This year wasn’t the best nor the worst. With rising costs, I would say this is the first year in my life where I cut back my spending to keep with my savings rate. I missed out on eating out and more travel. The modest amount of more income I received in 2025 vs 2024 did not cover inflation. I don’t remember that ever happening in my professional life. Both my kids this year thrived in their own ways, which, beyond making me proud, allowed me more freedom in my life.
I read about 33 books this year. I watched around 30 movies and 25 TV Series. I biked nearly 2,000 miles, walked over 630 miles and played sports (primarily beach volleyball, basketball, snowboarding) about 95 times. I played golf about 40 times (course or went to the range) – for sure my highest amount in my lifetime, meaning, I’m getting old! I went on about eight vacations, ranging from 4 days to two weeks. And according to Spotify, I listened to about 35,000 mins of music this year.
Here’s what I considered the best of what I consumed this year.
2025 ———————————————————————————————————————–
Music
Deadbeat – Tame Impala
Bonnet of Pins – Matt Berninger
Cherry Pie – Fazerdaze
Backseat – Balu Brigada
Memory of a Day – Phantogram
Movies
Sinners
Queen of Everest
One Battle after Another
Challengers
TV
Adolescence
Andor
Pluribus
The Rehearsal Season 2
Narcos
Stand Up
Love you (Netflix) – Ronny Chieng
Ridiculous (Atlanta, GA) – Louis CK
Alive and Unwell (June 13th, St Pete, Fl) – Nikki Glaser
Mister Whatever (Dec 9th, St Pete, Fl) – John Mulaney
December 31 is an arbitrary date. It’s equal to any other day of the year in reality. But our culture is built around endings and beginnings. Thus, Dec 31 indicates the last day of a year and the next day a new one starts. To me, it’s always felt as if Jan 1 starts a journey that builds until Dec 31. I try to list out my goals for the year, I start with hope and gusto, but the year grinds on and on. There are distractions along the way, and I look back at the list of goals from Jan 1 and most of the time only half of them are completed and most are completed in the beginning of the year. It makes me feel like I’ve failed despite everything else I accomplished along the way during the year that wasn’t planned. All the accomplishments that were inspired by a thought or a need mid-year somehow go by the wayside because of this list of goals I thought about around Jan 1. Some of the items on that list are even outdated yet I feel deflated them I didn’t accomplish them. How silly is that? Circumstances change within months. I shouldn’t be down on myself because I didn’t accomplish something I randomly thought of at the beginning of the year.
A year is a long time. I’m writing this struggling to even remember everything that happened this year, 2025. Thankfully I have Spotify to remind me of all the music I listened to. YouTube to recap, unnecessarily, all the videos I watched. But airlines don’t remind me of the trips I took. Friends don’t call and remind me of the fun we had. Banks don’t send me a “2025 Wrapped” of my spending. Fortunately, I can look back as I write everything down. But off the top of my head, here’s some significant 2025 memories
Spring Break skiing in Colorado with my kids. Near perfect conditions, low crowds. Felt strong on my snowboard
After the kids left, I drove to Western Colorado and witnessed the stunning beauty of snowcapped mountains and snowy riverbanks. Hiking up the Manitou Incline
A memorable trip to Oaxaca, learning about Mezcal, eating some of the best food I consumed this year
A trip to San Diego with my kids. La Jolla. The beach on the 4th of July. Being within feet of a Panda eating bamboo in front of us at the San Diego Zoo. A very fun Padres game. A day of wineries with my kids with a once in a lifetime cave tour.
My partner was moving away and the slow separation of our lives
A 6 day, 200-mile mountain bike trip in Southern Utah with my brother. The memories of those days on the trail are seared into my brain. The extreme highs and extreme lows (literally, 2000 ft climbs and 8 miles drops). The pride I felt of myself and my brother as we coasted those last 5 miles into Escalante
A week in Missouri with my son, moving him into a new place
Spending about $14,000 on home repairs and the barrage of contractors in and out of the house
Morning beach volleyball with my friends this year, getting through this year without a major injury
Live comedy shows of Louis CK, Nikki Glaser and John Mulaney
The Florida Gators Basketball team’s run to the final four and winning the championship
Looking at this list, it’s interesting that nearly all of the memories I’ll take from this year revolve around travel. And ironically, every year I look at my spending and think how I need to cut down my vacation spending. But what’s the point of living if we’re not creating memories? And if my memories are mostly about travel, why am I spending money on anything else?
I’ve recently returned from my unintentional “misogi” for 2025. A few years ago, I stumbled upon an article about the Aquarius Hut Trail in Utah. I was recently off a very fun trip with my brother and my sisters on Catalina Island, CA where we hiked a trail with pre-defined stops and little towns and restaurants along the way (Trans-Catalina trail). The stops along the way allowed a lighter load on our backs (less food/water) and provided some entertainment along the way (the stop at the Two Harbors bar was pretty memorable). Reading about the Aquarius Trail excited me because I love biking and it seemed like that would be a great way to connect with nature again but not have to carry a heavy load. 200 miles, 6 days and 5 stocked huts. What could go wrong?
