A Look Back on 2022

"2022, it was mostly fine or something. I have no frame of reference for good any longer". - my friend Zac Skalko

For the sixth full year, I've recorded a video with 1 Second Every Day. I've had a more difficult time remembering to record when I'm with people than pre-COVID. In general, I try to at least get something from my "most notable activity of the day." Sometimes that's a walk in the evening, and other times it's watching TV, or spending time with friends.

New Job and Tech Stack

This is the most impactful change for me this year. On June 1st, I joined soona! It's a virtual content studio for e-commerce product photography and a virtual photoshoots. We also take headshots if you're in a city where we have a studio, use code "brian" at checkout for your first photo free 😁

soona is the most creative and diverse place I've ever worked. It's been fun working for a startup and learning all that comes with a younger and eager company. My coworkers are the best, and my office is the closest to me yet, a 6.5mi (ca. 10 km) bike ride, 95% on bike paths or lanes.

Some Technical Things

After using the React JavaScript framework for the last four and a half years, I started using Vue at soona. Some of my first work involved an expansive Vue 2 to Vue 3 migration. This proved to be a fantastic way to learn about the codebase, and specific and niche features of Vue. It's been fun to learn the Vue Composition API, and compare it to React hooks.

I also started to contribute to backend code, beyond in the abstract, like in my past! It's been so helpful to read through and contribute to our Ruby on Rails application. Rails is an opinionated framework, but it's usually the right opinion (hot take?), and makes for a consistent codebase. I appreciate the ability to work on the backend and frontend changes at the same time.

Boards

This year, I've served on the board for two different non-profits.

JavaScriptMN

For the forth year, I've been a co-organizer of JavaScriptMN. We're a community meetup for all things JavaScript and web and frontend development. This year we had our first in-person event since going virtual in 2020, a picnic at Como Park. It was so nice to see people all together at once, I would like to have more events like this next year. This year, we also retired our Slack group, and have moved to a Discord server.

Streets.mn

This year, I joined the board for Streets.mn, a blog/website for land use and transportation. We foster positive connections and inclusive conversations about better places in Minnesota. This year, I've headed the technology committee, and helped with relaunching the Streets.mn Podcast. I'm so proud of the work everyone on the board and our contributors do, and am excited for more next year!

Media

Science-fiction and electronic dance music, that about sums it up.

Movies

I watched 29 movies this year, many of them Marvel and some other new movies. My top favorites for the year are a close tie between Everything Everywhere All at Once, and RRR. I cannot recommend them enough! After too long (probably only two years), I watched TRON: Legacy again too, it was great, as it always is.

TV Shows

I'll never be able to top my 2021 when I watched all 176 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but I did watch a variety of other shows this year (in addition to four different Star Trek shows, of course). Here is a complete list of every show I watched this year (many of which are the season that came out this year). You can also find me on Trakt, if you like to track your watching habits like I do.

Music

I cannot live without music, while I work, do chores, go on walks, and more. Some of my most listened to genres this year were Dance, Hip-Hop, Electro House, EDM Trap, Danish Pop, and Melbourne Bounce. I listened to a lot of Joel Fletcher, KILLY, Lit Lords, Gilli, Kuoga., Juelz, Dread Pitt, Krewella, Kaaliyah, and Timmy Trumpet. Check out my Last.fm artists page for the year. By December, when Spotify and Apple Music release annual stats, I listened to a total of 83,508 minutes this year. I'd guess I'll finish the year around 90,000 minutes, woo!

City Exploration

If you know me, you know I like having data about everything. This year I got close to finish biking on most streets in South Minneapolis, and made a little progress in North and Northeast Minneapolis. I've explored 65.26% of Minneapolis, an increase of 165.6 miles (13.2%) since last year.

I've been using the app Fog of World since Spring 2014 to track everywhere I've been. This isn't limited to just biking, it's fun to get a holistic view, especially with so many years of data.

Biking

As my main form of transportation, I biked a lot this year, 2,913 miles (ca. 4,688 km)! I set a goal of 2,000 miles (ca. 3,219 km), so I mis-judged myself a year ago 😅

In May, I bought a new bike, an All-City Super Professional APEX 1. It's named "10X Developer" as a joke on a "super professional" software engineer being a 10x developer. I also got dynamo hub powered front and rear lights installed, so I don't need to think about charging and keeping track of battery-powered lights at all. I use this bike for commuting around town and in the rain. My older bike, a Jamis Renegade, is now my more recreational bike that I use for fair weather and when I don't need to carry much with me.

This fall I went on a century ride, and rode 101 miles (ca. 163 km). I've been looking for an opportunity to do this for years, and had a great time! We rode from Uptown, Minneapolis, around Lake Minnetonka, then over into Saint Paul, up the East Side, and back via the U of M transit way. It was a long and tiring day, but very much worth it. Interestingly, it was my neck and arms that were the sorest in the days after.

Traveling

In January, I biked with some friends to Afton State Park to spend a long weekend and go skiing at Afton Alps. It snowed 4 inches (ca. 10 cm) of snow the day we left, and with towing my downhill skis in a trailer, it was a long and brutal ride. I'm glad I've done it, but wouldn't do it exactly like this again 🥶

In March, I finally went skiing at Lutsen Mountains Ski Resort! Conditions were perfect, 30ºF and sunny, with 5 inches (ca. 13 cm) of powder overnight. It was the best skiing I've ever done in Minnesota! Shout-out to my friend Resa for driving us there and back in one day.

In late April, I took a trip out west on the Empire Builder Amtrak train. I rode coach to West Glacier and spent a few days visiting a friend who worked at Glacier National Park. After, I continued west and spend nearly a week in Seattle, Wa, staying in a hostel. I was able to borrow a bike (thanks so much Hailey!) and rode 95 miles (ca. 153 km) over my time there, a fantastic way to see the city! On my way home, I was in a roomette and had a bed for my two-night journey home, it was a lovely ride!

Instead of traveling during the summer, I wanted to be home and not miss out on any local activities. I went on many group bike rides, events, and other gatherings with friends, it was nice to be home for all of it.

This October, I joined my sister and parents for a family trip to Greece. It was a nice warm break to get some sun, see a new country, and eat so much delicious food. I really liked walking throughout Athens, comparing their urban planning to other places, and trying to remember my ancient Greek history.

I had a work summit in Denver, CO in early November, and I stayed a few extra days to see more of the city afterwards. It was so great to spend time with my team and the whole company together at once (we're normally distributed across the country). I walked around a ton, and had a great time.

Other Stuff

Here are some random fun facts

• I got COVID-19 for the first time this fall. It was a mild case, but a bummer, I thought I was going to be able to avoid it. I've still been wearing masks when indoors in public, or with more than a small group of people.
• I acquired four new baseball-ish style hats this year, despite not being a big hat-wearer.
• I started a new side-project, a multi-window audio-visualizer, using BroadcastChannel, and the Web Audio APIs.
• I did not drive a car a single time and am so happy to not own one.
• I wrote about deciding to sell my car on Streets.mn.
• I'm trying to leave Twitter and switch to Mastodon, or other social media.
• I rearranged my living room.
• I had my ten-year high school reunion this Spring, it was fun to catch up with everyone.
• I bought four prints or pieces of art to hang on my walls this year.

One More Thing

You made it this far, here's the most ridiculous photo of me from this year, taken at my work summit this fall, lol. Thanks for reading, hope to see or talk with you soon!