The year will be over before you know it, time to start thinking about how the year went and what's in store for 2014

2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005

Career: A- Rough start to the year as I continued to learn about my new role and clean up the mess I inherited. None of which was necessarily a surprise, just more stressful at times than I would have liked. This year I've personally hired my entire team of developers and was also given responsibility for the QA and content development teams that work with my team. I'm getting to focus a lot on developing good leadership habits and I have great support from my fellow tech leads, my boss and upper management

Family: A+ i continue to enjoy a very happy relationship with my wife, and my 3 kids are an absolute joy. my 18 year old brother-in-law moved in with us in April. Was originally just intended to be a way for him to gtfo of harnett county for a little while, but it worked out so well that he has stayed permanently. wife and i get to actually go on dates and enjoy NYC, he has so much more opportunity here and it's been great for the kids to have their uncle around, and the wife and i enjoy his company a lot too

Social life/Friends: C- for the first time in a long time, I found myself feeling noticeably lonely this year. Unexpected b/c I work with tons of different people and from different departments at work, I go to tech/nerd meetups several times a month and I get as much time with my family at home as I can afford to give them. To be honest, TWW has been a big source of my friendships for years and since I'm not on here as much anymore, I'm guessing that's at least partially to blame. Also, my coworkers at my job in NC I had known and been friends with for like 5 years, and those types of relationships haven't been replaced at my new job. I've tried a few interest-based online communities to try to find local folks to meet, but surprisingly with little success so far. It's easy to find groups of people who share your interests on twitter and reddit, but seems harder to form real friendships with individuals. i've mostly gotten over this by focusing on my job and family more, but i'm sure this will be an issue into next year as well

Health: B still not where i want to be, but I lost all the weight I had put on prior to moving to NJ. I still don't eat great but continue to get away with it. I've had the occasional sick days more often this year which is annoying.

Money: B still very comfortable financially, though I worry that I'm not saving or paying off student loans enough. I'm also starting to think more about the fact that you don't see as many 40-50+ year olds in tech, so I need to have an exit strategy someday. I still love making technology so it's not like I'm burnt out, but unless I have a compelling story, eventually the industry will get burnt out on me.

12/1/2013 11:02:32 PM

Career: A
I found a temp job early this year which wasn't bad. In the middle of the year I got a job in law enforcement. Law enforcement has been a lifelong dream of mine so the only thing cooler would be landing an overpaid federal job in a western state or winning the lottery.

Family: B
B because I've been completely immersed in training
I still have the coolest wife ever and the cutest baby ever.

Social life: B
I've made some new friends who share the same interests, so that's cool.

Health: A
Despite tearing up my ankle, having my nose broken by my friend's head, and catching multiple colds, I'm in the best shape of my life. I've only dropped a couple of pounds but working out 4-5 days a week for the last 6 months has converted most of my fat into muscle.

Money: C
I'm staying afloat. This will get better soon since I finished paying off my truck and I'm getting a pay raise.

Overall things are getting good.

[Edited on December 2, 2013 at 12:30 AM. Reason : ]

12/2/2013 12:27:54 AM

Overall: F It's too god damn cold.

12/2/2013 7:56:55 AM

I like this thread. My life, more or less, has been the same for the last 5-6 years which sounds kind of depressing but at the same time, I prefer a routine and knowing what to expect. The only real difference has been the ups and downs of marriage and when it's going great like it did for me in 2013, most of the other stuff doesn't really matter.

Career: B (B in 2012) - It'll be 6 years here in May 2014. Job's a job right now. Fayetteville really sucks and we talk about moving to Raleigh a lot but I'll be here for a few more years probably. Started a board position at a nonprofit which has been interesting/frustrating/different.

Family: A (D in 2012) - After struggling in 2012, my marriage has been really great this year. Still really close with my immediate family and nothing has changed with that in years.

Social Life/Friends: B (B in 2012) - Same friends, same routine, no real complaints.

Health: B (A in 2012) - Stopped working out as much as I did but I've only gained back a little of the weight I lost last year. We eat really healthy which helps a lot.

Money: C+ (C in 2012) - Teacher wife still hasn't gotten raise. I'm seeing moderate cost of living type raises but nothing substantial. We're paying off more debt now which is good but we've still got some work to do.

12/2/2013 8:41:21 AM

I like seeing peoples' categories improve

Career: A- (B, 2012) Great opportunity out of town. Resume builder, but more importantly an experience builder and $ builder. It was a no-brainer, even though it caused me to work out of town for 7 months, away from my wife and dog. Been at this company for 6.5 years (right out of school) and I still plan to be here for the foreseeable future. However, I do see my role changing, or at least want to try something else now. So we'll see if anything happens with that in 2014...

Family: B+. (B+, 2012) Being away for work for 7 months was tough. Not in a we-grew-farther-apart tough, because we were fine there and everything was normal when I returned home. But, regardless of the strength of your relationship, working out of town for that long can still be a strain. The time we had together this year was tough, but it was the least amount of time we have spent together since we've been married. Also, I missed my dog a lot On the positives side, we did start a design blog and started documenting our home projects and that has gotten a lot of positive response from friends or random people online. Still trying to figure out a way to parlay peoples' positive response to our design ideas into some sort of side-stream $ flow.

Social life/Friends: B (A-, 2012) Being out of town 7 months for work was tough on my family life, but because I was near a lot of college friends, I was actually able to hang out with old roommates and band mates more than I have in a long time. However, my relationship with my group of friends back home suffered, and as more of them have moved away, I came back to very few close friends in the city that we live in which is a bummer.