I was in for much more of an adventure than I expected. On the surface, 200 miles seems very doable. From my home in Florida, I often take off for 1 to 2 hour bikes around my city on a single speed, covering 15-25 miles easily. 100 miles in one day? No problem. I have 6 days to cover 200 miles? Shouldn’t be an issue. Little did I know how different biking in the mountains of Utah was from my normal.
For starters, the weather was drastically different. I’m used to sunny, humid, warm days. Southern Utah in late September does not have those. We encountered little sun, rain, hail and sub freezing temps over the course of 6 days. The few times the sun did peak out, I cherished it. The temp felt like a 30 degree swing. Late afternoons around the hut could be short sleeves or jackets within minutes of each other.
Dramatic elevation gains proved another serious challenge. Day 2 had a 2,700 foot climb. Day 5 had climbs of 2,000 feet and 1,000 feet. I was surprised how physically and mentally challenging that could be. Climbing for hours, hoping for a downhill after every bend in the road was tough. We estimated we were averaging a mere 4 mph on most of the uphills. Often we would walk our bikes on uphills when we were exhausted and we really didn’t get too far behind the bikers that were still riding. I’m still unsure how I could have trained better to prepare for these extreme uphill climbs from Florida. Sit on a stationary bike for 2 hours on the highest resistance? That wasn’t happening.
Single track trails on Day 5 proved incredibly challenging too. Steep uphills, many slick rocks, large trees blocking the path caused us to be more off our bikes than on our bikes. My brother, would yell in frustration “I JUST WANT TO BIKE!” while we were traversing through the woods for 4-5 hours that day.
We had challenges with rain and mud too. We didn’t see too much sun and Day 3 we had a downpour / power issues at the hut we started the morning at. The mud was so bad at points that we had issues keeping our chains on and had to resort to pushing our bikes through it at points.
But it seemed often, when we were at our lowest, we were rewarded with jaw-dropping views and scenery. All the pain, exhaustion and discomfort would be immediately wiped away after turning a bend to see for uninterrupted nature for miles. Even on the infamous Day 5, we were stunned to start a downhill and immediately find a small single road bridging with an awe inspiring canyon, Hell’s Backbone. I was freezing and it was pouring down hail on us at that moment (I was happy it wasn’t rain) but I couldn’t help but feel gratitude, peace and pride looking over the railings and the canyon below. These landscapes and views made me immediately forget all the suffering we endured earlier that day.
I’m not sure if it was intentionally planned this way but Day 6, our last day, ended up being the best of the trip. The clouds had finally moved on and we had sun consistently the entire day. Besides a few minor uphills on easy roads, we had mostly downhills as we coasted above the Grand Staircase National Monument and blasted down the road at speeds near 40 mph into the valley. High speed turns, wind in your face, steep drops to your right and left: it felt like a long amusement park roller-coaster.
It was an incredible journey. A lifetime event. I’m proud to say I accomplished it. I’m warmed that my brother was along side of me nearly the entire time. I’ll forever remember the forests of aspens, the endless vistas we earned after hours of climbing, the taste of those first sips of cold beer in the well stocked hut each evening, the cold mornings reading and drinking coffee in the dark surrounded by space heaters, the extreme frustration of a non functioning muddy bicycle, the three deer blasting out of the woods 20 feet in front of us on the trail, my brother laughing as he crashed into a creek. I’m not sure I’d do it again but I’ll never forget it.
For years, Oaxaca City, Mexico has been on my radar. Initially for it’s link to Mezcal and subsequently because it’s a world class food destination. Last year, the desire to go to Oaxaca City was amplified by a very enjoyable trip to Mexico City. Plans were made, Español studied, research was done and excitement built.
First stop was Monte Albán. This UNESCO World Heritage site felt like smaller scale Teotihuacan ruins (near Mexico City) that you can walk on. A very short drive from the city and well worth it. Views for miles.
We also did a half day Mezcal tour of a the Mal de Amor palenque. Endless fields of agave, cooking large Espadin piñas, artesanal distilling and tastings. The tour of the agave fields was easily the best part as we enjoyed ice cold cervasas, drank mezcal (off the leaf!) and listened to Mexican pop songs while slowly traversing the bumpy roads.
The food scene in Oaxaca City over-delivered. We enjoyed several meals at Michelin star or recognized restaurants. Our best meal by far was the mole appetizer dish at Los Danzantes (pictured below). We also enjoyed several stops for chocolate de aquas at various cafes.
