2025: Some Thoughts and a Summary

The thoughts I'm having at the end of 2025 mirror those I've had since the beginning of the year. Grieving the loss of Peter has had a significant impact on my year and remains an ongoing weight on my mind. There were few days in 2025 when the thought of Peter didn't cross my mind, and also, more generally, the idea of corporeal death and its meaning—specifically, the frailty of life, the finality and irreversibility of death. Peter's funeral was held on 01/05/2025, when many childhood and high school friends came to Flushing to pay their respects. In a way, it felt like a reunion of many old circles, only without the one person who anchored all of together. January was one of just two times I've returned to New York City this year. I suppose I've been trying to subconsciously keep away from remembering the feelings of what childhood "home" was, and the people associated with that bygone time and place—at least temporarily. Speaks to my avoidant personality, I suppose.

This year, in honor of Peter and his love of commercial aviation and travel, I've taken at least one flight trip every month starting in February. These short escapes ended up structuring my year, including dealing with the consequences of being away when I get back home (like ungodly amounts of work and emails). I suppose part of my rationale was to get out, get away, experience life, and not languish. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to double down on United and IAD for airline loyalty and status. I would like to continue monthly flight trips, even if for just a weekend, but I'm not sure how sustainable it is for me and my wallet. Certainly, this year's travels have proven that it's very doable, and that making the world a smaller place brings immense emotional and experiential value. If nothing else, I air travel for the thrill of logistical planning in unforeseen conditions.

Some highlights:

• In February, Kelsey and I took a frigid trip to Chicago for five days. I mis-timed the travel and security time to DCA and was the closest I've ever been to missing a flight. I flew to ORD on a United A321neo, just 11 days old (N14533). (DCA-ORD, ORD-DCA.)
• In March, I took a short weekend trip to Mobile, AL, to attend an Airbus factory tour I had purchased a ticket for. It was the first time I'd taken a there-and-back weekend trip, leaving Saturday morning and returning Sunday night. I nearly didn't make it out due to thunderstorms at MOB, but made it back home on the last IAD flight out of IAH. (IAD-MOB, IAD-IAH-IAD.)
• In April, I visited Taylor, Aysenur, and the family in Ann Arbor. The trip wasn't well planned, and even then didn't go as planned. Everyone was either sick or ill. I was grateful to borrow a car to head downtown to Detroit for a few days. (BWI-DTW, DTW-IAD.)
• In May, I went down to Nashville for Peter's celebration of life, a hike, and a lunch at the church. I was moved by the turnout of his Tennessee coworkers and friends plus his college roommates and friends. I had written a speech in the weeks leading up to it. On the flight down, I continuously re-read and edited it on my iPhone, crying the entire flight south. While in central TN, I took the opportunity to visit Dave and Holly in Chattanooga after the Nashville events. (IAD-BNA, CHA-ORD-IAD.)
• Also in May, I visited Eric in Saratoga Springs to see his car and house projects, renovated kitchen, and new shed. Most days were spent working from [someone else's] home. We made pizza at home, and we had a barbecue dinner at Ben and Myra's. (IAD-ALB, ALB-IAD.)
• In June, I took a short weekend solo trip to Providence, mainly to check off Rhode Island and New Hampshire from the list of states I've haven't visited. A three-hour outbound flight delay meant sleeping at Dulles airport for a time. It gave me plenty of time to plan the trip itinerary, which I still did not do. Providence was overall a letdown. (IAD-PVD, PVD-IAD.)
• In July, I took a trip to San Francisco, mainly so that I could fly United Domestic First Class in a Polaris seat, transcontinental on a B787-900. It was my first window seat opportunity on a 787. While there, I finally got to visit Alcatraz and took my first Waymo ride. I also had ramen for dinner, matcha ice cream for dessert, and a long catch-up with Brian from college. (IAD-SFO, SFO-IAD.)
• In August, I went to Dayton for a two-day work trip, followed by a quick weekend road trip from South Bend to Milwaukee. The main goal was check off Indiana Dunes National Park and to fly one of United's shortest flights from MKE-ORD. I also met up with Ben and Myra in Chicago for some deep-dish pizza. As I was on my way to MKE, the flight ended up getting canceled due to weather, and I asked the Lyft driver to divert from Milwaukee to O'Hare. (I paid him cash.) The flight out of Chicago ended up being 5 hours delayed. (IAD-DAY, DAY-IAD, IAD-SBN, MKE-ORD-IAD.)
• In September, I took a 7-day proper vacation to London, with a day trip to Paris via Eurostar --mainly for the novelty of taking a train through the Chunnel, but also to retrace some of the places Peter and I visited during in our France trip back in 2012 (the only vacation/trip we took together). London was lovely, albeit expensive. I can't wait to go back. The flight to London was via Virgin Atlantic, a mere 5,000-point ($50) redemption. Incredible! The flight home was via United Polaris business class, which was fantastic. (IAD-LHR, LHR-IAD.)
• In October, Kelsey and I took short vacation to Burlington, for the fall foliage. But due to recent [un-]seasonal weather, peak foliage timing wasn't as advertised, and it was actually a few weeks after our trip. Good hiking though. (IAD-BTV, BTV-IAD.)
• In November, Kelsey and I went to Colorado and Utah. I couldn't let Indiana Dunes be the only national park I've visited this year, since it can barely be considered one. We started in Arches National Park, then Canyonlands National Park, and finally Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We saw our first aurora while stargazing in the cold at Black Canyon. Taking unpaved backroads through the mountains and climbing up to over 9,000 feet elevation was quite the adventure. (IAD-DEN-GJT, GJT-DEN-IAD.)
• In December, I took my first single-day, there-and-back flight to Manchester, NH for a work trip. Co-worker and I probably spent more time eating lunch than doing the survey and meeting. I spent most of the day working at the airport's business center. Definitely not a vacation. (IAD-MHT, MHT-IAD.)

