And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

Greetings,

I can’t believe this is the 20th edition of my holiday letter! This year to recognize our 20th edition, to much protest, I have shifted to a Google Group so that you can unsubscribe below. Don’t worry, the service that removes your email does not inform me about it and you will not get a follow up email asking why. (The universe may well judge you, but I will not.)

In 2023 I had the privilege of traveling for work several times to Mozambique and Ethiopia. In Addis at the end of one of the trips, the team and I had an amazing visit to a club called the African Jazz Village where thanks to my indefatigable colleague Eyoel, and much to my deep mortification, we actually met the legend who created the genre, Mulatu Astatke. 

Left to Right: The father of AfroJazz Mulatu Astatke, my colleague Eyoel who will not be denied, my colleague Ali who is basking in the glow of genius and my colleague Tafadzwa who is almost as shocked as I am

In May, I moved to Philadelphia and I really like it there. I moved into a new construction condo in Fishtown (north Philly) where I have a guest room (with its own full bathroom ensuite) so please plan a visit. The place is really comfortable and I like it. I have a big rooftop set up so come have a beer on the roof with me.

The roof set up just needs you.

New Mailing Address:

CMFK

700 Moyer St. #310

Philadelphia, PA 19125

(Deep, heartfelt thanks again to my sister Lynn & her husband Robbie for putting me up for *a year* in Raleigh. It was fun being with them but Raleigh never quite took. I will continue to spend my holidays there. As I write this, I’m planning my trips to Louisville and Raleigh for Christmas.)

I’ve been having a lot of fun watching Eagles, Sixers and Phillies games in local bars with a very engaged fan base.

I’ve already been lucky with visitors to Philly so far! (This means that if you haven’t visited yet, you should feel behind.) To get the ball rolling, Lindy and her friend Hal helped move me up here. Thanks Lindy and Hal!

Independence Hall, Independence Lindy and Independence Hal

Lindy is doing just great and is on track to graduate from NC State in May. She took the LSAT and is already accepted to some law schools. (Teaser for next year’s letter for the big reveal where she decides to go.) 

Next up, Julie came to visit me in June and we had fun and also ran a 15K, but these two activities were wholly unrelated.

fun

After the 15K

My friend Anita came from Cape Town to visit me in September. She likes my place well enough but did decry the shortage of pets in my unit.

Me and Anita

Kate and Matt came to visit Philly in October and we had lots of fun. Kate is engaged to Matt now, but who cares? (He was already family as far as I am concerned.) Kate is dancing and creating choreography with several companies and doing just great.

Kate, Matt, Me

Lynn and Robbie came to visit and Lynn has lots of opinions about what furniture I need to outfit the condo. (She watches way too much HGTV.)

You might be thinking I took every single person who visited me to see Philly’s Magic Gardens, and you’d be right. 

I love it there.

I was also so lucky to get a visit from my college roommate Sarah and her family in November. Somehow her son is 7??!??! He is not taller than me yet, but the clock is running on that.

                                                                                Me, Nathanial, Sarah

I have been fortunate to be a regular guest at Lynn and Robbie’s place on Oak Island again many times this year and always had a wonderful time.

Lynn, Me, Lindy

Lynn, Me, Lindy

This year for Thanksgiving I visited my Mom in Louisville, KY. On Thursday I joined my family for Thanksgambling at Churchill Downs, and as usual it was an absolute blast.

Note to self not to be photographed with all beautiful teenagers ever again

Also this year I had the fortunate opportunity to reconnect with a student I worked with in 2013 at the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village. Julien Shyaka has started the Rwema Football Academy  based in Kirehe, Rwanda at the Mahama Refugee Camp. Julien is giving back to his community and using soccer to drive inclusion, and connection. I’m excited to see how his Academy grows in the next year and eager to provide any support I can.

Wishing peace on earth to all,

~Courtney

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath

 Greetings, 

I hope this warm, engaging form letter finds you well and deftly eludes the clutches of your overzealous spam filter.

Before I dive into this year’s recap, I do want to apologize for last year's broken links. I assure you that the intern who pasted in those local blogspot links received a vigorous coaching session on attention to detail. One silver lining though (for all you aspiring marketing managers to consider), I’ve never had more replies, so the mistake garnered me more engagement than usual. 

I know we’re all into big data so let’s start out with a few stats looking back at 2021:

• Work emails sent: 4005

• Miles run: 567.8

• Tweets (@CourtneyMFK): 316

• Instagram (courtneyfollowsparlor) posts begrudgingly posted: 26

• Spotify Wrapped accurately forecast: 1

In 2021, I continued to mostly work from home and mostly stay home in Cambridge, MA. Things at Dimagi are still busy with Covid response, international public health and the process of rapidly growing a remote team.

I did get to Louisville, KY a couple times to see my Mom after we were all vaccinated. She lives there in indentured servitude to two large golden retrievers who can miraculously shed more than their entire body weight each day.

This year I completed Dry January again, with a fair bit of complaining. I complained every bit as much about ‘Every Day May” (run every day in May) but apparently not quite enough to complete that. I’ll try to complain more bitterly next time.

In June, Keri & Caitlin hosted me in Philly and I got to go to a big fun party with loads of their friends and family (outdoors). It was my first gathering in ages and I had the time of my life, but failed to remember to take any photos. Here’s Keri dropping me off at the train station to head back to Boston:

July 10-11 I went to NYC for Drew Jones 50th! Thanks to Cara for organizing the shindig and to Drew for outliving all our predictions. It was a blast hanging out in Prospect Park and seeing old friends. Thanks to Avi for hosting me for the weekend!

Later in July, my Cousin David, his wife Janet and their kids Evan, Hayley and Lauren swung through Boston after some time out on the Cape and we had a fun day in Charlestown, MA checking out the USS Constitution. Now that Lauren is officially much taller than me, I am back to my rightful place as the shortest member of the extended family:

July 18th at 4:00pm Parlor Sports finally opened back up and my life returned to some semblance of normalcy. (I’m there for most Eagles games and some Celtics games as well. Plenty of green and frustration to go around.) 

I also spent some time in the summer at the beach (Oak Island, NC) with my sister and her family, but again forgot to take any photos so you’ll just have to trust me on that. My mom and her sister Aunt Vicki joined us for the first time in years and had a complete blast with all the grandkids.

I went on this fun hike in August in Amherst with members of my running club:

In November, Julie and I finally ran that Nashville Half Marathon we signed up for in 2019. I had fun and vowed to never do that again.

For Thanksgiving I went back to Louisville to see Mom and lots of aunts & uncles and family. My sister and cousins and I celebrated Thanksgambling at the track. We were all thankful no one lost too much. Here’s me with Lindy and my cousins’ daughters Elise, Lauren*, Gracie, Claire & Haley*.

(*Be sure to congratulate Lauren & Haley on the rare double-mention, a major achievement!)

Now to round out the year I am once again back in Raleigh, NC and Lynn, Robbie, Kate and Lindy (and boss cats Cosmo and Venus) are taking good care of me. Robbie feeds us all four or five home cooked meals a day. Lindy has me in an intensive immersion course on the Marvel Universe and Cosmo is working on reducing my screen time by standing on my laptop keyboard (even as I try to send this).

Give me a shout if you’ll be near Boston and want to catch up over a coffee or a beer. Wishing you health and joy in 2022.

Peace on Earth,

~Courtney
@CourtneyMFK 

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

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

@CourtneyMFK

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

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