It was a tough call whether to relate this to coronavirus or not, but since the virus made a huge impact on the political landscape, this seems appropriate.

After almost a year of trapped at home, during which we were subject to unrelenting campaigning. all manner of divisive events, and a stupidly contested election, it's over. It's finally over.

Of course, the virus rages on. We're still trapped at home. And there's still all kinds of divisive activity and language still going on. But the election is over. The winners sworn-in. The losers packed, and, in at least one incredible tantrum, stomping home.

I have no illusion that the virus will suddenly be stopped with this change. I have hope that there will come better solution with the change in rhetoric and reversal (that has already started) of doctrine and messaging that cause animosity and foster hate. And I have hope that change will come quickly.

I've seen bits and pieces of inauguration proceedings in the past. Today I watched them almost entirely. Sure, some of it was muted, as I participated in work meetings. I watched some of those bits again later. In the past, the newspaper photo might have been enough. This year, I had concern for problems, caused by recent events, and really valued the closure of the otherwise peaceful transition of power.

Like a sore loser, President Trump made his way from the White House in the early morning. Repeated throughout the day, his sad retreat will forever rival even Nixon's, who resigned in scandal, of course. He made a relatively polite farewell speech, which was curiously hard to find, as he'd been censored by all of the social media services. He barely congratulated Biden, but did assure the world we were all going to be fine. It'll be interesting to see what his coming months are like, but I'm hoping he fades from my concerns and becomes historic footnotes.

I also don't recall watching any previous star-studded celebrations as part of the inauguration. There's a special going on now on ABC where various musicians are singing, and informational interludes, all hosted by Tom Hanks. Tom seemed particularly cold, and had as hard a time saying "inauguration" as I do spelling it.

We're still going strong with our isolation practices. We're still hopeful for vaccine supply chains to get out there and start stopping this beast. We're also hopeful that the new variants we hear about are kicked down with the vaccine, at least as well as the flu is with its vaccines. If we have do add this to our annual list, so be it, but that seems better than all of the other things not happening.

If we do need to continue isolating, I'm going to make a serious push for relocating. I had a Zoom connection with members of the first team I worked with at my company. Some of the brighter of us have been taking long "work from wherever" stints in warm climates. I like home because that's where my stuff is. I could blend the two, though, and move my stuff to warmer places. I just need to get some key family agreements.

Fantasy aside, all is well. Going strong. Feeling a little better about the world, and really very little (albeit an important little) has changed today.

Everyone's healthy.