Plane spotting at sunset, Gravelly Point, VA.

Golden Gate Bridge, SF.

Natural History Museum, London.

Morning at Le Louvre, Paris.

One evening in Paris.

Sunset from Mt Philo State Park, VT.

The scenic route from Grand Junction, CO to Moab, UT.

Hike to Delicate Arch at sunset, Arches National Park.

Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park.

Buck Canyon Overlook Trail, Canyonlands National Park.

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Apparently, last year's sunset theme continued into this year with my photography.

As far as house projects go, I ended natural gas service to my house and am on my way to living the electrification life. I installed a 66-gallon heat pump water heater on my own, which was a study in mechanics and leverage, requiring the use of a hand truck and ratchet straps. I finally figured out the procedure and logistics of replacing my stairs and completed demolition work and installation of new treads and risers this year. Painting, hardwood flooring, entry tiling, and door and sidelight upgrades will be in Q1 2026. Other than that, the deck is still technically incomplete because of some trim work I just haven't been motivated to do. Like I said last year, "It’s too cold to work in the winter, and too hot to work in the summer. Outdoor construction is the worst." 

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In 2025, I added RI and NH to my list of states visited. Now, only seven remain: AK, AR, IA, KS, MN, ND, OK. The SPC3SHP accrued 13,466 miles, ending the year at 189,439 miles. The CRGOSHP accrued 3,976 miles, ending the year at 182,976 miles. SPC3SHP will hit 200,000 miles in 2026. CRGOSHP will probably be just under 190,000 miles.

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Before reviewing my 2025 Year In Pixel numbers for this post, I figured this year was turning out to be just as bad as 2024. Despite my pessimism, compared to 2024, the number of Amazing days have doubled, Good days have notably increased, Overwhelming days remained constant, and Anxious days have reduced by about 20 days; "Average" remained below 50%. Overall though, I guess that's a win.

2025 Year in Pixels

P.S. It hasn't been a year since Trump took office but the damage his regime has done is immeasurable. Shame on us. Never in my life had I feared kidnapping by my own government as much as I have in 2025—despite being a natural born citizen. May true justice prevail with haste.

2024: Sunsets

A few days ago, I returned home from an emergency trip to Nashville to see my best friend of 31 years in the hospital and to be with his wife, mom, and extended family. I had written him a good-bye letter the Monday prior and asked his wife to read it to him, but ultimately decided to buy a same-day first class ticket from IAD to BNA for travel on Tuesday, Christmas Eve. By the time I got to the hospital, he was unconscious and had already been sleeping the entire day since the night before. Peter passed away, at the young age of 36, Christmas morning, 12/25/2024 at 05:20 am, due to complications from cancer (a 0.001% kind of sarcoma cancer; a cruel and nefarious kind). After years of remission, and as the cancer returned and slowly took away his mobility, autonomy, and freedom, he became increasingly irritated and depressed. May he be at peace now. I don’t know if I am prepared to fully process and write about the experience of losing such a beloved friend, whom I’ve known for my entire childhood and adult life. But this one hurt. And continues to hurt. A lot. The funeral is scheduled for 01/05/2025 in Flushing, NY.

Earlier this month, I received news that another teammate/co-worker of mine is leaving the company. This is the third teammate departure this year, and the first one of legitimate frustration and grievance. One had left the DMV area and moved back to California to be with family. The other was a retirement. I will be saddened by this loss. The workload has been intolerable as compared to a typical Q4. The work stress and anxiety levels has been intense in the latter half of 2024 for the entire team, not just for myself.

And prior to that, the highly anticipated US election happened on 11/04/2024, resulting in the gut-wrenching reelection of the Very Stable Genius. Oh, what could have been! #harriswalz2024

Without a doubt, 2024 has been the absolute worst end to a year in recent memory.

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In January, I returned to Chicago for the AHR Expo for a few days (a work-related trip, sponsored by a sales vendor).

In March, I visited Lee down near Patuxent River and visited Solomons Island.

Solomons Island

On March 26, 2024, my last remaining grandparent passed away in Taiwan, at 99 years old, due to old age and late stage Alzheimer's disease.

