2023 Closeout - Another Great Year

As 2023 has closed, it's worth reflecting on how the year turned out on the technical and business fronts. Technically, workload was a little lighter in 2023 as I scheduled a little more personal time.  The technical work, though, continued to be challenging and rewarding.  Support for NAVAIR remained the biggest activity, by far.  We got several important technical products completed and out the door during 2023.

Business-wise, a main highlight was helping develop a presumably successful proposal for a new support contract - maybe providing a contracting vehicle for the next 5 years. 

Pleasantly, in 2023, there was a general recovery from the COVID-related restrictions on business travel. Even in early 2022, as I was beginning to travel (a lot) again, we still had to wear masks on planes and in airports. As I recall that ended in about May or so of 2022, after I had spent a lot of time traveling by air the first few months of the year.

In 2023, business travel seemed to be back in full swing.  Hotels still seem short-staffed; I'm not sure about their occupancy rates.  But generally there was housekeeping only on demand, more limited availability of on-property meal service, etc.  The airplanes were generally full, though, and my travel time increased significantly (but still not back to 2019 levels).

I didn't really resume conference participation, even in 2023.  I expect to resume participation - and publishing papers - in 2024.