2025 – Year in Review

Intro

A large amount of enjoyment is present for me when I consider where I have been, where I am and where I am going. Closing out the year with a year in review has been something that I have enjoyed doing and frequently looked back upon fondly:

This has been made easier by keeping notes / journal entries over the course of the year but I find it nice to be able to reflect on how a year went from a very high level overview as well.
The formatting of these entries changes over time / depending how I am feeling for a given year.
Here is this years formatting with some additional thoughts / feelings in the outro.

Memories

  • Disneyland (01/13)
  • Aquarium of the Pacific (02/22)

  • NASCAR in Michigan (06/08)

  • Taking Boys to see Jurassic World (07/06)

  • Ben’s Wedding (07/12)
  • Cat adoption (08/23)

  • Meeting up with Mannheim and his wife (09/07)

  • Family Weekend on Palomar Mountain (10/10 to 10/12)

  • Monterey Professional Festivus (12/4-12/7)
  • Brother Thanksgiving Visit

  • Christmas 2025 – looking at Christmas lights with family and family Christmas


Projects

Completed

  • Home Lab Overhaul: Migrated NAS inside, 2.5Gb switch, 5Gb ISP, and fully self-hosted stack

  • Baby 4!

Ongoing / Maintenance

  • Workflow Automation

  • Health Optimization


Purchases

  • Utility: Reolink Atlas PT Ultra (Solar Security), Main 4K Display, Pixel 9a.

  • Transport: The Elantra N (“Bought it twice”), Honda Pilot Engine Replacement.


Reflections: 2024 vs. 2025

  • The Shift: Moved from 2024’s “Impotence” and “Distraction Addiction” to 2025’s “Agency.”

  • 2024 was a year of passive suffering; 2025 was a year of aggressive reaction.


Future Goals

  • The 2030 Vision / 2033 Vision

  • Align all current and future actions with the goals in mind for these two arbitrary dates.

Outro

2026 is 3 days away at the writing of this but I couldn’t be more excited for the year to come.
2024 I did a lot more writing to myself than in 2025.
A lot of things are in the WIP (Work In Progress) folder and have been chugging along over the year despite the lack of publishing.
Most of the things I want to do less of and more of in the coming year are a culmination of everything I have said in my previous years in review.
Need to continue migrating off of single point of failure platforms and rely on my own infrastructure

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