It looks like I've linked you here myself. Linking people to a blogpost I wrote is often a bit akward, especially at work.
I likely shared this blog in an attempt to further a conversation. Usually the post does a better job at succinctly sharing information than I could by talking.
In any case, I hope me sharing this post doesn't come across as humblebragging, that's really the opposite of what I'm trying to achieve.
Thanks for reading!
My 2022 In Review7 min read
A year of change
This is the third consecutive Year in Review post (2020 and 2021), and what a year it has been.
The new reality of having 2 small kids in combination with out-of-home activities picking back up after the pandemic meant that more than ever 2022 became a year of Letting Go. Yet, despite much reduced project and personal time, when taking a 12 month lens I’m pleasantly surprised how much still happened. An overview.
Blogging
My planned 2022 post schedule. That didn’t happen… On a positive note: no lack of inspiration!
Let’s start with the 🐘 in the room: this blog. The year started out really well with 2 of my blogpost featuring on the Hackernews frontpage - instantly making them my most read posts ever:
Obviously this felt amazing!
Yet, with our new family reality I was rapidly running through my backlog of ready-to-publish drafts and not finding enough time to replenish it. It didn’t take me very long to realize this was unsustainable and that I needed to put my monthly posting cadence on pauze.
That was in May and this is the first post since - and that’s ok, this is not a competition. I’m hopeful that I can write more in 2023 but time will tell, I would definitely like to!
 which doesn't track individual users.](blog-goatcounter-hn.png)
What a Hackernews front-page does to website traffic. Approximate numbers, I use goatcounter which doesn’t track individual users.
](tweet-hackernews-wife.png)
Good reminder to keep perspective! Source: Tweet
Tiny Habits and Compound Effort
Born out of frustration with never finding dedicated project time, I started looking for a way to more usefully spend the free minutes I have scattered throughout the day. My goal was to exploit the concept of Compound Effort: the idea that tiny changes really add up if you keep them up consistently over a long time.
To help me with this, I used the habit-tracking app Habitica for a few months and applied the Pomodoro Technique (working in timed blocks of hyperfocus). I also still extensively use Notion to track and plan TODO lists and project plans.
](habitica-habit-overview.png)
Output of Habitica’s User Data Display Tool
While I still struggle with time management, I do believe these techniques made me more productive overall - or at least give me a feeling of productivity which has been comforting by itself.
I also read the popular Atomic Habits book by James Clear. It was the right book at the right time for me, helping to become more mindful of how I spent my time. I also understand the book’s popularity: it reads easily and does a good job at articulating Compound Effort and giving practical advice about habit building.
](pomofocus.png)
There are many pomodoro apps and websites out there, I’ve been using the simple but elegant pomofocus.io
Work
This year I also made a big role-change at work, moving back into a very technical software engineering role after having done various levels of management in the past few years. This coincidentally (?) more or less coincided with my 10y working anniversary.
Getting hands-on with technology again on a daily basis has been very rewarding and alleviated some of the stress and work-life balance challenges I was facing earlier in the year.
Spent the week helping out in the Datacenter, racking some servers and doing a whole lot of cleanup and cable management - very nice change of pace. Since taking pictures is a strict No-No, here's a generic picture of a cage, similar to the one I spend most of my week in 😇 pic.twitter.com/43kd6LzAyc
— Joris Roovers (@jorisroovers) October 21, 2022
](wordcloud.png)
Word Cloud of some of the technology I used at work this year. Generated using wordclouds.com
Wood and metal working
Not a ton of Making this year, but I did manage to do a few One Day Builds and try out some new tools. Building things in the real world (ie. not software) might be what I’ve missed most this year. I hope I can make more time for it next year!
Today's One Day Build 🛠 pic.twitter.com/uEJ01gj1J6
— Joris Roovers (@jorisroovers) February 27, 2022
New power toys 😃, just experimenting a bit! pic.twitter.com/y8hyyytO4J
— Joris Roovers (@jorisroovers) July 31, 2022
First time TIG welding today. Of the 3 major welding techniques (stick, MIG, TIG), TIG is the cleanest but most difficult one. Genuine joy when it worked for the first time! pic.twitter.com/xkoo7lhvDt
— Joris Roovers (@jorisroovers) September 25, 2022
Bought a drill press, had been on my wishlist for a long time! pic.twitter.com/yIMwyn1S12
— Joris Roovers (@jorisroovers) December 4, 2022
Gitlint
One area where I applied the idea of Compound Effort very effectively is gitlint - the open source project I maintain that allows users to enforce style rules on their git commit messages.
