Life update - September 2021

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 11:53:32 -0400

Blogging sometimes feels like talking to an imaginary friend. It's an interesting comparison because it could help me write more regularly. For example: I can picture myself going to dinner with my imaginary friend. Once we sit down, what would we talk about? What would I share?

I'd share that I've been doing well the past year.

Work is going well. I'm fortunate to help lead at a growing software company. We continue to hit record sales quarter after quarter, and hired more than 250 new employees in 2021 alone. Keeping up with all the work can be challenging but I continue to have fun and learn a lot, which is the most important part.

Most days I work from home. Working from home consists of 8 hours of Zoom meetings, followed by email, presentation and planning work. I finish most work days energized and drained at the same time.

Over the course of two years, I've created a home office setup that is more comfortable, more ergonomic, and more productive than my desk at the office. I invested in an ergonomic chair, standing desk, camera setup, a second screen, and even a third screen. Possibly an interesting topic for a future blog post.

Despite having a great home office setup, I'd like to work more from interesting locations. I'm writing this blog post from an island on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire where we have a management offsite. Working from an island is as awesome as it sounds. The new hybrid work arrangement provides that extra flexibility.

Overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Coffee and laptop for morning blogging.

When not working, I've been enjoying the summer in Boston. We moved from the suburbs to the city this year, and have been busy exploring our new neighborhood. We love it!

I've been very happy with our decision to move to the city, except for one thing: tennis. I love playing tennis with a coach, and that has been nearly impossible in the city. As a result I haven't played tennis for months – the lack of workout routine has been really bothering me. Because I love racket sports the most, I started to explore if there are good squash, pickleball or table tennis options in downtown Boston. Recommendations welcome!

Last but not least, we spent some time at Cape Cod this summer, and traveled to Iceland for a weekend. I'll tie off this blog post with a few photos of those trips.

A red moon over the water in Cape Cod.

Dinner at Cape Cod.

S'mores on the beach.

Exploring Cape Cod

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 09:41:51 -0400

This past weekend Vanessa and I took our much-anticipated annual weekend trip to Cape Cod. It's always a highlight for us. We set out to explore a new part of the Cape as we've extensively explored the Upper Cape.

We found The Platinum Pebble Inn in West Harwich by way of TripAdvisor, a small luxury bed and breakfast. The owners, Mike and Stefanie Hogan, were extremely gracious hosts. Not only are they running the Inn and serving up delicious breakfasts, they would ask what we wanted to do, and then created our adventure with helpful tips for the day.

On our first day we went on a 35 km (22 miles) bike ride out to Chatham, making stops along the way for ice cream, shopping and lobster rolls.

While we were at the Chatham Pier Fish Market, we watched the local fisherman offload their daily catch with sea lions and seagulls hovering to get some lunch of their own. Once we arrived back at the Inn we were able to cool off in the pool and relax in the late afternoon sun.

Saturday we were up for a hike, so the Hogans sent us to the Dune Shacks Trail in Provincetown. We were told to carry in whatever we would need as there weren't any facilities on the beach. So we stopped at an authentic French bakery in Wellfleet to get lunch to take on our hike – the baguette took me right back to being in France, and while I was tempted by the pain au chocolat and pain aux raisins, I didn't indulge. I had too much ice cream already.

After we picked up lunch, we continued up Route 6 and parked on the side of the road to begin our journey into the woods and up the first of many, intense sand dunes. The trails were unmarked but there are visible paths that pass the Dune Shacks that date back to the early 1900's. After 45 minutes we finally reached the beach and ocean.

We rounded out the weekend with an afternoon sail of the Nantucket Sound. It was a beautiful day and the conditions lent themselves to a very relaxing sailing experience.

It was a great weekend!