2025 in Review

The last time I did a year in review post was way back in 2014. I've always sort of kept track of my resolutions and progress over the years since, but never actually sat down to write out another full review like this. As I've gotten a bit older, I've found that my desire to document milestones and things has grown. Maybe someday my kids will find it interesting... maybe not.

Work

After around three and a half years at Endeavor, I made the decision to leave my position as a Director of Engineering in mid 2025 and join PopStroke as a Software Architect. I enjoyed the challenge of working in such a large organization, working on some pretty high profile projects (like the hospitality tech for the Paris 2024 and Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympics), and building and leading a team of talented engineers. But ultimately, I found that I really missed writing code and being more hands on with the technical work.

Joining PopStroke has been a great change of pace. One of the biggest quality of life changes has been that now I only have one (scheduled) meeting per week, instead of the 20+ that I used to have. I'm able to go deep on the technical work, and I'm enjoying the collaborative and fast-paced environment of a much smaller company.

Travel

Last year was a big year for travel. We took a five week trip to Europe in late spring / early summer, visiting Paris, Porto, Cascais, and Lisbon. It was my first time spending more than a couple of weeks in Europe, and the first time that we took my son on a long international flight. To say that traveling with a ~14 month old is challenging would be an understatement, but we made it through and everyone had a wonderful time.

It was my first time visiting Portugal and I absolutely loved it. The people were super friendly, the food was incredible, and the weather was perfect. I particularly enjoyed our time in Porto. I hope to return again someday. I think we'll wait another year or so before we try to take another long international trip, but I'm already looking forward to it.

We also took some shorter trips throughout the year, including a trip out to Pigeon Forge to visit Dollywood and a trip to French Lick, Indiana to ride the Polar Express.

Fitness

While I didn't quite drop the weight that I'd set out to drop -- you can't out run a bad diet -- I did manage to clock around 330 miles of running over the course of the year, which is a personal best for me. I also completed my first ever 10K -- not an organized race or anything, just a solo run.

I've set a goal to run at least 425 miles in 2026.

There were certainly macro factors that made 2025 a pretty difficult year, but all in all it was a pretty good year for me personally. I'm optimistic and looking forward to what 2026 has in store.