<p>Goals can be a funny thing. We all set them, and what happens next can be all over the spectrum. I figured I’d build a little something to help keep me accountable.</p>
<p>You can view this <a href="https://kpwags.com/progress/2022">new page</a> where you can see the goals I’ve set and the progress I’m currently at. The lifting goals are a little weird as it looks like I’m already almost there. I can say with absolute certainty though that getting that little bit more will be harder than it may seem.</p>


Tracking My 2022 Goals

<p>I didn&#39;t read as much as I wanted to in 2021, managing a measly nine books.</p>
<p>&lt;BookRead
    title=&quot;Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America&quot;
    author=&quot;Marcia Chatelain&quot;
    coverImageSrc=&quot;<a href="https://i.postimg.cc/3JTQPJtY/franchise-golden-arches.jpg">https://i.postimg.cc/3JTQPJtY/franchise-golden-arches.jpg</a>&quot;
    width={199}
    height={300}
    link=&quot;<a href="https://bookshop.org/books/franchise-the-golden-arches-in-black-america-9781684577019/9781631498701">https://bookshop.org/books/franchise-the-golden-arches-in-black-america-9781684577019/9781631498701</a>&quot;
    thoughts={
        &lt;&gt;
            I had heard about this book on{&#39; &#39;}
            <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2020/07/06/the-complicated-history-of-mcdonalds-and-black-america/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">
                Marketplace
            </a>{&#39; &#39;}
            and given the tumultuous 2020, felt like this would be an interesting read to maybe give myself some insight. It was an interesting read
            going into areas where McDonald&#39;s did well and where it fell short.
        &lt;/&gt;
    }
/&gt;</p>
<hr />

<p>&lt;BookRead
    title=&quot;The MVP Machine: How Baseball&#39;s New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players&quot;
    author=&quot;Ben Lindbergh &amp; Travis Sawchik&quot;
    coverImageSrc=&quot;<a href="https://i.postimg.cc/bvGGwDJS/mvpmachine.jpg">https://i.postimg.cc/bvGGwDJS/mvpmachine.jpg</a>&quot;
    width={193}
    height={300}
    link=&quot;<a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-mvp-machine-how-baseball-s-new-nonconformists-are-using-data-to-build-better-players/9781541698925">https://bookshop.org/books/the-mvp-machine-how-baseball-s-new-nonconformists-are-using-data-to-build-better-players/9781541698925</a>&quot;
    thoughts={
        &lt;&gt;
            I&#39;ve been a big fan of Ben&#39;s{&#39; &#39;}
            <a href="https://blogs.fangraphs.com/category/effectively-wild/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">
                Effectively Wild Podcast
            </a>{&#39; &#39;}
            and his previous book{&#39; &#39;}
            <a
                href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-only-rule-is-it-has-to-work-our-wild-experiment-building-a-new-kind-of-baseball-team-includes-a-new-afterword/9781250130907"
                target="_blank"
                rel="noreferrer"
            >
                The Only Rule Is It Has to Work
            </a>{&#39; &#39;}
            so I decided to pick this up and wasn&#39;t disappointed. It was a great look into how teams and players are trying new things to get a leg up
            in the game.
        &lt;/&gt;
    }
/&gt;</p>
<hr />

<p>&lt;BookRead
    title=&quot;Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing&quot;
    author=&quot;Jacob Goldstein&quot;
    coverImageSrc=&quot;<a href="https://i.postimg.cc/1X0V1kzW/money-goldstein.jpg">https://i.postimg.cc/1X0V1kzW/money-goldstein.jpg</a>&quot;
    width={200}
    height={300}
    link=&quot;<a href="https://bookshop.org/books/money-the-true-story-of-a-made-up-thing/9780316417198">https://bookshop.org/books/money-the-true-story-of-a-made-up-thing/9780316417198</a>&quot;
    thoughts={&lt;&gt;Having listened to Jacob on NPR&#39;s Planet Money podcast, I had heard about this book and thought it had an interesting premise.&lt;/&gt;}
/&gt;</p>
<hr />

<p>&lt;BookRead
    title=&quot;Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money Into Private Profit&quot;
    author=&quot;Neil Demause &amp; Joanna Cagan&quot;
    coverImageSrc=&quot;<a href="https://i.postimg.cc/dVFQmjbR/fieldofschemes.jpg">https://i.postimg.cc/dVFQmjbR/fieldofschemes.jpg</a>&quot;
    width={202}
    height={300}
    link=&quot;<a href="https://bookshop.org/books/field-of-schemes-how-the-great-stadium-swindle-turns-public-money-into-private-profit-revised/9780803260160">https://bookshop.org/books/field-of-schemes-how-the-great-stadium-swindle-turns-public-money-into-private-profit-revised/9780803260160</a>&quot;
    thoughts={
        &lt;&gt;
            I had figured out a while ago that publicly funded sports stadiums were a raw deal. This book only enforced my opinion on why these are
            raw deals. I learned more details on how they&#39;ve been able to pull it off. The book goes into detail on how bad these deals are how owners
            were able to swindle us all.
        &lt;/&gt;
    }
/&gt;</p>
<hr />