In April, Kelsey and I traveled—separately—to Buffalo, our chosen spot for the total solar eclipse on 04/08/2024. I drove from Silver Spring to Buffalo, stopping at Kinzua Bridge State Park in North Central Pennsylvania. After meeting up in Buffalo, we proceeded to Niagara Falls. This was my second time at Niagara Falls, but my first time on the US side. On the day of the eclipse, cloud cover was high and the weather risked the view. That morning, we made a late decision to drive as far southwest along I-90 as practical. We drove through Erie, PA, ending up just outside Cleveland, to Mentour, OH. We decided on Headlands Beach State Park for the eclipse. Parking was easy. The crowds were manageable. The sky was perfect. Unfortunately, we did not bring our luggage with us and had to return to Buffalo that same day. Somehow, we didn’t see any highway traffic in either direction. We ended the trip with a short stay in Ithaca to visit Cornell.

Solar Eclipse 2024

In September, I did a week-long solo road trip, starting from St. Louis and ending in Chattanooga. It was my first time in MO (not counting airports). I had been meaning to see St. Louis and Gateway Arch for some time and finally made it happen. The drive from St. Louis ended with a short one-night stay at Louisville, KY, followed by a continued drive to spend two days at Mammoth Cave National Park and a one-night stay in Bowling Green, KY. Afterward, I stopped in Nashville for a few days to see Peter and Christine (with a day trip to Huntsville to see some old rockets), and then a short stop over to Chattanooga to see David and Holly. As far as random vacation itineraries go, this one was pretty good: I checked another state off my list; I saw the Gateway Arch; I visited a new National Park; I visited friends. I’m particularly grateful to have seen Peter again; good foresight on my part, I suppose.

Photo taken from Big Four Bridge, Louisville, KY

In late October, I had a short work trip to Albuquerque for work. When the opportunity came up, I volunteered myself, if only to check off NM from my list of yet unvisited states. I stayed the weekend and visited the Nuclear Science Museum, Sandia Crest, Los Alamos, Bandelier National Monument, and Petroglyphs National Monument. Many epic sunsets; not enough stars.

Bandelier National Monument

So, in November, I spent my birthday weekend in Ocean City and Assateague Island National Seashore, to see the stars, and more sunsets, and wild horses. The trip inspired me to get into car camping for 2025. Nothing like the slowness of empty off-season resort towns to clear the mind. I FaceTimed with Peter to show him the beach and ocean.

Assateague Island

Assateague Island

Marsh Trail, Assateague Island

Marsh Trail, Assateague Island

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On the house front, the deck lights and power have been installed but the deck remains incomplete, still requiring some trim and fascia board finishing. It’s too cold to work in the winter, and too hot to work in the summer. Outdoor construction is the worst. 

July Sunset on the Deck

But in February (during “indoor projects" season), I installed a hot water circulation system for the house, significantly reducing hot water delivery time from over 90 seconds to under 6 seconds at my master bathroom sink faucet! No more waiting for hot water at the showers either!

And as of 06/20/2024, Northwood House finally has air conditioning again, after I had disconnected the original condensing unit for the deck build on 07/06/2022 (nearly two years prior)! I successfully I paid off my 0% APR HVAC loan 6 months early just a few weeks ago in December.

Also in 2024, the living room is finally fitted with furniture, and the house with wall art.

In 2025, I plan to replace the water heater with a heat pump water heater, and the gas dryer with a temporary electric dryer. I currently spend $5 in gas consumption, but $20 in gas utility taxes and fees. I’m looking forward to fulfilling the decarbonization of Northwood House. 

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In 2024, I added MO and NM to my list of states visited. Now, only ten remain (eight, if you count airport layovers as visits). The SPC3SHP accrued 15,372 miles, ended the year at 175,972 miles. The CRGOSHP accrued 4,000 miles, ended the year at 179,000 miles.

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2024 was a generally awful year, sprinkled with slivers of excitement and joy. Work related anxiety and stress were at an all time high, as were sickness and sadness. For the first time, "Average" fell below 50%.

2024 Year in Pixels

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When your late best friend's mom calls you overweight and tells you to be more mindful of your health, you listen. 2025 will be a focus year for health, moderation, and mindfulness. And to repeat a theme from 2021, a keyword for 2025 will be "unsubscribe."

2023: Life Begins at the End of Your Comfort Zone

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!). 

Seljalandsfoss

Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach

Puffins

Skógafoss

Jökulsárlón

View of mainland Iceland from Vestmannaeyjar

Landmannalaugar

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!

Milky Way at GSD NP

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.

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.

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.

2022

I was reminded of two quotes recently that probably best summarizes 2022 for me. The year has reminded me over and over again that life is both fragile and resilient. Above all, life is fleeting. Consider... What would you do, and how you would live life, if you only had five good years left? What if you knew it too? What if you didn't? Is there a difference between five years or ten? Or twenty? 

Although I am still personally in good health (as far as I know), 2022 was an eye-opening lesson that life is short and can change at any moment. We are mortal. Health shouldn't be taken for granted.  

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. 

   —Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement ceremony, 2005

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

—Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 

COVID-19 Summary: Even though fully vaccinated and boosted, I contracted COVID-19 in December, at a time when I was foolishly less cautious about mask-wearing in public. It was awful, albeit relatively "mild." I started feeling cold/flu/COVID symptoms on December 10, starting with a sore throat, only testing positive two days later on December 12. Apparently, I had been exposed to COVID-19 during an on-site construction meeting on December 6, four days before developing symptoms. Fever broke by December 14, lasting only two to three days. After my initial recovery, I found out that a contractor who attended the same meeting was also infected. Both of us got it from the same person who was actively coughing maskless during the meeting. My sense of smell has somewhat returned but is still recovering.

