2023: Not Quite Post Pandemic

Throughout 2023,I kept being sarcastic about being post-pandemic, knowing that COVID was still a major problem, even as we stopped acting as if it was.  And then, of course, I got it the last week of the year.  The year started with COVID--my wife and her family got it when she went down to help her mother when she was hospitalized--as well, so it was a strange year of acting like it was not a thing while it was very much a thing.  Since I am not going to be productive today due to my current bout, I thought I would post about the year so that I could remember now and down the road the non-covid-y parts to the year.

 

I can't help but start with the longest stretch of single-dom since college.  Mrs. Spew first went to help her hospitalized mother, but that became a three month or so effort to get my MIL moved out of a four floor townhouse and into a senior apartments facility.  What did I do as a single dude for three months?  Mostly plot and scheme about the kitchen renovation.  While Mrs. Spew was back for the demolition and renovation, all of the decisions were made while she was away.  I did consult via texted pics of counter tops and the like, but as she put it, since I do most of the cooking, it was up to me for most of it.  And it worked out great.  

I had two great ski trips to Banff, one with a friend's family and an anniversary trip sans my wife.  Instead, my sister and my daughter joined me.  The most notable part of the first trip was that I did a face plant on a relatively flat part of Lake Louise, proving that my new goggles are tough and leading to my first visit to the Ski Patrol hut for a bandaid. 

It was the first time I skied with my daughter in quite some time.  I had skied with my sister the previous year as she was re-learning the sport.  In 2023, she was much improved and kept up with me nicely.  

The Minister of National Defence, Anita Anand, once again visited my Civ-Mil class by zoom.  This was the second, and, alas, last time, she did that as she got shuffled to a different ministry over the summer.  Last year, it was a last minute thing. This year, I had the chance to prompt the students to ask civ-mil questions as opposed to just big IR questions, and it went really well. 

 

 

 

A highlight of the year was going to Florida for my cousin's daughter's Bar Mitzvah.  One of the patterns of the year was bad chair dancing--the guys holding up the various victims here and at other events tended to tilt the chairs forward.  They did better with Samantha than with her sister. 

We got to spend the next day at my cousin's house, including their gator-proximate pool.  I hadn't had a chance to play with all four of my cousins' kids at the same time in quite a while, and it was my first time using my old kid-pool skills in sometime.  It was probably appropriate that it was in Florida since 2023 was the 40th anniversary of my family living in Miami--just for one year, but I spent a lot of that year in the pool we had.

Speaking of blasts from the past, I went to my first rock concert in ... decades?  Journey came to Ottawa, and since their music was a big part of my teen soundtrack, I got a ticket and went.  No Steve Perry although his replacement sounded good and had lots of energy.  But still a good show. It reminded me why I don't go to concerts--I just don't find watching people make music all that interesting. 

I have always enjoyed going to conferences, and this year's ISA was far more normal than last year's.  The previous year was underattended and held in a strange resort in Nashville. 2023's was held in Montreal, a very familiar locale, and most of the folks I like to see at these things were there.  Two highlights were the Presidential speech and an award panel.  I always blow off the Presidential speech except when the President is a friend.  Debbi Avant, who started at UCSD a few years before me, has always impressed me with her sharp insights about international relations, and her speech was Debbi at her finest. 

The other highlight, also UCSD related, was the lifetime achievement panel for Miles Kahler, my supervisor way back when.  He bristled at the attention a bit about all of this fuss, but it was great to see so much appreciation for his work and for his Miles-ness.  He is retiring... for the second time and I think this one will stick.  So, it was great to see him get all of the love and appreciation.  As I get closer to retirement myself, with two of my friends retiring this year (mine is still about eight years away), I am more committed to telling people how much they have meant to me.  Losing a few friends during the pandemic also is compelling me to make clear to folks how much I appreciate them.  There are few people in this business who supported me and shaped my views than these two, so it was great to see them both celebrated.

I joke often about the military-industrial-academic complex, and this year, I got to experience it pretty directly.  Well, the first two parts--there were not many academics nor anything academic going on at CANSEC--the annual show for defence contractors.  The big surprise was not so much how much room the biggest contractors took up but the range of stuff being presented there--from artillery and ammo to drones to uniforms to cables to medical stuff and on and on.  Note in this pic that the firm was promoting gear for pregnant soldiers.

 

I have rarely gone to the graduation ceremonies, but with one of my PhDs graduating and having finally purchased a spiffy cap and gown, it was time to go.  Marshall finished his dissertation in record time, and he didn't cut any corners along the way--it was an award-winning project.  Of all the students I supervised, his work required the fewest comments, so much so that I felt guilty.  I am just glad I don't have the action shot of me messing up his hooding since he is so very tall.  

 

 

June was also a month of much travel.  First, a DND-organized trip to Riga to chat with NATO folks, Canada's contingent, the Latvian defence folks, and the Strategic Communications conference.  I learned a lot, had a fair amount of excellent beer, and even hung out with the kids from the NATO Field School--an effort run by CDSN Co-Director Alex Moens to teach undergrads and newly graduated folks about NATO.  It was my second time to Riga and my second time to the base where the Canadians are operating.  Going with this group meant more high level briefings, more sharp questions asked by my colleagues that I would not have thought to ask, and, yeah, more beer.

The highlight of the year was the delayed anniversary trip with my wife to Spain.  I had a conference in Barcelona, so we flew into Madrid and then drove throughout hot southern Spain: Toledo, Cordoba, Seville, Granada, and Ronda.  My fave was Toledo despite the scariest extended driving experience of my life--the old city streets were so very narrow the proximity alarms in my rental car were going off--all of them.  Along the way, we learned a lot of history, saw some amazing art and architecture, ate really well, and had a lot of sangria.

