Anybody out there?

It's been nearly 2 1/2 years since the last post!  Holy crap!  Let's see, in that time, there's been a lot of world events and craziness!  There's also been a ton of personal events - which I'll try to detail.

1. My son is applying to colleges & starts in the fall of 2022!  He's applied to several schools with the goal of majoring in Computer Science, just like his dad!  UPenn, Georgia Tech, University Of Maryland, University of Virginia and Carnegie Mellon are the focus; our collective fingers are crossed that he gets into at least one!
2. Last post I reported that I was considering purchasing properties with the goal of becoming a landlord.  During the core of the pandemic, we got our opportunity and purchased several properties: two 1 bedroom apartments and a 2 floor condo.  I had the wherewithal to foresee the looming inflation cycle that we're currently going through, so I took on lots of debt to complete the purchases.  Now, of course, I look like a genius; fixed low-interest debt with current and future dollars that are becoming cheaper and cheaper to repay the cheap debt!  I would have liked to purchase more properties but nothing really suited me as far as cost vs. rental return.  Plus, I got tapped out pretty quick purchasing 3 properties in short of a 12 month span.
3. My father died a few months prior to the pandemic start.  Not a bad thing.
4. My kids are doing really well academically and socially.  They have the normal anxieties of teenagers, but seem well adjusted though the pandemic definitely took its toll on all of our mental health.  I think we all came out stronger.

So poker: I'm not playing live whatsoever.  I stopped playing with the pandemic, and started again a few months after I was vaccinated, but the delta variant started up and I weighed the value of exposing myself to COVID (I assumed, poorly or not, that the majority of poker players around here lead somewhat unhealthy lifestyles and do not exercise prudent precautions to reduce exposure / evidenced by the fact that I was very much in the minority by continuing to wear a mask at the tables).  Therefore, I stopped live play altogether - and have since moved my game to 100% online.

I've had a lot of success with Global; not only have I improved my game, but also I've learned to become less reliant on a HUD.  I've been fairly diligent about note-taking, watching ranges, and looking for strange behaviors.  I can 6-table at 6max, and find the games to be reasonably soft.  Most importantly, it's fun playing there because my aggression factor is way off the charts compared to the norm.  Most of the players don't know how to handle it, and I find that they default to a check / fold position unless they hit their pair / set / hand, making the game a pretty straightforward endeavor.

Hopefully [no promises], I'll write another entry on the things I've picked up during my current online stint.  To be sure, it hasn't been a smooth or easy road, but the future looks bright and it's only getting better!  Anyway, if I don't post before the holidays, Merry Christmas, Kwanza and [a belated] Happy Chanukah!  Also Happy New Year!