
Ask HN: What have you achieved in 2016? - herokiko
Let&#x27;s do HN retrospective and see where we stand.<p>About me - left a falling titan of the Internet and moved to Seattle to work for another tech company. Weather sucks here in winter.<p>Fallback - I wasn&#x27;t able to get girlfriend or any woman interested me this year as well. I don&#x27;t drink or smoke and lack of hobbies contributed to it. I am getting lonely a lot lately. May be because I am 31 now.<p>What about you?
======
NaOH
Made it to my father’s 75th birthday get-together. (3 days)

Was able to serve in a friend’s wedding.

Made it to the out-of-state wedding of friends. (2 days)

Attended the funeral of a friend whose greatness as a person was matched by
the reach of his work. (2 days)

Was able to visit my mentor before he moved back to Europe after 18 years in
the US. (2 days)

That accounts for 9 of the 14 days off I’ll have this year, which makes me
grateful my off days were well spent.

No friendships were lost—even the distant ones that can slip through the
cracks of life—a number of new friends were gained. Can’t remember failing to
come through for anyone when they reached out in need, whether for little
things like a tech support question to the more notable existential issues we
can face.

My company will have about 40% growth in sales volume, and comparable growth
in revenue. Still, it’s a small company. Very small. But the lone employee I
have has received multiple raises and a few thousand in bonuses.

Some things will remain on the to-do list, even if I’m pleased with the
improvements made lately: read more, improve empathy and listening skills, get
better control of my emotions, further my awareness of the breadth of my
ignorance. That’s not an exhaustive list, but doing better with those will
enhance specific areas, like my customer service, serving as an employer,
benefiting friends, understanding how better to take care of myself, etc.

~~~
atmosx
Great list, especially for a highly caustic base :-)

------
lowglow
I've launched: Baqqer (Community for makers), Pule (Bots Platform), and
Asteria (AI Companion Device).

I've built my first mobile device architecture for running apps, data
processing, behavior modeling, and synchronization for a user-first centric
device. I've met some great people doing it.

I've also just started writing a small publication called "Bot Theory: A
Concise Introduction" [https://github.com/dpgailey/bot-theory-
book](https://github.com/dpgailey/bot-theory-book)

Released an open source version of an in-house bot utility called Wolfpack:
[https://github.com/dpgailey/wolfpack](https://github.com/dpgailey/wolfpack)

Been invited and given a lecture to Ubiquitous Computing design students at
CCA here in SF about Collaborative/Predictive/Adaptive Intelligent Autonomous
Systems and the technologies and platforms necessary to realize a fully
autonomous ambient intelligent future.

We have hired our first three employees, and I've met a wonderful mentor who
is a seasoned influencer that basically shaped tech as we know it. (He
certainly wrote the book on it)

I also have made a pretty good friend and partner.

I've had people from Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Linkedin want to join the
projects we've started, which is exciting that big companies are taking
notice. We've also made some great partnerships along the way.

I was also briefly worth ~42MM on paper as well.

I also have pissed off HN admins enough where my comments are weighed down so
they sink to the bottom immediately, despite the points/karma. _sad trombone_

~~~
lowglow
I was also in a Qualcomm commercial about the future:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Evn4phoM00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Evn4phoM00)

------
sanswork
Finishing 111-114 books this year is probably my big one(not sure how many
more I'll finish hence the range).

Other stuff that's happened: managed to move out of a big city for the first
time in 15 years, spent almost no time arguing about bitcoin online which was
a huge time sink for me, used selfcontrol to block reddit on my laptop for
close to 9 months of the year(still use it on my phone), started a new company
which is progressing well, gotten a lot better at money management, become
more focused on my fitness with gym+running almost everyday now.

Made a plan for 2017.

------
pauljaworski
About me - I got hired as the founding engineer of a startup, designed and
built 80% of an entire consumer facing app by myself, learning a ton along the
way. I'm very proud of what I accomplished and think that it is a very solid
app with plenty of potential to scale. I met a beautiful girl who I fell in
love with and got to spend 3 weeks hiking and camping through Iceland with.