Did I mention it was hot?  Cordoba was probably our second favorite place although Granada was also pretty amazing.  And Ronda had the best tapas in a random bar.  Oh, and Barcelona is just terrific.

Great view of Alhambra in Granada with
excellent food.

 

Ronda has a bridge over a beautiful gorge.  It also has an historic bullring. Seville was also pretty terrific.  Just an amazing trip.

The summer family vacation was once again in Philly since my mother can't travel much.  We found new and old things to do.  I had not realized my older sister is so sharp at scrabble--a shark!  I dominated the axe throwing until the final throws, where Mrs. Spew took the crown!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 My sabbatical started in July, and Dave and Phil and I managed to finish our book and submit it in the fall.  Glossy picture of book cover?  Not yet.  Still need to get the reviews and past the editorial board.  As Tom Petty said, the waiting is the hardest part.  Actually, in this case, the writing was the hardest part.

The fall was also marked by something I had never experienced before: being the subject of an op-ed. I had written more than a few, but to have someone else dedicate an entire piece to moi?  Oh my.  The background is: in the fall of 2022, a retired general, Michel Maisonneuve was given an award by a
veteran's association and used that speech to blast pretty much everyone.  I blogged about it since I found it to be very problematic.  When I heard that he was going to appear at the Conservative Party convention, I wrote an op-ed arguing that this was a dangerous politicization of the Canadian military.  Maisonneuve responded by targeting me, a dual citizen, gasp, in his op-ed.  It was all very strange to be on the other side of an op-ed, especially one filled with ad hominens and straw men.  But I guess this means I am an influencer?

The APSA was strange due to a hotel strike, but I had to go as LA is where my daughter lives.  So, I had a good time conferencing and a better time hanging out with her.  The poker game was a bit different as we used a big table in the lobby (my room was way too small).  We were not as rowdy as the table nearby, so it was all good.  I also drove with Mrs. Spew on Mulholland Drive for as far as we could--got lots of great looks at LA and the valley.

 

Jon cleaned up better than I did.

Yet more travel as I went to DC with Mrs. Spew for a civ-mil conference and ... the 100th anniversary of the summer camp that was so important to me growing up.  The conference was terrific--I hadn't been to this specific one before--the Inter-university Seminar on Armed Forces and Society.   Definitely going back since it is chock full of smart, sweet folks working on fascinating stuff.  The anniversary gala happened to be the same weekend so I drove up to Baltimore and had a blast seeing old friends and meeting other folks who had similar experiences out in the hinterlands of Maryland.

I should note that we had a great CDSN year--each of our events went really well, and we feel we are making a difference. I am so grateful for the team that does all of the heavy lifting.  And at one event, they let us use the patio!  The people, the location, the season all make this one quite special.  The Meeting of the MINDS event, where we brought together the nine networks funded by DND plus DND's Policy group, was a terrific opportunity to learn what the other networks are doing, what has been working for them, and also what DND wants from us.

 

Our Year Ahead event addressed timely issues: how to respond to China's aggression, what the 2024 US election campaign will do to incite extremism, evacuations from conflict zones, and taking a look at the Balkans.  And it was in a funky new location for us.  It even had a slide!

The aforementioned conference in DC kicked off a series of trips that is not going to stop until May of 2024.  I went to Seoul to research their civ-mil for the next book--what role do defence agencies think they have?  I learned a lot in those two weeks--still trying to figure that case out--and had a good time seeing more of Korea, including Busan.  Busan had the most beautifully located temple as well as the memorial for UN troops who died in the Korean war.

I went directly from Seoul to Copenhagen for a different civ-mil conference.  I had been there a couple of times before, but hadn't seen their war museum, their art museum or their Christmas markets.  The latter showed me that Zurich's smelly gluhwein is not representative of mulled wine, so I had some of that and then made some over winterfest.

 

 

 

Those trips then lead to a quick trip to Toronto for a workshop and then Thanskgiving with the Saideman folks.  Much food was made and consumed.  The highlight of this week was Milo, my niece's dog.  Super sweet.  Oh and seeing my daughter.

Since my sister had crashed my anniversary ski trip, I felt it was only fair to crash her ski clinic at Alta.  I had been there about 22 years ago on a Saideman family vacation (my segment, from Lubbock, arrived a day or two late thanks to snow removal challenges in Texas).  I am a much better skier now thanks to all the skiing near Montreal and now my habit of hitting the Canadian rockies on a regular basis.  So, it was fun to see how much more of the place I could do with confidence.

The skies each day were so clear and blue.  Just amazing views at all times. 

I came home from Alta to deliver cookies near and far.  Each year, I make more (the new kitchen definitely helped), and each year, more people join my nice list.  So, I spent two days driving around Ottawa seeing folks and giving bits of sweet joy.  This started in the first winter of the pandemic when this was the first chance to interact with people in person since the start of the quarantine.  It is a great way to end the year--eating sweets and sharing them.  And meeting a few dogs along the way.

We ended the year as usual--in the greater DC area--to celebrate winterfest with my wife's family.  Since my mother-in-law no longer has a townhouse, we had to rent an airbnb near her retirement facility. Which meant we hosted the festivities--first time our family had anything to do with a tree in a couple of decades.  I have been making the big dinner for the past few years, so that was not so different.  It was great to see these folks--twice this year for me as I saw most of them in October when I was in the area for the IUS conference. 

A drink my
daughter got

my spectacular sister-in-law Liz

I hope you had a great 2023, and you have a happy new year.  I will be on the road for most of the first half of the year, so many more pics of fun places and good food.  Oh, and some research.