2024

January 5, 2025

This year was a tough one. So much so that I almost didn't want to write this post. But I've found writing these to be therapeutic over the years, and a good record of what's going on in my life from year to year. So let's start with the bad.

My best friend passed away. When my birthday rolled around this year I was surprised my friend Eldridge didn't call. Since his birthday was just 10 days later, I figured I'd talk to him then. That night time got away from me and I thought it was too late to call, so I went on Facebook to wish him a happy birthday only to find out that he had died four days before my birthday.

I was completely gutted. Eldridge was like a brother to me. We had known each other since the summer before high school. And though we didn't talk as much since he moved to Georgia a few years ago, anytime we chatted it was just like old times. To this day I can't watch an action or horror movie, hear a 90s hip hop song or laugh at a joke without thinking of him.

I'm crushed that I couldn't make it to his funeral. That he never met Ryan and Owen. That I'll never hear his infectious laugh again. His passing really cast a long shadow over the year, and will likely do so for a long time.

My health. In November of 2023 I was diagnosed with frozen shoulder, and I spent a good chunk of the first part of 2024 in physical therapy, until the insurance decided it wasn't going to pay for it anymore. It doesn't feel nearly as bad now, but I still don't have full range of motion in my left arm.

In July I started having some uh, digestive issues, we'll say. I was finally able to get in to see a gastroenterologist, ended up getting a colonoscopy (whee!) and was diagnosed with colitis. Another condition that no one seems to know why people get and there doesn't seem to be a cure for.

Between the shoulder and the colitis and other random ailments I already dealt with (e.g. migraines), I can't remember the last time I woke up and didn't feel "off". I literally spent most of the day Monday in the E.R. with some unknown virus (at least not Covid, strep, RSV or flu) that had my resting heart rate in the 130s. Given my history of AFib a few years ago, I figured it was best to get it checked out. They basically sent me home after 9 hours with a shrug. I've spent the days since then with the worst cough I've had in years.

It's incredibly frustrating to constantly feel like crap and doctors have no remedy. Not to say I condone murder, but I can see how Luigi could have snapped.

Oops, we forgot to pay our taxes. I'm not sure how this happened, maybe because they extended the tax filing deadline during Covid, but somehow we managed to not pay our income taxes for three years. We finally got it sorted this year but were hit with a massive tax bill, including penalties and interest. I ended up having to pay a small ransom to the federal government. Like people have committed murder for less money. But I chalked it up as an expensive lesson and vowed to file my taxes immediately from now on. I'm not giving the IRS any more money than I legally need to.

The Election. Fucking hell. All I'll say about this is that Americans seem to have collective amnesia about the last time this guy was President. He basically laid out how he's going to dismantle the government to punish his perceived enemies and enrich his friends and half of America was like, "yup! The cost of butter is too damn high!"

I don't talk about politics around my kids, but the fact that my 5-year-old is worried about "the bad president" is pretty telling about the situation we find ourselves in. I shouldn't have to tell my kids that I'll protect them from the fucking President of the United States.

Ryan. Ryan started kindergarten this year and is really starting to blossom into a little dude with a wide range of interests and talents. His reading has improved by leaps and bounds, he's got a new obsession with space (he even sat through all of Interstellar and was riveted the whole time), and is active in soccer and "ninja gym", which is basically a ninja-themed gymnastics class. He's also been doing a lot of arts and crafts in his after school program and he's also learning Spanish on top of all that.

Owen. Owen started preschool at Ryan's former school and he's having a lot of fun being in a more structured environment with more kids than he was with at daycare. He's becoming a little chatterbox, even though we have no idea what he's talking about half the time. Now that he's more mobile and vocal, he and Ryan have a lot of fun playing together.

Joe. Joe started his junior year at St. Ambrose this year and is enjoying a variety of engineering classes. This summer he played baseball for the Burlington Bees in the Prospect League and was their ace reliever. It was really cool to see him thrive in that environment against some D1 players. Joe is about to turn 21 in a couple of weeks! We're so proud of him.

