Monday, December 24, 2018

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew

Greetings all,


I hope this charming annual bulk email finds you happy and healthy.


2018 was a momentous year for me.


First and foremost the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl!!!
I’ve been waiting for this since I was 7. It was especially satisfying to be in a bar in Boston
for the big game, enjoying a spirited dialogue with local Patriots fans about the team’s
respective qualities.
#FlyEaglesFly.


Next up in the life milestones: I always said I would never do it, but now I’m a homeowner.
When the apartment I was renting was sold to be torn down for condos,
I couldn’t find anything else to rent within a walk to work, so I bought instead.
Now I have a 2bdr Condo in Inman Square in Cambridge.
The whole mortgage process was a terrifying, tear-filled disaster, but it’s over now.
Eternal thanks to lawyer and real estate expert Cousin Matthew for saving my bacon.
I moved in the new place in March. It looks like this:


New address for annual photos of your kids for my fridge:
394 Norfolk St. Unit 2
Cambridge MA, 02139
(Sorry if this news is coming a little out of order. If you already sent me this year’s
fridge photos of your kids to the old address, know that I loved the silly pics and your
kids are adorable.)


Family update: Nieces Kate and Lindy are full blown humans now, so I guess you should
just subscribe to their Instagram if you want to know what they are up to:
Kate is pursuing a BFA in Modern Dance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
and had a great time studying abroad for a semester in New Zealand.
Lindy runs Cary High School like my new MacBook runs Mojave and receives awards for
tennis and good grades in AP classes despite an unmatched Netflix binging endurance.
Lynn is working for NC State in the Student Counseling Center and
Robbie is the principal of Mary Phillips High School in Raleigh.
I spent a week at their beach house in Oak Island NC in the summer and it was a blast.


Mom is enjoying living in Louisville, KY near her sisters, brother, nieces and nephews. She
has some sharp words for whoever’s running the NCAA (see Louisville Basketball FBI investigation) so I guess she’s doing just fine. I spent a week with her and her dogs over Thanksgiving and my cousins took me to Churchill Downs for our annual Thanksgambling adventure:
My cousin's daughters & me: Claire, Hayley, Elise, Me, Gracie and Lauren
Work update: I had a busy year of travel for work, spending time in Dakar, Senegal,
Cape Town, South Africa and Delhi, India.



The Dakar office does high intensity interval training on the roof after the work day.
I had so much fun almost transferred there permanently:



I also did a first scuba dive in Dakar and really enjoyed it.


Here’s me with the western-most tip of Africa behind me:

Work continues to be quite busy. Dimagi’s CommCare platform is in use for hundreds of projects worldwide, including the largest scale mHealth project in the world. Our software tracks 1 out of every 200 births worldwide. Working at this scale is forging new paths and that is both challenging and rewarding.

Air quality is Delhi is pretty bad. Here’s the mask I wear while I walk to work:



Visitors: Thanks to Keri & Caitlin (and soon after Amy) for breaking the seal
on houseguests in the new place. (Keri went straight to work hanging my blinds.)
Amy, I hope there’s another conference here soon, next time bring Dusty and
stay for a Celtics game!
Also wonderful to sync up with my cousin David and his family,
who vacationed this summer on the Cape and invited me out for a beautiful day on the
4th of July.
We also spent a fun day in Boston together on the Freedom Trail and took
a look around Harvard. (Lauren (10) registered for a few classes, but I can really
see her more at MIT.)


My primary non-work interests remain the NBA and following cute (all) dogs on Twitter.
Looking ahead to 2019, I have a spare bedroom now, so come through (although,
I expect to be in Delhi much of Q1).


Wishing you peace in 2019. Happy New Year!
~Courtney


I got a new headshot for work! (Same blazer as the one from 2014, though…)

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