<p>&lt;BookRead
    title=&quot;The Premonition: A Pandemic Story&quot;
    author=&quot;Michael Lewis&quot;
    coverImageSrc=&quot;<a href="https://i.postimg.cc/h40Ggbr3/premonition.jpg">https://i.postimg.cc/h40Ggbr3/premonition.jpg</a>&quot;
    width={197}
    height={300}
    link=&quot;<a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-premonition-a-pandemic-story-9781713631897/9780393881554">https://bookshop.org/books/the-premonition-a-pandemic-story-9781713631897/9780393881554</a>&quot;
    thoughts={
        &lt;&gt;
            Having lived through 2020, I understood that the US Government royally screwed up its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reading this book
            gave me a better idea of why the different departments struggled to get a handle on it.
        &lt;/&gt;
    }
/&gt;</p>
<hr />

<p>&lt;BookRead
    title=&quot;Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don&#39;t Know&quot;
    author=&quot;Adam Grant&quot;
    coverImageSrc=&quot;<a href="https://i.postimg.cc/3JDMZ2Rx/thinkagain.jpg">https://i.postimg.cc/3JDMZ2Rx/thinkagain.jpg</a>&quot;
    width={199}
    height={300}
    link=&quot;<a href="https://bookshop.org/books/think-again-the-power-of-knowing-what-you-don-t-know-9781984878106/9781984878106">https://bookshop.org/books/think-again-the-power-of-knowing-what-you-don-t-know-9781984878106/9781984878106</a>&quot;
    thoughts={
        &lt;&gt;
            I wrote a{&#39; &#39;}
            <a href="https://kpwags.com/posts/2021/10/27/think-again-review" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">
                whole post
            </a>{&#39; &#39;}
            on this. It was a good read looking at trying to get us to change our thinking and recognizing when we might not know as much as we think
            we do.
        &lt;/&gt;
    }
/&gt;</p>
<hr />

<p>&lt;BookRead
    title=&quot;The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion&quot;
    author=&quot;Eliot Brown &amp; Maureen Farrell&quot;
    coverImageSrc=&quot;<a href="https://i.postimg.cc/15X48kcp/cult-of-we.jpg">https://i.postimg.cc/15X48kcp/cult-of-we.jpg</a>&quot;
    width={199}
    height={300}
    link=&quot;<a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-cult-of-we-wework-adam-neumann-and-the-great-startup-delusion/9780593237113">https://bookshop.org/books/the-cult-of-we-wework-adam-neumann-and-the-great-startup-delusion/9780593237113</a>&quot;
    thoughts={
        &lt;&gt;
            It still amazes me reading about the WeWork saga that it got as far as it did. I had heard some of the craziness that was going on thanks
            to{&#39; &#39;}
            <a
                href="https://www.marketplace.org/shows/make-me-smart-with-kai-and-molly/weworks-whole-bananapants-story/"
                target="_blank"
                rel="noreferrer"
            >
                Make Me Smart
            </a>
            , but until I read this book...let&#39;s just say...wow!
        &lt;/&gt;
    }
/&gt;</p>
<hr />

<p>&lt;BookRead
    title=&quot;The Buyout of America: How Private Equity Is Destroying Jobs and Killing the American Economy&quot;
    author=&quot;Josh Kosman&quot;
    coverImageSrc=&quot;<a href="https://i.postimg.cc/RF1JTwNK/buyoutofamerica.jpg">https://i.postimg.cc/RF1JTwNK/buyoutofamerica.jpg</a>&quot;
    width={196}
    height={300}
    link=&quot;<a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-buyout-of-america-how-private-equity-is-destroying-jobs-and-killing-the-american-economy/9781591843696">https://bookshop.org/books/the-buyout-of-america-how-private-equity-is-destroying-jobs-and-killing-the-american-economy/9781591843696</a>&quot;
    thoughts={
        &lt;&gt;
            This book just made me angry seeing Wall Street &amp; Hedge Funds come in and destroy companies and jobs for a quick buck. But as angry as I
            might be over what happened, I feel that it&#39;s important to know what and how it happened. This book does a good job of giving examples and
            talking about the history of it all.
        &lt;/&gt;
    }
/&gt;</p>
<hr />

