First published: Jan. 7, 2024 | Permalink | RSS

A dithered photo of our backyard lightly coated in snow, a rarity now in Philly. A mostly brown landscape features some orange pots, a blue umbrella, and white snow.

New year. I am newly 35 years old and just came through a tough but still good year. Many years have been tough for me, but in the grand scheme of tough years, 2023 was pretty easy on me. This year I was laid off from a dream job, joined the leadership at Code for Philly, didn't ride my bike enough, worked in a large corporate environment that I dislike, but ended the year by securing a job that fits my values. Ruby and I also have some travel plans that I will talk about more once we're back home!

New job. I will be joining Community Legal Services this week as a Developer and Data Analyst in their Digital Innovation Lab. I am excited to be working on local issues and helping Philadelphians, but I am also just excited to be working at a values-driven organization once again! CLS is a great organization and I have been a fan of their work for some time.

New habits. I have a new Bonk planner and want to leverage it to build up some new habits and routines I have been wanting to build. I am using it as part tracker and part journal. Each day I note: How many cups of coffee I've had (less than I thought). Which meals I've prepared. When I woke up and went to bed. What exercise I did that day. What 3rd place I visited. What tasks I need to do and which I did. And finally a highlight list of what happened that day. I have been doing it for a week now and it's already given me some insight into my habits and helped me build some new ones.

I was expecting that I would have more reflections I'd like to share from my usual birthday/new year introspection, but I think most of that is best left private. I am looking forward to this year, even if it is starting with winter (as Gregorian years typically do), but time with friends should at least make that easier.

Thank you for reading!