May 2024
- Softball and vollyeball are back! If it ever stops raining...
- I found a place to live...with a yard!
- Completed my first official boat outing of the year and played in my first softball tournament of the year, the 2024 North Star Classic softball tournament. We didn't win this year :(
- 2nd annual company Hackathon (this time in Denver!) was a success! My colleagues are a lot smarter than I am.
April 2024
- Eric, Einstein, and I took our first hike of the year, after which Einstein slept for 2 days straight. Missouri Tavern is still great, btw.
- I didn't renew my lease. Gotta make good on that promise to Einstein that he'd eventually have a yard.
- Record Store Day was a bust, but mostly because I didn't plan well and I'm allergic to waiting in long lines.
March 2024
- 2 comedy shows and 1 concert down!
- 46 Hugo Novels left
- I'm BACK into skateboarding (for, I think, the 3rd distinctive time). My shins are as tender as ever.
- This was a very, very short winter and I'm not a fan.
- Bars and restaurants in old houses continue to be the best experiences. Shout out Missouri Tavern.
February 2024
- 2 comedy shows down!
- 47 Hugo Award for Best Novel winners left (-1 read (A Stranger In A Strange Land - Robert Heinlein), +2024's winner)
- Downhill skiing is a lot more fun than cross country; the novelty vs snowboarding also keeps it interesting. The amount of snow, on the other hand...
January 2024
- I had a company offsite in Austin, TX and had a great time! (Mechanical bull riding is a lot harder than it looks.)
- This website now deploys via Github Actions on new tag pushes!
- 1 comedy show down!
My 2024 goals
- Contribute to an open source project
- in the AI space
- in the nim ecosystem
- in the python ecosystem
- Release an open source project
- Make money from something other than my job
- Finish reading the remaining 47 Hugo Award for Best Novel winners (+2024's winner)
- Join a French conversation group
- Join a tech meetup group
- Play in a disc golf tournament
- >1 beach trip
- Visit NC 4 times
- >158 workouts
- Mountain bike 10 times. At least twice in Copper Harbor, MI
- Snowboard 10 times. At least once at Mt. Bohemia
- Go to a live comedy or concert once a month
- Play more sand volleyball
- Play more softball
- Volunteer more
2023 goals retrospective
Out of 20 individual goals, I completed 7, made good progress on 1 more and left 12 to tackle next year. I'm happy with that; these are just as much directional guidance as they are to actually complete.
β Shepherd a major product release at AcuityMD
This year I contributed to A LOT of product feature releases (many more than a year's-worth at my previous employer, though those projects tended to be much larger). I: improved UX for displaying & filtering data in a user's sales pipeline, developed leadership reporting views & KPI dashboards, and helped complete a core app data model migration.
β Contribute to an open source project
While I wrote more code this year than any years previous not much of it was open source or public. I'll carry this over to 2024.
- in the graphics space
- in the OS/networking space
- in the AI space
- in the nim ecosystem
- in the python ecosystem
β Release an open source project
Β―\_(γ)_/Β―
β Make money from something other than my job
Not yet, but I have improved skills that could result in payment this year.
β Read all Hugo Award for Best Novel winners
I read 25 out of 72. ~35%. 72 books is a lot but I think I'll be able to finish this year.
β Catch up on my growing list of purchased yet unread books
Success! In addition to the 25 Hugos, I read ~15 other books. I did receive more books, but the stack has not grown!
β (re)become conversational in French
Maybe somewhat less language atrophy this year, but not great progress.
β Become conversational at a basic level in German
Fell off hard on this one...
Un-(publicly)-documented goals
These were some additional goals that were confined to my phone's note app and now public for all to see.
- β 3x beach trips. Not this.
- β More time with family. For the very general 'more time' this was a success. I'll always take even more.
- β Lots of pushups. More than 2022, less than I'd have liked.
- β Lots of workouts. 158 total.
- β Lots of mountain biking. This one's really embarrassing...only once.