After a long quiet period in the first half of the year, I decided to start spending some small amount time every weekday towards a release. The result was a good-sized release mid-November, and a continued stream of small but good improvements.
](gitlint-stars.png)
gitlints popularity kept growing this year, with 630+ stars and a perceived increase in community involvement. Source: star-history.com
Home Lab and Home Automation
At the start of the year, I built a Home Lab using a Ubiquiti Unifi network and a Synology DS920+ NAS, organized in a 16U Networking Cabinet. I also built out a new Wifi mesh network based on Ubiquiti Wifi 6 Access Points.
This setup has been rock solid over the past year and has enabled a number of new applications and workflows I use on a daily basis.
My small networking cabinet. Still very happy with it!
This year, I finally got a NAS. Besides meeting my modest storage needs, I also run an HTTP proxy and some light VM workloads on it. The latter have become indispensable.
Unfortunately, Home Automation didn’t get much attention this year. Other than keeping up with the monthly releases of Home Assistant and the occasional tweak, my setup didn’t evolve that much.
Stuck a temp sensor to the kitchen hood, works well with a @home_assistant trend sensor to detect when we start cooking. Lights and music then adjust accordingly 👨🍳🕺 pic.twitter.com/qfX90OZcbB
— Joris Roovers (@jorisroovers) February 10, 2022
 (replacing [Home Assistant Blue](https://www.home-assistant.io/blue)). I hope to do that soon.](ha-yellow.png)
At the time of writing, I still need to install my Home Assistant Yellow (replacing Home Assistant Blue). I hope to do that soon.
Media: books, videogames and music
While in 2021, I read a record 14 (audio)books, this year I only read half of that (7 books). I hope that I can find more time again in 2023 because listening to audio books is something I both really enjoy and find incredibly intellectually enriching.
Endurance by Alfred Lansing tells the true story about how the Trans-Antarctic expedition led by Ernest Shackleton lost their ship and spent two years trying to get back to civilization. Great read.
I only recall a few things from The Antroprocene Reviewed by John Green - which is really a collection of essays/reviews and not a single narrative - yet I do remember thoroughly enjoying it. 4 stars.
*** which itself is a fascinating topic which I ended up reading a lot more about.](book-the-obstacle-is-the-way.png)
While I didn’t particularly like the writing style of The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday, it did introduce me to Stoicism which itself is a fascinating topic which I ended up reading a lot more about.
I only played 3 few video games this year, but all of them were really good.
** at the start of 2022 and ***Boy,*** what a game it is. A+, must play.](game-gow.png)
I only got around the playing the 2018 God of War at the start of 2022 and Boy, what a game it is. A+, must play.
** was the first game I played on my new PS5 and I absolutely loved it. Highly recommended if you like SciFi and shooter games.](game-cyberpunk.png)
Cyberpunk 2077 was the first game I played on my new PS5 and I absolutely loved it. Highly recommended if you like SciFi and shooter games.
**) looks amazing on the PS5.](game-rift-apart.png)
If you’re unfamiliar with the Ratchet and Clank series you might be fooled thinking it’s a kids game. It’s not, and actually quite difficult at times and the latest edition (Rift Apart) looks amazing on the PS5.
I also went to quite a few concerts and music festivals this year. Standouts: James Bay (I can’t believe he’s not more known!) and the performance of Imagine Dragons at Pinkpop. Disappointment of the year: The War on Drugs (I don’t get the hype 🤷♂️).
The Imagine Dragons concert at Pinkpop (Netherlands) during nightfall was fantastic. This video doesn't quite capture the scale, there were 70.000 people there!
And more…
 (highly recommended). I'm still surprised I *actually* use its proving and bread baking function with regularity!](bread.jpeg)
This year, I bought a Ninja Foodi Multicooker (highly recommended). I’m still surprised I actually use its proving and bread baking function with regularity!
- A nice relaxing holiday in southern France
- Visiting the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps for the second consecutive year
- Starting bread baking on the regular
- Assembling my first Lego Technic kit
- Daily gardening during the summer and actually enjoying it!
- Daily healthy meal prepping
The new reality of having 2 small kids meant that more than ever 2022 became a year of Letting Go of expectations and plans. Truth is that this wasn’t without challenge. Only in the last few months I’ve been able to pick some things back up. While 2023 is setting out to be a busy year once more, I do think it will also bring more opportunity to learn, build and explore. Some of that is already in the works 😎 🇵🇹. Onwards!