Fallback - My job was outsourced to a team of Eastern European devs, because
it was "taking too long" for me to build everything by myself. My girlfriend
left me a few weeks later.

------
just_testing
About me - I was employed on a long-term contract, which ended in 2015. Had no
idea what to do in 2016 and, as far as I was concerned, was a complete
professional failure. But at least I had financial reserves (yay for unions!)
I started crawling a government website to open data that should be truly
open. Soon I created a bot network to open data and, for the first time in my
life, felt real nice about a programming project I was doing. I created a
website showing some disturbing analysis on urban life using only open data.
That project caught some attention, which led me to some very interesting
freelance work. Enough money so I could afford living expenses. Got diagnosed
with OCD and anxiety disorder. Taking meds, doing behavioural therapy and it
is working wonders.

Fallback - Anxiety is hard. Not enough freelance work. Financial reserves are
dwindling. I'm already looking out for jobs. Probably won't get remote work.
Definitely not wanting to go back to an open floor office and all the huge
pile of anxiety it brings.

~~~
woogiewonka
I hear you on all fronts. Hang in there!

I'm a bit in the same situation but now it looks like ill be remote or
freelancing for years. I get stressed thinking about coming into an office
somewhere, wasting a ton of time on commuting, or worse - having to listen and
interact with people. I never realized how much time people waste at work
doing nothing until I had to earn a living with billable hours. On any given
day I can't seem to work more than 5 hours of ACTUAL work. Anyway, wish you a
happier 2017!

------
paulgrimes1
Burned out of a developer/manager role at a web agency here in Melbourne,
Australia. Took 3 months off with no income and exclusively read books that
inspired me. Started a development company of my own with no money. Got enough
work to employ a junior dev and mentor her up to (close to) mid level. Six
months later, we're in a local shared space working on some fun projects, with
enough cashflow to begin work on our own product, with a rule that we don't
work more than 38 hours a week.

I count myself lucky.

~~~
woogiewonka
That's awesome! Hit me up if you ever need UX work remotely :)

~~~
paulgrimes1
(Sorry, just saw this now) Cheers! Will do.

------
kirillzubovsky
First of all, welcome to Seattle! We live in a wonderful city with a ton of
awesome things to do.

If you move from the Bay Area, you will probably find the weather shit, true.
But if you moved from say, Minneapolis, you're probably ecstatic :) So, it's
all a matter of perspective. Don't expect the weather to be something that
it's not. May through September here is amazing. October and April are so-so.
For the other months, learn to ski and go spend time in the mountains. Rain in
the city means lots of snow on the slopes =)

Now, let's look at this year alone. I worked with some really awesome people,
learned a lot from them, but got bored out of my mind and went onto working on
my own things again. Really loving what I am doing now (AsteroidIQ.com) and
random YouTube videos
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAURFMkO9jo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAURFMkO9jo)).
Even though I am hassling every day to get customer and learn new things,
that's exactly what I love; it's way more fun than working for some else,
putting nuts on bolts all day long with not future.

So yeah, life is great, but it's all a matter of your focus and your
priorities. Don't compare yourself to other folks. Even the most
wealthiest/smartest/"successful" ones are miserable in some shape or form.
Focus on you.

Oh, and that said. Don't "look for a girlfriend," just find a lot of
interesting things to do, and perhaps you'll find someone along the way. Love
doesn't work on a schedule man. Enjoy!

------
optymizer
About me - working for one of the big tech companies. Managed to get the
respect of my teammates. Bought a house. Lost a few dozen pounds.

Fallback - got most of the pounds back. The house is taking most of my free
time - no time to code. Office politics is killing me - thinking that a small
startup might be more engaging, but mortgage is now an issue to think about.
Some days I'm thinking that having a cozy job and learning some gamedev on the
side is not too bad. Could be worse.

------
spicytunacone
Good lord, I've gotten nothing done this year. Mad attempts maybe, but they
all failed. I've already made adjustments and will continue to in respect to
lessons learned, but at this point I'm just `weathering it out` until my butt
is on the plane for the holidays.