Also in December, my sister was diagnosed with ependymoma (a type of spinal cord tumor) located in the cervical spine. The prognosis for this disease is generally good in young adults. Open surgery is scheduled for January 11, and only then will we have a real sense of the long-term prognosis.

What specifically came to mind this year was how many more times will you get to spend time with certain friends, family, or loved ones. I suppose, at my current age, and for those of us living away from "home" and seldom have the opportunity to spend quality time with family, we are rapidly approaching the point where the number of remaining opportunities to be with your parents can be counted on two hands.... the finiteness of remaining family Christmases and New Years. And of those, how many of them will be actual good memories? Of those, how many of them will be mundane or spent arguing over trivialities? While I have not come to terms with my own mortality yet (am I still young?), I have started preparing myself for a time my parents (or even my sister) won't be around, to say nothing of freak accidents and other unexpected random causes of death.

What is legacy anyway? Kids? With the impending global upending of society due to climate change; forever chemicals (PFAS) and microplastics everywhere, even detected in blood and fetuses; and ever-increasing wealth inequality, I am not sure. Lately, I've been torn by the desire to put something out into the world and be remembered for it; but also by the desire to deliberately have as little impact on the world as possible (a la, take only photos, leave only footprints). 

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I finally received delivery of the dishwasher to finish off the 2021 kitchen renovation project. But what's consumed most of my year was the deck project, which began with demolition of the original deck, removal of the various previously abandon concrete pads adjacent to the house (which have caused probably 40+ years of slow water damage to the house), and repair of the rear overhang soffit. 

I signed, stamped, and submitted my own deck design drawings and after a round of comments with the permit office, my project was approved. The majority of the summer and fall was spend on digging six holes for the upper deck and 11 holes for the lower deck (all of which approximately 30" below grade, below the frost depth). There were a few large tree roots (up to 3") and innumerous potato-sized rocks to contend with. Quite the workout. To date, I've only received approval of my footing inspection. I was so close to getting the framing ready for framing inspection, but the winter cold had set in and the end of daylight savings on November 06 meant not having any daylight for "homework" after work hours. As of now, the deck exists incomplete.

Deck Progress, Early 11/2022

I have since switched over to indoor renovation projects, namely the first phase of the basement renovation, which isn't weather or daylight dependent. Thank goodness.

Outside of a few visits home to Brooklyn, travel this year was limited to a brief visit to Chicago for a work-related trip and Emma and Willis's wedding in Charleston, SC. I did take advantage of the drive down to South Carolina to visit Orangeburg, SC, where we had designed a VA outpatient clinic at my previous job; visit Congaree National Park; and do a brief stay at the Outer Banks, on my way home. 

Congaree National Park, SC

Have I become a homebody, alone with my home renovation projects? Fortunately, my mom stayed with my for a few months this year, spread out across two stays. It was nice to have some help with house chores and to have more life in the house in general.

2022 was full of inflation news and US Fed interest rate increases. I am grateful to have received a pay increase in July that vastly surpassed the annual inflation rate (~7-9%?). (I am also getting a promotion to assistant director of the mechanical engineering department, after the previously one of many years had quit for a career change.) Fortunately, I have not been too directly affected by price increases, but they are concerning. I suppose it is good that the market is finally correcting itself after over a decade of supposed market "recovery" and excess. My 2022 personal financial performance shows a year-over-year net growth of –3%, with many of my investment and retirement accounts (including just a little in cypto) showing –25 to –30% gains this year. (My goal had been an approximately 25% net worth increase for 2022.) 2022 generally sucked. And 2023 is expect to be a true recessionary year, so it doesn't seem realistic to set any kind of positive net worth growth as I typically do.

The 2022 Year in Pixels showed that the number of Anxious days were double that of 2021 (majority due to work-related projects). There was a significant number of Illness days 2022 after having none in 2021 (due to COVID-19). Amazing/Good days were appreciably less.

2022 Year in Pixels

I really don't know what to expect of 2023. Maybe it's the year to quit social media for good.

2021

Can't believe it's already the end of 2021. As fast as the promise of vaccines came this past spring, allowing at least some form of normalcy, this year is is ending in a worse state than it was and only somewhat better than it began. At this point, I'm rather numb to it all. I was able to get up to Brooklyn twice this year, and to York, PA once. I did get on a plane to Idaho Falls to visit Aysenur and Taylor, also visiting Wyoming and Montana. I'll save Utah for another time. In September, I was invited to a Daikin event in Phoenix, my second time to Arizona. I also had a small OTEC-1 reunion in Albany in September, and ended up staying with Eric and Smriti in Saratoga Springs for a few days. 

My 2021 was mostly consumed by the kitchen project, which is capping out at approximately $31,000 all said and done, after I had budgeted $20,000. Material costs and "supply chain" issues required some creativity and some planning. But it was a good diversion. As of Dec 31, 2021, I am still awaiting delivery of an out-of-stock dishwasher I ordered in October and backsplash tile that's on its way. I couldn't have imagined how excited I was to be able to wash dishes by hand again, after exactly 290 days of not having a kitchen sink.

