How was my 2015?
Pretty spectacular. Life-changing.
The big news of the year was the birth of our first child, our son Maxwell. He’s almost eight months old already, and it’s amazing to see how time has gone by so slowly and yet so quickly. It was a rough first six months, because he had both colic and reflux, and didn’t really start sleeping through the night until just after his turning six months. He’s happy, healthy, and really, really handsome (and yes, I’m biased, but everyone else isn’t!) so we seem to have done really well so far. It hasn’t been easy – not by a long shot – but it is incredibly rewarding.
The “Retire by 40” thing isn’t going to happen. (You were right Dad.) I’m moving the goal posts, but only by a bit. I don’t even mean retirement in the truest sense of the word – I mean financial freedom. The ability to choose fully what I do with my time, instead of the time outside the eight hours of work every day. I’ve been reading voraciously and I think I have better ideas on the subject.
Travel-wise, I had a good year. In February, I went to Lillehammer, and I got to see some of the exteriors that are used for the eponymous show, as well as my thirteenth trip to Norway. Additionally, the wife and I went to Cyprus, which was a really nice trip. In March, I went on a three-day trip that included Copenhagen (4th time in Denmark) and Amsterdam (14th time in The Netherlands). I didn’t travel again until September, but I went to Dubai, and stayed once again in the amazing Marriott Harbour Suites Hotel, which is fantastic. October saw me in Riga (1st trip to Latvia) and my second trip to Singapore. November was busier still, in that I traveled to Dallas (I lived in the US, so these don’t get counted), as well as Stockholm (4th time in Sweden) and I took my first trip to Poland, visiting Warsaw. The latter was much nicer than I was expecting and very inexpensive, to the point where I got a pizza and a beer for £3. or what was $4.50 at the time.
I didn’t do so well with the biohacking or the goals I set myself around exercise, or learning. I’m going to try and improve on that in 2016 but it’s shaping up similarly to last year so far.
I published an auto-biography on Amazon! You can get (or read for free with Amazon Kindle) “Adventures in Cybersecurity” here. I also read 22 books last year, and am already on my 3rd this year. I’m also working on taking some Udemy courses and may design one myself. If I do, I’ll publish here.
I hope you had a good 2015 and I’m looking forward to a better 2016!