~~~
lucaspiller
That's exactly how I feel, here's to a better 2017!

------
hosh
2016, hmm ...

Recovered from a nervous breakdown while overworking and learned a powerful
philosophy that changed how I viewed work, play; art and mission.

Finally found a startup who is doing work among the categories of things I
have identified as making a real impact on the world ... and whose product is
valued enough for me to actually get paid enough to support a family on it. Is
there risk it will fail? You bet. And I'm having the time of my life doing
something I feel is worthwhile with people that feel the same.

Helped my wife fight to regain custody of her daughter. In the meantime I
learned more than I ever wanted to know about relationships. Dating is hard,
relationships are much harder.

I used to live in northern Arizona for the past few years (where I loved it)
and moved to Phoenix. I miss Seattle, the weather, the city, and the people
:-)

2016 was an intense year for myself and a lot of people I know. It wasn't just
the election. There were a great deal of uncertainty and suffering. It was a
long journey, and there might be more -- but I don't regret it.

~~~
tapan_k
> I miss Seattle, the weather, the city, and the people :-)

Rare for someone to appreciate the weather in Seattle. Can you tell us more
about your perspective?

~~~
hosh
I grew up in Columbus, OH. It is just as moody in Seattle. Rain, overcast.

I only lived there for a year, and I got suckered in: the very first time I
visited was in the summer. I had never been so far north before. There were
friends I met up there who took me to the ferry to Bainbridge. It was
beautiful. That day, the sky was clear. From sea-level, I could see the summit
of Mt. Rainier looming over, floating above the horizon.

I had been living in Atlanta for five years (another city I missed). I
traveled across country in a car to move to Seattle. When I got there, it was
dark and dreary -- but not that much different from where I grew up. I found
an apartment in the Capitol Hills neighborhood and walked everywhere --
something you couldn't really do in Atlanta unless you were living in Midtown.
It was awesome. Although the weather is cooler, the humidity is so high and
the temperature variability so low, that it doesn't feel cold. (Unlike the
high desert of northern Arizona where you get much bigger extremes in
temperature within a single day). There are all these hidden pedestrian
pathways in between buildings, both in downtown and in Capitol Hill. There is
a obstacle course built just for mountain bikes at a park underneath a
highway.

And the people! I didn't realize how much I didn't fit into Atlanta until I
showed up in Atlanta. First, there were a lot more Asians. Second, the subtle,
subconscious racism that I blew off in Atlanta just wasn't present. But
mostly, people wore a lot of the kinds of clothes I wear: outdoor gear, ready
to go hiking somewhere.

Seattle has a lot of micro-cultures. The vibe in Capitol Hill is different
from Queen Anne, Fremont, downtown -- at least, those are the places I visited
the most. It shares a lot with San Francisco, but people feel a lot more
welcoming. The food is as awesome as the places I've explored in Atlanta and
San Francisco, as is the micro-brews.

I have talked to folks who say that Seattle people are standoffish, but that's
never been my experience. Maybe it is because I was moving from Atlanta, or
maybe because I moved to a city where I already knew people.

------
kendallpark
## Achievements

\- Got 3rd in an AMIA data mining competition for a novel evolutionary mining
strategy.

\- Had a successful summer of research culminating in one IEEE publication and
a presentation at the SCCM Annual Congress (in Hawai'i!).

\- Only had a weekend to study for the GRE but I was blessed with a great
score.

\- Applied to 8/10 CS PhD programs (2 more apps to submit!)

\- Found an amazing boyfriend!

\- Built a ton of programs. Added a crucial feature to my spaced repetition
flashcard app that has been a lifesaver for studying.