Kitchen, the day countertops were installed.

The deck rebuild and foyer renovation was originally planned for this year, but will slip to 2022 or 2023.

I don't have motivation to make this a long post, but I'll end with the Year in Pixels. It was a better year than 2020, with more positive days and less anxiety and anger. At present, I don't see how 2022 can be worse than this year, but you never know...

2021 Year in Pixels

2020...

As I write this on December 31, it is Day 295 since the COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic. To state the obvious, 2020 was a weird and depressing year. It was simultaneously unpredictable and obviously predictable. And it was very lonely. Fortunately for me, my family and I have been safe throughout this pandemic so far.

Both professional and personal travel plans have been largely eliminated for the year. I did fly to San Antonio in February, with a follow on trip to Toronto for the first time, and onward to NYC via LGA. I drove to Dayton (in lieu of flying) in June for a short work trip. But as a result of the lack of travel, I made significant progress on the house. Completing Phases 1 and 2 of the five-year house plan went largely unimpeded by COVID-19-related lockdowns and quarantining. Working remotely from home turned out to be much more feasible than I once thought, and I even prefer it, at least part time, for the long term. Home Depot remained open as an essential business, and it was the only place to go to get out of the house and "shop." However, delivery delays and the unavailability of supplies (even of those things unrelated to sanitization) was definitely noticeable. Often, I would end up making several trips to Home Depot, Lowes, or IKEA, occasionally to different ones on the same day to source much needed supplies or equipment. According to my account records, I've spent $9,580 at Home Depot in 2020. 

In 2020, I set up my home office and guest bedroom, and had my first floor windows replaced. I started and completed the renovation of the two main level bathrooms on my own. I quit my job and joined a smaller company in October, just to find out in December that my new company was getting acquired by a larger one. In 2020, my 401k and IRA accounts are up 25.19% and 17.27%, respectively, which is unbelievable, and not in a good way.

Master Bathroom

Hall Bathroom

The plan for 2021 is a deck rebuild and kitchen and foyer renovation. I don't know if these will actually come to fruition given their project budgets, but we will see. The primary goal for 2021 is to unsubscribe or unfollow things that don't actually matter—news alerts, various phone notifications, etc. Maybe finally quit Instagram too.

2020 Year in Pixels

There was a notable increase in anxiety and anger this year, as compared to 2019. There were also significantly fewer "Good" days (45 vs 76), and just a single random "Amazing" day in 2020. As much as it is difficult to see how 2021 could turn out worse than 2020, I have a feeling we're not out of the woods yet, and the worst may yet be upon us. Stay safe.

I can't wait to hug people again.

2019 Year in Review: "We Bought a Zoo"

Last Instagram post of the decade, December 30, 2019

With a couple hours left to go in 2019, it's probably time to reflect and summary the incredible experiences of 2019. I've been procrastinating this post for days, and instead, have been more focused on taking advantage of the down time to work on the house. What an incredible year. After a nearly year-long process of shopping for a house, I'm now a homeowner. The process started in earnest late January and after multiple failed offers and and several ridiculous bidding wars, I finally closed on a property in August. I settled on a fixer-upper, which I felt has huge potential to make it what I want it to be. While my original house renovation schedule is now hilariously delayed due to a series of unwelcome work travel in September and October, I've made huge progress and already have had several rewarding moments as well as numerous frustrations. I've become a novice electrician and quite adept at drywall repair. I have a five-year plan for all the home renovation projects and expect to make tons of progress in 2020.

In 2019, I've flown 43 flights comprising 58,936 miles, and attained United Silver Premier status and Marriott Platinum status in the process. Although traveling for work is generally fun, it has gotten in the way of home life in several instances, enough to had been annoying and tiresome. Hopefully 2020 will have far less work travel... I'm kind of done for a while. This year, I went to Japan for the first time (on a work trip) in August, and a second time as part of a two-week Tokyo-Okinawa-Seoul itinerary (also a work trip) in October, which included my first time in South Korea. I visited Dallas, Dayton, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis all in January as part of work trips. I visited the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, and visited Columbus and Charlotte in February. In April, following a work trip to San Antonio, I decided to do a short road trip from Phoenix to Las Vegas. Kelsey joined me. We flew in a hot air balloon in Phoenix, and visited Petrified Forest National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Antelope Canyon, and Horseshoe Bend on the way to Las Vegas. In July, I visited Corpus Christi and drove an Infiniti G50 on the beach at Padre Island National Seashore. In September, I visited Zion National Park in September and did the exhilarating Angels Landing hike and didn't die. 

I've added Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky to my list of states I've visited, and Japan and Korea to my list of countries I've visited. I flew on ANA, Japan Airlines, and Asiana Airlines for the first time, and any of them puts all American airlines to shame. In particular, ANA was fantastic. On my new airport visited list (since I keep track of these things...): DAY, CRP, CMH, GNV, OMA, CAE, HND, OKA, and ICN.

