Month: January 2019

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Hello and welcome to 2019. So happy we could all be here.

As a professional practitioner of agile software development practices I have a tendency to want to stop at various checkpoints and look back in order to reflect on what worked and what didn’t and try to use that information to calibrate myself for times ahead. We call this a “retro”. At my job this is a step taken every two weeks or so. Today I am going to go ahead and use the fact of it being January 1st 2019 to do a personal retro on the year that was.

I didn’t exactly make any New Year’s resolutions last year, and I don’t intend to make any this year either, but I did try to align myself in a few intentional ways at the start of the year. I tried to live more mindfully and be more present. I had hoped that, if successful, it would result in a year that seemed fuller, richer, that seemed to pass more slowly, from the perspective of my own relative sense of time. Another intention I made for myself was to maintain a focus on personal growth and learning as well as improving in my self-maintenance and care where my health was concerned.

I begin this year 12 months older but looking and feeling exactly as I did 12 months ago. I didn’t noticeably improve or damage my health. Nothing much accomplished there in the way of personal transformation. I am a little disappointed in that, but I also feel as if I made good psychological growth that will ultimately lead to some improvements in my overall fitness and health. Last year was more about my mind, this year I want to also work on my body and spirit.

One big piece of self-care for me was changing my job. The last decade has been a big one for my career. In 2008 I entered into a new stage when I started to transition from a developer and architect into a team lead, enterprise architect, and then director. I did this through a series of intentional steps. First step, taking on a team leadership at HealthPartners. Second step, moving into a combination team lead/technical architect role at Capella. Third, moving to enterprise architect at Capella. Next, taking a role as Technical Director at Olson, and then finally, Director of Software Engineering at Merrill at which point I had fully transitioned from engineering to leading engineers. A couple of years at Merrill made it clear to me that I loved this job but was still not entirely happy with where I was doing it. Fortunately, 2018 presented me with an opportunity to move to GovDocs in the fall and I couldn’t be happier. Now my role and the place I’m working are both very satisfying for me and it has been a long time since I could say that.

Creatively, this year was a mixed bag. I made some things, but not the things I had planned to. Another year without recording a new album, despite a lot of attempts at shaking the tree. Nothing really creative visually or literary either. Mostly I left behind furniture. I made some bookshelves around our stairwell and a vanity in the bathroom, among other things. I absolutely loved joining Awkward Bodies and playing gigs and now we did work on some new material and record it, so, I definitely got a little of the music done as well, but it was just not a big year on the creative front. Casually productive? More crafts than arts? I’m not satisfied but I’m also not totally unsatisfied.

The year had a lot going on, and here is a basic timeline:

  • January
    • stoked about the Vikings making a deep playoff run, deluded into believing there was a shot at the Superbowl, disappointed as usual
    • excited about new Young Fathers album
  • attempted to learn 6 languages at once
    • shaved off the beard I had been growing throughout the football season
  • February
    • first experience with a puzzle room, quite fun actually
  • March
    • Joined Awkward Bodies on bass guitar
    • joined Johnny Cash cover band
    • went to Denver, interviewed by Scott Homan for XJW documentary
  • April
    • won Trivia Mafia with James
    • replaced our stairs with maple
  • May
    • shoot/session at the Compound with HighTV
    • debut with Awkward Bodies
    • played Johnny Cash show
    • hung out at Rhiger’s place with Homan
  • June
    • switch from Mac to PC and iPhone to Android
    • saw Spoon and Grizzly Bear
    • presented at OSN
    • more Awkward Bodies shows
    • skyscraper raccoon
    • SHT backpacking trip
    • new glasses
  • July
    • My Bloody Valentine @ The Palace Theater
    • more AB shows
  • August
    • got nucleargopher.com back
    • another AB show
    • Teicko’s wedding
    • met Natalie Goldberg at her book signing
    • Holden had a stroke
  • September
    • $450 raised for SHAR via birthday fundraiser
    • Holden passed away
    • accidentally met Chuck Foreman at Walmart
    • bought new Fiat Spider
    • turned 45
    • took job at GovDocs
    • dinner at Angies with Jasmine and Nate
  • October
    • started working at GovDocs
  • November
    • Road trip to MI
    • built the bookcase around the stairs
    • Tash Sultana @ The Palace
  • December
    • Ostrich video
    • three week food coma

I guess that was a fairly busy year, but I feel like I could have fit most of that in a couple weeks if I were really trying. Too much down time. 🙂

I think that’s enough looking back. It was a good year, it was fullsome, and fun, worth it. On to 2019.