Work. I'm coming up on two years at Turquoise Health in a few weeks and it continues to be the best job I've had in tech. Despite practically tripling in size since I started, they've done a great job of bringing in talented, down-to-earth, low-ego folks who continue to exemplify the culture that makes the company such a great place to work.

With the design system largely built, I spend most of my time supporting the designers and engineers in making sure new features are supported by the system and relatively easy to replicate based on the design.

Outside of Turquoise, I was fortunate to be invited onto Learn with Jason and the Code and Pixels podcast to talk about CSS in design systems. My mom said after watching me on Learn with Jason, she actually understood what I do for a living.

Travel. I got to do a fair amount of travel for work. In January I headed to Austin for our semi-annual summit, where I enjoyed some great food, got to connect with co-workers, and spent some time with some industry friends who live in the area. This summer I headed to Seattle for the other summit. We took a nice dinner cruise around Lake Union and I also got to have dinner with friends Dave and Mike. Most recently we were in Fort Worth for a co-working week, where I again ate a ton of good food, met up with my friend Scott and his family and checked out the National Videogame Museum.

But my favorite trip of the year was heading to Pittsburgh for Brad Frost's 40th birthday, Frostapalooza. I think I first met Brad when I crashed the happy hour at An Event Apart in Chicago and shortly after that invited him to do a responsive design workshop at Groupon's Palo Alto office. We've been friendly ever since and I was honored to get an invite to what ended up being a great weekend.

Friday night there was a party at Brad's house where a ton of web design/dev folks that I'd previously met were gathered. It was surreal to be surrounded by people that I've followed since early in my career, hang out with them, and feel like I was a peer. I felt like Christian Laettner on the Dream Team.

On Saturday night, Brad put on an epic concert with 40 of his friends, doing an eclectic mix of covers and original songs. It capped off with a jovial cover of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. It really was a great weekend. (I also ate 2/3s of my meals at Primanti Bros.)

Extra Life. This year marked my 11th Extra Life, in which Bert and I crushed our team goal and topped $50,000 raised all-time! I continue to be humbled by everyone's generous support. It feels good to do something positive to keep Olivia's memory alive.

I started a newsletter. It seems like everyone in tech has a newsletter. Since it seemed like all the CSS/Design Systems were already covered by people more dedicated than me, I decided to write a monthly newsletter, Peruvian Idle, about the best games, movies, and TV I consume each month. I've done 9 issues so far and have all of 12 subscribers to show for it, so I'm not sure it's resonating with people. If the number of issues tops the number of subscribers, I think I may call it a day.

Things I loved in 2024

Movies

This year I logged a record 212 entries on Letterboxd. I didn't set out with any goals or challenges this year, but I did try to revisit some old favorites to see if they held up, and continued to try and watch movies that I missed. 2024 was a pretty great year for movies, with a diverse mix of genres and lots of great performances.

Perfect Days This technically came out in 2023 but I wasn't able to see it until this year. Director Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas, Wings of Desire) was asked to make a commercial for a Japanese company, The Tokyo Toilet, that operates a bunch of aesthetically interesting public toilets. Wenders went a step further and made an entire feature-length narrative about a Tokyo Toilet employee who drives around town maintaining the bathrooms. It's a very meditative, analog, slice-of-life piece. Koji Yakusho is riveting as the humble protagonist, Hirayama. I absolutely loved it.

The Substance Very rarely do I find myself watching a movie and realizing that it will be among my all-time favorites before the credits even roll, but THE SUBSTANCE grabbed me from the start. Coralie Fargeat’s follow-up to 2017’s excellent Revenge is so confident and well-executed. It “yes ands” itself to absurd heights (depths?) in a way that elicited such joy that I couldn’t help wish I had seen this opening night in a packed screening. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are excellent. Fargeat asks a lot from them and they deliver. I don’t know that I can recommend this to literally anyone but for me, it was perfect.

Ghostlight I was deeply affected by this story of a man working through his grief through a local theatrical production of Romeo and Juliet. I’m usually put off by child death as a source of character motivation, having lost a child myself. Here it’s played with sincerity by largely unknown actors (a real Chicago family no less) and it really hit me hard. Reminded me a bit of Chloe Zhao’s The Rider. Dolly de Leon (Triangle of Sadness) is a delight.

