When I try to compress this year into a neat headline, it doesn’t really cooperate.
It was wild, surprisingly traditional, and absolutely victorious — but tired.
Not the kind of tired that scares you. The good kind. The kind you earn.
This isn’t a highlight reel or a résumé recap. It’s more like a pause at the end of a long trail — hands on knees, catching your breath, looking back and thinking: yeah… that was a hell of a year.
Travel That Actually Meant Something
The year kicked off in San Diego, which already felt like a tone-setter. Sun, movement, and that quiet reminder that getting out of your routine does something good to your brain.
Winter brought snow tubing in Winter Park, Colorado — pure joy, zero seriousness.
Sedona followed not long after, and if you’ve been there, you know it has a way of forcing you to slow down whether you want to or not. From there, a day trip to the Grand Canyon made everything feel smaller in the best possible way — standing on the rim, quiet, wide open, and humbling. Big red rocks, wide-open space, perspective reset.
There was a special trip to Birmingham, Alabama to visit friends and do a remote WWDC together. Watching Apple keynotes with people you care about hits differently than watching alone on a couch. It felt communal. Grounded.
And then there was Colorado, on repeat — Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods, Estes Park. Hiking, exploring, breathing air that makes you feel like your lungs are finally doing their job again. Also worth calling out: the Colorado Cherry Pie Company in Estes Park absolutely lives up to the hype. Best pies in the country. I’ll happily die on that hill.
Every trip was great in a different way. No single “best.” Some were energizing, some were grounding, and a few were exactly what I needed without realizing it at the time.
A Year Measured in Live Music
Music was the heartbeat of the year.
Some shows were unexpected standouts, like Justin Timberlake — high energy, sharp production, and genuinely interesting to watch. Others were intimate, like Robert Earl Keen in a small venue, stripped down and honest, the kind of show that reminds you why live music matters in the first place.
Then there’s Red Rocks. Magical every single time. Seeing Sting there felt like cheating. That venue elevates everything.
But the anchor point of the year was Metallica at Mile High Stadium.
Two nights. Snake pit. Up close and personal.
Night one opened with Ice Nine Kills and Limp Bizkit setting the tone. Night two brought Suicidal Tendencies and Pantera, and somehow the energy still ramped up. Being that close — feeling the crowd move, watching the band work the stage — it was loud, physical, and cathartic in the best possible way.
The year kept rolling with Wu-Tang Clan at Fiddler’s Green, Primus at Red Rocks bringing their perfect brand of weird, and a beautifully intimate performance from Bruce Hornsby at Mars Music Hall.
To close it all out, Zakk Wylde’s tribute to Black Sabbath — on what would have been Ozzy’s birthday — felt like the right final note. Heavy, emotional, and meaningful in a way that only music can be.
Music this year wasn’t background noise. It was therapy.
The Big Move
In the last quarter of the year, we did the thing people talk about for years and then finally do: we packed up and moved across the country to be closer to family.
It wasn’t clean or simple. We’re still figuring things out. Selling a house tested patience in ways I didn’t expect — timelines slipped, paperwork dragged on, and plans changed more than once.
But it’s been an adventure in the truest sense. New surroundings. New rhythms. Same people — just closer now.
Sometimes forward motion feels messy while you’re in it. I’m learning to trust that part.
Career Wins That Actually Felt Earned
Professionally, this was a big year.
After a lot of pushing, iteration, and long conversations, we released our first in-house application. Watching something go from idea to shipped product — with real users and real impact — never gets old, especially when you remember how many late discussions and pivots it took to get there.
It wasn’t without challenges. It never is. But the success so far reflects what happens when a highly skilled team is backed by trust, dedication, and solid support from leadership.
And we’re not done. New features are coming. The next chapter is already being written.
It finally feels like momentum, not just motion.
Side Projects: Shipping for the Joy of It
This was also the year I finally stopped talking about side projects and started finishing them.
PushTo100 shipped and found a small but growing audience. That one is equal parts proud and personal. It started as something I built for myself, but seeing other people use it, stick with it, and benefit from it has been incredibly rewarding. It’s proof that small, focused ideas can still matter.
Workout Wanderer was more of a technical experiment — a way to explore routing data and visualize workouts the way I wanted to see them. It wasn’t built for scale or promotion, and that was intentional. A quiet success, a tool that did exactly what it needed to do.
Vinyl Crate became a love letter to vinyl and physical media. A way to organize a collection, respect the ritual of records, and still bridge into the modern Apple Music world. It scratched a collector’s itch I’d had for a long time, and it’s now pending final review — which still feels a little surreal.
And then there’s the project I’m not ready to talk about yet. Still under wraps, but deeply intentional. This one feels different — mysterious and hopeful — and if it lands the way I think it can, it’ll genuinely help some people. More on that when the time is right.
Getting these done was a goal I set for myself, and I’m proud I followed through. These aren’t throwaway experiments. I plan to maintain them, grow them, and keep building momentum outside of day-to-day work.
Blogging: Showing Up Anyway
At the start of the year, I set a simple goal: one blog post a week.
I stuck to it — right up until the move. Then things slowed, as they should. Even so, I published close to 50 posts this year, which still blows my mind a little.
The topics ranged across iOS development, SwiftUI, architecture, and lessons learned from building real apps. This started as a way to give back to the developer community, but it became something more personal — a creative outlet, a forcing function to reflect, and yes, a way to amplify my career.
There were plenty of weeks I didn’t feel like writing. But the goal was there.
So it was time to just… do it.
The Hardest Part
The move. Selling the house. The uncertainty that came with both.
Things didn’t always go as planned — paperwork stalled, dates shifted, and patience wore thin — and that tested me more than I expected. Still, adapting and pushing forward is part of life, even when it’s uncomfortable.
This year forced me to slow down long enough to notice something simple but easy to forget: be thankful for what you have, and keep moving toward what you want.
Looking Ahead
Next year is about a few clear priorities.
More travel — especially to visit friends and family.
More learning — new skills, new challenges, both personal and professional.
And a little more space to appreciate the moments in between.
To my future self, reading this later:
Remember to be thankful, humble, and appreciative.
Yeah, it sounds cliché. Sometimes you still need the reminder.
