2020 was a weird year.

These are just some sporadic thoughts thrown at the keyboard about this past year.

I cycled a lot around Austin in April when nobody was on the road. That was a time unlike any other. It was truly an empty city and I felt like I had it all to myself and every lane was a cycle lane. That was about as otherworldly an experience as I’ve ever had.

It was a good year for new hobbies, I picked up a mountain bike right before Covid and have been having a blast on it. Austin has a bunch of trails and nearby Burnet has a chairlift operated mountain bike park which was one of the highlights of biking this year. I think I’ll try to get out to Angel Fire in 2021 to hit some bigger trails.

I started the year with the intent to cook a bunch, I am the type of cook that prefers to go all out and make something extravagant and delicious and different. Keeping up with this week after week took a lot of time and planning. About halfway through the year, I decided to patron a bunch of new local restaurants in lieu of that and I am pretty happy doing it both ways. I think I’ll try to mix them up better this year.

I went vegetarian to pescatarian along with a few cheat days this year. All in all I like this diet, I think the foods are more creative and I pretty much don’t even have an appetite for red meat anymore.

I helped my sister write and throw a 1920s murder mystery costume party for her 20th birthday. That was a lot of fun planning and putting together. I think more parties should be costume oriented, it adds to the sense of occasion. See the below images for a pair of pages of the newspaper written for this mystery to give a bit of background on the characters.

Politics is getting ridiculous. I made a promise to myself to keep my nose out of as many current events as I used to, but this year it was hard to avoid. Society is what the people who belong to it collectively believe it to be, and unfortunately we have what we have: abject greediness and disdain for others. I think my best contribution would be to pick one cause to push for. This is a long term goal I’d like to meet.

My line of work became busier, I work in technology consulting and implementation at the medium business level. We had a bunch of businesses rush to change and update their systems in response to Covid. In addition to my normal workflow, these challenges were all thrown in with it and I met them all. It was a shock at first, but I think I came out the other side with an immense growth in capability and experience and professional relationships.

I put a lot of rubber to road this year. I calculated it up and I ran 730 miles, I biked around 1000 miles. It was an exceptional year for my cardio fitness. Next year I’d like to run a bit more and do a full 100 miles in one go on the bike.

Video Games had a great year – a great way to spend isolation during Covid. Some of the highlights for me were Half-Life: Alyx. The VR Half-Life experience is just nuts. I’ve been meaning to play through it again. Another VR game I’ve put a lot of hours into is Beat Saber, its like Guitar Hero with lightsabers. Another great cardio workout. Cyberpunk 2077 just recently came out, I am about 25 hours in and love it. I’ve also delved more into narrative games. The Wolf Among Us and Detroit Become Human were the two standouts I played this year.

I am most excited next year for a widespread Covid vaccine. I missed concerts and open cities the most this year. I generally go to SXSW and ACL, both were shutdown. I went to Taos and Santa Fe and the square was drastically empty. I went Snowboarding in Angel Fire, and the mountain was sparse (good for running a lot of trails without waiting at the lift, but it felt empty). I was supposed to go to Italy in June, but that fell through. I had further travel plans for Korea, but again, who knows when other countries will let Americans in. I think most travel plans would need to be outdoor related, which I do enjoy, but I’d like the option.