I always write these things well after the fact. Nonetheless, it’s nice to be alive and be 47 years old. Here’s a recap of the past year:

  • Survived COVID. I tested positive at the end of March 2021. Five days later 5 of the 6 remaining family members tested positive. Three days after that we were 7/7. It hit me the hardest, beating up my lungs. Erin lost her sense of taste and smell. Kids were asymptomatic, though a week after we thought we had all recovered our daughter Avery spiked a 103 temperature for 10 days. That was scary, and thankfully her fever eventually cleared.
  • Closed the merger between Arrive and FlashParking, subsequently adopted the name Flash, and acquired two more companies (on top of a few companies that were acquired pre-merger). In the year since we’ve been focused on growing the business, investing in people, process, and systems, and charting the path forward together as one unified team. It’s been messy at times, but it’s a lot of fun and I’m really enjoying the opportunity. I am also really enjoying spending time in Austin (shout out to Lady Bird Lake - you host the best morning runs).
  • Took family trips to Rhode Island and the Northwoods of Wisconsin.
  • Made the journey to Cooperstown NY with Jack and his 12U Chicago Warriors baseball team. I had a blast watching the team play in the tournament and seeing how well the team worked together after a full season together (the year prior was shortened given COVID). Jack and I drove and stopped in Ann Arbor (to try and inspire Jack with the University of Michigan), Detroit (to see the Tigers play), and Cleveland (to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) on the way. It was nice to hang out one on one.
  • Took both boys to a week long hockey camp in Lake Forest, plus summer camp in Michigan — nice to see them survive on their own for a bit.
  • Ran a bunch — 376 miles in 2021! Only rode 1,496 miles in 2021 (stepping that up in 2022).
  • Invested in OpenAxis, plus a bunch of public market technology stocks. I’m also dollar cost averaging into the market each week (huge fan of DCA).
  • Joined the board of the Old Town School of Folk Music, the largest community school of the arts in the U.S.
  • Did hundreds of loads of laundry and countless loads of dishes. Honestly can’t figure out how to optimize this as we just have a ton of people in our family, many of which are active with sports (baseball, softball, hockey, basketball, cross country). Not an accomplishment, more of a survival feat per se.

Thanks for reading 🙏