A Geek's Life

It struck me the other day that my father was already a full Professor in the (notoriously political Nigerian) University system he spent most of his career in by the time he turned fifty. That, and revisiting old haunts, served to reinforce the sense of introspection I have felt three years shy of that milestone birthday.

By all accounts, I am not doing badly, to use an expression from the halcyon days of my youth – the milestones in my Materials & Corrosion Roadmap document are largely met, my current job (how much longer I might have it is open to discussion) is pretty decent, and family is in a good place. In summary then life is good, which does little to sate the sense that it could be so much more better.

One comment which trailed my father all those years gone by, given the trajectory he took to arrive there, was that a rolling stone gathers no moss. At the time he had worked in a secondary school, a college of education and two universities, which perhaps informed the jibe which sought to compare him with a rootless rover. That consideration weighs heavy on my mind as I ponder my next steps with turning fifty firmly in the front view.

On reflection, last year wasn’t my greatest by any metric. Granted, given all I had going on, it was more a wishlist than anything else. There were still some positives though:

• Weight got down to 97kg from a high of 107, though not quite the ambitious 84kg i was eyeing. A key part of that was a daily walking practice
• My dalliance with faith is still unresolved, though I would say I am more in than out.
• Related to the above, I managed 200 consecutive days of using the bible app for a morning devotional reading
• The new job hasn’t happened yet.

..and some charts from my vibe-coded tracking app

This year, I’m going back to the more structured practice from previous years, with additional guidance from this Chris Guillebeau post. My seven life dimensions are again a useful framing, ie: Spiritual, Physical & Health, Relationships, Mental and Personal Development, Work and Career, Financial, and Causes and Charities. The overarching idea is incremental improvement, the notional 1% better.

As to goals then, here goes with an overall target of August 31st 2027. Behind these goals will sit actions, specific activities intended to inch me towards these in a daily/weekly/monthly timeframe.

• Spiritual
  • Extend daily devotional run to >365days
  • Join a serving team at the church I attend
• Physical & Health
  • key issues: blood pressure, teeth
  • Reduce weight to <85kg
  • Run a timed 10k, under 1 hour
• Financial
  • Grow networth by >30%
• Relational
  • Have a day out with L at least once a quarter
• Work & Career
  • Implement my demob plan (a new job that pays >GBP100k net of taxes per year
• Mental and Personal Development
  • Read 24 books
  • Write at least 100 posts on the blog
  • Close out one of CP, CIP or API 510/570/653 certification
  • Average at least 4 hours per week in deliberate MCW practice with Claude (or other)
• Causes & Charities
  • Write the kids I sponsor at least twice during the year
  • Join the board or committee of a professional organisation

Seems sensible, I would say!