2024 was a weird year.

On the positive side, I enjoy the work I am doing post-acquisition. I feel lucky to be where my career is heading, and I am extremely excited by what is coming in the next months.

I have been able to expand my real-estate footprint in Pennsylvania and buy a home. Being in Pittsburgh gives me space and brings me peace. This city gave me a lot: friends, safety and love. I was afraid that coming to the city will bring the nostalgia of the past. Instead, being there helps me to project in the future and think about new projects.

My main place of residence remains New-York for the time being. And while this is not my favorite place to live, it has strong positives in terms of culture, opportunities and diversity. One highlight of 2024 was seeing Justice live.

Justice live in New York Brooklyn Yard

On the negative side, I became weaker in 2024.

I am less technical than before. I am no longer always looking at the code of the systems I work on. It’s a major flaw: staying technical gives an objective opinion based on facts (e.g. you know exactly how things work), and not subjective feelings. It’s the core of what makes a great product: you need to understand how stuff works to quickly fix anything wrong.

More importantly, I hate how I started to be weak, lazy and fat. I started to accept decisions I disagree with and make compromises. I slowly joined the train of the “fat and happy people”, where I compromise in the name of social unity rather than doing what is necessary and right.

This is not who I am at my core and needs to stop.

I will come back to my technical and moral roots in 2025. Write and review more code, shave 36 pounds of fat, act on first principles and do the right thing. I will also get back to ultrarunning and am already registered for trail races between 25K and 50K.