Blog Post

Did anyone else notice Diggnation is back?

That's wild.

I remember when I got an iPod (6th gen so video, 32gb) and filled it with Diggnation episodes right before our annual family trip to Mexico. I was determined to one day be cool and sit with my laptop in a living room and talk about cool things that I saw online with my friends.

Unfortunately for my friends, the dream really just translated to me sending many IG reels/memes throughout the day.

IIRC, they would do an episode before the year ended where they'd discuss their year/what they'd expect for the following year...

Anyway, I wanted to write about what I've been doing this past year.

So, first... let's start with what I'm currently reading.

Books

Autobiograpies:

(aka the only books I finished this year)

• "A very punchable face" by Colin Jost
• "The Mamba Mentality: How I play" by Kobe Bryant

Nonfiction

• "War" by Bob Woodward

Fiction

• "A Clash of Kings" by GRRM

Financial guidance

• "Millionaire Mission" by Brian Preston

Software

• "Clean Code" by Robert C. Martin
• "Software Engineering: The Soft Parts" by Addy Osmani

Parenting

• "The Whole Brain Child" by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
• "The Montessori Child" by Simone Davies and Junnifa

I live in one of those classic situations where I read what feels like the right vibe at any given time so it ends up taking me a while to finish a single book. They're all good... "A Clash of Kings" is probably the one I pick up the most but I still have about 300 pages to go.

Unfortunately, I did just put a book on hold at the library a couple of days ago: "Cien años de soledad" by Gabriel García Márquez. This was before I heard about the Netflix series. I had tried to read "Don Quixote" in the original Spanish and just failed... so in the summer, my cousin in Mexico recommended "Cien años de soledad" as something he thought I could get through in the original Spanish.

Podcasts

I enjoy laughing and/or learning while walking...

• Conan Needs a Friend
• Smartless
• The Daily (NYT)

I should probably add some tech/software-ish one to this list? Haven't really looked into it but I will for 2025.

Work

I think I covered it in my previous blog post but yeah, I'm back on the component library team for the rest of Q4 which is nice.

Health

I've discovered instagram fitness? Is that what it's called? IDK, essentially, I've learned at-home workouts that fit into my schedule by watching Instagram reels. I'm counting calories again and want to get back into running soon. Currently, my preschooler is at home for winter break but once he's back at school, I'm going to go back to running consistently before work. For now, I've settled on some core exercises, weights, and spinning.

For fun

I really have to think about this one.

I'm often either reading by myself or to my kid. He loves Arthur books and his monthly Highlights magazine.

I'm currently doing Harvards' online course: "CS50 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python" for fun... and when I make the time.

One big thing I want to embrace again for 2025 is gaming, tbh. I haven't played COD in 2 years - for personal reasons. I'd like to buy Black Ops 6 to play at night once my kid is asleep but also revive my Nintendo Switch to see if he is interested already :)

All in all, it was a good year.

I took my son on a multi-city trip (London, Paris, Madrid, and Barcelona) earlier in the summer. He was a trooper through the timezone adjustment.

I intend to do another international trip with him in 2025. I've actually never been to the Southern Hemisphere... so, the potential locations are all down there.