2018 Plans

2017 was a year of trial and error, between dipping my toes in the shoals of a software startup and figuring out how to take care of a small human while still maintaining a minimally viable amount of health, wealth, and leisure time. Now that our six-month trial period has ended and we are truly in charge of growing the Maian Empire, 2018 will be all about stabilization and process improvement. Here are some of the changes I expect to make this year:

• Consume more new content: Movies, shows, albums, games -- I'm not picky about what I'll consume, but I'll make sure that I'm not just rereading old books or playing Overwatch all of the time. It is very easy (and fun) to make a game of Overwatch be the mortar between the bricks of baby care in my schedule, but it tends to introduce a feeling of sameness across days that already sometimes seem too similar. I would also like to read new books as my vocabulary is getting a little rusty -- I have "what is that word that means ____?" moments far more often than I used to.


• Get back on the treadmill: After five straight years of maintaining a minimum of 2 hours per week jogging, treadmill time petered out at the end of 2017, such that I only used it 1 time in the month of December. Though the extra exercise is not strictly necessary since my smallest pants have started to fall off my hips from just walking Maia around the forest and mall, this will be a good way to have some extra solo time and watch some new TV shows.


• Learn to play the soprano recorder: I have a recorder and a d'Auberge book which should be sufficient to play nursery rhymes for Maia so she is regularly exposed to annoying music. I will do some trumpet or electric bass at some point too, but the recorder is very portable, reasonably quiet, and doesn't require daily practice to maintain.


• Try new things in cooking: I have a small pouch of simple recipes that get us through the week but I'd like to do more cooking this year. Rebecca got me the book, Salt Fat Acid Heat, for Christmas which teaches about food science and what happens when you add different ingredients to a pot -- this is perfect for me since I never really follow a single recipe exactly.


• Don't work more than necessary: Work is going very well and it's nice having specific important assignments to deal with that are done when they're done. I don't need to look busy or seek out new assignments just to fill up 40 hours in the week. I plan to continue the stay-at-home-dad'ing for as long as it's fulfilling and don't plan on working more until I want to. It's also amazing how much money you save when you can no longer go to real sit-down restaurants.


• Maintain programming skills: Eventually, I'll mix a little programming back into my daily routine. Whether it's continued open-source development or just a daily programming brain teaser, I want to make sure that Microsoft Word doesn't become my most-used application.

What are your plans for 2018?