In 2024, I took significant steps to improve myself.
Last year, I accomplished some things, I experienced some things, I rebounded from some challenges, and I focused on my health.
Family
The big news this year was the marriage of my son Tim to Natale. The wedding took place in August in Chicago. Friends and family gathered to welcome my new daughter to our family.
Travel
Although work travel is still limited, I did experience two such trips in 2024. A long-delayed team offsite finally happened in February. Hundreds of my teammates from across North and South America met in the Seattle area for meetings, education, and fellowship. For most of us, it was the first time we had met in person, which was the most significant advantage of this event.
In May, I spoke at the DevSum conference in Stockholm, Sweden. It was an exciting chance to speak at an international conference for the first time since before the pandemic. When the conference ended, I took an overnight cruise ship to Helsinki, Finland - a place I had never visited. After spending a few days exploring Helsinki, I took another boat across the gulf to spend a day in Tallinn, Estonia, another new destination for me. I booked a guided tour of each city and walked alone, soaking in the architecture, atmosphere, food, and culture. I have now visited 27 different countries in my life. (Nordic Rhapsody 2024)
In November, I booked a trip to the east coast. Because I have a goal to visit every stadium arena for each NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLB team, I planned this excursion around sporting events. I was able to attend home games for the Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia 76ers, Baltimore Ravens, Washington Capitals, and Washington Commanders. I also visited many cousins and old friends and explored a few museums on this 10-day adventure. (East Coast Rhapsody 2024)
The Arts
This year, I decided to become a member of the Art Institute of Chicago. I visited the museum several times, but not as often as I hoped. My membership allows me to bring in four guests during each visit, so let me know when you are in or near downtown Chicago and are interested in visiting one of the world's great museums.
Believe it or not, I increased the number of concerts and plays I attended this past year: 26 concerts and 24 plays. Here is the list:
Concerts
Date | Show | Location |
---|---|---|
01/12/2024 | Buddy Guy | Buddy Guy's Legends |
01/20/2024 | Rosanne Cash | Old Town School of Folk Music |
01/28/2024 | Adam Conover | City Winery |
01/31/2024 | Rio Bamba | Le Piano |
02/09/2024 | Keame Singer, Asha Omega, and Jacob on the Moon | SoFar Sounds |
03/09/2024 | Bobby Lewis Quintet | Jazz Showcase |
03/10/2024 | Rickie Lee Jones | Old Town School of Folk Music |
05/18/2024 | Taylor Swift | Friends Arena, Stockholm |
06/11/2024 | Sara McLachlan | Huntington Bank Pavillion |
06/12/2024 | John Cleese | Vic |
06/16/2024 | Joe Jackson | Cahn Auditorium |
06/28/2024 | Third Eye Blind | Huntington Bank Pavillion |
07/02/2024 | The Wallflowers | Thalia Hall |
07/17/2024 | Acoustic Alchemy | City Winery |
07/26/2024 | Courtney Barnett | Illinois Science + Technology Park Field |
07/27/2024 | Thee Sacred Souls | Illinois Science + Technology Park Field |
07/28/2024 | Guster | Illinois Science + Technology Park Field |
08/07/2024 | Bush | Huntington Bank Pavillion |
08/08/2024 | Nublu Band Ft. Carlise Guy | Willie Dixon Blues Garden |
08/23/2024 | Terrance Simien | Fitzgerald's |
09/07/2024 | Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, & John Mellencamp | Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre |
09/25/2024 | Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters | City Winery |
10/03/2024 | John Gorka | City Winery |
10/11/2024 | Spyro Gyra | City Winery |
10/20/2024 | T-Bone Burnett | Old Town School of Folk Music |
10/24/2024 | Leon Bridges | Auditorium Theatre |
10/30/2024 | Stevie Wonder | Van Andel Arena |
12/14/2024 | Leo Kottke | SPACE |
12/17/2024 | Boney James | Thalia Hall |
Theater
Date | Show | Location |
---|---|---|
01/16/2024 | Hamilton | Nederlander Theatre |
