In a sense, 2022 was a year of staying the course - there weren’t any dramatic changes in my career or personal life; now that I’m out of college and school the path foward is less apparent and more what I want it to be. It’s been a good year regardless, and being on cruise control isn’t the same as taking things easy.
PROGRESS ON 2022 GOALS
Physically: I wanted to add muscle mass, with a target of growing from 160 to 180 pounds. While I only got a DEXA scan at the end of the year, I ended 2022 at 174.4 lbs. (not bad) and 23.8% body fat (excluding bone mass), which was a bit higher than I would have preferred. I also wanted to hit 7,000 minutes on Peloton, and ended at ~6,600. I’ll give myself a B here - things could have been better, but overall this was pretty close.
Socially: I did spend a solid amount of time with friends that I made through work, and even though nearly all of the friends I’ve made outside of work are folks from college or before, I would like to spend a bit more time with them to make sure that previously strong friendships don’t fade unintentionally. I was able to see my girlfriend every month except for June, though I was happy to spend about 2 continuous weeks with her toward the end of the year. Nonetheless, the challenge is getting beyond “relationship maintenance mode” with nightly calls and short weekend visits and into “relationship building” with longer trips and more quality time. I’ll give myself a B here also - while I’m happy overall with my social life, I think I could have focused a bit better old old friends.
Professionally: I definitely feel comfortable in my role at BCG now, and even though I can tell some obvious places to improve, I can feel good about work. I’ll give myself an A here.
“Being a good person” and giving more than I receive is hard to measure, but earlier I was thinking about the financial life I wanted to lead and landed on this idea of being able to (in addition to donations) buy products that were “better” not just in terms of quality, but in terms of being made without underpaid labor, being made sustainably, etc. My dad jokes about buying “scream-free” eggs at the grocery store, and I don’t have a better phrase for it right now, so I’m going with living a scream-free life. Overall, I’ll give myself an A here on account of donating my usual 20% of gross salary, but in the upcoming year I’ll have a bit stronger codification.
Getting outside: I did get quite a few trips to places “outside” this year, namely over the Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends (both to Colorado) in addition to occasional hikes with my girlfriend in the Bay Area. However, I think I missed a lot of opportunities to run outside and enjoy the bayou (I’m only half-joking). I’ll give myself a C, just because I ought to be running outside more.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2022
I hung out with friends from work… a lot. Smaller events included line dancing at Armadillo Palace, a murder mystery party, karaoke and dinner in Chinatown, several trips to the nearby cider bar, going to watch Nimesh Patel do standup comedy, happy hour at Eight Row Flint, a crawfish boil at Memorial Park, the usual going out on Washington, exploring some cistern in Houston, watching the most epic fireworks show at the River Oaks Country Club, hanging out at a partner’s lake house (at an artificial lake!), visiting Space Center Houston, watching a couple of Dynamo matches, hosting and attending housewarming parties, two-stepping, Friendsgiving, and watching the World Cup.
Also through work, I went to watch the Rockets beat the Cavs with incredible seats, watched several partners ride a mechanical bull that got set up in the office, watched a jazz performance followed by a trip to the “sound room” in one of the principals’ townhomes, a visit to Austin for a Texas office sports tournament (I didn’t play, but it was a fun trip), watched Jess King (from Peloton) give a 30-minute talk (which I wasn’t impressed by), went to an office retreat in the Hill Country (where I messed up the dress code, bigtime), had some incredible dinners throughout Houston, volunteered at the Houston Food Bank, did a muffin decorating class at Central Market, visited New York City for a conference (but that was quite disappointing, I’ll need to return to give it another shot), went to a Diwali party, flew to Chicago for a week of training with a bunch of Associates that started at the same time as me, got to drive a GT4 around the Circuit of the Americas for 4 laps (epic, but I also hyped myself up too much for that), worked from Los Angeles for a week (Manhattan Beach is insanely gorgeous for the sunrise), and went to an epic holiday party.
On the topic of work, I was only on two cases the entire year, both of which worked out quite well. The second one introduced me to work travel, which I’m overall quite happy with.
I kicked off the year by finishing a visit to my girlfriend, during which I did my first wine tasting in Napa. Honestly, I’m more of a beer guy.
One of my best friends from college got engaged, and then later in the year, married. I was one of the groomsmen, which was a fun experience.
Later this year, my girlfriend got a puppy named Mabel. She’s such a sweet dog with a fear of rain, a love for chasing the ball, and fear-based aggression.
I developed a love for tinned fish, especially sardines and mackerel. For those interested King Oscar sardines in extra virgin olive oil (or Mediterranean style) is the good stuff at about $3. Patagonia Provisions makes a roasted garlic mackerel for $6 that’s out of this world, especially if eaten with fresh toasted sourdough.
Along similar lines, Central Market released a new line of pricey but similarly out-of-this-world pasta sauces. I bought more jars than necessary, but they’ve all been fantastic.
I got a refined understanding of the medical system when a dog bit me in a sensitive region.
I visited my girlfriend for a week around early May and got to explore Ft. Funston. We took Mabel camping, but she got a bit territorial and had to leave early.
I visited Austin to see my other best friend from college, who got some kittens. I also went to the gun range for the first time, which was a pretty cool experience.
I went to Rocky Mountain National Park with some friends, which was an all-around epic experience that I highly recommend, especially if you stay at an Airbnb on 7 acres.
I moved apartments with my roommate. The new place is significantly nicer, and that enabled me to host many more events.
I visited Summit County with my girlfriend over the Labor Day weekend. We rode e-bikes from Breckenridge to Copper Mountain, which was an amazing experience. I went back a few months later to hang with an old friend from high school - we hiked in the cold.
I spent a weekend in Nashville with work friends. We did a pedal pub, which was a lot of fun (and a lot of booze). Hattie B’s hot chicken was excellent, as was the Lane Motor Museum and the amount of live music on Broadway.
I finally checked off going to see one of my favorite bands (Harbour) perform live with my girlfriend. Musically, it’s better on the album, but they had awesome energy the entire time.
I had a family reunion on my Mom’s side in the Hill Country. I also had a family reunion on my Dad’s side on a cruise through Mexico and Honduras (but highly tourist-y parts, so I don’t really count it as travel abroad). I have thoughts on cruises.
goals for 2023
Physically: (1) Maintain my current weight of 175 pounds, but drop my body fat percentage to be 15%. (2) Run a half marathon in under 100 minutes.
Socially: (1) Grow in my relationship, and close the distance gap to be under 3 hours door-to-door. I should be seeing my girlfriend every other week by the end of the year. (2) Maintain great friendships in Houston with folks I met through work. (3) Put effort and thought into maintaining relationships with friends from the pre-BCG era.
Professionally: (1) Get promoted to Consultant. (2) Develop a plan for the next few years - when would I go back to school? Do I want to think about a career shift? (3) Take the GRE, and get a highly competitive score for Stanford’s GSB and MSE programs.
Being “Scream-free”: (1) Continue donating 20% of my gross earnings from my job. (2) Live a “scream-free” lifestyle as much as possible, incl. leaning pescatarian. (3) Begin to contribute to high-quality carbon offsets demand.
things to ponder
Although I’m comfortable right now, is the character development value from diving into the deep-end of a “radical” lifestyle change worth it?