This is quite delayed as I am writing this in September, two months after the fact! I was re-awarded the Microsoft MVP award, my 8th award, in July 2024.
What's new this time around is I am no longer a "Business Applications" MVP, I have been awarded instead for 2 categories - M365 (for Excel), and Data Platform (for Power BI). WOOHOO!
The MVP "renewal application" process ends in March each year, and we wait until July for the news on whether we are re-awarded (or not!). Typically, I keep posting blogs and being active in the community, but there have been a few life curveballs since then.
April started with a close relative of mine in the US, my family's only US relative, having a stroke, and (long story slightly shorter) I am her power of attorney and health care proxy. Since April 1st I have been back and forth to Buffalo, NY nearly 30 times to take care of various things financial and healthcare-wise, cleaning out and moving her out of an apartment, as well as visits and getting her settled into long-term care. Even though I am one of her closest relatives I know little of her health history so all of us here were unaware of some of her health issues that led to this point. Add to that the US healthcare (and financial systems for that matter) are very different to what we have here in Canada so there have been a lot of new hoops to navigate to ensure I'm covering all of her bases for her.
I have had my own health issues (minor in comparison at least), including surgery to remove a gallbladder in May 2024, which was related to being in the hospital back in January as I wrote about here. Thankfully that went very well, and recovery was not difficult and there were no complications or side effects to deal with.
In July the same relative fell and broke her hip, and was back in the hospital again for surgery and recovery, which meant more concentrated visits in a short period to help with her care and visit with her etc. She keeps fighting to get better but man, these last few months have kicked the crap out of her.
Lastly, just because there wasn't enough going on already, my partner and I decided it was time to move in together and as well as renovate her home to prepare for that. So, in early June I put my house up for sale to get ready to move in with her. Throughout the summer and into September we have been working through renovations (with contractors, not DIY!). My house sold quickly, and the sale closed earlier this month. The renovations were not quite done in time for my moving date so the house is a slight mess with stuff everywhere where we could find room temporarily!
This has been a busy month with moving, unpacking etc. but now the bulk of that distraction is done, the renovations are at the 99% done stage so our things are gradually being moved into their proper places. We still have a lot of unpacking to do but we're getting there!