\- Beat a video game! (Inside)

## Setbacks

\- Got pneumonia for a month, was miserable, did poorly on that block's exams.

\- A bit overwhelmed/exhausted. Trying to balance med school and applying to
grad school and running around to these conferences to present my work so that
grad schools like me.

\- Med school is hard, yo. The month of pneumonia did not help.

\- Made the difficult decision to stop playing rugby. Not ready for a fifth
surgery.

\- I will be 100K in debt when loans disburse next week. O_O'

\- Haven't read a damn book in forever.

\- Haven't been in the weight room in forever.

~~~
rprameshwor
Wow !! weekend of study and a great score in GRE. Any tips for someone like me
who is trying to come up with a preparation plan ?

~~~
kendallpark
So my boyfriend studied for months to get a perfect score, then he helped
focus my studies based on his experience.

Use the Magoosh app to learn all the vocab. It's not that hard, just drill
vocab for a few minutes each day (I did this for longer than the weekend).
Open the app while you're walking to class or waiting around for something.

Because I was pressed for time, I took a math GRE book and ONLY did the first
ten questions in each subject section. This helped me triage what I was weak
on so I could do more questions for those sections. Most of the math is stuff
you already know. I would say that 1/10 math problems on the GRE requires some
trick that you'll learn specifically for the GRE.

Other than drilling vocab, I didn't practice the verbal section at all. My
reading comp is excellent, it's just a speed thing. Ideally I would have
simply spent months ahead of time reading more literature, but that did not
happen. Learning to read well is a very abstract skill, whereas you vocab is
straightforward and you can get some guaranteed gains just by spending time
with the Magoosh app. It is also easier to get a good verbal score because
you're competing percentile-wise against a lot of foreign students. You can
miss a ton of questions and still end up with a great score on verbal. In
contrast, the quantitative section is unforgiving. Miss a couple problems and
your score will tank.

The GRE website provides two practice tests. Take one before you start
studying to get a baseline. Then take one after. It would be best to buy more
of them, if possible (I didn't have time though). It's really important to get
used to the pacing and to have the stamina to get through the test. Now, I
take 8-hour exams for med school on the regular, so the GRE was a walk in the
park in comparison. However, I have a smart friend that really struggled once
she was a couple hours into it. My absolute weakness is reading speed and I
had to force myself to read faster or skim in order to keep up.

------
sauravt
\+ Launched 2 open source libraries \+ Saved up enough money to go on 2 month
long vacation in the US (I'm from India) \+ Read 20 books \+ Traveled to 2 new
countries (USA and Singapore) \+ Overcame (to a large extent) my fear of
public speaking

Up and onward to 2017

~~~
dvnguyen
Could you share a bit more about public speaking? It's my fear too.

------
columbo
I deadlifted 425 ... ... ... yup that's about it

[edit] actually in hindsight I've spent a lot more time with my 9yr old
daughter than I have since the birth of our son. Pokemon Go turned out to be a
pretty big player in us spending time together.

------
notgood
Went to SF, lost a lot of money living there trying to get investors only to
find out they want MIT graduates and already-invested startups. Being "brown"
didn't help.

Learned my lesson, hopefully I will make them regret it, but probably not.

But if US picked Trump I guess I'm entitled to make big stupid mistakes as
well.

~~~
lowglow
I worked in venture capital, wrote an article about what VCs look for[0], it
could help shape your pitch/approach.

[0] [http://www.techendo.com/posts/what-venture-capital-
companies...](http://www.techendo.com/posts/what-venture-capital-companies-
look-for-in-a-startup)

------
dasil003
Saw my team size peak as CTO, went to Beijing for the first time work on a
project that never saw the light of day, struggled with cash flow realities
and did what was necessary to keep the company alive, which meant essentially
significant layoffs and personally leaving the company I built over the last 9
years so they could circle the wagons at headquarters in London.

Joined a new startup with a founder I have long admired and wanted to work
with for the last decade and did my first real work in Python/Django and
Node.js as well as being solely responsible for ops in AWS. Startup failed to
gain traction and we just wound it down last week.

