October 8, 2017: Me Day - Age 32

This sixth year, I only managed to get half a day for Me Day, enough to cover the basics: a little R&R, some reflections on the past year, and the personal inventory.

Wake up and watch the sun rise.

Made it out of the house just in time after getting Max playing by himself while Chloe and Clark slept in.

Measure physical stats.

Beeminder kept me working out consistently all year, but my kids and startup kept more of those sessions at home instead of at the gym. I maintained but didn't increase my fitness. I had wanted to push it hard this year, but had other priorities. Same will likely be true of next year.

Weight: 141.4 lbs -2.2 lbs
Body fat: 13.3% +0.7%
Chest: 33.50" +0.25"
Right arm: 11.50" +0.00"
Left arm: 11.00" +0.00"
Waist: 27.75" -0.25"
Hips: 35.25" +0.00"
Right leg: 21.00" +0.25"
Left leg: 20.50" +0.00"
Resting HR: 72 bpm -4bpm


Measure my max push-ups and pull-ups.

41 push-ups, -3: fast, strict, chin touching the ground.
18 pull-ups, +1: fast, no kipping, chin above bar.

Take a long walk.

I'm walking too much lately from playing Pokémon Go with Chloe while we take the kids places, especially yesterday, so didn't feel the need to do more of that.

Read from a favorite book.

Reread The Diamond Age, to get pumped up about creating the future of education. Actually enjoyed it a lot more than the first time.

Get blood tests.

I ordered the same blood tests from last year from DirectLabs. Not a huge amount is different. HDL is up a bit, but LDL is up a bit; iron is not overloading again; testosterone down a little bit; very small fluctuations in other numbers, normal-range numbers.

Count my possessions and get back down to 99.

Easy to stay at 99 things this year. Doubled down on Uniqlo T-shirts and added a lot of Untuckit shirts over them, ditched some of once-treasured-now-useless objects, replaced some clothes that wore out with the same ones, and didn't really think about the rest of my possessions much at all.

  • Added - 26

    1. Jeans
    2. Jeans
    3. Flash drive
    4. Shoes
    5. Pen
    6. T-shirt
    7. T-shirt
    8. T-shirt
    9. T-shirt
    10. T-shirt
    11. Shirt
    12. Shirt
    13. Shirt
    14. Shirt
    15. Shirt
    16. Shirt
    17. Shirt
    18. Shirt
    19. Shirt
    20. Swim trunks
    21. Boxers
    22. Boxers
    23. Boxers
    24. Boxers
    25. Boxers
    26. Pajamas
  • Culled - 26

    1. Jeans
    2. Flash drive
    3. Mattress
    4. Sphero
    5. PlayStation 4
    6. Bowl
    7. Spork
    8. Cup
    9. Bundle of pens
    10. Shoes
    11. Towel
    12. Chromecast
    13. Rubber plant
    14. T-shirt
    15. T-shirt
    16. T-shirt
    17. T-shirt
    18. Shirt
    19. Sport jacket
    20. Speedo
    21. Boxers
    22. Boxers
    23. Boxers
    24. Boxers
    25. Boxers
    26. Pajamas

Take stock of finances.

Finances kept trucking along more or less as predicted; living in SF with two kids and an early stage startup was bad, but not really spending money, having two businesses, and investing small amounts of money in cryptocurrencies was good.

(If you're me, you get to see finance stats here. Since you're not me, you see nothing.)

Do Quantified Mind testing.

No interesting trends; most of the tests are still showing increasing trends except for Finger Tapping, which is decreasing, but I also switched from doing this monthly to yearly about two years ago, and the lack of regular practice is indistinguishable from the beginning of age-related decline. Doing this yearly from now on will be better, although not as good as monthly, but it's a lot harder to get 17 minutes of distraction-free computer time in a similar mental state every month than it was before kids and bossing.

Call my family.

I either just had all immediate family over to visit a couple weeks ago or am about to in a couple weeks, so doing pretty good on the familial connection front for once! (Blame the new kid.)

Have a spectacular dinner with Chloe.

Chloe surprised me with her own interpretation of a favorite dish invented by my mother: Italian Stir Fry, except this time it was with my favorite ramen noodles. Amazing! And she made a gluten-free, sugar-free, French silk pie (my favorite). I love this woman.

Reflect on the past year

I sat down with my journal and evaluated three areas: what went well, what didn't go well, and how my relationships are now. Summary: I think I pretty accurately lived according to my priorities of CodeCombat and family and very little else, similar to last year.

What went well? This past year, I:

  • Grew as a CEO, leader, and manager
  • Tripled CodeCombat's revenues
  • Spawned a new baby Clark, and am parenting him a lot more easily than with Max at that age
  • Have been a good dad and a decent husband
  • Had the most social year of my life
  • Am better dressed now than before
  • Have maintained regularly weekly hangouts with my closest compadres
  • Improved my Chinese significantly
  • Moved from a loft to a two-bedroom apartment, which is way better for a family (yay doors)

What didn't go well?

  • I didn't do any personal projects
  • I wanted to have time to get swole, but it usually wasn't enough of a priority
  • I have barely cooked anything more complicated than a MealSquare all year
  • I didn't make time to see many of my friends

How are my relationships?

Relationships with family are better, and with my closest friends. Chloe and I are doing well despite the kidzkrieg. I have a lot of other acquaintances that need a refresher and haven't gotten one this year, similar to last year. Still doesn't seem like this will be able to be a priority over the next year, though.

Organize my files and computer desktop.

Did this during parental leave a couple months ago, so it was easy to refresh.

Add at least one tradition.

I was bad at Me Day this year and only took half a day for myself; instead I just did some urgent work and did some parenting. Did not have time to do extra stuff.

Destroy at least one habit.

I have been pausing and destroying habits like crazy since Clark was born two months ago; the question is more like, which will I bring back? Probably not the one where I ever check my spam folder!