<p>&lt;BookRead
    title=&quot;The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion&quot;
    author=&quot;Jonathan Haidt&quot;
    coverImageSrc=&quot;<a href="https://i.postimg.cc/sD2xf6w0/righteousmind.jpg">https://i.postimg.cc/sD2xf6w0/righteousmind.jpg</a>&quot;
    width={196}
    height={300}
    link=&quot;<a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-righteous-mind-why-good-people-are-divided-by-politics-and-religion-9798200560639/9780307455772">https://bookshop.org/books/the-righteous-mind-why-good-people-are-divided-by-politics-and-religion-9798200560639/9780307455772</a>&quot;
    thoughts={
        &lt;&gt;
            This was my second attempt at reading this book. I finished this time. It wasn&#39;t a bad read, but it was felt like a dense read. The
            explanation Jonathan gives does seem to fit some of the things we see going on in politics today.
        &lt;/&gt;
    }
/&gt;</p>


Books I Read in 2021

<p>Well 2021 was quite the year...it started with a failed coup by the GOP, a wide rollout of a life-saving COVID-19 vaccine that almost half the country doesn&#39;t want to take because they&#39;re being lied to by their (vaccinated) political leaders and news channels, and we&#39;re back in another COVID-19 wave entering the third year of the pandemic...so all in all...just peachy.</p>
<p>Now that that part is over with, my 2021 wasn&#39;t awful. I ended up getting my vaccination in March &amp; April, so that by the beginning of May I was ready to cautiously re-enter the world to at least a certain degree. I still wear my mask while out and about, even before Omicron entered the equation, but it&#39;s nice to feel comfortable visiting family and having the occasional dinner out. It also means I&#39;m back at the ice rink playing hockey. So to make a long story short, a small bit of normalcy has returned.</p>
<h3>General Overview of 2021</h3>
<p>At the end of last year, I started a new job at Webstaurant and a year in I&#39;m still enjoying working there. I feel like I&#39;m learning a great deal and am able to work with new technologies to keep my development chops growing and fresh.</p>
<p>I ended up redesigning and rebuilding my blog using React &amp; Next.js which was fun. I&#39;d been toying with the idea of moving away from Jekyll for a little while and when I was starting to have problems getting it to play nicely with my new M1 MacBook Pro, I decided to take the plunge. I still want to write about my experience porting it over and re-writing it so hopefully I&#39;ll get to that soon.</p>
<p>With regards to vacations, I ended up taking three trips this year. I spent a week in September in Cape May for our yearly vacation. We were able to check out some breweries and wineries and just relax. In October we went back to Cape May for a long weekend for our anniversary, and in November we visited New York City so Lauren could see Hamilton and we could have some fun.</p>
<p>In December, we unfortunately had to say goodbye to the bestest boy, Otto. It was an unfortunate way to enter the holidays and end the year, and it still fucking sucks.</p>
<h2>Looking Back at 2021</h2>
<p>Last year I didn&#39;t really set any tangible goals, I just wanted to focus on certain things.</p>
<h3>Staying Active</h3>
<p>This one I felt I did pretty well with. I was able to focus primarily on my lifting while getting in plenty of runs and some walks as well. Starting in May I was able to get back into hockey so I had another outlet to keep active. My diet got better towards the end of the year as well so I&#39;m starting to see a downward trend that I hope I can continue.</p>
<h3>Improving My Development Knowledge</h3>
<p>I&#39;ve ended up making tremendous progress on my fitness tracking app. There&#39;s still a lot to go and a lot to smooth out, but I feel like I have a good framework in place. This is one area where what I&#39;m learning to do at work has been helping me improve at home.</p>
<p>My blog re-write and the setup I&#39;m starting to look at for a .NET re-write of Digital Family Cookbook is challenging me as well.</p>
<h3>Continuing to Read</h3>
<p>This didn&#39;t go as well as I had hoped. I only ended up reading 9 books this year.</p>
<h3>Write More</h3>
<p>I&#39;m not sure this went badly, but I&#39;m not sure it went great either. I ended up writing 21 posts this year which was more than 2020, but am not sure that they were as substantive as I would have liked.</p>
<h2>Setting Goals for 2022</h2>
<p>Since I&#39;m hoping that 2022 will continue our trek towards normalcy and hopefully a better headspace, I want to set some actual goals for myself.</p>
<h3>Goal #1: Run More &amp; Start Biking More</h3>
<p>In 2020, I ended up running over 800 miles. That was spurred by a 175 day running streak and a good period of time where running was the only exercise I felt comfortable doing given the pandemic. In 2021 I started out biking on my bike trainer and getting some runs in. A month or two in, the biking stopped and the runs weren&#39;t as consistent as I would have liked while I focused on lifting. I did end up hitting 325 miles on the year which still isn&#39;t too shabby. I&#39;m going to target running 400 miles and biking 500 miles this year. I&#39;ve been toying with running the Philadelphia Marathon this year to hopefully break the 5-hour mark, so if I end up attempting that, the 400 miles might be easy to hit. The 500 miles on the bike could potentially be a challenge to fit in with everything else, but also feel it&#39;s doable.</p>
<h3>Goal #2: Bench Press, Squat &amp; Deadlift PRs</h3>
<p>This year I&#39;m hoping to set more PRs on the 3 of the 4 big lifts. I want to break a 400 lbs. deadlift, a 350 lbs. squat, and a 250 lbs. bench press. I&#39;m at 360, 310 &amp; 215 respectively so while it&#39;s a stretch, I&#39;m not sure it&#39;s outside the realm of possibilities.</p>
<h3>Goal #3: Max Out My Retirement Accounts</h3>
<p>Over the last several years, I&#39;ve been really focusing on improving where I stand with regards to retirement. Last year I was able to max out my Roth IRA and I&#39;m hoping to do that again this year while also hopefully maxing out my 401k at work as well.</p>
<h3>Goal #4: Read 30 Books</h3>
<p>My goal this year is to read at least 30 books, with at least 15 of them being non-fiction. Not to knock fiction and novels, but I want to have a good balance.</p>
<h3>Goal #5: Write 10 Technical Blog Posts</h3>
<p>Writing monthly wraps and other posts are fine, but I want at least 10 posts in 2022 to be focused on software development and have some substance to them. I&#39;m hoping by just getting started it will spur the writing to continue.</p>
<hr>
<p>So that&#39;s what I&#39;m hoping to accomplish this year. I think all 5 of them are doable. Some could certainly pose a real challenge, but I guess that&#39;s part of the point.</p>
<p>Here&#39;s to a good 2022!</p>


