Updated February 17th, 2026 from Soma Coffee in Cork.
Life
We made two big moves in 2025: from Portland to Walla Walla and then onward to Ireland. Life, as a consequence, felt like a speed run. We’ve since settled on a couple acres in west Cork where we’re learning how to take care of chickens, grow our own food, and generally steward the land. I aim to post regular updates about what we learn with our miniature farm.
Exercise
Last year I trained for and ran the Crater Lake half marathon. I had aspirations to run the Lap of the Gap marathon this year. Life has enough already in it, though, so I’ve pushed that goal back to 2027. Instead my current focus is more basic: do multiple cardio and strength training sessions each week.
One hobby that’s fallen to the side as a result is golf. By the Bandon trip last year my handicap was down to 12 and I was almost breaking 80 in many rounds. That trip was the last time I touched my clubs, though at some point I’ll return (to both golf and to Bandon Dunes).
Books & Words
Day One helped me form a journaling habit. As a result I have more memories and photos from the last year than any prior one. I continue to have a dailyish journaling habit. This helped me revive this blog and my goal is to write something here every week.
I continue to read about a book every week. There’s no rhyme or reason to what I read, which I’d like to change. A goal for 2026 is to be more deliberate in how I connect what I read to what I want to learn. My “to read” shelf is well over 50 books, though, so there’s the perpetual challenge of reading as many as I find worth buying.
Code
In 2025 I redesigned this site and I continue to make small adjustments to it. It got me back into making things and it’s a nice, calming side project. My guidepost is Ethan Marcotte’s post about websites as worry stones.
I’ve also switched my music listening back to local, downloaded music tracks. The problem is that my perfect music app doesn’t exist. With Claude Code’s help I built a small, native macOS app that I continue to develop. It’s just for me and has been a lovely exercise in craft.
With inspiration from Derek Sivers’ Now project.
