Happy New Year!

During my holiday break I’ve been lucky enough to discover a handful of my old data CD’s from my high school IT classes. Going through the content of these discs has been an incredible throwback for me, consisting of files and content from various Information Technology, Computer Science and Drafting courses from 20+ years ago.

One of my most exciting discoveries was a Time Capsule site that I created shortly after Y2K. I recall doing this as part of one of my IT classes as one of the first webpages I ever created. This was meaningful for me for a few reasons:

• I loved being able to take a look at a small snippet of my code and how I structured the site, the banner I created (using one of those banner-generating sites from back in the day), the images I likely “borrowed” from another page. I even went in and made a few changes to have it format more properly in modern browsers!

• The content of the page was also fun to look back at. It highlights some of the biggest moments of my childhood life. It also gave me comfort knowing that many parts of my childhood are still prominent to me, including my love for music (many of the bands listed I still love!) as well as my love for sports.

I wanted to post this online and after researching on the easiest way to host a single page (AWS, Google Cloud, etc.) I chose Github Pages which worked out quite well. You can visit the site at dylanhansen.github.io/2000timecapsule and can also see the source code here. Please don’t judge my 20-year-old imlpementation!

This did trigger for me a though around creating a 2020 Time Capsule, and it might be something I do with my children in the next few weeks. For now, I’ll continue to blog more as something I can look back on many years down the line, as well as continue to take lots of photos of my life experiences!

1. Deftones - Ohms

Best Tracks: Genesis, Radiant City, Ohms

2. Classified - Time E.P.

Best Tracks: Good News, Get Ready, I Love It

3. Xzibit, B-Real, Demrick - Serial Killers Presents Summer of Sam

Best Tracks: Normal, Loaded, Summer of Sam

4. Mac Miller - Circles

Best Tracks: Hand Me Downs, Circles, Blue World

5. Run The Jewels - RTJ4

Best Tracks: Oooh La La, Out of Sight, JU$T

6. Incubus - Trust Fall (Side B)

Best Tracks: Our Love, Karma, Come Back, Into The Summer

XL The Band - Opus No. 1

Best Tracks: Opus, Sludge, 5+1

8. The Strokes - The New Abnormal

Best Tracks: Bad Decisions, Brooklyn Bridge Chorus, The Adults Are Talking

9. Logic - No Pressure

Best Tracks: Hit My Line, Celebration, Soul Food II

10. Mike Shinoda - Dropped Frames

Best Tracks: Open Door, Duckbot, Babble Bobble

We’re nearing the end of 2020 and I’m sure many of us are ready to ring in 2021 as soon as possible - I am one of them! Before we say goodbye to the toughest year for many of us, I wanted to reflect on my top albums that have released in 2020. A lot of these records are meaningful to me given how hard this year has been. As usual, my album selection swings between hip-hop and rock music.

Check the images on the side to see the top tracks from each album.

10. Mike Shinoda - Dropped Frames (Vol 1, 2, 3)
9. Logic - No Pressure
8. The Strokes - The New Abnormal
7. XL The Band - Opus No. 1
6. Incubus - Trust Fall (Side B)
5. Run The Jewels - RTJ4
4. Mac Miller - Circles
3. Xzibit, B-Real, Demrick - Serial Killers Presents: Summer of Sam
2. Classified - Time E.P.
1. Deftones - Ohms

Hopefully you take a listen to some of these and enjoy them as much as I did. Looking forward to 2021, new music and (maybe!) live concerts again?! All the best!

Over the past few weeks I’ve been recovering from a fairly significant operation that, while although appeared optional at the start of my diagnosis, became more and more necessary as 2020 has progressed. I have a bit of experience under the knife, having my knees operated on 3 times. I figured this time it would be similar and I’d have a smooth recovery path.

This one was different for me. As it’s been nearly 10 years since my previous operation, I’ve quickly realized that I’m unable to bounce-back as easily as I could for my previous operations. My recovery has slowed and the healing processes has been more challenging.

A few days after my operation, I realized this was going to be an uphill battle. I was naive to think that I’d be back on the exercise bike after a few days. I’m making progress, doing a “good enough” job of healing and realize that this will only be temporary. I have tried some light stretching each morning to give me a jolt of energy that helps kickstart my day.

If you’re facing an upcoming surgery or operation, or have recently had one and are “in the pit” as you go through your recovery, I’d like to offer the following advice:

• Be kind to yourself and practice self-compassion. Recovery can be a long road, and while you will be at a better place at some point, that road there can be tough. Understand that others go through similar experiences, and practice self-awareness on how you and your body are feeling.

• Get as much sleep as you possibly can. Studies have shown that sleep is the best way for your body to recover and heal.

• Try to keep your routine but also make sure that you give some space for your body to heal. Something that I’ve found works well is to keep my regular sleep pattern. I’m an early riser and I usually spend the first hour exercising, when I can’t do that I replace it with reading and meditation (and soon hopefully light stretching!).

• Be productive. I took the opportunity to for me to be on the couch & computer for many hours a day to clean up a a bunch of old documents from my computer, Dropbox and Google Drive. I find clearing “digital clutter” therapeutic and it gave me a sense of accomplishment.

Keep a positive attitude and you’ll find that your recovery process will be a bit more enjoyable, and likely will pass much more quickly!