Now looking for a slightly larger company to deepen my technical chops, going
through the whole SV hiring ringer for the first time in my life. Finding out
how my past experience is simultaneously amazing and relevant or completely
insignificant depending on whom I talk to and their agenda. In a sense my
experience is reduced to few lines on a CV or at best a good story, but in job
interviews there is really no way to communicate the color of what it was and
the uniqueness of the experience.

I am melancholy over this, but also awakening with fresh eyes to future
possibilities. SV for all its faults and ridiculous rents is still a place
that fascinates me and I hope gives me a few more good stories for my
grandkids. If I find a good job before New Years it will have been a
successful 2016 indeed.

------
warmcat
I am getting promoted from QA Automation Engineer to Full time Software
Engineer position starting in January 2017. Counting as an achievement in 2016
because it was just confirmed yesterday.

~~~
woogiewonka
Congrats!

------
sudshekhar
Pros:

\- Finished my first large and reasonably complex project at work (5k+ LOC,
95% coverage). Already in prod.

\- Left my job to build my own startup. Created the website and then realized
that the hard part had just begun.

\- Read books on a lot of new technologies(Android, React, DRF, basic lisp).
Also finished From AI to Zombies, wordly philosophers, men of mathematics etc.

\- Really understood things such as opportunity cost, ROI, market size etc.
Rip-offs and doing copy pasted work doesn't seem like an easy road anymore.
Slava's post[1] helped me understand this.

Cons:

\- Reading about all the new technologies wasn't too useful because I haven't
implemented anything in them yet. Have plans to create small apps/websites to
cement my understanding but keep procastinating on that

\- Was briefly fascinated by stock market investing. Spent a month reading
books on them and bought some stocks. While none of them has tanked, I later
realized the returns would've been higher just focusing on my work.

I have given up my bschool admit to learn more and do startups/freelancing.
Also have resolved to stop getting distracted by stuff so easily. Let's see
how it all turns out.

1- [http://www.defmacro.org/2015/02/25/startup-
ideas.html](http://www.defmacro.org/2015/02/25/startup-ideas.html)

------
nicholas73
I borrowed money for oil stocks, was 3 months early and went down 50% at
lowest in February. Deep in debt, I scraped by at the edge of margin calls by
constantly trading and adjusting positions. Gained invaluable knowledge
through hard work and studying that gave me conviction to hold through. This
conviction lasts today, even though I now have gains of 300-400%. Instead of
taking profits, I am holding on well into 2017 to see if it can double again.

------
memonkey
29 years old in exactly one week. I began self-teaching computer science about
5 years ago off and on. Became more passionate about it within the last 3.
Landed my first Software Engineering job for an agency about 6 months ago that
does product development for start-ups.

Fallback is design for which I also went to art school but never finished that
either. Also have lots of friends and family support and a small savings to
keep me focused.

------
kefs
I finally updated PoopLog for Android after 3+ years..

[https://www.pooplog.xyz/](https://www.pooplog.xyz/)

[https://medium.com/@kefsco/i-finally-updated-pooplog-for-
and...](https://medium.com/@kefsco/i-finally-updated-pooplog-for-android-
bfe857e82e07)

~~~
lowglow
But what have you learned from your poop data?

------
chairmankaga
Left my job and my life as I knew it and ran away halfway across the world to
consult while traveling.

Went from no network and no experience consulting / selling to being able to
support myself in Tokyo without needing savings.

Changed my image and gained a lot of confidence and soft skills.

Met many people I otherwise would not have.

Grew my view of the world, myself and life in general.

------
xeromal
Landed my first side project and it has been a blast. The commitment you feel
for your own project is completely different than my work projects.