Health: A- (A, 2012) Weird year. While I was out of town, living on my own, I was working out intensely nearly every day since I had more free time living alone. I was in the best shape I've been in awhile. Since I've been back, I've actually been worse than I was at home before I left. Still lifting a few times a week and playing soccer, but I just need to up the intensity on workouts. Plus, I'm starting to have some joint pain after soccer.

Money: A (A, 2012) Had a great work opportunity to take a field-assignment. With per-diem and travel allowances, I grossed 45% higher than I did last year. It won't be an every year thing for sure, but it sure has made me think a little about pursuing more field assignments in the future if it will contribute to early retirement.

12/2/2013 9:10:51 AM

Career: A (B-, 2012) I started a new job in April, with my employer of 15 years. This is a job I've seen as a target for 5+ years, but didn't think I was ready. I was so miserable in my previous role that when I saw an opening, I immediately set up a meeting with the hiring manager and applied. I got one of three openings among over 100 applicants(or so I was told). It's not really a move up in terms of pay, but I work on behalf of our senior executives and operate with their authority. It's both good and bad in terms of visibility given that I pretty much have no room to fuck up. That said, the role is ideal for an adrenaline junkie like me. 8 months into it, I'm really happy with this job and plan on doing it a while.

Family: A (A, 2012). Even though we see our family less frequently after moving to Richmond, we tend to see them for longer stretches at a time, and for me that's a positive. My daughter's in kindergarten, and happy as can be.

Social life/Friends: B (B-, 2012). Still been an uphill road making new friends without any real means to meet people other than through my wife's co-workers. Our neighbors are all old. I work from home, so I don't have much opportunity there. Work and home life have kept me busy, so i haven't exactly had a lot of free time anyway. Trips back to NC and friends visiting from NC also make me lazy in terms of putting much effort into cultivating a circle of friends here, but we've made a few close friends by accident, so that works.

Health: B (B, 2012) Still battling mid-30's issues, particularly with my left knee. I got a standup desk a few months back and that's helped. I can jog a mile without pain now, but if i push pace or distance, the tendinitis comes back with a vengeance. Continued the previous year's trend of weight loss. I'm down about 18 pounds from a year ago, and continuing to drop a pound every month or so without much effort (standup desk, got used to eating smaller portions, track progress via fitbit).

Money: A I can't complain.

12/2/2013 10:43:06 AM

12/2/2013 11:14:23 AM

ITT we learn CalledToArms was out of town for 7 months.

12/2/2013 11:45:06 AM

missed the past few years and my post in 2010 didn't follow the same format

Career: A I moved back to the US in January after being in Australia for 2 years when a position opened up that my boss wanted me to come back to do. Office was about 150 people when I left and we were about 1,000 globally when I came back (800 in the US). Fairly big change for me in that I've been client-facing up for my entire career up until now. It's been an interesting change of pace playing cleanup. I inherited a greatly understaffed group of 6 based in the US and now have a global team of 28. Lots of room for growth still. Still working with my wife although in the US we aren't working directly together.

Family: A Expecting a baby girl in January. Rented our townhouse out and moved to a rental house that is 1.5 miles from our office which makes us both happier. Brother's wife is also pregnant and 6 weeks behind us.

Social life/Friends: B Have more friends in the US than we did in AU but since we moved a few months ago we don't see most of our friends often. Been hanging out with work people more but my wife isn't a fan of hanging out with people from work - although she prefers to not hang out with anyone for the most part.

Health: B- Basing my rating on laziness. I go to the gym or run/walk around the neighborhood when my wife makes me. No known health problems but who really knows. I go to the doctor later this week to have a yearly physical - it's been at least 4 years since my last one

Money: A Nothing much to talk about other than comfortable. Company is eyeing an IPO next year which while it won't be retirement money (for both of us - it will likely retire my wife), it has a good chance of being life changing.

12/2/2013 11:46:17 AM

Quote :

"ITT we learn CalledToArms was out of town for 7 months."

I guess when doing a summary review of my year, being away from home that long just majorly affected each aspect.

12/2/2013 11:57:44 AM

12/2/2013 1:23:26 PM

2013 was my worst year...possibly ever.

12/2/2013 2:36:10 PM

Career: A. I finally got a job I love going to every morning.

Family: A. Sister/Bro-in-Law doing well, Niece and Nephews are great, never been closer to my Brother, other Sister finally landed on her feet, Mom about to retire, Dad struggling with terminal health issues but making memories at every opportunity. I'm very blessed.

Social life/Friends: C. 4 year relationship ended at the end of Summer. I've moved up to North Raleigh, so I don't get to see my friends as much. I've become somewhat of a hermit, but somewhat purposefully, as I'm rediscovering "me," and have a lot of work to do on that front.

Health: A. I'm down 65 lbs. I have about 55 to go. BP/Chol/Thyroid all normal now. Rehab for a partially torn achilles is coming along great - ran for the first time in 2 years over the weekend. And mentally/emotionally I'm stable, confident, and happy.

Money: B+. I'm not starving. I'm able to do what I want, within reason. I have bills and a good amount of debt, but it's being paid down. Student Loans will be forgiven in 10 years.


I just realized this is my first post in months. Interesting. Oh well, back to retirement.

[Edited on December 2, 2013 at 3:03 PM. Reason : .]

12/2/2013 3:02:34 PM

Quote :

"I've moved up to North Raleigh, so I don't get to see my friends as much. I've become somewhat of a hermit, but somewhat purposefully, as I'm rediscovering "me," and have a lot of work to do on that front."

this was me earlier this year (except in Charlotte). i moved back and am much happier.

12/2/2013 3:15:46 PM