Overall though, I likely will not visit again in my lifetime. The city has so much potential to be a great vacation spot. I enjoyed walking around and seeing the street art and the one to two story vibrant homes. The beauty of the central area should be a model for the rest of the city.
However, Centro consists of only a handful of blocks. It’s very peaceful there, with tree line streets, walk-able streets and lush parks. When you see videos online of the city, those are the few blocks they’re showing. Just blocks outside of that area though, there are many one way cobble roads that motorcycles and cars race from intersection to intersection at. It’s peaceful early in the morning and in the evenings but walking those streets during the day was stressful. I’d frequently cross a street thinking it was safe and a motorcyclist would come roaring up seemingly out of nowhere. The noise of the street and the fear of my partner getting run over didn’t make walking around very enjoyable. If the city was to make some small investments to calm streets around Centro, add some trees for shade and make it more pedestrian friendly, I do believe the city would be a very welcoming spot for tourists and locals. It would for sure encourage more bike riding which would be an excellent way to get around town. I’ll end with some street art seen around the city.
In March of this year, I hiked the 2,768 steps of the Manitou Incline in Colorado. I had near zero expectations going in. My only thought was “That looks cool, I’m going to do it”. And that was probably the correct attitude to have.
However, as I ascended the steps, as my heart rate increased, I did wonder why I was doing this. Questions crept in as my leg muscles were burning. The difficulty increased the higher I got. It’s not just the fatigue, it’s the final hundreds or so steps are very steep and it takes a toll on seemingly every joint and muscle in your legs.
I cruised through the first 1,500 steps or so. Those steps aren’t very steep and obviously my energy level was higher. I didn’t take any breaks through this initial section other than for taking pictures and to figure out why my phone seemed to have died around the 1,000th step (another story and I figured it out at the top).
The last 1,000 steps or so are relentless. I had to take several breaks while goal setting in my mind (100 more then rest). The last gasp of motivation I had was noticing I was closing in on an hour. Other people had mentioned their times to the top and staying under an hour seemed a number I would be proud of. So I put my head down, slowly raised each foot up to each step, finally saw the crest just a few steps away and made it to the top.
My Fitbit results for the climb.
Why I was laboring for most of that 56 minutes, what was most fascinating were the people I encountered on this short journey. The higher I got, the more I began to bond with my follow climbers. Lots of unspoken communication as you pass each other, taking uneven breaks. We had eye rolls, head shaking, lazy waves, chuckles, it was all there.
(that’s not a design on my shirt, that’s the only dry spot)
The people themselves felt fully representative of America in 2025. I saw very old people, very young people, people of different nationalities, ruckers, barefooters, influencers, families, older single men who talked to everyone and even a dog. Many people were frequent visitors, saying “hi” to each other on their trip up or down or their second or third trip up or down. I was most impressed with the number of solo younger people. Maybe they were “doing it for the ‘gram” but they were out there doing it. It’s a challenge and they weren’t backing down, proving to themselves they can accomplish something difficult.
All in all, I figured out why I was there. I loved the challenge. I loved pushing myself. I loved the experience. And I can’t wait to do it again.
I’ve read a few books recently that theorize we should be eating more protein than we’re likely consuming a day. Personally, I felt like I eat a lot of protein. My diet involves eating eggs, peanut butter and seeds (chia, flax, hemp). I feel very comfortable with my food intake. I’m rarely hungry, never feel weak and rarely feel tired outside of my normal sleep times. It also seems like I prepare and buy plenty of food each week for one person. And I’m an active person, burning around 3,000 to 3,500 calories a day. So I calculated what an average day of protein intake was for myself and here’s the results
I rarely snack and sometimes I’ll have an extra egg, so my guess is that I’m eating between 70-75 grams of protein a day. Seems plenty to me for my age.
However, according to these publications I’m reading, I should be eating double that amount! I can’t imagine trying to eat that much more food. Or buy that much more food. Or prepare that much more food. It feels gross to think about eating more food than I already am eating.
I did a little research and it turns out that eating too much protein can cause bodily harm. Kidney issues, heart disease and colon cancers seem to be the worst possible outcomes. But on a lesser scale, weight gain (obviously), digestion issues and dehydration can be more immediate damage. I’ve also read that your body just urinates out excess protein
For now, unless I see more research, I’m going to stick to my current diet. I’m curious how these mega protein consumers will turn out in several years. Besides, it sounds like all the protein mania isn’t even good for our environment.
About a year ago, my older sister came to me with an idea. She wanted to bike 100 miles in a day. Seemed reasonable to me. There’s a long bike trail very close to my home that we could use and easily get to that 100 miles. Averaging about 20 miles/hr on a bike, doing 100 miles seemed very achievable in a day. My brother got wind of this idea and decided to come along too.
Towards the end of 2024, we picked a mid January date and went for it. The day ended up being a little overcast and cold but considering it rained the next day, it ended up being perfect, minus a strong wind on the ride South.