Challengers A sweaty, horny, time travel mystery that asks, "who fucked Zendaya, who's fucking Zendaya, and who is going to fuck Zendaya?" and not necessarily in that order. Zendaya is electric. I would risk everything if she looked at me out of the corner of her eye. Some wild shots in this movie. Pulsating soundtrack by Reznor and Ross that is almost overpowering at times. Left the theater with a huge smile on my face.

Anora Despite finding nearly every character in this movie unlikable and entitled, I was captivated the whole time. I would describe Anora as Pretty Woman meets Uncut Gems. Mikey Madison gives a really brave performance. Sean Baker again shows he’s a unique and incredibly talented filmmaker. I was surprised how funny this movie was. Also, it’s clear the actor that plays Vanya never played a video game in his life.

Society of the Snow Absolutely harrowing. The way it’s shot completely immerses you in the plight of these survivors that overcame impossible odds. When I was young my dad took me to a small town in the Peruvian Andes and we trekked by bus and then by donkey nearly to the peak of a mountain. In every direction all you could see was vast mountains. It was surreal. To imagine that people could survive in that environment for as long as they did is unthinkable. Just an incredible and unsettling tale of survival.

Others worth mentioning: Another late 2023 movie that missed the cutoff last year was Poor Things. I was a little worried in the first few minutes that I was not going to like it, but as soon as Mark Ruffalo showed up things turned a corner and this became my favorite Yorgos Lanthimos movie. Dune: Part 2 is a solid continuation of the first film, with lots of great action set pieces and more incredible world-building. It didn't hit as hard as the first, but I still loved it. Thelma is a really funny, sweet, and wholesome movie about a woman in her 90s tracking down the people who scammed her. June Squibb is an absolute delight. A Different Man is darkly funny, which I was not at all expecting. Part Charlie Kaufman, part David Cronenberg. Great performances all around. The Remarkable Life of Ibelin tells the story of a young, paralysed man who immersed himself in video games. Upon his death, his parents learn of all the lives he touched with his online persona. Deeply moving.

TV

Dark Matter A really wild sci-fi premise in which Joel Edgerton plays a college physics professor who gets abducted into an alternate universe. He spends the rest of the series trying to figure out how to get back to his family. Nearly every episode ends with a big WTF moment. Dark Matter takes place in Chicago but makes good use of actual Chicago locations and provides us with glimpses both dreadful and hopeful about Chicagos that might have been, including one where Trump apparently never put his name in absurdly large letters on one of Chicago's most iconic buildings. The end goes a little off the rails but I had a great time with it.

Disclaimer This limited series written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón is kind of incredible. Just gorgeously shot by Emmanuel Lubezki and featuring some great performances by Cate Blanchett, Lesley Manville, Sacha Baron Cohen in a rare dramatic role, and an almost unrecognizable Kevin Kline. Blanchett plays a journalist who discovers a novel featuring her as the main character, which reveals a dark secret from 20 years ago. It's a slow burn but as the show reveals whats going on through its non-linear narrative, it gets pretty good. Maybe not for everyone, but as a fan of Cuarón and the cast, this felt tailor-made for me.

Blue Eye Samurai I was immediately drawn in by the art style of this animated series about a young, half-white, half Japanese woman seeking revenge against the last four foreigners in Edo-period Japan, one of which is her father. Great characters and voice cast, including Maya Erskine (Mr. and Mrs. Smith) in the title role. This show is pretty dark and deals with very adult themes. I had to react pretty quickly when my five-year-old would walk in while I was watching. The fifth episode is particularly excellent. Really glad this was picked up for a second season.

Shōgun I've got a thing for media set in feudal Japan and 2024 was chock full of it. It took me a bit to warm up to Shōgun, which was hyped as a Game of Thrones-type epic. It's really not that. There is plenty of combat and intrigue but as the show went on what really kept me interested is the relationship between foreigner, John Blackthorne, and his translator/love interest Mariko. This show is low-key horny, y'all. It's great seeing Hiroyuki Sanada, who's spent decades working as a character actor in Hollywood, finally get a much deserved starring role.