The SPC3SHP accrued only 11,000 miles this year, probably a result of a much shorter commute that I'd been used to and being away on work travel for roughly 25% of the year. Still on track to reach my 200,000 mile goal someday.

I expect 2020 to be a really fun year. I've fulfilled my personal goal of two years at my current job; we will see what happens from here. I hope to revisit Iceland, and also go on a proper vacation that's NOT tacked onto the end of a work trip. Maybe even have a personal life outside of travel and "working on the house."

2019 Year in Pixels

This year's Year in Pixels did not have nearly enough "Amazing" days. The majority of "Anxious" had to do with the home-buying process. "Average/Normal" was about 50%, which makes statistical sense, I suppose.

Happy New Year. And happy end of the 2010s, our first post-college decade and our first attempt at adulting.

P.S. A couple of random discoveries or re-discoveries this year: 

• Music really does make an empty house start to feel like a home.
• Hot chocolate is delicious.

2018 Year in Review: Keep On Keepin' On

Gullfoss, Iceland.

For those that follow me, log in to Instagram for links to accompanying photos.
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Today's the last day of 2018. It was a pretty good year.... I think. Even though I’m fairly content with the way the year turned out, I can’t shake the feeling that I didn't do all I wanted to do—or all that I could've done this year. For example, last year I resolved to run a 5K, and I did. This year, I made no inroads into my 2018 goal of learning to jump rope. I fell short of my financial performance for the year; stock performance was downright abysmal.

This year's theme song is Locked in A Cage by Brick + Mortar. In general, 2018 has been more of an slow-and-steady, test-the-waters kind of year than a kick-ass-and-be-awesome one. I can’t complain though.

It’s been a fantastic year for travel. 2018 was the first full year at my current job, and it was chock full of exciting work-related travel. I even achieved Marriott Silver Elite (the hard way), and could've easily reached Gold Elite status had I been more diligent. It’s nothing to write home about, but a personal accomplishment nonetheless.

In January, my first flight of the year was out of DCA to Chicago for the 2018 AHR Expo. I ended up spending most of the trip catching up with ex-coworkers (from both my previous jobs), eating steak, and sightseeing. Apple Michigan Ave is one of my new favorite Apple stores.

In February, I discovered that there has been a Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken near me for so many years. So I went one night, and it was awesome. I went to San Antonio for work-related meetings in early February and mid-March. I decided then that if I had to go to San Antonio so frequently, I might as well extend the trip to make time for sightseeing.

In late March, I was in Jacksonville for a project and made time to check out the beach and zoo. A few weeks later in April, Taylor and I took a weekend trip to Pittsburgh to see the National Aviary and eat at Primanti Bros. On the way back east, we made a stop at Fallingwater, but unfortunately didn't make it in time to visit the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stoystown, PA.

In May, Avengers: Infinity War happened! Enough said.

I went to San Antonio yet again for a work trip, followed by a family vacation to New Orleans. Saw some gators, visited the National WWII Museum, and drove across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (a bucket list item!).

I was in Biloxi, Mississippi for work mid-June, which was the first time I saw the Gulf Coast. A coworker and I found time to drive across the border to Mobile just so we can say we did, since it'd be both our first time in Alabama. Thus completes my list of states visited in the Southeast. (Incidentally, I have yet to visit Vermont or Rhode Island in the Northeast... smh.)

States I've been (including airports), 2018.

In July, I kayaked for the first time, on the Susquehanna River, with Taylor and family. It was good exposure therapy to help me overcome my fear of being on open waters. I guess it worked, because I went to kayak again in September.

In August, I was down in Tampa with a coworker to check on the construction progress of one of our projects. Although it was a project I didn't design but inherited, this was the first greenfield building construction of my career. It was great.

Also in August, Kelsey and I decided to visit Iceland for about a week. Although our planning and getting plane tickets happened only three weeks prior to the trip (expensive tickets!), Iceland turned out to be one of the best vacations of my life [so far]! No flat tire in our shitty little Suzuki! It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that I think I found my "spirit"-country in Iceland—it is rainy, cold, and gray. I loved it. The nature and wilderness was so accessible and breathtaking. But being in between the seasons, we missed the chance to see summertime puffins and we were too early to see the Northern Lights; I'll have to go back. What more could I say? Being city-dwellers, we were way outside our comfort-zone in Iceland, but it was worth it. Undoubtedly, it is the land of legend, epic waterfalls, sheep, glaciers, black sand, icebergs, whales, rainbows, and double rainbows. I used Iceland as a great excuse to get back in to photography, however briefly. I ended up spending dollars on a new travel tripod and a $1000 camera lens just for the trip. I also ended up buying a new Dell XPS desktop to post-process the approximately 7,000 photos I took... go figure. My Iceland album here.

In September, I was in Jacksonville for a one-day emergency project meeting. It was not a fun trip.

In October, I was back in San Antonio for week-long training, which was surprisingly useful and productive. I attended a Spurs game, where parking cost three times more than the game ticket. This was the trip where I decided to actually stay a bit longer in Texas to venture out to the rest of the Texas Triangle, starting with a weekend getaway to Austin. I drove a Camaro SS rental, visited the LBJ Presidential Library, and visited some family. In Austin, I went to a Waffle House for the first time. It was phenomenal!

