My first post of 2025! You’ll probably notice that I didn’t post a “Top Albums” list last year, which is rare for me. I just haven’t been listening to enough new music to justify a blog post. To be fair, I have added new albums to my library in the past year but not as much to make a list. I guess I’m getting old!

Over the month of January I have been working on refining my goals for 2025. I have gone back and forth as to how detailed or deep I want to go with them, but have ultimately settled on three basic areas that I plan to spend my attention on for the most of the year:

• Family - Making sure that I’m prioritizing quality time with my family this year. I have dropped a lot of external commitments to make time for them in the evenings and on weekends. I’m also getting better at limiting time on devices after school and in the evenings to focus my attention on my kids.

• Cycling - I have mapped out my race/event plan for the year which includes some aggressive goals, including 2x Gran Fondo events in Vancouver this year. I plan on doing a lot of interval training on my trainer during the “off season” (if you can call that in Vancouver) and generally improving my performance on the bike.

• Work - I recently took on a new role at work and have moved back into people management, working on the cutting-edge of generative AI and autonomous agents (amongst other cool projects!). I’m really psyched to be joining a great team and working on some new, interesting technologies, while also needing to priorities my family and hobbies above work.

These goals and focus areas will be driving a lot of my decision making throughout the year. I find that I’m going to be deprioritizing taking on new asks/initiatives in my personal life where I can, while also trying to continue to build a network and community. I’m looking forward to spring when cycling season opens and I can join some group rides more frequently!

Enjoying the Coquitlam Crunch with the kids

“Winter” gravel rides in Coquitlam

View from the Salesforce Tower in New York

It’s been quite the summer compared to last year, where I broke my arm and spent most of my time inside either watching Netflix or (eventually) getting on the indoor trainer. Back in May I wrote about being at The End of the List, which really afforded me some great time this summer to spend with my family and also upping my cycling skills.

I really challenged myself on my bike this year and I’m excited that I was able to hit a number of achievements:

• I joined the Tri-Cities Cycling Club and challenged myself to do a group ride at least once per week. I started riding in the Slow-C group and worked my way up to the Mid-B group by the end of the summer season!

• I took a week-long trip to northern Vancouver Island and rode the trail network in Cumberland as a brand new experience outside of the trails I normally ride in the Tri-Cities. I also spent the day on Mount Washington and tried downhill cycling for the first time,

• Completed by first 100k ride through the Tri-Cities in August and followed it up with another in October as part of our club season closer, beating my existing time by 4 mins!

I’m also proud to have spent a significant amount of time with the kids enjoying the summer here in Coquitlam. We didn’t travel too far during the summer but were able to do all the local activities: PNE, Waterslides, outdoor pools and more. It was really refreshing to have so much fun in our neighborhood without having to travel too far or have to spend a ton of money on a big vacation.

Of course, none of this comes without its own challenges. In particular, I have been dealing with a shoulder injury that resurfaced with the purchase of a new road bike (Madone SL 7 Gen 7). It’s a wicked bike that I love riding fast in group settings, but is definitely challenging my aging body. During the fall, I also had a bad crash on my last commute ride to work, totalling my endurance bike but thankfully walking away from the crash without any major injuries.

With that, I’m excited for the fall and winter season and a bit more cozy time with the family. I have my first proper gravel bike on order to ride through the winter, combined with some awesome training on my indoor ride to get ready for next season. I’m excited!

I’m writing this post as I find myself in a space that I don’t really find myself in regularly. There have been a number of major events in the past year of my life that have kept me “busy”, per-se:

• Dealing with a major accident and a long road to recovery.

• The inevitable business chaos at the start of the fiscal year.

• Completing a significant renovation to our home (new siding and windows, yay!).

As a lot of this starts to settle down and I look ahead to the summer season, I’m finding that my task list and list of projects is starting to wind down a bit. There’s part of me that thinks that I would enjoy this, as I tell folks that I operate best when I don’t have a lot “on my plate”.

However, I’m finding as some of these major initiates start to settle, I find myself in a place of discomfort. It’s almost as if my mental state defaults to being busy and having a long list of tasks/projects ahead of me. This is likely true due to spending 20+ years in the tech industry where the work never stops, dealing with young kids and being a homeowner.

I realize that a lot of life comes in cycles, and this is just naturally part of that cycle. Heck, I wrote back in March of 2021 that I was doing a “whole lot of nothing” at that point in my life, and it’s been a wild ride since then (navigating the pandemic, taking on a new role at work, purchasing a home and much more). I need to reflect on this and welcome the fact that I might be moving into a slower cycle in my life right now, where I don’t have a ton of big projects or initiatives. I should enjoy this time as it won’t last forever and I’ll likely have big problems to solve in the not-to-distant future.

I’m also taking this into the context of my values for this year that I wrote about in my previous post, and seeing where these values intersect with my thinking on the current cycle of my life:

• Adventure - Having less big projects gives me more time to explore and live an adventurous life in nature, particularly as the summer is approaching here in British Columbia.

• Order - Much of my life is organized well now, particularly after the chaos of a major renovation. I should be grateful for this.

• Wellbeing - This is tricky as I balance the fact that I’m navigating a cycle of growth here, while also being mindful of its impact on my mental wellbeing. I think the awareness that I have is actually a good thing.

Who knows what the summer holds for me and how it will impact my lists and projects for the remainder of the year. Heck, I was blindsided by a major injury last year so let’s hope that doesn’t happen again! In the meantime, I plan to lean-in to this part of the cycle and continue to challenge myself to be OK with less on my plate. I will fill up at some point in the future, no doubt!