Hot Air Balloon Festival, Hudson Valley 2024

52 Good Things from 2024

The 18th year of my annual gratitude practice, now spanning 938 good things.

I always finish these lists late. This one covers the year 2024 (that’s last year, not this year).

I started writing annual gratitude lists in 2007 and over time they’ve turned into cognitive dissonance exercises that pit a positive reality against my problem-oriented perception.

On a day to day basis, I’m a problem solver. In prior versions of this list, I’ve described this as anxiety but it’s not quite that because it’s not that I’m unhappy with life. It’s more that I’m looking for time well spent by finding problems to solve.

As a result, my day-to-day awareness tends to center problems and then that colors my sense of the year. So what happens when I make these lists is that I start out thinking the year was full of problems and then come to realize that it was actually full of wins.

The rules of the list are to find 52 things from my year to be grateful for. That’s one per week. If I achieve that quantity, then I have to face that it was a good year. I used to think that there was a chance that I wouldn’t hit this mark and then would have to make a life change, and in particular, a career change. But I’m 18 years in and don’t really believe that anymore (knock on wood).

Here are my prior lists: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2016–2019, 2013–15, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007.

Work

This was my second year at Medium.

[1] A sense of endless possibility at Powell’s bookstore. One of my long term dreams is to prove that blogs can be organized into an encyclopedia of wisdom. It’s an abstract goal, but our head of design summed up her own desire to organize Medium through the emotional impact of this phrase, sense of endless possibility. As soon as she said it, I thought back to the Medium team going on a field trip to the largest bookstore in the world (Powell’s) and how their faces showed a similar sense of wonder. That field trip was one of my 2024 highlights.

[2] One million members. I took over Medium when subscribers were leaving and then it took awhile to get our hands on the levers of growth. But as we approached this milestone we somehow talked ourselves into treating it as just another day. So I was actually on a plane with no plans to say anything. But when the number ticked over, emotions just took over and I knocked out this celebratory post. The milestone required a lot of people to put their heart into this.

[3] First profit. In August of 2024, Medium made a profit of $7K. That might not sound like much, but it was a long journey from my starting point, losing $2.6M/month.

[4] Scotland. We’re an international company that relies on in-person work meetings twice a year to keep organized. This all costs way less than having offices and somehow the Scotland edition was one of the cheapest offsites yet. But also one of the most spectacular.

[5] Better Internet. I wrote about how the internet is broken and fixing it won’t be free—an ode to paying for what you want and an explanation of how Medium’s membership creates a uniquely better home online.

[6] Decluttering. We sold two companies, Embed.ly and Glose and got out of a lease for an office we never used. That was massive decluttering and helped us focus on just helping people write.

[7] Recap. A big, big financial restructuring that got the company into a stable and healthy position again. I waited until 2025 to write about it, Fell in a hole, got out.

[8] Operating Principles. We codified and started working according to four operating principles. It’s been both effective and a pleasing surprise to see my ideal culture summarized so succinctly.

Health & Exercise

I was under anesthesia zero times in 2024 after having having it three times the year before. So that was good!

[9] Mt. Democrat. My most-years outdoor adventure with college friends involved summiting a 14-er in Colorado. They live at altitude and seemed to take it easily. For me, it felt like more of an accomplishment.

[10] Added an elliptical. I got inspired by the runner Parker Valby and her commitment to cross training. She won five college distance championships while pairing only 25 miles per week with a lot of cross training (normal would be 70-110).

[11] Great Saunter. This 32 mile stroll around the perimeter of Manhattan is quite hard because it’s just a long time to be on your feet. I grumbled quite a bit over the last few miles.

[12] Lost weight. 24 pounds the easy way.

[13] Strava. 156 hours over 197 activities (mostly Zwift).

Travel

A couple good vacations.

[14] Utah Road Trip. Tried a rental car + motels road trip with Sarah and loved it. These logistics were so much easier than an RV trip. Hit Colorado National Monument, Arches, Mexican Hat, Valley of the Gods, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon North Rim, Zion.

[15] Caribbean. We had a stretch of a few years escaping the winter to go to tropical weather. This year we went to the Dominican Republic and it was relaxing (as desired).

[16] Sarah’s Photography. She’s a much better photographer and so sometimes on vacation I focus on taking pictures of her taking pictures. I love the sense of curiosity my photos capture. IMO, that is a deep truth about her.

[17] Staycation. Our main vacation is to stay put all summer and have people visit us. We learned casual hospitality from my uncle Ris—he would make his Oregon home available to family and had a sustainable way of telling you what he wanted to do together and for the rest (i.e. the majority of your time) that you should make yourself completely at home. That’s our secret to having ambient friend and family energy around us all summer.

Friends & Family

For a couple of years, it’s felt like we are in our extended family era. We see a lot of them. It’s nice.

[18] Big Thanksgiving. Hosted Thanksgiving for 12.

[19] Graduations. My California nephews both had big graduations.

[20] Josh’s Organ Concert. Sarah’s dad had a big birthday and we got a special concert in his honor from the Princeton University organist.

[21] Snow angels with Sarah and Eloise. It was just a good moment, Sarah making snow angels in the snow at home and our dog, Eloise, investigating her.

