Year End 2020 Summary

Big goals completed this year: 
 -Lost 40lbs
 -Walked the Honolulu Marathon
 -Learned to cook on a basic level.
 -Tried to bake – cookies are good, cakes are bad. I need more practice. 
 -Saved enough money for more of a safety net while I travel. 

National Park/Monuments visited: 
 - Canyon de Chelly National Monument
 - Navajo National Monument 
 - Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument 
 - Pipe Springs National Monument - Glen Canyon National Recreational Area
 - Vermillion National Monument
- Grand Canyon National Monument ( 3rd time)
- Havasu National Wildlife Refuge 
 - Pinnacle National Park 
 - Joshua Tree National Park (2nd time)
 - Saguaro National Park
 - Casa Grande Ruins National Monument 
 - Ironwood National Monument
 - Sonoran Desert National Monument
 - Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
 - Tumacacori National Monument
 - Coronado National Monument
 - Chiricahua National Monument 
 - Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument 
 - Ft Bayard National Historic Site 
 - Prehistoric Trackways National Monument
 - Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks NM 
 - White Sands National Park
 - Carlsbad Cavern National Park
 - Guadalupe Mountains National Park
 - Big Bend National Park 

  Other Bucket List Items or Notable Places:
- Antelope Canyon
 - Horseshoe Bend
 - Grand Canyon Railway 
 - Lowell Observatory 
- Pluto 90th Anniversary Festival 
 - California Science Center 
 - Los Angeles Museum of Natural History 
 - Griffith Park Observatory & Park
 - Hard Rock Hollywood 
 - Winchester Mystery House
 - West Coast Whale Watching
 - Universal Studios Hollywood
 - Disneyland Anaheim & DCA (4th visit)
 - Tombstone, AZ
 - Kitt Peak Observatory
 - Odessa Meteor Crater
 - Universal Studios Orlando / Islands of Adventure 

Races and Challanges:
-Wizard 5k
 -World’s Okayest 10k
 -Kalakaua Merrie Mile 
-Start to Park 10k
 -Honolulu Marathon 26.2
 -English Channel Challenge 21 miles (completed in 2 weeks) 
-Inca Trail Challenge 26.2 miles (completed in 2 weeks)
 -Hadrian Wall Challenge 90 miles (completed in 5 weeks)
 -Carmino de Santiago 480 miles (completed in 16 weeks) 

  Books I’ve read/listened to in 2020 
- Virgin River series by Robyn Carr
 - Murder in the Heartland by M William Phelps
 - My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward by Mark Lukach
 - Too Scared to Tell by Cathy Glass
 - Tip of the Iceberg - My 3000 Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska by Mark Adams
 - The My Lai Massacre: The History of the Vietnam War’s Most Notorious Atrocity 
- The Love Scam by Mary Janice Davidson 
- Danger, Sweetheart by Mary Janice Davidson
 - Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triuphs of a Giant Disaster by Kristen Johnston 
- The Foundling: The True Story of a Kidnapping, a Family Secret and My Search for the Real Me by Paul Joseph Fronczek 
- The Royal Series by Mary Janice Davidson
 - The Less People Know About Us: A Mystery of Betrayal, Family Secrets and Stolen Identity by Axton Betz-Hamilton
 - Open Book: A Memoir by Jessica Simpson
 - The Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock and Big Life Lessons Down on Mischief Farm by Hilarie Burton
 - A Seriel Killer’s Daughter by Kerri Rawson
 - Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Childrens’s Home Society by Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate
 - If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets and Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood by Gregg Olsen
 - Before We Were Yours: A Novel by Lisa Wingate 
- Evil Has a Name by Paul Holes and Jim Clemente
-How to Live in a Small Car by Chris Dell
- My name is NUTMEG she screamed by Jacqueline Kelley
-If You Tell: A True Store of Murder, Family Secrets and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood by Gregg Olsen


History of Covid 19 for the year of 2020 for the US 
 -First Covid case identified in the US on January 21, 2020 
 -February 2 the US enacted travel restrictions to / from China. 
 -February 6th brought the first US death.
 -Lack of tests probably skewed numbers in the beginning. There weren’t enough tests and the tests that we did have weren’t -distributed everywhere in the country.
 -We had 100,000 cases and 1,592 dead by March 27, 2020
 -Also in March, stores were selling out of toilet paper and hand sanitizer. We had a nationwide shortage on masks and gloves.  
-We still didn’t know how it was spreading and what actions would help stop the spread, but better safe than sorry. 
-I arrived back in Florida towards the end of March. The libraries and museums were closing all over the country. Whole cities were going on lockdown and there was talk of some states shutting down rest areas…which I was very dependent on. Walmarts were reducing their hours. Restaurants were drive through / take out only. I was pretty safe, living in my car, but I still needed to use the toilet and get food occasionally. Going home was the safest option. 
-In March, Disneyland Anaheim and Disney World closed temporarily to help prevent the spread. Universal and other theme parks across the US followed suit. Concerts were rescheduled and the basketball season was canceled.
- Unemployment rate for March is 4.4%. 
- Most of the country went on lockdown in April. Schools closed, churches went online, movie theaters closed. 
- Coronavirus declared a national emergency on April 18
- Unemployment rate rises to 14.7% in April. 
- I applied to go back to work in April. FIS was on a hiring freeze so I applied at all the places hiring: Walmart, Lowes, hospitals…didn’t hear a word from any of them. 
- We hit our first million cases on April 28. By the end of April we had over 57,000 dead. 
- Universal Studios re-opened amidst the global pandemic with safety protocals in places. 
- Florida did a partial re-opening in May, with bars and restaurants opening at a reduced capacity.
- Unemployment rate is 13.3% in May.
- The end of May had 1,774,034 cases and 97,959 dead. 
- I start FIS again at the end of June as a temp. We did about a week of training at the office and then nearly everyone else started working from home and I started working in the office. As a contractor, I wasn’t allowed to work at home. After a few weeks, they offered me the home position. I was tempted but trying to get hard line internet to the other side of the house was going to be issue. And there are distractions at home. So I stayed in the office. 
- The end of June had 2,588,017 cases and 117,028 dead.
 -The US filed to withdraw from WHO on July 6th, but it won’t take effect until 2021, so we’ll rejoin once trump is out of office. 
- July 11th Disney World re-opened Magic Kingdom & Animal Kingdom. Epcot and Hollywood Studios re-opened July 16th 
- The end of July had 4,483,612 cases and 142,064 dead. 
- August = 5,925,031 cases and 171,957 dead
- September = 7,093,786 cases and 312,656 dead
- Schools had to make decisions about classes. Some schools are doing home schooling and some school opened for regular classes. Many schools did a combination of both. 
- October = 8,914,806 cases and 217,905 dead. 
- November = 13,105,870 and 311,264 dead
- December 18, the FDA authorized the first vaccine by Pfizer. The first batch was shipped out and the expected to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of the year. Medical staff first, then long term care residence and then vulnerable citizens. As a healthy adult, I won’t be eligible until late springs probably. 
- We end the year on December 31, 2020 with 19,005,793 and 326,867 dead. The numbers used are lab tested results. In the early weeks, there weren’t enough tests and many cases probably went undocumented. Along with 20% of people being A-symptomatic. Medical facilities were overwhelmed and they had suggested sick people stay home unless they really needed medical attention, those people were not tested. We’ll probably never know the real numbers.

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