Entering 2026

In 2025 I filled out one of those semi viral Bingo Cards with goals for the year. It was somewhat successful in that I completed the biggest goal (Buy a House) and completed a few of the smaller aspirational entries (Learn a new song on the Banjo). At the same time, it failed to motivate me to do some of the important ones (Go to the Gym 100 Days, Get 6 Haircuts) or to do some of the (important) whimsical goals (Play a Duet on the Flute With my Mom). This year I'm going to simplify my goals to a few important ones that I really want to achieve.

I'm the kind of person who's always making and refining my goals. So this list is a "strong opinions, loosely held" type of thing, except for the house projects. Those are non negotiable.

Read Books

I recently left Twitter, left Facebook back in 2015 and Instagram sometime between then and now. I use WhatsApp for communicating sporadically, LinkedIn for professional poasting, but otherwise I'm off social media. Now I'm using Claude regularly for professional reasons, and am very wary of using it for personal use cases.

All of these types of media (and all types of media no doubt) shape our inner minds. The media and content we bathe our brains in affects our mood, psyche and ultimately behavior. While I take great pleasure in bathing my psyche in the present world, the barely warm sun coming through a winter window, my daughter grunting in her sleep, WOZZ quietly on the radio, these moments aren't always the most alluring when I have a firehose of digital content available to me. I want to take pleasure in the immediate world around me and let that shape my psyche more than the digital noise that is so available.

More simply, I've found books "make me more interesting" as opposed to Twitter content. The richness of thought and imagination that books stimulate affects my mind positively in a way that I really miss after a decade of wrestling with online media consumption. As a result I'm making a commitment in 2026 to Read More Books!

Blog

I want to start blogging for a number of reasons:

  1. Public journaling
  2. Career

I've left social media, and I don't write emails so this might be a good alternative as a way to communicate with the world. I have lots of ideas and a desire to express them publicly but I have never really been successful using social media to share my thoughts. My expectations for this blog are more "journal" than "public." I think some entries might be interesting to some people, but for the most part this is for me. I also think writing well is an important skill, and writing consistently about my life and what I'm doing or thinking can only help.

With regards to career goals, all the best programmers have great little blogs. More broadly, all the folks I look up to in a career sense are really good at sharing their work. I want to make it casual and enjoyable to share my thoughts. I'm a believer that this will "increase my chance of being lucky" and increase the chance that like minded people might want to connect.

I have a ton of different interests and ideas, and I want this blog to be able to be wide ranging and a place where I can experiment with all sorts of things.

Do My House Projects

In 2025 my biggest goal was to buy a house. My wife and I closed on our home in early September after a really quick period of searching. We renovated the house extensively over 2.5 months and moved in the week of Thanksgiving. Given the compressed timeline there are many mini projects I still have left on my plate. I need to complete all these items by the end of 2026 at the very latest!

  • Build radiator covers (I have a great design!)
  • Build a coffee table (Great design! + some pieces of granite my brother delivered)
  • Caulk around baseboard, OR quarter round if this doesn't do the trick
  • Replace all electrical panels
  • Install all light fixtures (4 left to be installed, 2 of which need to be selected and purchased)
  • Install all curtain rods and curtains
  • Hang all remaining art
  • Hang (creatively) cabinets in first floor bathroom
  • Hang shelves in living room
  • Finish "media console" for stereo