Art of the Smart

Thoughts and lessons from a techie, entrepreneur, and curious observer of the world.


2019 Wrap Up

2019 was quite a year.

Work It was punctuated by a particularly challenging period professionally and I'm surprised at how much of a toll that took personally. On the one hand, I'm grateful for the opportunity to do more at work. I'm a manager now, and I care about my team very much. But the work itself has changed. I used to be more of an individual contributor but now most of my work revolves around working with the team and helping them align with each other and with the broader organization. It's good stuff and I think there's a good career-level capstone project coming up that will take several years to complete.

Still though, sometimes I miss my old work. When things were simpler.

Sacramento We're spending more and more time in Sacramento in 2019 for Sandy's business, and I think the climate and locale suit me. We might start looking to make a more permanent home out here. I think Echo likes it better out here, too. There're fewer strange sounds and random fireworks at 1AM, plus we can run along the trails on the weekends for exercise, and she gets tired. A good tired.

Business No real estate or side-projects to speak of, which is disappointing. That isn't to say there hasn't been progress toward our goals, but we haven't made big strides like in 2017 and 2018. After the deal in January we've basically been lying low to conserve capital to fund Sandy's startup and prepare for our build project (which has been delayed to 2021). Might be good to get back on that horse and make 2020 another valuable year.

Liesure While we haven't done much camping, it's been a fantastic year of travel and exploration.

Not a bad list, it definitely wasn't a boring year. I'll add anything else if I think of it!