In December, I was back in San Antonio yet again, and again for training. After visiting Austin last time, I decided to visit Houston this time. I got to drive a Dodge Challenger for the weekend. The Space Center was excellent, but I didn't like the vibe of Houston and I hope to never have to go there again. Sorry.

Summary from all the traveling in 2018:

• Visited San Antonio five times this year.
• Went home to Brooklyn nine times this year.
• New states visited: Mississippi, Alabama.
• New country visited: Iceland.
• New airports visited: JAX, TPA, GPT, KEF, AUS, DAL, HOU.
• New airline flown: Icelandair.

The SPC3SHP crossed 100,000 miles on September 30. I'm going to wrap up the year having added only about 14,100 miles this year, for a five-year lifetime total of about 103,700 miles. The current commute is nowhere near what it used to be. But I'm still hoping to make 200,000 miles with the SPC3SHP one day. Also, after so much trial and error, I've inadvertently become an expert at doing brake replacements and diagnosing tire and wheel noise.

Phew. What a year this has been. I learned to get outside my comfort zone in so many ways. I learned to better balance moving forward while remembering the past. I also binge watched all nine seasons of The Office for the first time, in under two months. I can say with certainty that this was the year when I started not to constantly worry about what other people think of me. It is quite liberating. I also decided that I've been in my studio apartment for far too long (three jobs over seven years!). I am lining myself up to buy a house in 2019. Maybe I'll finally get around to learning to jump rope too.

Happy New Year.

P.S. After sampling so much ramen this year—see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11—I still think Daikaya in Chinatown is the best.

P.P.S. Last year, I got the idea to do a Year in Pixels from Instagram. Thought it was cool. So here it is:

Year in Pixels, 2018.

2017 Year in Review: The Hustle Is Real

For those that follow me, log in to Instagram for links to accompanying photos.
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On my drive home from work today, listening to Kaleo's "Way Down We Go," I realized I have been unusually content with my life recently. The latter half of 2017 was downright incredible—in terms of personal accomplishments and career, at least. More on this later.

2017 for me started in York, PA, where I was visiting my "adopted" white family, and was convinced by Taylor and Aysenur to purchase my own sewing machine, mainly so that I can start tailoring my own clothes. So I did.

In January, I officially received my MD engineering license, the first of many. I even stamped and signed my first few projects. Later in the year, I obtained licenses in VA and DC as well. OK is still pending.

In February, I attended Smrti and Eric's wedding in Saratoga Springs, NY. While up there, I visited my sister and did some sightseeing of good old Albany, NY.

In April, I started upgrading the old Trek road bike Taylor gifted me a few years ago. The repairs started with a broken brake cable replacement, just to get it rideable again; I didn't anticipate a full upgrade. But piece by piece and about $1,000 later, I had new wheels, tires, brakes, shifters, and levers. Later in July, Taylor and I biked the (painfully uphill) 40-mile rail trail from Cockeysville, MD to York, PA.

In June, I visited Detroit for the first time (outside of DTW), to hang out with Taylor, Graham, and Sarah. I went camping, by Lake Michigan, for the first time. Unfortunately, the observation level of the GM Renaissance Center was closed for renovation. But did catch glimpse of Motor City Pride.

In July, I attended Myra and Ben's wedding in Cambridge, MA. It was nice to hang out with the bros again.

In August, I resorted to Solar Eclipse Plan C, but still found my way to the path of totality for the "American solar eclipse." I drove from Washington, DC to Nashvegas, TN to visit a few friends, and decided to attend a viewing party in a place called White House, TN, about 30 minutes north of Nashville, to stare at the sun. I was even randomly asked to get photographed, and later featured on the local newspaper website. (The ten hour drive alone in a white Kia Soul was a new personal record for time and distance.) On my way back, I detoured through WV, which was my first time in the state.

In September, I had my first surgery—nasal septoplasty and turbinoplasty. I was getting extremely anxious as I prepped and signed all the paperwork in the Nemo Room, especially considering how it was an entirely voluntary procedure. At the time, I felt pretty foolish for volunteering for it. I walked myself over with my IV bag to the cold operating room, laid myself down on the table, put my head on the purple foam pillow, and then next thing I knew, I woke up in my recovery bed with gauze taped to my face. Fortunately, there were no complications. Thanks to Kelsey for being my adult chaperon and caretaker for a few days at home. I was prescribed some narcotic painkillers, and I took some just in case (and just so I could say I took narcotics for the first time), but there was essentially no pain whatsoever; just some swelling and numbness. Splints were removed just four days after the operation. The amount of packing that the doctor removed from my nostrils was astonishing. (I even asked the doctor if I could take a photo of it all in the trash.) Most of the recovery took place over a few weeks. I was able to go running in about two weeks. Full recovery took just about a month. Quality of living—a.k.a. breathing ability—has increased substantially. Highly recommend!