------
no_protocol
My salary increased. Yay! (I think this was due to new legislation, not
anything I did.)

~~~
csdreamer7
> (I think this was due to new legislation, not anything I did.)

Not legislation, this would not get past the Republicans. The Obama
administration updated a rule increasing the salary requirements for exempt
employees. This update has now been blocked by a Federal court and the Trump
administration is expected to reverse it.

------
tcfunk
I had a baby. Well technically my wife had a baby.

Tech-wise, I made pretty significant progress on a hobby project, and revamped
my personal website.

------
mimming
I wanted to get better at speaking and lecturing, so presented about 80 times.

I convinced a few people to draw me dinosaurs.

------
secfirstmd
Trained a couple of hundred human rights defenders in physical and digital
security. Pushed out our app for the security of activists and journalists to
a wider amount of people than before.

------
sawmurai
About me: 29 years old, self taught web developer from Germany.

Achievements: \- moved to Switzerland to work at an awesome company with great
colleagues (on an awesome codebase <3 )

\- maintained the healthy relationship with my gf without blowing it as I used
to

\- learned advanced algorithms in my free time which gave me a hole new set of
tools (which I probably might never need In my current job)

\- quit many bad habits regarding food and drinks

Fallbacks: \- failed to improve my polish language skills

\- the move was quite expensive and I failed to rebuild my savings completely

~~~
pvinis
Wow, this is so close to mine, except for the polish language. I moved from
Vienna to Amsterdam for a job, with a great team tha I am happy to be a part
of. Long distance relationship but still happy. Studied some more functional
stuff with Clojure and started my project for real. (Trying to) quit bad food
habits. And yes, my savings are very very close to 0. I need to learn more
about that in 2017. Year goal: learn, plan, and have more savings so I can be
more independent and free with my money.

------
woogiewonka
I changed paths from marketing to UX design but haven't built up enough
credibility to get a full time position. Looks like I'll be freelancing for a
while longer.

------
sssilver
Note that I'm a seasoned software engineer, versed in the ways of web
services, iOS apps, desktop apps, and web apps, having shipped numerous of
these for the various companies I've worked at during the years. Some of these
skills would need some dusting-off, but I wouldn't be intimidated by that.

I had a New Year Resolution that I would make any software, on any platform,
using whatever stack, that someone who never interacted with me personally
would pay at least $1 for. This resolution meant a lot to me.

It's December 18, and I'm failing it miserably.

The reason? I've been thinking about what to make, almost every day of the
passing year, and I still have zero ideas. Yes I've Googled for things. I've
asked people things. Everything seemed either too complex for a lone full-time
employed programmer with a family and a kid, or was simple but didn't seem
like anyone would pay money for it.

In the meantime, I got a promotion where I work for successfully shipping
projects.

What gives?

------
eel
I quit my job in the spring, took the summer off, and started a new job in the
fall.

At my last job, I felt like I was at my growth limit with little left to
learn. At my new job, I am currently overwhelmed with a new stack, new tools,
and a new culture. Going to put in a little extra time this weekend and coming
week to hopefully catch myself up and end the year on a more relaxing note.

------
pan69
I witnessed a startup implode (from the inside), which was interesting.

I managed to launch my side project, Postways [1], as public beta a few days
ago. It was a major birth and I'm proud I made it this far. I'm ready for the
next battle, getting users.. :)

[1] [https://www.postways.com](https://www.postways.com)

------
p4bl0
I got a permanent position in academia (associate professor) after only one
year of post-doc. Dream job :). I'm feeling so lucky and happy. It also
implied moving back to Paris where most of my friends are.

Fallback: I moved back to Paris, where it is poluted and rainy. One can't have
everything at the same time ;).

------
surrey-fringe
Traveled for the first time.

Lived alone for the first time.

Experimented a lot and found a magic diet.

33% bump in pay.

Learned a bunch of important shit.

Fallback: Need to be more consistent with sleep. Biggest goal next year is to
finish everything on the first try, without falling in and out of
interest/commitment. No more half-finished books or projects.