- β Lots of snowboarding. See above :(
-
β More concerts/shows/vinyl. Not fully back in the scene but getting there!
- The Shins
- Queens of the Stone Age
- Death Cab For Cutie
- The Postal Service π±
- The Midnight
- β Take an art class. I took two!
December 2023
- Holiday celebrations happened! Family! Food! It was great!
- We're shipping new features, baby!
- I'm discovering being on top of things requires starting earlier and earlier each year.
November 2023
- I visited North Carolina for a week during the holidays as I continue to lean into working remotely.
- The head and facial anatomy class I took was really enjoyable but taking an art class virtually is probably akin to trying to read a book through a foggy shower door.
- I'm a little ahead pace on Christmas shopping but my crippling need to give a good gift will surely leave me scrambling.
October 2023
- Won 2nd place in the fall volleyball league after a very wet and chilly night. Even with this being documented, I'll forget how uncomfortable I was and sign up again next year.
- My fall softball team didn't fare as well and got 4th out of 6. It's a huge improvement for us, though, considering we've previously had last place pretty locked down.
- I'm going to have to read a LOT of books in November to hit my goal of reading all Hugo Award for Best Novel winners. I'm currently at 17 out of (now!) 73.
September 2023
- Big Thingsβ’! I played in the 2023 GSWS in Minneapolis, MN. I came home with a little hardware π.
- My best friend got married at Riot Fest and I was the sole (well, invited, but even then) guest. It was wonderful (even changing a tire on the side of I-90).
- Saw lots of good music at Riot Fest (Death Cab for Cutie (!) and The Postal Service (!!!)) and not at Riot Fest (The Midnight).
- Had a Gay Old Time at Gleam and Out In The Park.
August 2023
- I'm now registered for two (2!) art classes this fall. Only a little nervous.
- I'm working on a new project using FastAPI and Next.js. It feels like a lot of magic but really productive magic.
- I have learned the virtues of homemade bread and consider myself a devoted convert.
July 2023
- I've now read 13 of 72 Hugo Award for Best Novel novels. This resolution may carry over to next year. I'm also realizing I should have read in an oldest-first order because I'm currently seeing the more developed versions of tropes before their foundational counterparts.
- My softball team (The Big Cheese) won The Cheese Cup at the 2023 Badgerland Classic softball tournament! (It's very fun to win, but technically The Cheese Cup is the loser's bracket consolation tournament. Naming is fitting though. It just makes sense.)
- My partner and I visited North Carolina and went to Dollywood with my family! What a great time.
June 2023
- 6 months at AcuityMD! I've learned a ton about a more 'dujour' tech stack (goodbye CachΓ©/MUMPS!), and been able to bring my enterprise experience (wow, what a phrase) into play in relevant ways.
- Visited NYC for the first time in ~15 years. Got to see Stonewall as well as the inside of several NY-state airports - thanks, United! (regardless of what people say, they're #1 in making sure you spend an extra day at your destination after you've already lined up everything to be home at a previously determined (and agreed upon with United) date).
- I've now read* the: 1966, 1971, 1985, 1990, 2001, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022 Hugo Award for Best Novel novels. Only 59 more to go! (yeah, way off pace at 2/mo; gotta stop getting distracted by other books) (where 'read' is defined to include 'listened' as well as books I've previously read before this year)
May 2023
- My first hackathon in almost a decade was so much fun! I should do more of these types of events...
- Slowly chipping away at reading all Hugo Award winning novels...
- I was on the winning team of the 2023 North Star Classic softball tournament!
April 2023
- Tax season and every year I'm reminded how much I dislike the whole current setup.
- Chugging along on my "Read all Hugo Award for Best Novel winners" goal, but behind pace.
- Other than that, nothing major of note.
March 2023
- Doing a lot of drawing, and aiming to take an art class this summer.
- Focusing less on the results on more on the activity of drawing has helped me improve a lot.