In October,... well October was pretty eventful. After over a year of realizing I needed to quit my job, I finally got serious about finding a new one by the end of summer. On Friday, October 6, I went in for an interview. Because of my propensity to schedule all the stressful things for the same time, I immediately followed up the interview with a four-hour engineering certification exam. I passed the exam, and I was extended a job offer the same day. All of this was followed by a celebratory drive back to NYC to spend time with family for the weekend. I remember listening to Cold War Kids' "Love Is Mystical" during the drive north. It felt appropriate.

The following weekend (October 13-15), one of my HVAC vendor reps took me and a few other engineers to San Antonio for a engineering seminar trip. Of course, while in Texas, we all opted to visit a shooting range and eat lots of steak. We also visited the Alamo and the River Walk. Having never shot a gun before, I had to slowly work my way up from 100 rounds of a .22 pistol to ending up trying a .308 FN SCAR 17 rifle (from which I kept a fired casing as a souvenir). Yes, it was loud. Yes, it was terrifying. Yes, it was a cool experience. I'm not entirely sure I'd want to do it again though, at least not for a while.

I returned from the all-expenses-paid San Antonio weekend trip and put in my three week's notice that Monday, October 16. It was three weeks, and not two, because I had already planned a work-related seminar and factory tour trip to Germany... which I still went to, because at that point, WHY THE HELL NOT? A free one week vacation—essentially between jobs—meant no worrying about work emails whatsoever.

This year was probably the first time I definitively fulfilled my new year's resolution—to run a 5K. During weekend runs on the National Mall, I was able to run a full 5 km, on perfectly level ground, in 36 minutes, if I could finish at all. The morning of Saturday, October 20, two coworkers and I ran the Baltimore 5K. Somehow, I finished in 29:06. Later that same day, I was on a plane to Europe. Yes, after the 7 hour flight, my knees and calves were tight and in pain. I limped slowly through customs in Brussels, and waited for my connecting flight to Berlin. We started in Berlin, and went on to Liepzig, to Cologne, to Attendorn (stayed at a castle!) to Rheingau, to Frankfurt. Like the San Antonio trip, the Germany trip was also paid for by others. I spent maybe $200 in total, primarily for getting to and from IAD, daily international mobile data plans, and personal souvenirs. What a trip!

On November 04, I left Gannett Fleming. By that time, I logged the most overtime hours in 2017 among mechanical engineers in the company (198 hours); not sure if that's something to be proud of or not. I regretted having to abandon my friends and allies in the company, but it was about time to leave the toxic environment in the Facilities group. I teared up when I said good bye to my boss. Dave and I watched The Book of Mormon in expensive second row seats at the Kennedy Center that night.

Just two days later, on November 06, I started my new job in Rockville. On November 11, I celebrated my birthday in York, PA and test drove a new MX-5 Miata for fun. (First time successfully driving stick-shift on the streets and surprisingly did okay.) On November 14, I flew to Rapid City for a multi-day work meeting, and found time to see Mount Rushmore; it was okay. Dinosaur Park was pretty neat too.

When I started the new job, I was at first very suspicious why people were so chipper around the office and why they were so nice to me. Like, what are you trying to hide? Two months into the job, I've concluded that maybe sometimes people are just nice, that maybe it was because there isn't a backstabbing narcissistic manager in the office like my old place had. So that's good, I guess. So far at the new job—as "senior mechanical engineer," whatever that means—I've been able to keep up. The hustle is real.

What a year!

Summary from all the air traveling in 2017:

• New states visited: West Virginia, Texas.
• New country visited: Germany.
• New airports visited: ALB, BRU, FRA, RAP, SAT, TXL.
• New airlines flown: Brussels Airlines.

I'm going to wrap up 2017 having added about 23,050 miles on the SCP3SHP this year, for a four-year lifetime total of about 89,650 miles. With my new commute that is now a third the distance and half the time compared to what it used to be, my rate of mileage accumulation has plummeted, making it just that much harder to join the 200,000 Mile Club. Fingers crossed! I've been considering getting an old Miata to play around with as a spare car; haven't decided yet. With help from Taylor, I also learned how to do my own oil change, brake and rotor replacement, and spark plug replacement this year. Learning from mistakes is the best way to not make them again... like driving at 65 mph for 40 miles with loose lug nuts (true story!). Also worthy of note on my car ownership adventure: I got my first flat tire on the Mazda and also my first parking ticket.

2017 was also the year I finally decided to take my Cornell diplomas out of their cardboard sleeves and install them in decent frames. Now, they're in fancy frames, but wrapped in plastic bags, in the back of my closet.

I hope 2018 will be just as productive, challenging, and rewarding as 2017 has been for me. It is odd though that my "good" year was the same year of increasing national and international turmoil. With an ongoing investigation of probable collusion, explicit White House nepotism, obvious presidential lies, various terrorist attacks (domestic mass shootings by Americans count too), nuclear escalation with North Korea, and America's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, I hope 2018 will bring us some correction to the national embarrassment that is Trump and the blatantly hypocritical Republicans that surround him. Hopefully, we'll learn to put aside "alternative facts" and focus on real ones, and hopefully disgusting men will learn to keep their hands to themselves. Good luck to us all.

P.S. AirPods may looks like snot dribbling out of my ears, but using them day-to-day in the office has been truly magical.

P.P.S. Flannel sheets in wintertime make for fantastic dreams.