What I hoped to accomplish
Write 6 blog posts - I wrote 7 for TravelSaveAndBeMerry.com . Mostly on accident.
Publish 1 video to youtube - Nope
Prep to be a digital nomad - Yup! You can read about the selling of stuff here https://travelsaveandbemerry.com/blog/2021-10-18-selling-all-our-stuff .
What I accomplished that wasn’t a goal
Fully handed off Denver UX leadership - I helped create this group in ~2016 and for a few years ran it solo. It was fun to help so many people grow their careers, and learn about the industry. I think it was just over 3000 members when I walked away. Prior to Covid I was doing 2 events a month. One speaker and one happy house. It ended up being a ton of time spent, and a bunch of emotional energy.
Taught a UX bootcamp for the University of Oregon - I taught a 6 month 14 hour a week bootcamp. I got a great opportunity to work with a fun teaching team and a bunch of great students. It did take a bunch of time and energy and for sure at points was exhausting, but the students who got jobs during and directly after was really fun to watch. It was also great to spend 6 months realizing I actually do know something about UX.
Spent ~6 weeks with my Family in NC - I got to see my family in NC 3 times last year. Once for my dads birthday at Kitty hawk, once directly before we left for Mexico, and then around Christmas and New Years for 3 weeks
Took a sabbatical - At the beginning of the year with a broken knee cap I was burying my self in work as it felt like the only productive outlay of energy. After some soul searching and time talking to a therapist I determined maybe that wasn’t healthy. So I took 3 months unpaid from work to think through next steps in my life
Helped a friend build a gazebo - Spent ~2 full days at a friends house building a pretty serious gazebo he got from Costco. it is always fun building things with your hands.
Quit my fulltime job - I was at the Fool for ~3 years and took the plunge quitting. It was a really great place to work. I loved the people I worked with, and the opportunities they gave me to learn from great people.
We sold all of our stuff - That is kind of a lie, kind of not. We sold everything except for two bookbags and two Rubbermaid tubs. All Filled with things of course.
Hit a few fiscal milestones - The stock market went bananas in 2021 and with that we got to drive right by a few numbers we had in our minds for a while. Because the market went so high we actually saw them in the rear view as we drove past. Who knows with these things though. We aren’t inflating our spending and trying to live on less then we averaged for the previous 3 years.
Got a remote contract job - I am taking a break from professional programming (My previous job at the Fool was mostly development stuff) and going to spend some time rounding out my skill set. I would like to do more book learning and personal projects that allow me to understand more parts of the software lifecycle.
What I hope to do in 2022
Be supportive of family during trying times. This will be demonstrated by physical and emotional proximity and support.
Have a better understanding of what motivates me. This will be demonstrated by a 14 day period of feeling productive without a fiscal reward.
Beat the video game Portal 2,
Beat the video Back 4 blood
Beat the video game Hadies
Define who I want to be, this will be shown in something like [Zen of Python]
Be comfortable saying \“I am a developer\” (Finish SICP book)