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.