Man on the Inside I adored this show from Mike Schur, creator of The Good Place, who reunites with Ted Danson as a man who is hired by a private investigator to infiltrate an assisted living facility to solve the mystery of a stolen necklace. It's very wholesome and Danson is great. The supporting cast includes a lot of familiar faces (Sally Struthers!). You don't often see older people depicted in television and film, and this show does it in a really sweet and heartfelt way. A great companion piece to Thelma.

Landman Was not expecting to immediately love this show, written by Taylor Sheridan (Sicario, Wind River, Hell or High Water) but Billy Bob Thornton is so good as oil-industry fixer, Tommy Norris. Jon Hamm plays his boss, in full Don Draper mode. It feels like Mad Men meets Friday Night Lights (Tommy even catches a Permian Panthers game at one point). Some of the MAGA-coded dialogue is a little eye-rolly, particularly the stuff that feels like PR for an oil company. But if you can get past that, it's a fun watch.

Others worth mentioning: This year was ripe with espionage thrillers and I couldn't get enough of them. I really enjoyed the solid production values of Day of the Jackal, which stars Eddie Redmayne as a highly-skilled hitman trying to pull off the assassination of a seemingly impossible target. The end didn't add up for me but the journey was great. Season 2 of The Diplomat took a serious turn while still remaining fun, and introduced Allison Janney as the Vice President. The season ends on such a cliffhanger my jaw was on the floor. I burned through both seasons of Lioness in about a week. Zoe Saldaña plays the leader of a special ops force that embeds covert agents within the inner circle of assassination targets. Laysla De Oliveira holds her own among a cast that also includes Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman (albeit briefly). Also written by Taylor Sheridan, the show feels pretty authentic in its writing and depiction of covert operatives. The Agency is another stellar spy show with an amazing cast, including Michael Fassbender, Jeffrey Wright and Richard Gere(!). Fassbender plays a CIA agent suddenly called back to London after being undercover in Africa for several years. When his romantic interest from that mission (played by Jodie Turner-Smith) turns up in London, things get complicated. Season 3 of The Bear didn't hit the same highs as the second season, but I just love hanging out with these characters and the show feels so authentic to my hometown. (Except perhaps the John Cena cameo.) I didn't think season 2 of Squid Game would be nearly as good but it came out swinging and never stopped, right up until the cliffhanger ending. I'm disappointed we'll have to wait to see how this iteration of the game resolves, but they did an amazing job setting up the final season. This show in general does an amazing job at efficiently introducing characters and injecting them with enough personality that you actually care whether they live or die.

Video Games

This year seemed to invert the usual pattern of slow starts leading up to a deluge of games in the fall. This year we got a steady influx of great games punctuated by a slate of fall releases that were largely just annual releases of the usual suspects (e.g. Call of Duty).

Balatro Hands down my game of the year. I spent literally hundreds of hours on this roguelike, deck-building game which quickly hooks you with its poker-themed, retro aesthetic but proves to be extremely deep in its strategy. I haven't been hooked like this since Slay the Spire. I have it on four different platforms and have been chipping away at the seemingly impossible final Playstation trophy all year. Now that it's on mobile, it's very easy to find a half-hour just disappear.

Helldivers 2 I was immediately drawn into this cooperative third-person shooter that has you battling a two-front galactic war against bug-like aliens and killer robots, all in the name of "managed democracy." Helldivers 2 draws heavy inspiration from Paul Verhoeven's 1997 cult classic, Starship Troopers (which has seen a recent resurgence in popularity thanks to this game). While you could play this game solo or matched up with random teammates, this game really shines when playing with friends. The over-the-top violence combined with friendly fire makes for a ton of laugh-out-loud moments. Despite there not being much to do after leveling up and unlocking all the stratagems, this was the most fun I had playing with friends since Ghost of Tsushima.

