Category: Personal

I’ll be spending this Christmas away from family for the first time ever.

I’ve been left trying to make the best of the situation. I’m not alone: I’m spending Christmas with my fiancee, and we have been decorating her small San Francisco apartment with lights. Our parents have sent us cookies and gifts, and we have a small tree on the table. ¹

I think the biggest difference is that this is the first year where I don’t have a distinct build-up towards Christmas externally pressed upon me. Until I graduated college, there was always winter break. The last two years, flying home for the holidays was a clear marker where I was now working remotely for a couple of weeks, surrounded by family and trying to see all my friends who were back as well.

None of that is available to me this year. I’m not going anywhere, and working from home is no special deal. Hence, decorations everywhere except the bathroom. We have a home automation set up called Christmas Time that sends our lights flashing and Christmas music playing. We made mint cookies this weekend, and decorated sugar cookies my mom sent us. I’m happy with how we’ve adapted.

1. The apartment is less than 250 sq. ft. so there’s limited space for anything more than the 2-foot tree we chose. ↩

On Saturday of this past weekend, I was able to check out the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. It’s a truly beautiful place.

What struck me was a description of what the designer, Bernard Maybeck, intended to create when forming this area. First, he wanted to make sure that it was using the natural landscape. To that end, there is the large pond, trees and bushes growing all around it, and no desire to reform the landscape. Second, the intended feel was that of well-preserved Roman ruins. I think he nailed that. It’s gorgeous, and although out-of-place in the broader scope of San Francisco, walking around it really makes you feel like you’re in another world.

I’m planning on making the best use of this long weekend that I can, since it’ll likely be the last one I get until Thanksgiving. To that end:

Erin and I embarked on yet another cross-country road trip from Minnesota to California this past weekend. It’s the third we’ve had, and each one has proven more successful than the last.

Continue reading “Road Trip Test”

After several months back in Minnesota, I’m finally preparing to head back to California. There is a lot to be said for a change in scenery. It’s become a bit difficult to focus in my current set-up in Minnesota. There are more distractions than I’ve been used to prior, and I no longer have the same desk situation from the past couple of months. I’m looking forward to getting a reset.

Continue reading “Another Change in Scenery”

The word came in this week that my company will be working from home until at least the end of the year. Although we’ve already been working from home for about 5 months now, knowing that it’s another 5 months (and that I’ll be heading back to San Diego fairly soon) changes the feeling a bit.

Continue reading “Work from Home Future”

A while ago, one of the water bottle sleeves in my backpack started to tear. In addition, the nature of my traveling life began to change. I was taking weekend trips to San Francisco, and the occasional long-term trip back to Minnesota (such as I am on now.) Now that I’m armed with a little bit of birthday money, particularly a gift card to REI, I’m on the hunt for a new backpack.

This is actually a tough situation. I’m hesitant to go window shopping right now, and this is the first time I’ve needed to be intentional about purchasing a backpack. Throughout college and the first couple years in my job, having a standard “school” backpack with several large pockets, a laptop compartment, and some smaller organizational areas has been nice. But there’s more to be done now. In particular, I’m less enthused by how many external zippers there are on my current backpack, or how the interior space is split up in a way that is sub-optimal for what I need. There’s a lot to figure out, since this is a world that I’m not very familiar with. But it’s fun to take the time and explore. It’s not a rush purchase, so I can be intentional about it.