- Taking the "perfection is the enemy of progress" philosophy to the max has also helped my own personal development projects.
- Softball is starting relatively soon!
- It's likely I'll make my first 6-figure purchase this summer.
- Spring is coming and my general mood is (finally) improving! 6 months of winter takes a toll...
Twenty Twenty (2) In Review
Time continues to move very quickly. I'm 1/7th the average lifespan of a Bowhead whale.
The transition to WFH and into a new position have been transformative in ways I haven't fully realized. Working from home requires a certain level of discipline that I've been flexing and growing in other areas of my life as well. It has been paying off in both my physical and mental well-being. It seems obvious that bodies won't operate well on frozen pizza, spoonfuls of peanut butter, and a 2nd shift sleeping schedule; but the results are really speaking for themselves.
I forgot how much I like to read. I'm suddenly 13 and devouring books like they're the only window into an exciting life I have. Except now, I'm a grown man and ALSO have friends.
Long distance relationships are hard, but time spent together does feel more meaningful and intentional. That said, there is a certain easy charm to silently sitting together with coffee on a Sunday morning knowing that neither of you has to make the seemingly endless drive home and back to a life where physical affection seems worlds away.
Speaking of discipline and intentionality, putting more effort into this website and my own professional development has been an unexpected creative outlet and boon.
My 2023 goals
- Shepherd a major product release at AcuityMD
- Contribute to an open source project
- in the graphics space
- in the OS/networking space
- in the AI space
- in the nim ecosystem
- in the python ecosystem
- Release an open source project
- Make money from something other than my job
- Read all Hugo Award for Best Novel winners
- Catch up on my growing list of purchased yet unread books
- (re)become conversational in French
- Become conversational at a basic level in German
December 2022
- December was a good month; cozy, familiar, and even familial.
- My gift wrapping theme was black on matte black; it was a hit. I also made nametags out of an esoterica stickerbook I'm getting a lot of mileage out of.
- I got to spend a lot of time with my family. And really be myself; how cool is that?!
- I read Hyperion by Dan Simmons. I wasn't immediately taken by the storytelling mechanism, but I also wasn't displeased enough to stop reading (well, listening). I'm a fan.
- Advent of Code 2022!
November 2022
- I'm loving my new job.
- I finished Ball Lightning by Liu Cixin. I didn't realize it preceeded his Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, but I can certainly see the relationship. Ball Lightning doesn't go as deeply scientific and inclues realistic and compelling characters and relationships.
- ChatGPT/StableDiffusion/~AGI is wild and awesome in the most biblical sense of the word.
- Einstein has a torn ACL (or the doggy version) that has slowly been healing. It's hard to keep a good Jack Russell down, but I hate seeing him hurt.
- Working remotely is fantastic so far.
October 2022
- In July, August, and September I went through a crisis of confidence over whether I should continue to update this, leaving breadcrumbs about my life.
- In October I decided it was probably fine.
- In September, I played in a softball league with some work colleagues...finally confident in my throw again!
- I am leaving my job at Epic to work for AcuityMD. Hello, startup world! I'm excited to be working with new tools on new problems.
- I finished Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson and really enjoyed it.
- I also finished the Founders Trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett. The use of sigils and how they interact with reality was particularly compelling.
- Inktober is almost over and I'm way behind!
- I'm officially hanging up my sand volleyball uniform for the year after taking 3rd and 1st place in fall leagues.
- Grant Wood is cool.
July 2022
- My softball team, The Big Cheese, played in the Badgerland Classic. I hit a home run! (and wasn't capable of throwing the ball).
- My porch plants are living their best lives.
- I'm having a lot of fun solving the cryptopals cryptography challenges while getting better at using C.
June 2022
- Sand volleyball and softball started again!
- I rebuilt my website (you're using the new version now!)
- Spending a fair bit of time in Des Moines.
- Writing more nim but staying plugged into the Python & C# ecosystems.
- Curious to learn more about erlang/elixir.