01/21/2024 | Highway Patrol | Goodman Theatre |
02/02/2024 | When You Awake You Will Remember Everything! | The Edge Off Broadway |
02/08/2024 | Harry Potter and the Cursed Child | Lyric Theatre |
03/03/2024 | Message in a Bottle | Cadillac Palace Theatre |
03/05/2024 | Mrs. Doubtfire | Nederlander Theatre |
03/15/2024 | My Fair Lady | Nederlander Theatre |
03/23/2024 | On Your Feet | CIBC Theatre |
04/05/2024 | Churchill | Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place |
05/12/2024 | Death Becomes Her | Cadillac Palace Theatre |
06/07/2024 | Six | Nederlander Theatre |
07/06/2024 | Native Son | Lifeline Theatre |
07/11/2024 | Ain't Misbehavin' | Drury Lane Theatre |
08/14/2024 | Back to the Future | Cadillac Palace Theatre |
08/26/2024 | The House of Ideas | City Lit Theater Company |
09/24/2024 | Ain't Too Proud | CIBC Theatre |
10/12/2024 | Cinderella | Metropolis Performing Arts Center |
10/18/2024 | Inherit the Wind | Goodman Theatre |
10/25/2024 | Manual Cinema's Frankenstein | Studebaker Theatre |
11/10/2024 | Romeo and Juliet | Folger Shakespeare Theatre |
12/06/2024 | Dreamgirls | Studebaker Theatre |
12/07/2024 | Yippee Ki Yay | Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place |
12/11/2024 | Harry Potter and the Cursed Child | Nederlander Theatre |
12/18/2024 | Manual Cinema's A Christmas Carol | Studebaker Theatre |
Public Speaking
I have a passion for learning and sharing knowledge with others. One of the most enjoyable ways for me to do this is to get on stage at a conference, user group, or school and deliver a presentation. The pandemic limited my ability to do this, but I increased my activity during 2024. I delivered 29 presentations during the year: Seven online and Twenty-two in person. The highlight was delivering the keynote at the inaugural Michigan Technology Conference in Pontiac, MI. United Wholesale Mortgage hosted this conference, and I was able to share the story of how UWM owner Mat Ishbia inspired my son Nick when Nick was a boy and Mat was a walk-on for the Michigan State University basketball team. I had hoped Mat would attend my talk, but he also owns the Phoenix Suns, which were competing in the NBA Playoffs the week of the conference.
Here are the presentations I delivered during the calendar year.
Date | Event | Location | |
---|---|---|---|
Jan 04 2024 | Roanoke Valley .NET User Group | Online | |
Jan 12 2024 | CodeMash | Sandusky, OH | |
Jan 18 2024 | Microsoft / Thoughtworks Technology and Digital Transformation Round Table | Online | |
Feb 15 2024 | Insight & Rightpoint | Unleashing Azure AI Search and Copilot | Chicago, IL |
Feb 21 2024 | GOTO/CJUG/Kotlin Group | Chicago, IL | |
Mar 11 2024 | Elastic Chicago User Group | Chicago, IL | |
Mar 12 2024 | ElasticON | Chicago, IL | |
Mar 21 2024 | Michigan Technology Conference | Pontiac, MI | |
Mar 21 2024 | Michigan Technology Conference | Pontiac, MI | |
Mar 22 2024 | Michigan Technology Conference | Pontiac, MI | |
Mar 22 2024 | Michigan Technology Conference | Pontiac, MI | |
Apr 02 2024 | Illinois Institute of Technology | Chicago, IL | |
Apr 04 2024 | Roanoke Valley .NET User Group | Online | |
Apr 16 2024 | AI Camp | Chicago, IL | |
Apr 17 2024 | Pittsburgh .NET User Group | Online | |
Apr 19 2024 | Global Azure | Chicago, IL | |
Apr 30 2024 | VSLive | Chicago, IL | |
Apr 30 2024 | VSLive | Chicago, IL | |
May 06 2024 | LambdaConf | Estes Park, CO | |
May 17 2024 | DevSum | Stockholm, Sweden | |
May 17 2024 | DevSum | Stockholm, Sweden | |
Jul 18 2024 | Louisville .NET USER Group | Online | |
Aug 03 2024 | Beer City Code | Grand Rapids, Mi | |
Aug 03 2024 | Beer City Code | Grand Rapids, MI | |
Aug 14 2024 | Azure Cleveland User Group | Online | |
Aug 22 2024 | Quest Cybersecurity Summit | Downers Grove, IL | |
Sep 12 2024 | Quest Cybersecurity Summit | Atlanta, GA | |
Sep 26 2024 | Tulsa .NET User Group | Online | |
Nov 21 2024 | INFORMS Regional Analytics Conference | Chicago, IL |
I am scheduled to speak at two events in January - CodeMash in Sandusky, OH, and NDC in London, UK. I am awaiting word on a few conferences to which I have submitted.