Shogun Showdown Shogun Showdown is a delightful blend of Slay the Spire, Into the Breach, and Darkest Dungeon. The game takes place on a 2D board and enemies spawn on either side of you, telegraphing their next move above their head. You can move, turn around or add attacks to your queue and each action causes the enemies in turn to play their own actions. You take on wave after wave of enemies until you reach an area's boss. If you win, you can spend money upgrading your gear and buying skills and consumables at the shop. Making it all the way to the end and defeating the Shogun unlocks a new "day", which adds a new layer of difficulty to each run. There's a deep collection of fun and interesting weapons and skills that you can unlock through repeated playthroughs and five unlockable characters that each have their own unique ability.

Space Marine 2 Space Marine 2 is a third-person shooter reminiscent of Gears of War, in which you and two fellow marines tear through an onslaught of alien forces. If it sounds a lot like Helldivers 2, it shares a lot of similarities. Space Marine 2 is like the edgelord version, based on the tabletop game Warhammer 40,000. Whereas your marines in Helldivers are quite squishy, Space Marines feel like unstoppable killing machines, mowing down hundreds of aliens (an almost unbelievable amount appear on screen at once) with ease. Space Marine 2 also has a bit more depth, with a campaign, PvP, and an "operations" mode, which are similar to strikes in Destiny. Like Helldivers 2, it also gets a bit monotonous after you've played through it, leaving very little reason to continue once you've leveled up your character to the max. Still, it's a gorgeous game and a great co-op experience with friends and randos alike.

Astro Bot From the moment you fire up Astro Bot, you can't help but smile. Everything about Sony's take on Super Mario Galaxy is genetically engineered to bring you joy, with cute characters, a wide variety of clever abilities and mechanics, and making excellent use of the DualSense controller's many functions. Your goal is to rescue 300(!) bots hidden across various levels, with many of the bots and levels themed around classic Sony properties like God of War, Bloodborne, Last of Us and others. Ryan and I had a blast playing it together. He even managed to beat the final boss on his own on the third try. The first game he's rolled credits on. I was so proud! Astro Bot is just so damn fun and I'm constantly in awe of how clever it is. Highly recommended whether you have kids or just want to feel like one again.

College Football 25 EA Sports' NCAA Football series was one of my favorite sports games until a lawsuit filed against the NCAA by a former player led to its cancellation in 2013. With the NCAA's new Name Image and Likeness (NIL) rules, EA was able to bring the series back as College Football 25 by giving some 11,000 players $600 each. The game is everything I remembered and more, taking advantage of 10 years of advancements in technology to bring an authentic college experience, complete with mascots, fight songs and pre-game rituals unique to each Division I school. It's a ton of fun. I didn't think it would ever come back but I'm so glad that it did!

Stellar Blade Stellar Blade came out of nowhere that hooked me immediately. I had been playing some Elden Ring and Sekiro to get my reflexes back in time for June's Elden Ring DLC, so when I heard positive reviews of this Sekiro-like, I decided to give it a shot. Despite its "jiggle physics" and impractical armor, the gameplay is extraordinarily satisfying and the game feels a lot more accessible than Sekiro. For example, when you unlock a new move, you can immediately go into a Tekken-like training arena to practice it. A lot of the different counter-attacks are color-coded as well, making it easy to know which move you need to do at any given time. If you enjoyed Sekiro, you'll probably love Stellar Blade.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown I hadn't played a Prince of Persia game since the original 80's version, so I was pleasantly surprised with this solid Metroidvania game. Fluid movement has been a hallmark of Prince of Persia from the very beginning, and the abilities you get in The Lost Crown make all of the platforming feel really good. The game is pretty challenging, but you can adjust the difficulty on the fly if you get stuck. There are a few platforming puzzles that are particularly hairy, but they won't keep you from beating the game. I can't really say how this compares to more recent iterations of Prince of Persia, but I ended up getting the platinum trophy on this one and had a great time in the process.