------
dyadic
Nothing spectacular by objective measures, but subjectively (I spent the last
few years working as a remote freelancer so..)

* Worked on more interesting projects

* Had a lot of (intentional, not working) free time

* Earned more

* Developed other hobbies / spent extra time with the existing ones

* Saw more of the world

------
allenleein
My publication on Medium.com now ranks top 7 in VC category:

[https://medium.com/startup-blink](https://medium.com/startup-blink)

------
rprameshwor
Pros :

Travelled around some places - Los Angeles, San jose , Yellow Stone.

Successfully delivered a project besides the regular job.

Got placed in a client-facing role , which helped enhance my communication and
consulting skills.

Workout on and off - happy with the gains i have so far.

Went to see Metallica and EITS \m/

Started investing in stocks

Cons :

Wanted to go back home - Nepal for a few months, but didn't happen.

Reading more books and regularly meditating , didnt happen. I'll have to
accomplish this in 2017 !!

------
gbrayut
Presented an ignite talk at a local DevOpsDays event, then co-presented at
this year's SQL Summit. This month submitted a session to the new GroupBy
conference and just got an email today that it was accepted for January!

We also went on our honeymoon (Turks and Caicos, highly recommended) and
vacations in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, and Florida.

------
learned
Graduated college and finally broke into the software industry. Now I have a
manager who respects what I bring to the team and lets me build whatever I
want. I thought it would take me a few more years to land a job like this. I
feel very fortunate.

------
citruspi
Achievements:

\- Dropped out of college and accepted a full time offer

\- Became the new lead for the security interest group at work

\- Attended AWS re:Invent for the first time

\- Moved into my own place for the first time

\- Started playing around with the stock market

\- Visited Abu Dhabi, London, and Iceland for the first time

\- Turned 21 years old a few weeks ago, I can finally go to bars and clubs now

\- Finally finished and pushed my re-designed personal website (an endeavor
that I started last Fall)

\- Entered into my first relationship

    
    
      - Sub-achievement: 2 Chainz has a song called 100 Joints with the line
    
        > You need your passport for our second date
    
        I decided to beat him at his own game and for our first date I flew us to Montréal for the weekend which I'd also consider an achievement
    
    

Fallbacks:

\- Last year I vowed to read more this year - I picked up and finished a book
in the Spring, but haven't read much more since that

\- I used to constantly work on new side projects, I just haven't had a lot of
time for them recently

\- After living with friends from college for the last ~3 years, living alone
is a little lonely. I do enjoy the time alone, but I've also moved to a new
city where I don't have much of a social network

Edit:

\- Achievements:

\-- I love to fly. Last year I did something like 39 flights. This year I'll
do 41 flights. A new record for me, if not a significant one. Note that these
are flights, not reservations. So if my trip includes a layover, it counts as
two. I love flying to the extent that given a direct trip and a trip with a <
1 hr layover, I'll pick the latter. I love each flight. Taking off. Landing.
Cruising at 35,000 ft. Turbulence, the more the better. I want more cumulative
time in the air.

\- Fallbacks

\-- From August to December (and extending into January 2017), I've only been
at home 1-2 weeks a month which has caused a bit of strain on my relationship.

Edit:

To whoever left and then deleted a comment asking if I considered the date an
achievement because of the cost and suggested that I may have missed that's
needed to form a relationship:

I'm not entirely sure why I consider it an achievemnt. It's most likely
related to the cost yes. I think it's because whereas previously (as a
student) I would need to think about finances, I now have the money where I
can do things like this and not worry about going hungry for the next month.

As far as the relationship aspect, prior to the date we spent 10 days
traveling in Iceland as friends after meeting in person a total of three
times. The purpose of the date wasn't specifically to build on the
relationship, but more to do something ridiculous and romantic.

~~~
aerovistae
That'd feel pretty pushy to me, offering to fly my date out of the country the
first time we go out together. Like, did you get separate hotel rooms, or...?

First date is "I don't even know you yet" territory, I would be a little
hesitant to go international.