My Job
My job has not changed much from last year. I continue to enjoy the fact that I am constantly learning, making a difference, and working with excellent people.
Volunteering
I volunteered to mentor students at a local public high school for the sixth consecutive year. We are making a difference in young people's lives and contributing to diversity in the industry, as nearly all the students are from underrepresented groups. In-person mentoring begins again later this month.
Reading
I read 37 books in 2024. I aim to read every winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and I am about halfway through this list. In addition, I have joined two book clubs, and I am open to reading suggestions. You can follow my progress and read my book reviews here
Online
This year, I passed 800 published episodes of "Technology and Friends," the online show where I interview smart people about topics of interest to technologists. Because my job involves working with Microsoft partners, I tried to showcase some of them on my show. Although I do not exclusively target famous people for this show (anyone with an interesting story is welcome), I interviewed a few well-known technologists this year, including:
- Oren Eini, the creator of RavenDB
- Gael Fraiteur, the creator of Metalama (formerly PostSharp)
- Venkat Subramaniam, an internationally known speaker
- Michael Feathers, author of the definitive book on working with legacy code
I am approaching 200 episodes of GCast, where I record a screencast to showcase a technical concept or technology.
I published 188 blog posts in 2024 - a little over one every two days. This number is lower than in previous years. I plan to write more technical content next year.
Health
In the past, I tried to maintain my fitness by riding my bike and scheduling regular sessions with a personal trainer. Unfortunately, my trainer decided to change careers, and I have not found an acceptable replacement for her.
Despite losing a trainer, I increased my focus on my physical health last year. I recognized where I was lacking and took steps to improve.
Every day, I try to do the following:
- 5-10 minutes stretching
- 5-10 minutes of core exercises
- Ride my bike
In addition, I try to go to the gym three times a week and play pickleball once a week.
I have stopped worrying about how much time I can spend on each activity and focused more on checking off the activity each day. Consistency seems to be the key for me.
This exercise regimen and a serious diet resulted in a weight loss of 60 pounds. I had lost 70 pounds but fell back into bad habits during the holidays.
Other Stuff
I set other goals during the year. I wanted to learn Spanish, partly because much of my team is in Latin America, and I hope to work with them in their home country. I signed up for Duolingo and have taken lessons every day for over seven months. I have always wanted to play the piano, and I own a small electric keyboard that my brother gifted me a few years ago. This year, I committed to practicing every day that I am home. Usually, this involves only practicing the basic major and minor chords. It is not much, but it is a start.
Of course, sometimes, I cannot meet my daily goals. Practicing piano or riding a bike is challenging, and the weather often makes bike riding impractical. But I set these goals, and I achieve them when I can.
An emotional rollercoaster ended on a high note this year. A woman with whom I became close destroyed our relationship by lying and responding to my hurt with gaslighting. Months later, I still sometimes get angry when thinking about it. I count myself blessed that I met someone else soon after that incident. Her kindness, intelligence, generosity, sincerity, and beauty continually impress me. We are still together, and I am grateful every day for her. She is a big reason I am optimistic about the future.
After switching almost exclusively to online services, I have begun to attend Sunday Mass in person. Usually, I go to the Roman Catholic church a few blocks from my home, but I have been exploring other churches, including a couple of non-denominational ones.
Looking Ahead
During the coming year, I plan to continue the daily habits that I adopted this past year. I want to improve my foreign language and musical skills. I want to continue my health journey. I would love to drop another 25 pounds. I would love to go beyond a few chords and learn some songs on the piano. I would love to be fluent in Spanish.
I want to focus on forgiveness in 2025. I hurt some people this past year, and I apologize to them. Some accepted my apology, but some did not. Some who hurt me never offered an apology, and I struggle to forgive them. This attitude harms me. In 2025, I hope to release the anger I feel inside.
Overall, I feel optimistic about this year. My job, my health, and my personal life are trending upward, and I have no reason to believe they will not continue to do so. I think 2025 will be the best year in some time.