Others worth mentioning: Barely worth mentioning but three "live-service" games that I sink a lot of time into, Destiny 2, NBA 2k, and Call of Duty all had lackluster content drops this year. It feels like each series is getting complacent, leaving the door open for new games to potentially eat their lunch. I'd love to see even the faintest glimmer of innovation in any or all of these franchises, but it doesn't seem like anything is on the horizon anytime soon. I enjoyed jumping back into Elden Ring for its DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree. It took me some time to reacclimate myself to the game, but having the DLC area use its own leveling mechanic made it feel like the playing field was leveled whether you spent a little time in the Lands Between or a ton. Ryan and I spent a fair amount of time with Super Mario Party Jamboree. It's like the perfect level of challenge for his age. He gets frustrated with the minigames and doesn't quite get the nuance of the board game strategy, but with enough reps he's starting to figure it out. I didn't get to spend a ton of time with it, but Nine Sols is a gorgeous Metroidvania with some feudal Japanese influences, tight counter mechanics reminicent of Sekiro and a fairly interesting narrative. I'm looking forward to digging deeper into it, but it is quite challenging. I'd say even moreso than Prince of Persia.

Looking forward to in 2025

Travel. I'm going to Peru for the first time in 12 years in a few days to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday. I'm bummed I couldn't take the family, but having just been off for two weeks it wasn't really in the cards. I'm looking forward to seeing family and enjoing lots of Peruvian food, even if only for a few days. I splurged and upgraded to first class for the first time in my life. I figured it was worth it since I'll be spending nearly 9 hours on a plane each way.

In February I'm headed to San Diego for work. Allie and the boys are going to meet me out there mid-week and we'll spend a long weekend there before heading back together. I lived there for a year a couple decades ago and it's one of my favorite cities. We're staying at a hotel that's a stone's throw from where Allie and I had our honeymoon.

I'm not sure where work will take me the rest of the year, but New York seems like the top option for a family trip this summer. I enjoy New York because it feels like Chicago but everytime I go there I discover something new and exciting.

Turning 50. Not sure how I feel about this one. Seems like a thing to celebrate though I have no idea what I want to do. My 50th, like my 21st, falls on Easter this year, so pretty much nothing is happening on my birthday proper. I sure as hell don't feel 50 mentally but, physically, I feel like 20 years older at least. Not that you could tell by looking at me. 😅

Makin' Websites Club. I've been kicking around this idea for a website. When I first started making websites it was fun and pretty easy to learn. People were very generous about sharing their knowledge and we all kind of figured it out together and tinkered away at our little homegrown websites. Then social media took over and now these huge corporations own all of our content. On top of that, the process of making websites has become so overcomplicated that getting started seems incredibly overwhelming.

I want to make it fun and easy again for people to make their own websites. I'm not sure what form that will take but I'm looking forward to taking a crack at it.

Finding a new hobby. I need to find something new to do with my free time. I work remotely and when I'm not doing that or being a dad, I'm usually just passively consuming content, whether it's video games, movies, TV or just some bullshit on YouTube. I feel like there's a place for that but I need more balance in my life. I need to get out of the house and reaquaint myself with society in a more meaningful way than just the short banter with other parents at pickup and drop off or with the cashier in the drive-thru.

I've been pretty depressed for awhile because I feel like almost all of my interactions with people these days are transactional. People seem to only reach out when they need something from me. And I hate asking for anything, so even if people wanted to reciprocate, it wouldn't occur to me to ask.

I feel like picking up something new will get me out of my comfort zone, which is when I usually thrive. I don't want to be on my death bed and regret the sheer amount of times I went out of my way in a video game to open a chest and it had like one fucking gold coin in it.

Resolving my health issues. Feeling healthy again would go a long way toward improving my mood. I'm really trying to get ahead of all this stuff but it's easy to just feel like a number in this messed up healthcare system we have. I'm trying to switch up my doctors in hopes that I can find someone who actually listens to me and isn't just checking off boxes. Hopefully I can get things under control before everything else starts falling apart.

Thanks so much for reading. I appreciate all the support over the years and look forward to connecting with friends old and new this year. Things are probably gonna get tough, so let's look out for each other and lift each other up when we can. We'll get through it. Wishing you and your family the best in 2025.