[22] Uncle’s Dinner. Nice dinner with my uncles where I managed to secretly snag the bill. Then to rub salt in the wound when they made a fuss, I leaned over the table and said, “How would you pay, you don’t even have jobs.” But honestly, they deserve to be treated (and deserve to be retired).

[23] Flying archery in the Sierras. My oldest sister’s family got into archery and that turned into the entire family leaping off obstacles while trying to hit the target mid air. Totally safe and normal, and all arrows were (eventually) retrieved.

[24] Sarah and I got matching tattoos. They are simple, two lines that match up and then each of us have a freckle from the other person’s arm.

[25] Birthday walk with Marci. Our friend, also a walker, came to visit us and took us for her birthday project to spend the year celebrating by going on walks with friends.

[26] GOTV letter writing parties. We hosted two and they were a great way to see friends and family that are in the Hudson Valley (and introduce them to each other).

Wildlife

We see a lot of wildlife, but these were the two most epic encounters.

[27] Bald Eagles. We like to go walking at Mills Mansion, which is a well manecured state park right along the Hudson. One day we walked under a tall tree that had a Bald Eagle perched on one of the branches. Meanwhile another was perched across the field on top of the mansion.

[28] Condors. This was pure luck on our Utah trip. Sarah and I pulled over at the Marble Canyon rest stop to make PB&Js. The stop is some benches next to a walking bridge over the Colorado River. It turned out two Condors were stretching their wings up underneath the bridge and then took off. This was extra cool for me to see Condors in nature because my first ever written school report (3rd grade) was about the California Condor and the breeding program that was attempting to revive their population. At the time, the only living condors were in captivity. So yay science!

Hudson Valley Culture

During our staycation, we tried to find any Hudson Valley events/destinations that we’d missed.

[29] Hot Air Balloon Festival. What it sounds like plus carnival food.

[30] Aerodrome. Finally got to see the show of WWI era planes.

[31] Clermont Manor. Home of the Livingston family which includes one of the drafters of the Declaration of Independence. I came away with an appreciation of how the colonies were developed through public-private partnerships. The Livingstons were given a huge land grant which they then went about developing and selling off. Although, given the revolution, I’m guessing the crown didn’t end up thinking it was all that great of a partnership.

[32] Lighthouse tour. It was the Hudson Athens one.

[33] T-Space. This is life goals: an architecture firm that has so much work to display that they turn their office into a museum on the weekends.

[34] FDR Library. Love presidential libraries and added this to the list (prior visits include LBJ, Clinton, Carter, Eisenhower).

[35] Dutchess County Fair. My first county fair of any sort—touched the animals, ate fried trash, watched some sort of pig competition. Truly amazing!

Other Events Culture

[36] Zine exhibit. This was at the Brooklyn Museum.

[37] Liberty game w/ Andrew. One of my joys in life is knowing people who know people. I just like seeing things from the inside and I have an easy bar for this type of delight. In this case, my friend Andrew was friends with the Liberty’s head trainer and so we got to go through the VIP entrance and sit in the “friends of the training staff” box. It’s pretty obvious that you are supposed to be going through the VIP entrance at a basketball game when one of you (not me) is 6’10”.

[38] US Open. Some epic tennis with my mom. Sort of a tradition since she moved out here.

[39] Dinosaur Museum of Blanding, UT. We 100% pulled over expecting to see some very janky Americana-style DIY attraction. But it was awesome!

Fav Media

[40] Music. Chappel Roan, Kendrick Lamar.

[41] Food. Le’ Industry won our three-stop pizza quest.

[42] Books. Stephen King’s 11/22/63. The Anarchy

[43] Movies. Fall Guy, Dune 2, Anora, Conclave

[44] TV. 3 Body Problem, Fallout, Gentleman in Moscow, Silo

Gear

[45] Hoka Running Shoes. The Clifton 9s are just really comfortable for me.

[46] Split Unit. My garage/office/gym is great—all the space I want. But finally getting temperature control out there has been such an improvement.

[47] Solar panels. We went solar and don’t pay for electricity anymore.

[48] Framed saw blade. Sarah’s family was in the furniture building business and so we got ahold of one of the old saw blades and mounted it in the style of a gold record. The plan is to match it with a gold record from my dad’s work. It’s an homage to our dads.

[49] AppleTV. I’m late to realize this, but since there is no such thing as a dumb TV, you have to accept that the TV you do have is a dumb-smart TV where the UI, lag, and software is just consistently annoying. So the fix is to add an AppleTV. Good UI with no lag.

[50] New head shaver. I finally discovered a head shaver for bald men (me) that works in the shower. Such a life upgrade. (I wrote about it in 2025).

[51] Landscape format notebooks. I’m a fan of wider notebooks that let you take notes on your notes as you go. That leads to (IMO) deeper thoughts. This is perfect for your desk if you work remotely. The Panobook from Studio Neat is the best on the market right now.

[52] New Pool Roomba. Upgraded the Pool Roomba and it was marginally better at keeping the pool clean. I am shamefully bad at this.

For now I’m trying to capture and document any AI that I used to write a post. This was it.