Goals for 2019

Followup from last year’s post:

Programming: I really dug into Pandas and not I feel pretty comfy with Python & Pandas. This year, I’d like to focus a bit more on stats and machine learning.

Work-life balance: I am freakin obsessed with my job, which is terrific. But I also feel comfy taking days off and leaving at a reasonable time to walk Domino. So, solid win on that front. I’d like to keep that going this year.

Had many fun adventures with Andrew. We’ve kind of made that a priority this year and I’d like to continue doing that.

Baking: made all sorts of cool things. Highlights were Georgian cheese bread (which tasted like crack but sat like a bag of cement), apple cider donut muffins (they’re muffins, so they’re healthy!), and cinnamon pull-apart bread (I killed the yeast and they were still delicious).

Boxing: started going to sparring regularly, which is incredibly fun and hard.  However, one of the women I spar with is several inches taller than me, solid muscle, and just got down to 30lbs lighter than me for a fight. While I don’t feel the need to be that skinny, I’m thinking maybe I should lose a couple pounds next year. Speaking of:

Eating better: we ate weekly salads this year (thanks to Andrew!) but I wouldn’t say we ate more healthily overall. I think we have a solid plan for next year, though.

Finances: not sure if I saved more than usual from my paychecks, but the MongoDB IPO was a nice bump! Dropping this from goals for next year.

Travel: failed miserably, had to go to California many times for work. However, I think I’ve figured out the basics of air travel to the extent that I no longer feel totally screwed over every time I fly.  I even got a free upgrade last trip! Dropping this from goals for next year, I’m going to have to continue to travel a bunch. And playing Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is making me want to visit Greece.

Read a couple of books: success! My favorite books this year were Spinning Silver and Bad Blood. Dropping this from goals for next year.

Writing: despite feeling like I wasn’t writing anything, actually did manage to hit my goals.  Also, started writing on Medium, since it’s a GV investment.  I’d like to continue with attempting 6 posts next year.

Went camping and hiking a couple times and it was very nice, aside from the one time we got caught in the rain several miles from the trailhead.  But that was fun too, just not at the moment.

Home improvement: fixed most of our toilet’s innards and it works so much better now.  Brings me joy with every flush!

Finally, it was fun to think about this list and what I had done so far all year, looking forward to following up around New Year’s.  So, hopefully it’ll be the same next year.  Happy 2019!