We left at day break, made three stops along the way, two for food and one for beer and finished as the sun was setting. The breaks made it pretty easy overall. And there wasn’t much elevation change as we’re in Florida. The wind, seemingly coming from the South, impacting us on the ride back, wasn’t ideal but we finished. My back was a little sore but overall, my legs just felt strong the next day. I was fully expecting to be sore.
I frequently visit southern California to see my other sister and we typically do a full day hike up a peak, some which are over 4,000 feet of elevation. See the Southern CA Six Pack of Peaks. Every time I’ve done one of these, it takes the full day (sunrise to sunset) and by the end I’m completely broken. Even the last few miles are very difficult and I’m begging for the next trail turn to see the parking lot. Even the thought of In ‘n Out on the way home doesn’t sooth the muscles. The day after is difficult too, as your legs are wrecked. It isn’t until sometime around the second day after you begin to recover. These hikes impacted me significantly more than the 100 mile flat bike ride. But I will do it again and will shoot for doing it in less time.
Back in early 2015, I was a few years post divorce, discovering my new “I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want” powers. It came to me that I’ve always wanted to snowboard. It looked fun and cool. I loved skiing and this was a natural extension of enjoying that hobby. I thought that if I didn’t get into it soon, it’d be too old to learn. So I booked a trip, booked lessons and headed out West with my kids to learn to snowboard.
I wasn’t going to go small with an East coast resort. The true slopes and full ski resort were West. I queried friends and learned of the Keystone resort in Colorado. It’s main selling point at the time was that it was “kid friendly”. Little did I know that, now, nearly 10 seasons later, I’d have spent nearly every season snowboarding there since. And after many falls, I’ve become a great slope snowboarder (meaning, I don’t get into the trick park very often).
I didn’t know all the benefits of Keystone at that time. It’s only about 2 hours from Denver Airport (and Southwest Airlines has two direct flights a day from my home city), you can buy a Keystone Only pass that pays for itself after about 3-4 days and Keystone truly has some of the best runs of any resort I’ve been to. It isn’t much of a party resort which is great for me. I only want to snowboard and really the truth is that I’m way too tired after a day of riding to think of much more than just relaxing, hot tubing and eating well after a full day on the slopes. I don’t want much else to get in the way of being on the slopes.
Having familiarity with a resort lessens the stress of taking a vacation with two kids. I don’t worry about losing them, missing a turn or ending up on a difficult run. We all know the resort very well now. As people of a southern state, we all love being on the snow, it doesn’t make much of a difference which resort we’re at. Also, Keystone feels less busy than most resorts and I’ve learned the times of the week that tend to be less busy.
Skiing/Snowboarding really is my ideal vacation. You’re busy most of the day but it’s active. You’re burning calories and building muscles while having fun. If only it was slightly cheaper, though I’ve done many things to lower the costs over the years.
With all that said, I think about snowboarding year round. It’s a major part of my life. The snow, the disconnection from the world. I rarely check my phone during the day, I’m hyper-focused on riding the best I can. I often plan my days to work on certain skills, polish up existing skills. The joy I feel when I’m gliding down the mountain, hitting my turns, legs slightly burning, is nothing like anything I experience in my day to day existence. I plan my exercises and stretching routines, year around, to make sure I’m ready for the season. And when I’m not out in Colorado, I often think about my next trip.
I really do wish that when I was younger, I moved to Colorado and made winter sports the main focus of my life. Obviously, I’m very happy with the role it fills in my life now but I want more!
I don’t know how to categorize the year 2024. As many other years, it had its ups and downs. I can’t remember seeing something or hearing something that was earth shattering. Re-injuring my shoulder, following a Trump victory in November really brought the year down as a whole for me personally. But overall, my children are doing very well, the rest of my family is doing well. I can’t complain much. So here is a list of my favorite things of 2024.
I recently had a business trip to downtown Houston. My prior thoughts on Houston weren’t positive. The one time I was there, I didn’t venture to Downtown and only saw parts of the city that weren’t very appealing. This trip was different. Downtown Houston is very impressive. It has a collection of several very tall skyscrapers. Many over 200 meters tall. For perspective there are 58 high-rise buildings in Houston that stand at least 427 feet (130 m) tall.
There’s also a system of tunnels and skywalks throughout downtown to avoid hot weather. The tunnels were very clean, wide and contained retail stores. Established nearly 100 years ago, the system spans about 6 miles and links 80 office buildings. It’s the largest system of tunnels in the United States.
For the most part, the downtown was very clean, contained wide 4 lane, one way roads and didn’t have much pedestrian traffic. It felt pretty plain except for one road that didn’t have cars, just the Metro. That street was Main Street. It contained many restaurants and bars and art. Pics are below.
Chad Thoughts 