2021 Retrospective

<p>December was a rough month.</p>
<h2>Mr. Otto</h2>
<p>Despite the good start for December, the month was a rough one. A week before Christmas, Otto had a relapse. The fluid had built up around his heart again and his vitals took a pretty bad turn. They could&#39;ve drained the fluid again, but it would have been hard on Otto and was only a band-aid for the larger issue of the (now certain) tumor on his heart. There wasn&#39;t much more we could do for him and still give him a good quality of life, so Lauren and I made the incredibly difficult decision to say goodbye to him. Needless to say, it put a huge damper on the holidays. Even now after 3 weeks the house still feels empty. It still hurts and it fucking sucks.</p>
<p><PostImage
    src="/images/posts/2022-01-05-december-check-in/otto.jpg"
    alt="Otto in the hallway smiling"
    width={1920}
    height={1280}
    centered
    shadowed={false}
/></p>
<h2>Busy with Work</h2>
<p>The project I was working on since I started my job at Webstaurant a year ago went live the week leading up to Christmas. Needless to say it was all hands on deck to work out the various kinks and bugs that we weren&#39;t able to catch in QA or didn&#39;t have the right data to find in QA. There were a bunch of late evenings working, but things are going well with it now. Despite the seemingly weird time to do a product launch, there were good reasons to do it then and things ended up working out.</p>
<h2>The Holidays</h2>
<p>With Otto weighing heavily on our minds, we did our best to still celebrate the holidays. Lauren and I were able to do our Christmas Eve Seafood Dinner this year and hosted her side of the family Christmas Day. We were able to enjoy ourselves which a week earlier I wouldn&#39;t have thought as possible.</p>
<p>We were supposed to go up to see my family Sunday, but unfortunately my brother tested positive for COVID, so we opted to stay home instead. We&#39;re hoping to see them this weekend.</p>
<h2>Starting Over with Halo</h2>
<p>Halo Infinite came out December 8th, but instead of jumping right in, I&#39;ve opted to re-play through the series in story order. I&#39;m currently on Halo 2 after playing through Reach and Combat Evolved. I&#39;m planning on playing right through until I get to Infinite while trying to avoid spoilers.</p>
<h3>Summary</h3>
<p><strong>Staying Active:</strong> Had plenty of hockey this month, one team made it to the finals and lost in the shootout. Lifting, I set a new PR on deadlifts at 360 lbs. I also ran more miles this month than I had in any month this year and was able to break my goal of 300 miles for 2021!</p>
<p><strong>Development:</strong> Have made some progress in the next phase of my fitness tracker project. Also spent some time laying out a .NET Core re-write of Digital Family Cookbook.</p>
<p><strong>Reading:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Finished <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-righteous-mind-why-good-people-are-divided-by-politics-and-religion-9798200560639/9780307455772">The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion</a></em> by Jonathan Haidt*.* It was a dense read, but was interesting.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Write More:</strong> Other than my November Recap, nada.</p>


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