2022
This February I switched jobs, from Twitter to Frec. I had joined Twitter as employee three hundred and something, and saw it grow to an infeasibly large seven thousand and something. Frec is something of a change - there's about a dozen of us. Some time I'll organize my thoughts well enough to write about the change, though I will note that the new team is just a great crew. They care about each other, about the code we write and how we work, about our lives and families outside work. I think that's valuable, and a great way to get the best out of people.
After I left Twitter, things went pear-shaped over there. Elon Musk decided to buy it, then tried to back out, ran a lengthy court case, bought it (paying far too much by anyone's count), and then tossed out years of culture and trust that we'd built. Some time I'll organize my thoughts well enough to write about this change too.
At home, the boys are growing. Jack is eleven, and we decided to switch schools. After the COVID year online, he went back to school with a brand-new teacher (new to teaching) and some difficult classmates, so she promptly quit, giving him the well-known substitute rotation and quick-hire new teacher experience. That's a couple of years setback, so we've moved him to a new school with smaller classes. He likes it. Max is still at the same place though. I don't know whether to invest in moving him too (he hasn't had the same issues and currently has an excellent teacher). Maybe in a few years.
We all got COVID in June. It was like a bad flu. Hated it. But none of us have any lasting effects which is a relief.
We went to England! We made it a short trip, due to work and budgets and energy levels, but we got to go sailing and see our family. Invaluable. Jack is taller than Daniel (though Daniel is a year older). I initially booked us for a few nights in a cheap hotel in London. But after the first night, I realized what a mistake this was - I need my rest! So I moved us to another hotel which felt much more like a vacation. I'll have to remember this for next time.
At some point this year some dude turned up at the front door, and while I always turn people away, he said he did concrete for backyards, and that's something we needed. It cost about $30k for everything, but he could start immediately and it's made a huge difference to our backyard. It feels more open and clean. We have new steps and fake grass and a fenced-off section at the side to grow things. I'm also working on more deer-prevention.
My goals for the next year:
- I find I'm too tired to work on a screen in the evening. Even writing this post is a chore. I suspect this is because my reading precription is old, so it's time to upgrade and wear them more often - especially when reading books for the boys.
- I'm working from home a lot of the time, but Agnieszka and I still don't feel like we get any time together. I'd like to take her out to lunch every month.
- I've been working with future.co for a couple of years now. I want to go a bit harder on the training with that, and build up some strength instead of just maintaining fitness.
- Drinking beer isn't working out very well any more. Even a single beer gives me a bad night of sleep and makes my brain fuzzy the next day. So it's something I expect to keep near-zero (though I hope still to enjoy an occasional beer with friends when the opportunity presents).
- I find that I only write code at work. And while that can be good because my brain gets rest, it's somewhat limiting. If I can fix my tired eyes with new glasses, I'd like to practice coding outside work. It's too easy to get locked into your current tools without learning about other options.
- Two January-only goals: no carbs (I'm at an all-time high of 167lbs), write blog posts.
Thanks for reading! I guess you could now share this post on TikTok or something. That'd be cool.
Or if you had any comments, you could find me on Threads.
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