Twenty 2020 wins

This year has been quaint. So I thought I'd end it by doing something I've never really done before - being positive.

In 2020, I:

1. solved a rubiks cube in less than 90s

   It's not often I actually complete one of my New Years Resolutions, but by golly did I complete this. My record time so far is a blistering 89s.

2. learned how to make coffee

   After my incident with some external visitors in the before times, I got lots of handy advice from colleagues and friends about how to make instant coffee. Of course this is just theoretical - I haven't actually had to make one yet - but some day somebody is going to come in for an interview or meeting and be pleasantly surprised at their beverage.

   So I had a meeting with some external visitors in the office today. It was just me, so took them to the room and politely offered tea/coffee/water - thinking that like literally everyone else they'd say water or nothing.

   — arjun gadhia (@adgad) January 22, 2020

3. bought a coat

   This doesn't seem like a big deal, but I've been putting off buying one for years. I was still wearing a Nike coat that I had when I was 11 and yet inexplicably is still oversized for me.

4. completed 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle

   Then the pandemic started, so I haven't done any since.

5. lost 4kg

   This was as a direct result of having suspected Covid, and obvz I've now regained that weight - but if I've done it once then by golly I can do it again (ideally without the illness)

6. saved a load of pub money

   And then spent it all on musical instruments that I'll never be good at...but by golly will I try!

7. grew a sunflower

   This year I learned that I am capable of sustaining a life other than my own for a short period of time. We were having a team competition to grow the tallest sunflowers, and all I had were seeds for dwarf sunflowers from the 80s. They may not have won, but by golly were they pretty.

   

8. learned that shaving my hair off is a viable option

   Once upon a time my hair was my pride and joy. But as the ravages of time lay waste upon my scalp, this year I learned that in dire times I can just shave it all off and it's not the end of the world. As an added bonus, this means I no longer have to go to the Barber from Hell. Ever.

9. cleared out all the broken pens

   No more playing pen roulette - henceforth any pen I pick at home is guaranteed to work.

   

10. managed a team through a crisis

    Managing people is by far the scariest part of my role, and this year amplified that. I can't really say whether I did an okay job or not, but I can confidently say that desipite everything our team achieved some phenomenal things, and I don't absolutely hate myself at the end of the year.

11. was published in an eMag

    Ever since I was a little boy it's been my dream to become a Thought Leader, and this was one step further on the path.

12. only deleted one database by accident

    Although when the database provide mLab shut down I did discover that I had a whole load of accumulated side projects using databases that were still running. Not sure if that counts.

13. sped up our CI build by 50%

    All you have to do is accidentally commit a .only to one of your tests, wait a few months for someone to notice, and then try to save face by turning it into a philosophical debate about whether the tests were even useful.

14. became a webmaster again

    Yes I have had websites before, but usually within weeks I get bored and/or the javascript stops compiling. This has been going for one whole month and counting!

15. increased my RSS following by 200%

    I think. I don't think I can find out, which is pretty great. If you like what you're reading, don't forget to hit that subscribe button. Subscribe

16. quit instagram

    (then rejoined then quit then rejoined)

17. hung up my whiteboard

    It took several attempts, but I think this latest one is definitely going to work. Rather than sticking it on my wall, I stuck an elastic string onto the back with two pieces of Duck Tape, and am hanging it on a hook on the wall.

18. recovered my old laptop

    Turns out I just had to put the hard drive into another laptop, who knew. Now I can finally listen to the songs I now have on Spotify but in a shitty bitrate mp3.

19. watched youtube summaries of 4 books

    I don't remember what they were, but I feel like I have a much broader perspective on things now.

20. wrote this post

    As someone that's generally known for being cynical and self-loathing, it was unsurprisingly difficult to find twenty whole things that I could say I'm proud of, but by golly I did it!