while. Our first big trip was to IKEA in Woodbridge, and that’s how we learned to not take the Beltway anywhere, ever. Our second notable trip was to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens near Tysons Corner, and that was a much easier drive. (Post-facto addendum: I got my license the following year.)