After a Long Hiatus

The only reason I know how long it’s been since I’ve last written a blog post is because each one is dated. The last one, written by my now ex-girlfriend, was in late April, with my last actual post a few days shy of being 9 months old. I promised many things with my blog, most of which I have failed to deliver on. For that, and many more things, I am sorry.

I think the first thing to do is update you on myself. It’s been a rollercoaster of a year. Firstly, and I think most importantly, I am doing well. Quite well, in fact. Life is, for the most part, treating me magnificently.

I might as well start from the beginning of the gap. What happened after I got back from my trip to South East Asia? First and foremost, I started a new job. A part of the trip to SEA was about taking a break from my everyday job, but as the trip loomed, I realized more and more that the position I had did not suit me very well for a variety of reasons (mostly personal), so right before I left for SEA, I left my job and found myself a new one. I have been working for this new company for just over 8 months now, and though there have been some struggles, for the most part, everything has been so surreal and awesome. I’ve been doing data and metrics work for Breeze Labs, ensuring the management team have all the information they need to make informed and impactful decisions with the direction of the product, and the company as a whole. And I’ve been enjoying it thoroughly. I’ve been given the power to, within reason, make any choice or decision that needs to be made and to see all projects through from decision to final implementation when it comes to metrics, data or analytics. Since joining, I’ve begun working on an extremely interesting and challenging problem (which I cannot discuss further here), I’ve been given more responsibility and trusted with the design and implementation of crucial systems in our infrastructure. I’ve also had the pleasure of partaking in several different aspects and areas of the business from watching the full delivery process for one of our vehicles to being involve in the hiring and interview process for new engineers.

The next major change in my life was with my personal relationships. For many personal reasons which I won’t elaborate here, Becca and I are no longer dating. It took a lot of time, and a lot of introspection, but I came to the conclusion that our relationship was no longer something that I felt was right for me. Looking back at just that decision with the information I had then, I believe it was the right choice for me. I did not stay single long though. Very unexpectedly, while working at Breeze, I had the good fortune of meeting Tija Riley. After spending a great deal of time together, and ensuring that a new relationship would not affect the way I wanted to live my life over the next few years (skydiving, travel, friends, work, fitness, etc…), we took the plunge and started dating. I can say that I’ve never felt happier. I can also say that the concerns I had with regards to a new relationship affecting the way I wish to live my life are not concerns in the slightest anymore, and that being with Ty has allowed me many freedoms to do the things I enjoy doing.

Since my last post, I’ve made some progress on my goals for the year, though not nearly as much as I had hoped when I first wrote my goals post at the start of the year. The good news - I completed a Tough Mudder in Tahoe in June of this year. I did not complete it in a timely manner as I adjusted my speed to match that of a group I joined early on in the race, but I completed every obstacle the course had to offer without failing any, and completed the race. I am very happy and proud of myself for completing it. With regards to my goal to learn 2 new languages by the end of the year - that I have fallen short on. It has not been a total waste - I’ve (just barely) begun Swedish, and I am (according to Duolingo) just short of being %50 fluent in German, but I daresay that it’s quite unlikely I’ll be fluent in either by end of year. I’m going to commit to continue working on learning these, with the hope of simply adding another language to the list once I finish. Lastly, the bad news - I’ve done very little to monitor or manage a budget. This is something I’m going to attempt again this coming year in the hopes of being a little more proactive on it, but we’ll see come the new year.

I’m hoping that I can start posting more often in the comings few months at least (I’m creating a weekly recurring calendar event), so until next time, thanks for checking in.