The Cheesy 2022 AJM Family Christmas Letter
Read on to enjoy and share in some laughs at AJM’s annual holiday letter sent to our amazing network of colleagues, clients, friends and family!
Amazingly, another year has come and gone. And despite your best efforts to be removed from this email distribution list, you've opened Pandoras Box (by opening this email) and are now getting sucked into the vortex of the AJM Family's oversharing, while still being an incredibly dry, annual holiday email. Hold on to your hat!
The year started like many others; cold, dark and devoid of physical human interaction. Despite this, our spirits stayed high and we anxiously awaited what 2022 would bring. And (TL;DR spoiler alert), 2022 did not disappoint!
As with the previous three years, we coordinated our exit from the winter doldrums with 'the snakes'. We kept in touch with our slithering friends through the winter and determined that May was a reasonable time to start venturing out. 2022 also marked the fourth year of our snake monitoring project in southern Alberta, and, unless you're Indiana Jones, it was another great success. There are now 1,462 snakes (including 1,152 rattlesnakes!) that have had the pleasure(?) of being implanted with microchips by a friendly AJM'er. That's a whole lotta snakes!
In a surprising turn of field work events, our fisheries biologists discovered a new method for mammal surveys: fish nets. Despite the confusion around what the heck was going on (by biologists and the medium-sized mammal as shown in the photo below), we're pretty sure we're on to something. Our next step is to refine our mammal identification skills using only what they look like when soaked, in 'Beast Mode', and trying to destroy everything in their reach.
In 2022 we welcomed a number of new AJM'ers to the (modern and extremely open to interpretation definition of what we call) family. They are, in order of ability to predict the number of jelly beans in a jar (which is HR's new favorite interview question): Deigan, Michelle, Olivia, Amy, Gabby, Fletcher, Abigail, Jarrett, Madi, Chelsea and Dana. We're so glad to have them on board and can't wait to grind them down and crush their hopes and dreams grow together into the future.
During the peak of the summer field season, management decided it would be best to disguise one of our projects as a multi-month group vacation to Fernie, BC. A giant chalet on the ski hill served as the AJM Clubhouse, and to no one’s surprise, things quickly devolved into a ‘Sound of Music-esque’ saga of song, dance, and alpine meadow frolicking (see photo evidence). Interestingly, lederhosens have now overtaken Nomex coveralls as our field gear of choice.
Despite our 2020 (and renewed in 2021) promise to ourselves to never again put on pants for a work meeting, that all changed when we moved into our new office and provincial decency laws required us to clothe our lower halves. So, after we all went pant shopping, we moved in along with our new officemates: 35 African cichlid fish in their 500 gallon tank. Shortly after moving in, it became abundantly clear that all of the fish were named ‘Greg’ and they even answer to their names…truly remarkable! Although, we’ve found the introductions to get a bit repetitive.
We rounded out the year with another epic AJM Family Holiday in the mountains including an expedition to explore the Rats Nest Cave in Canmore. Despite everyone quickly realizing that the trip was purely a ploy by management to add spelunking to the list of AJM field services, morale eventually improved and it was a great time. Not only did we learn that (much like our eight-year-old selves) we still get stalactites and stalagmites confused, but that being 55 meters underground with your head lamp turned off is a great time to overshare personal information so you don’t have to see the shocked facial expressions of those around you.
All joking aside, 2022 was a great year for the AJM family and we are so thankful for the support we received along the way. Whether it was our significant others putting up with crazy field schedules, clients continuing to place their faith in us, or our coworkers supporting us through our toughest days, we are so grateful.
We are extremely thankful to have been able to give back to a variety of causes that we care deeply about. In 2022, we donated a total of $20,732 to a variety of causes including:
Inn from the Cold,
Canada-Ukraine Foundation,
Alberta Guide Dogs,
End of the Rainbow Foundation,
Nature Conservancy of Canada,
Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation,
The Alex Community Health Centre,
HomeSpace Society,
Brown Bagging for Calgary Kids, and
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada.
We are honored to be able to make a positive impact.
