2025

It felt like we did a lot this year.

Last year, we decided not to go back to England this year. Fighting Max to get on a plane wasn’t worth it, and the jet lag makes everything harder than it should be. So instead, we decided to be busy at/near home.

January–March 🎭🚗 #

We started the year with Hamilton on January 4th, which was a strong way to kick things off. Max knows all the words to the first song. In February we saw Back to the Future too, which was amazing. The car flies! We went to East Bay Comic Con (the boys’ first ComicCon) too. February also included an on-site in San Francisco for work, which was good — it’s always nice to see people in real life.

Jack went on school trips to Hawaii and later Puerto Rico. Pretty amazing school.

Spring Break (April 1–4) was a road trip, and it was one of the best weeks of the year. We deliberately modeled it on Top Gear: rented fun cars (a Jaguar F-Type and a Cybertruck), used walkie-talkies, and let ChatGPT plan the route. We saw a geyser, the coast, a lot of rain, snow in Tahoe, good food, variable hotels, and generally had a great time.

Spring 🌱 #

We got a new trampoline while I was remodelling the backyard. The kids are probably a bit old for it now, but I’m still glad we have it. I got a jackhammer to chisel into the dirt to flatten ground under the play structure ready for chickens. I moved the slide to a much better home where it gets way more use, and built a platform for that and another for the BBQ.

Sites launched at Figma on May 7th. It felt great to ship something real. I’m proud of it, although I can’t help feeling there’s so much more it could do to genuinely help developers. So much more to do!

On May 18th, Max and I ran Bay to Breakers together. That was a real highlight. He did incredibly well, and I was ridiculously proud of him. Seven and a half miles! 🏃‍♂️

Summer ☀️🐔 #

We got chicks on June 10th. Chickens are awesome. They’re far more fun than the dog, and now we get about four eggs a day 🥚🥚🥚🥚.

In July, I ran five miles every day. I was extremely proud of finishing it. I expected more visible effects, but mostly I just watched my VO₂ max creep up. Agnieszka told me not to do it again, which probably means I was more tired than I realized.

We also made plum wine, finally using the plums from our tree for something other than deer. It worked out really well 🍷.

Max got very into stop-motion animation this year. It might be an obsession, it might be longer-term — hard to tell. I like that he’s moved on from the Zoetic League. This feels more doable.

Late Summer 🎸🚁 #

Figma IPO’d on July 31st. I didn’t start the company, and I haven’t even been there that long, so it wasn’t a huge emotional moment. It was my second IPO (the first was Twitter), so I broadly knew how it all worked. Still, it’s nice having the stock public.

We went to GalaxyCon in August, and later that month went to a drone show in San Francisco. The drone show was… bad. The wind picked up, we got cold, and the drones disappeared after five minutes to recharge. We went home. Sometimes things don’t work out 🤷‍♂️.

Max did School of Rock this year — drums and (later) singing too. His show was on September 12th, and then he decided to stop. It was his call. He enjoyed it, and then he was done. And now we have a drum kit gathering dust.

We also took an eventful trip to Sacramento to see our friends, but the truck decided to suddenly die on the way. It got diesel bug, and the insurance had to pay $12k to replace our fuel lines. Ouch.

Autumn 🍂🎭 #

Max started at a new school, repeating third grade. We didn’t want him to be the youngest anymore, getting left behind in big classes. The new school is a big change, and he’s doing admirably.

Jack and I flew down to LA on September 7th to see Oasis. It was pure nostalgia for me. We left before the encore because we were tired and wanted to beat the traffic, and then got lost in LA at midnight which sucked. Next time we'll stay for the encore.

I went to New York for work for a week, then again the following week, which felt excessive even while it was happening. I did get to run in Central Park a lot (which I love), saw Operation Mincemeat and Waiting for Godot (with Bill & Ted), made a rug, and ate some good food.

Jack was Donkey in his summer school production of Shrek, and he was fantastic. I was incredibly proud of him. Singing on stage is something I could never do, particularly in school 🎤.

For Halloween, I dressed as my friend Shaun, which I think amused me more than anyone else. You can get a printed photo on a head sleeve on Amazon for about ten dollars 🎃.

Agnieszka also flew — she went to London (and Poland) for a week. We missed her, but we survived.

End of the Year 🎄 #

We went to Oceanside for Thanksgiving week and had a genuinely relaxing time. Two days at Legoland, a hot-air balloon ride, the safari park, and iFLY. Loved having things planned out so we could relax the rest of the time.

Somewhere in all this, Agnieszka and I quietly passed the 20th anniversary of meeting. We don’t really celebrate that one — we celebrate wedding anniversaries — but it was still nice to notice the number ticking over.

Christmas was quiet and restful.

Having said that, I didn’t take enough holiday this year — probably less than two weeks in total. I should have taken another week in the summer with the boys just to de-stress.

One other thing that changed this year: I’m starting to code primarily through chat agents. It’s exciting, unsettling, productivity-boosting, and a bit existential all at once. It’s also oddly satisfying — something I would have absolutely dreamed about as a kid. I even got it to write this blog post which is why there's so much bold.

All in all: a lot happened.

Next year: I’ve got myself a Tonal and plan to work out with it. I’ve got a six-month goal to get a little thinner — nothing excessive though, I still need to look after the family and work. We also need to look into a home remodel. It’ll be ten years here next year, and change is overdue.

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