ow that I’m sitting down and writing this post I realize that I accomplished a lot in 2024, but it really just makes me want more. However I think it’s important look back and be grateful for what you have, especially so in such a distracted modern world. Writing this post is a chance for me to do that, but also take stock of what I wasn’t able to do and hopefully do better next year. I doubt this will be interesting for anyone but myself so excuse the writing style.

A trip to Japan

HIRAYU ONSEN 2024-04-09

It’s no secret that I love visiting Japan, so this year finding myself with some extra money, time off and a nearly 20 year desire to see a Formula 1 race I went to Japan. Well I didn’t just go, we went (Tram, Norris and I). I’ve been following Formula 1 since 2005 as a Honda fan and Suzuka is one of my favorite tracks to watch (and drive in Gran Turismo) so it was the perfect excuse to go. I also want to make sure that Norris is able to see the world, even when he might not remember it as it defintely shapes who he is. We stayed a couple nights in Yokohama, headed to Nagoya for the race, then up to Hirayu Onsen to relax and back to Tokyo for the rest of the trip. It was a challenge taking Norris (16 months at the time), in particular always finding the elevator in the train station and getting him to keep quite while out eating, but I don’t regret the trip at all. On the way back from Japan we even stayed in Oahu for a week which was a welcome slower pace of life. The whole trip deserves it’s own (or several) posts so I’ll leave it at that.

Scanning in memories

NORTH LAKE 1993

I’m always trying to reduce the amount of stuff I own. I hate clutter and things just sitting in boxes until it’s maybe (definitely not) needed at some point in the future. We had a decent amount of old print photos that we never look at so I resolved to get a scanner and start scanning them in so that I could display them on our Home Assistant dashboard and use it as a TV screen saver. I was able to snag a used Epson V750 Pro for a decent price and got to work. I was able to get through our photos pretty quickly and have since moved on to my moms photos, in fact I’m actively scanning while I write this blog post. My plan is to scan everything, with others help tag the date, location and subject of the photo then use Digikam to find duplicates and auto tag people so that I have a searchable database. Longer term I’d like to use the photos as prompts to interview my parents and Tram’s parents so that I can make some videos to pass on to Norris.

Many miles ridden

Last year I set a goal of cycling 1000 miles, but fell short by 184 miles. This year I decided to up the goal to 1,250 miles and made an effort to get out earlier in the year. I made some excellent progress thru July and August and was trending ahead of goal, but then had a crash with a car in September which destroyed my bike. I didn’t get a new bike until mid-October, but even so I was able to hit my goal a tad early on December 19th. In 2025 I’m required to go the office 5 days a week instead of the 3 days I had been in 2024. With a ~13.5 mile round trip commute I could hit just shy of 3,500 miles in a year if I biked ever day and took no vacations. I’m going to set my goal at 2,000 miles instead to allow for days off or terrible weather that I don’t feel like riding in. However I’d also like to do a century ride and some nice long gravel rides this year which will help add some miles back in. Where will two wheels take me this year?

Health

In 2024 I had two health related goals: to get down to 190 pounds and to drink alcohol 50% or less of the days out of the year. I didn’t hit either goal unfortunately. For my weight I made it from 213 pounds down to 200 pounds, my lowest being ~195 pounds which is good progress, but I have really need to make some adjustments to my diet. As for drinking alcohol I regressed a bit this year, drinking on 64% of the days this year compared to 58% of the days last year. I’ll keep these goals the same for 2025.

Yakitori

AOGAKU BOUNENKAI 2024-12-29

I like yakitori. Whenever someone ask me what Japanese food I like (after I tell them I don’t like sushi much), I tell them yakitori. The smell. The simplicity. The dark cramped quarters it is served in. I really like yakitori. Unfortunately in Portland there aren’t many places serving good yakitori. I resolved to get a yakitori konro this year, but knew that I wanted to be able to use it year round, that meant being able to grill in my garage. Alas a rarely driven car was in the garage taking up space. So we sold it and I bought a grill. We’ve now had four yakitori parties, I’ve created a website with the menu and we will continue to have parties once a month. I don’t have any plans to open a real restaurant, but I do enjoy honing my technique. Maybe in 10 years I’ll be able to open my own yakitori restaurant.

JLPT

I set a goal of taking and passing the JLPT N3 this year. I did take it on December 9th, although I doubt I passed it and I won’t know until the end of January. I really used it as an excuse to up my Japanese studying commitment and I think it helped. I took the JLPT N4 back in 2017 and passed with a total score of 90/180 (60/120 for Vocab, Grammar & Reading, 30/60 for listening). It’s obviously been a while and I hadn’t been keeping up with my studies. This year I realized after a couple months in that I was getting to the point of being able to read material that was interesting to me rather than just typical textbook stuff. This has made studying a lot more fun as I can now immerse better. I also used some other tools which helped. I’ll probably make a separate post on what my journey has been like and what I’m currently using to study. If I didn’t pass N3 this year I’ll likely sign up to take it again next year to help me keep motivation. If I did pass I might sign up for N2 and just say fuck it to see what I get.

So many noodles

Back in 2023 I came up with the bright idea to eat at all the Phở restaurants in Portland, I’m still continuing that journey and have a long way to go. I’m up to 39 of the 54 places visited once and my goal is to visit each place at least twice, ideally three times. I want a fair score for each restaurant and anyone can have an off day so averaging it out seems like the best approach. There’s a website which has the ranking, but scores won’t be released until I’ve visited at least twice. A reddit post got some decent traction and feedback so I can’t wait to share once I’ve gone to each place twice and hear how everyone disagrees with me.

Looking to 2025

No video evidence

I have a lot of video. I have made a decent amount of hiking videos and have a huge backlog. I’ve also taken a lot of travel and family videos over the years. I like to edit videos, but I need a decent chunk of time to work on them, it’s hard for me to put in an hour here and there. My goal next year is to try and get one video edited per month. Some might be posted public, most will probably be private. I don’t want these videos to waste away until I die, I want to see them frequently so I can remember all the fun things I’ve done with the people I love. I’ve already loaded a ll my hiking videos and a few personal ones onto my NAS and setup our living room TV to play them as a screensaver, along with photos, and it’s been great. My son gets to see the cool things his mother and I have done and we get to laugh and cry about our life. It’s so much better than letting it rot on a hard drive.

Raise the roof

Early in 2024 there was an intense ice storm in Portland which knocked out power for a lot of people and burst a lot of pipes. We were lucky to avoid both, but when the thaw started to happen there was some ice damming at the intersection of our main roof and a dormer which caused a leak to come through to the dining room. I was able to use a bucket during the thaw that I had to change out every 6-10 hours to stop any further water damage and I patched the hole over the summer, but it was a sign that a new roof might be needed. I’ve wanted to get rid of our non-functional chimney, remove the aesthetic dormers, install a metal roof and eventually install solar panels. It’s looking like 2025 might be the year to get that done.

Camping

We only went camping a few times in 2024 so in 2025 I’d like to get out a lot more. I’ve already booked a yurt for March and have a campground site for May. In June I think it’s time to take Norris dispersed camping for the first time, especially since I bought a Snow Peak Takibi Grill. It’s also time to take him on his first backpacking trip and I plan to take him to the same lake my parents took me backpacking for the first time.

Conclusion

There was a lot more that happened, good and bad, but I think this touches on the major points. Overall 2024 was a positive year and it’s left me excited to see what I can experience in 2025.