Throughout most of the year, 2023 felt like any ordinary year, with the usual amount of highlights and lowlights. In retrospect though, as I write this on December 31, it turned out to be a year of big outcomes, accomplishments, and personal development. Sprinkled in across most of the year was the ongoing deck build. Stair math is tough... even for a "professional engineer."
In January, Kelsey's operation went smoothly, and she is doing well now. I spent about a week working remotely from NYC during that time. We took the opportunity to experience Weill Cornell Medical Center as alumni.
Work pretty much consumed most of my February through June, culminating in several major project deadlines scheduled for the last week of June. Immediately after, July was a huge month for travel. I finally returned to Iceland for a personal retreat between July 01 and July 06. It was my first foreign travel solo. Upon arrival, there was an immediate sense of familiarity, but with the perfect amount of foreignness. The midnight sun experience was phenomenal. I revisited many of the typical Golden Circle and South Coast destinations, but also added an ice cave tour, some puffin watching, a day trip to Landmannalaugar, and a day trip to Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Island). I got as far as Jökulsárlón before turning back west. I drove a new Kia Sportage PHEV for the trip, and successfully forded a river (twice!)* to get to the highlands. The drive to Vestmannaeyjar was my first time driving via car ferry. So cool! On my last day, I drove from Selfoss to Snaefellsness to see Kirkjufell before heading to Keflavík airport (a six hour detour to see yet more waterfalls and mountains!).
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| Seljalandsfoss |
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| Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach |
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| Puffins |
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| Skógafoss |
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| Jökulsárlón |
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| View of mainland Iceland from Vestmannaeyjar |
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| Landmannalaugar |
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| Kirkjufell and Kirkjufellfoss |
I returned home from KEF to IAD Thursday night, immediately followed by a return to IAD Friday morning, this time to Tampa for a work trip. I took the opportunity of the trip to first stay two nights at Walt Disney World before working on Monday. This was my first time to Walt Disney World in at least 18 years, first time as an adult, and first time as a "single-rider." I stayed at the Dolphin hotel; couldn't get into the Swan. And with the gamification of Disney Genie+ and park hopping, I managed to "complete" Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, and Hollywood Studios in a day and a half. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Rise of the Resistance were pretty neat. I think I enjoyed the hustle and strategizing travel logistics more than the parks themselves. Overall though, I can't say Disney is all that much fun, at least not alone. Not to mention, an incredible expense for just a couple of days of entertainment.
At the end of August, I took a trip to Denver to see Hans. While there, I also got to see a few old DC friends for brunch. Hans and I spent a night and half a day at Alamosa and Great Sand Dunes NP. The dark sky was incredible. Saw thousands of stars and the Milky Way for the first time, and attempted some astrophotography. I had the best ramen of my life (so far) in Boulder, at Dragonfly Noodle. I remember sitting there with Hans after finishing my bowl of black tonkatsu ramen, savoring the meal—just content and smiling. What an experience!
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| Milky Way at GSD NP |
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Dune Hike at GSD NP |
In October, I inherited Dad's old 2005 Toyota Highlander Limited. It was the family car that hauled me and Kelsey to Cornell and back every year for five or so years. Surprisingly, it still drives like a tank. I replaced the side mirrors because of old collateral damage from an adjacent car fire. I replaced the front and rear bumpers because of major cosmetic damage from years of NYC parallel parking. I installed an aftermarket head unit with a backup camera for CarPlay. I replaced the radiator because of a slow coolant leak. And I replaced the rear rotors because of a safety inspection issue. It's been named CRGOSHP, currently with about 175,000 miles. It joins SPC3SHP, which accrued about 15,000 miles this year, ending with about 160,600 miles in 2023.
In November, I turned 35. What the hell. Wow.
Finally, on December 06, 2023 at 10:30 am, I passed final inspection for my deck. Hallelujah! Unfortunately, I did the bare minimum, just enough to meet inspection requirements. In reality, I still have to redo the slope angle of the stair railing for better alignment, to install fascia boards for some remaining trim work, and to take apart a few pieces of decking to run low voltage lighting after the fact. Hopefully I'll be done by Spring 2024.
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| Deck Progress, as of December 2023 |
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On my late afternoon flight out of KEF, I took some time to reflect and wrote down a few random thoughts and musings from my week in Icelandic solitude.
You can get sunburned in Iceland.
Iceland has a lack of coffee shops, and a lack good coffee in general.
Travel time between destinations is as important as destination time.
Luck has a greater effect on success than planning or skill. (See *.)
A successful outcome doesn’t forgive the fact that a bad decision was made. (See *.)
The ability to spend money and not having to worry about how much things cost can be very liberating. (Particularly when vacationing on an island with very few options!) When you're at the only supermarket in town and you need bread, you buy the bread. Similar with coffee or gas.
When people are braving the elements and trying to survive (such as enduring 70 mph winds on a hike to the top of a volcano on a remote island), no one is paying attention to you worth being self conscious about. No one is judging you. Everyone's a tourist. Everyone's human.
Wake up early. Enjoy the peace.
Smile more.
Say yes to things. (I ended up picking up hitchhikers on two occasions. Iceland is a relatively safe place in general and practically self-selecting when it comes to tourists, so I thought there was little risk to me as a solo traveler.)
Eat European portions.
"You’re welcome," instead of "no problem."
Do NOT buy a touchscreen-first car.
Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.
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2023 Year in Pixels: The number of amazing days in 2023 exceeded all previous years between 2019-2022, only matched by 2018 (incidentally, the same year as the first Iceland trip... go figure). Otherwise, the overall statistics were pretty comparably with 2022, with slightly fewer Anxious days, offset by slightly more Overwhelmed/Exhausted ones. I suppose that's a good thing. Maybe? Both were probably work-related anyway.
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| 2023 Year in Pixels |
As far as 2024 goes, two major themes for me are:
- 80% full (à la Ikigai)
- Take care of things once. Don't create "later" work for yourself.
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* In retrospect, it was an incredibly foolish thing to do, especially since I was traveling alone and never driven through a river before. It was definitely a moment of impulse, having just watched a smaller car in front me succeed in the crossing. Plus, I really had to pee after a few hours of driving, and the forward parking lot (before the crossing) was full. Pro tip: Do not begin your crossing if another car is still in the water or is blocking the exit ramp. (Like I did.) On the drive out of Landmannalaugar, had the car in front stopped on the ramp (which would have forced me to stop in the water), I likely would've flooded the engine... in a foreign country, alone. It still haunts me just thinking about it.
