2022 Year in Review
I’ve been bad about posting to the blog this year, and unfortunately fell out of habit. Hopefully you can empathize a bit considering how much has happened since my last post!
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Jamie and I got engaged in Portugal!
During a wonderful trip during October that coincided with 4 years since our first date, I popped the question, and of course she said YES! Overall we absolutely loved Portugal as a country with its beautiful scenery, fascinating history, friendly people, and high quality wine & food (at reasonable prices, too). I’m sure we will be back again.
I had originally planned on proposing 10/10/22, which would have been 4 years to the day since our first date, but I ended up getting rained out. Luckily, the photographer I had selected was available later in the week and we were able to reschedule. Jamie had some suspicions, but I was able to keep things a surprise until the end and we loved how everything turned out.
1 year at Pickleball Kingdom
Like so many during the boredom of early COVID lockdown times, I picked up playing Pickleball as a fun hobby and great form of exercise. Jamie’s mom got us hooked and we started playing pretty regularly while everything was still closed. Through happenstance I saw some news about an indoor facility being opened in the Valley, and decided to cold email the founder about working for the company. Surprisingly, Mike “Ace” Rodrigues reached back out and I began working to build out the member management software and assisting with all things IT. Back in 2016 I interned with ACO Partner as the 5th employee during grad school so scratching the startup itch as the 3rd employee of Pickleball Kingdom has been a very rewarding experience. Pickleball Kingdom is looking to expand to other facilities in the Phoenix metro area over the next year, with potential franchising in the near future as well. As an accessible sport for anyone ages 8-80 I predict it will continue its explosive growth, especially as celebrities and other athletes continue to invest in building out professional leagues.
We recently hosted our first USAPA sanctioned tournament and it was a huge success. With over 100 registrants for our second-ever tournament, I was very happy with the turnout and look forward to everything we’ll accomplish in 2023.
Quitting Caffeine
About 5 years ago I decided to make the switch from coffee to exclusively drinking tea. My energy levels became much more consistent and my GI system also thanked me. As a busy person, getting high quality sleep is critical for me so I began an experiment to completely eliminate caffeine to see if it would improve sleep. While withdrawals the first 3-4 days were a bit rough with lots of headaches and lethargy, I am happy to say that my energy levels overall have improved. As an unexpected side benefit I seem to have regained the ability to sleep in on weekends, likely because I no longer have morning caffeine withdrawals. Recent research seems to indicate that people are either slow- or fast-caffeine metabolizers. I believe with my general sensitivity to the substance that I fall into the former group as consumption past 3 PM interferes with the typical ease I have of falling asleep.
I was somewhat inspired to stop consuming caffeine by Michael Pollan’s book Your Mind on Plants, which I highly recommend as one of my all time favorite authors. I’m already 5 months in and I don’t really miss it. I plan on going a year and then re-evaluating if I want to use it on occasion, maybe as part of a weekend ritual or when Jamie and I vacation.
Continuing Ceramics
I took another ceramics class through the community college this Fall semester and really honed my throwing skills, making significantly larger pieces. I threw over 100 pieces on the wheel, practicing over and over on increasing the size of my bowls. I didn’t spend as much time decorating my pots that I planned to fire and instead spent time experimenting with various glaze combinations for the final firing. With my numerous houseplants, many of which need repotting, I opted to make a lot of planters. In choosing glaze combinations, I opted for those with textured “movement” and those which were intentionally somewhat runny. I’m finally starting to find my style and think that the fluid texture of glazes contrasts nicely with the growth of plants in the pots. Here are a few of my favorites this semester:
Working on my art degree
I finished 21 credit hours this year, which in hindsight was too much of a load along with two jobs, but it does give me a sense of accomplishment. I have 18 hours left to complete my Associates in Fine Arts. I’m undecided whether I’ll continue on after that, but honing my skills and learning new things to apply in volunteering for Free Arts where I teach kids art classes has been fun. Next semester I’m taking a printmaking class which I’ll hopefully use to make some wedding decorations.
Favorite Books
I didn’t read nearly as much this year as in years prior, but I did get through a few good books that I’d recommend:
This is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan
The Pathless Path by Paul Millerd
North to Paradise by Ousman Umar
Language Learning
I started my daily habit on Duolingo again, and supplemented with some Anki decks I bought through Deckmill. It’s surprising how fast you lose a language without consistent usage so I made an effort to listen to a few podcasts in German each week while continuing grammar exercises. I also made a concerted effort to learn Spanish again, which I haven’t used much since high school. The art classes I teach at Salvation Army often have children with minimal English skills so I’d like to get to the point where I can teach classes in Spanish. Living in Arizona, it makes complete sense to have some Spanish knowledge with our proximity to the border. When I get bored or a little frustrated learning Spanish I switch to Russian for an interesting challenge.
Almost to a 1 year streak now!
Half Marathon Training
Jamie and I are signed up, along with several other family members, to run the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Phoenix on January 15th. I haven’t run a half marathon since college, but I’m shooting for a 1:54 finish as a PR which would be an 8:42 pace. Considering my training runs have been consistently around 8:30 this seems doable. Jamie will be running her first half marathon and she’s anxious to get it checked off her bucket list!
Yes I’m still buying Bitcoin
I would be remiss to not comment on what’s been a pretty rough year for assets in general, especially those in the crypto space. While bear markets are expected considering the historical 4 year cycles, this drawdown was much deeper than I anticipated. The stickiness of inflation has created an environment where the Federal Reserve is forced to raise rates, and will likely continue to do so for some time. While prices may be down, the reasons for Bitcoin in the face of endless money printing and authoritarian governments are as strong as ever. Freedom money cannot be stopped, and authoritarian central bankers are on notice for the power of P2P money that circumvents their goals of a CBDC.
While we may not be quite at the bottom for Bitcoin, dollar cost averaging is still a solid strategy. The quadrant with the most amount of pain historically is nearly over.
I buy all my Bitcoin through Swan Bitcoin which allows easy auto-buys like your 401k. Don’t buy more than you can afford to lose. Stay humble and stack sats.
Looking to 2023
The next year will be a big one. In April, I’ll celebrate my 30th birthday, in May my Dad will turn 60 and Jamie will graduate with her MBA. We’ll have our wedding in November, and Jamie will also be turning 30. Several visits from friends have been planned out and the schedule is already getting filled with various trips. Here’s to hoping I post more in the newsletter over the next year!