Year End Retrospective 2024 (Weeknotes

The most notable event of the year was my father’s sudden and unexpected death in May. I am fortunate, though; We were always in constant contact, even if we weren’t exactly close. I helped him last year to become active again in amateur radio and he seemed to be getting a lot of enjoyment from it during his final months. It’s been a lifelong pursuit for me and I have him to thank for introducing me to it all those years ago. Thanks, dad.

Apart from that, 2024 was a great year. We are all healthy, gainfully employed, and living our best lives. I cannot complain!

Milestones

• I ran (ran/walked tbh) in three organized running events: The Ohio State 4-Miler, the Worthington Turkey Trot, and the re:Invent 5k. I didn’t keel over in the street so I’m putting that in the “win” column.
• I participated in WeblogPoMo in May. I don’t know if anyone actually read any of that junk, but it was fun to write it and to be part of the community of folks who were in it with me! Thanks, y’all.
• I started a new part-time position as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Data Analytics at University of Maryland Global Campus.
• I commissioned a new avatar by the fabulous Hey Hey Momo.
• In the spirit of owning my own web, I wanted to reduce my dependence on other platforms for my content, especially my photographs. So over the summer I launched my Than No Photo, my photograpy blog. A little while later, I built my own content delivery network and migrated all my photos off of some.pics and Flickr.

Travel

Travel is always a big part of our lives and this year was no exception. Here are some highlights:

• According to Flighty, I took 32 flights for a total distance of 29,621 miles. My most flown aircraft was the Boeing 737 Max 8 (9 flights), followed closely by the 737-700 and 737-800, with 8 flights each. My longest flight was from Quito, Ecuador, to Atlanta (2,366 miles). I spent almost 79 hours in the air and flew every day of the week except Tuesday. Isn’t that weird?
• The most memorable trip of the year was the week Marlene and I spent in the Galápagos Islands aboard the Silver Origin.
• We visited friends in Orlando, Florida; Reno, Nevada; and Kent Island, Maryland.
• We traveled with friends to Tucson, Arizona and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
• I traveled once on business to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ins and Outs

Beginnings Without Endings

Here are a few things I started, but didn't finish. Or things that I tried (experiments, if you will) and then decided not to pursue.

• Foto — At the end of the day, just another photo/social platform, which I don’t need.
• Voicenotes — I just don’t have need of this.
• Bitcam — Actually, I still have it loaded, I just never think to use it.
• FujiLove magazine — A nice magazine, but it didn’t make the cut.
• 52 things I learned. I was doing a great job of keeping track of new stuff I learned through about September, then I just stopped. Not sure why. I did collect some good stuff for a blog post though.

The Year in Music

• My 2024 playlist (Apple Music) ... also available for download as a PDF
• Here are the playlists I listened to most in 2024, according to Apple Music Replay’24:

{linkpic:name=am-hotel.jpg&url=https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/hotel/pl.e4270a3eb19e46c184980ab4cb6b8d47&caption=Hotel (8,746 minutes)} {linkpic:name=am-todays-chill.jpg&url=https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/todays-chill/pl.2bb29727dbc34a63936787297305c37c&caption=Today’s Chill (3,306 minutes)} {linkpic:name=am-sunkissed.jpg&url=https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/sunkissed/pl.e4d0cb54b9dd46648a06290ff1a90045&caption=Sunkissed (2,809 minutes)}

Photo of the Year

My favorite photograph of the year is this one, featuring my daughter sitting on a (very large) piece of driftwood at Rialto Beach in Washington. I took this during our family trip to Olympic and Mount Rainier National Parks.

Other “Best Of” Stuff

I’m sure there’s a lot of good stuff that I’m leaving out here, but it’s been a busy couple of weeks and I’m already well behind on getting this posted so I’ll leave it here. I look forward to sharing more with you in 2025. I hope the new year brings you peace, love, and prosperity. See you again soon. Cheers!