~~~
citruspi
So for a little back story. We met on Tinder while we were in different cities
and talked relatively frequently. In January I moved to her city (not for her,
I've previously lived here). Between January and May we met a total of three
times. She's currently over here for school, but when she left for summer
break, she invited me to visit her at her family's place. I suggested that
instead of doing that, we travel somewhere else - we ended up going to Iceland
for 10 days as friends. Two weeks later we went on our first date. So we
definitely knew each other - at this point we'd spent 10 days traveling in a
foreign country (albeit after only meeting three times). I don't know if I'd
say we knew each other _well_ - but we trusted each other.

Edit:

And nah, one room. I'd have been happy to get another one, but we'd also split
hotel rooms while traveling in Iceland, so she was fine with it.

~~~
digitalshankar
What's the expenditure for 10 days in Iceland? Did you pay the travel ticket
for her? If no, how much money she spent on you and how much money you spent
on her? (* asking the real question here *)

~~~
citruspi
> What's the expenditure for 10 days in Iceland?

Flights, hotel and Airbnb reservations, renting an SUV for 7 days, tickets for
the ferry to Westfjords, etc. it was about $3500 for two people. That doesn't
include food, tickets for local attractions, etc.

> Did you pay the travel ticket for her? If no, how much money she spent on
> you and how much money you spent on her?

Nope. We pretty much split Iceland evenly, we just went there as friends.

I fully covered Montréal because it was my idea and I didn't expect her to
contribute. That ran me about $1200 for air fare and a night in the hotel for
the two of us. I fully covered that along with cab rides, food, tickets for
local attractions, etc. The only thing she paid for was a coffee while we were
waiting to board our flight.

~~~
digitalshankar
Ok that concludes $1200 for just a Coffee! Either way Friend Zoned it's a Win-
Win for the girl! /* Guys take note here! */

~~~
citruspi
Eh, I'm actually a tea drinker, I can't stand the taste of coffee. And more
like dinner at one of my favourite restaurants on the continent (which is why
I picked Montréal specifically) and a really fun weekend.

As far as it being a Win-Win, I'd consider it a Win-Win for myself as well. If
it works out, it was a great weekend and we'll remember it fondly. If it
doesn't work out, it was a great weekend and I have an awesome story.

Either way, I have no ragrets[0].

Edit:

I just realized that when you said

> Ok that concludes $1200 for just a Coffee!

you probably meant that I paid $1200 in exchange for the coffee (which she
bought me?) so my dinner comment doesn't really make sense. However, she only
bought herself a coffee - she didn't pay for any of my stuff.

Edit:

Speaking of awesome stories, have you seen the metro trains in Montreal? Those
things are ridiculous, they honestly look more like subway cars attached to
the bottom of a bus.[1]

[0]: [http://i.imgur.com/OG2hHwW.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/OG2hHwW.jpg) [1]:
[https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/28/50546136_b729b4c9ca_b.jpg](https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/28/50546136_b729b4c9ca_b.jpg)

~~~
digitalshankar
Just kidding! You had nice fun mate, except you spent for her also, the coffee
thing yeah it's always guys who pay the tax and girls have the fun that's what
i meant. (I know for iceland both of you shared, the dinner/stay was included
in that $1200, since i didn't know the price of the coffee you had, so i said
like that.) I have not been to Montreal but i have seen and traveled on Metro
trains. So what all other places you have seen before?

------
firewalkwithme
I can do 10 pull-ups now

~~~
woogiewonka
How many could you do before? :)

~~~
firewalkwithme
Started in late February, I only managed 2.5 repetitions at that point :)

------
anotherstanlee
Chin up son. 2017 is a new year and with it, new opportunities.

------
aaronblohowiak
+: Started a new job with stunning colleagues and interesting problems. Co-
chaired a panel at ICSE. Started learning Java/intellij. Made progress at the
hobby of woodworking.

-: Didn't write any Rust.

