2018 Highlights
Getting out more
Professionally, 2018 was focused on Range, the company I co-founded in 2017. It’s been a year of learning and growth, navigating the fabled rollercoaster of startup life; with ups and downs often occurring in the same day, sometimes simultaneously.
But, as with my previous years in review, this post is about life outside work and tech. It’s an intentionally rose-tinted reflection on the year, and will skip over the sleep deprivation, seemingly persistent chest infections that come from living with a preschooler, and other challenges.
We returned to California from a white Christmas in England, and went on our traditional New Years day hike out to Tennessee Valley.
In February, we celebrated Lyra’s third birthday on a windy day in Mission Bay.
She’s in preschool now, so nearly every weekday morning we cycled to school — the exception being rainy days when we used the running stroller, or bus.
Many a weekend was spent hanging out with Lyra’s BFF, Emerson, and her family.
In March, I attended The Lobby conference and we used the trip as an opportunity for a family vacation to the Big Island. Lyra loved playing on the beach, swimming in the pool, and was captivated by the dancing at a Luau.
In May, I returned to Wildflower for my first triathlon since Lyra was born. My parents were visiting and it turned out the logistics of getting parents plus toddler in-and-out of the race area was nearly as hard as the race itself.
Despite finishing the olympic course 15 minutes slower than my personal best, the race felt really good…. and then we were able to go wine tasting afterwards at a nearby vineyard :)
Over 4th July weekend, we went back to England again. This time to celebrate the arrival of my new nephew Rhys. The weather was amazing and I was happy that Tessa and Lyra got to experience a quintessential English summer. Let’s not talk about that England match :(
Then in August, we took a trip to San Diego with Tessa’s sister and her family. Cousin time is becoming a top priority for us now the kids are getting bigger. We had fun visiting the zoo and Legoland, and loved the SoCal beach — though we all got horribly sunburned.
The rest of the summer and early autumn were a daze of birthday parties, trips to the Exploratorium, playgrounds, classes, and walks.
I had set myself a 350 mile running goal for the second year in a row, and for the second year I didn’t hit it. Though I got closer this year, hitting 315 miles.
Several bad chest colds (preschoolders!), wildfire smoke, and a couple of injuries set me back several weeks, and then it was hard to build the miles back given my ability to only run once or twice a week.
I read, or listened, to 24 books over the year: a mix of business, psychology, and sci-fi. Highlights were the Three-Body trilogy, and learning more about marketing in Crossing the Chasm and Play Bigger.
November saw the largest wildfires in California history and for several weeks the bay area was a thick blanket of smoke. We were reasonably well-prepared from last year, with masks and air-purifiers, but the air quality in our apartment was still poor and a cold Lyra already had turned into a mild case of pneumonia.
Luckily, we were able to escape to Seattle for Thanksgiving where I worked remotely for the week and we appreciated the clean air.
A big change to our weekly schedule this year was the introduction of date nights. With a pre-arranged babysitter, Tessa and I would go out for a meal, play board games in my office, or do activities around the city. (Highly recommended forcing function for other parents out there.)
To end the year my family came out to California. We celebrated Christmas in San Francisco then headed down the coast to Santa Cruz for New Year.
Happy New Year and good luck for 2019.
