Twenty-six

Personal

Today is my birthday! It is also, if you write it the right way, a palindrome: 01-11-10. (Hat tip: Mike Adams.)

Twenty-five was a very good year. I started out with a lot of goals and actually made progress or accomplished most of them, as well as some things I didn’t anticipate. Of my 14 resolutions last year 10 of them are solid or at least had significant improvement, while the things I never do I still didn’t do: Spanish, cooking, exercise. (I might post a more detailed review later.) The thing I’m most happy with this year has been quantity of reading — I’ve read more in the last year than the past several years combined, and have also started keeping up with periodicals (New Yorker, Economist, Atlantic, Wired) pretty much every issue which has helped me feel much better informed about the world. The most significant device to me in 2009 wasn’t the iPhone, it was the Kindle.

In some ways I’ve nested a lot in the past year, including the oh-my-goodness scary commitment of buying my first place, but at the same time I’m still addicted to movement. I saw the excellent movie Up in the Air recently and related to it more than I was comfortable.

I’d like for twenty-six to be an infrastructure year, laying down the groundwork for things to come. No open source resolution like last year, but here’s what I’d like to focus on in 2010:

  • Minimize and simplify, try to de-cruft and streamline as much as possible, particularly with regards to physical possessions.
  • Move, which hopefully is a good opportunity for the above.
  • Eat, hopefully not too richly, and stop when I’m full. (I have so much trouble with that, I love food and I’m a completionist.)
  • Watch Farscape from start to finish, since my sister gave it to me for Christmas.
  • Bike and walk, more than drive.
  • Learn more about captology.
  • Showcase my photography, in print, somewhere.
  • Redesign, this site, because it’s fun. 🙂
  • Talk more, with the people I love.
  • Eliminate “sort of” and “kind of” from my speech.
  • Launch, launch, launch. (Code for me: JQ, OT, NA, MT, BB, UL, MA, VP, NT, 5L, 20, 70.)

This is the eighth year I’ve blogged my birthday: 19, 20, 21, 22 (this one is funny), and 23, 24, and 25. Whew. Here’s to the second quarter century of life.

All birthday posts: 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40.

143 thoughts on “Twenty-six”

  10. Hi Sir Matt! Happy Birthday to you! You’re one of the most successful person that I know and you serve as an inspiration to many of us. More power to you and to all Automattic projects!

    Reply

  44. Consider stopping before you get full. I’ve heard it takes 15 to 20 minutes for your digestive system to tell your brain that you’ve had enough to eat.

    Just a thought.

    But eat all the birthday cake you can hold! 😉

    Reply

  46. Happy Birthday, Matt. Don’t make too many resolutions; it just makes you feel guilty. I made one this year: unsubscribe from unwanted email lists. I still can’t manage to make a dent after two weeks! So I conclude that resolutions suck.

    But you don’t. You’re such a sweetheart! Good luck in your new place, and get a cleaning person immediately. That’s the secret to home ownership.

    Reply
  48. Pingback: Happy Birthday, Mr WordPress « Neil's second decade

    1. I like that goal as well! I am also very happy that you will finally be able to see the end of Farscape.
      Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, you’re missing The Peacekeeper Wars (the movie they made several years after the series finale). Maybe I’ll get it for you next Christmas.

      Reply

  55. Happy Birthday Matt! It amazes me to think that you’re only 26! Considering the number of amazing things you accomplished in 2009, I’d say you have your work cut out for you this year. But with 3.0 and the bazillion other things I’m sure you have up your sleeve, i’m sure it’s not going to be that tough 🙂

    Reply

  56. Happy Birthday!

    I’m 26 in June and so I always read your targets with interest. Keeps me sharp knowing how much you’ve done in a similar time, inspiring really.

    Great to meet you last year, hope to again some day.

    Have a great day&year, best of luck with your goals.

    -Mark (25 for now)

    Reply

  60. A very happy birthday to you, Matt. It was so nice to spend time with you while you were at Delhi for the wordcamp.

    I’m sure you will have many reasons for celebrations this year. 🙂

    Reply

  64. Happy belated Birthday. Hope you had a wonderful day! Can’t image what all of us would do without WP. Thanks and keep up the good work at Automattic.

    Reply

  77. Happy Birthday, biking and walking could help all of the other things, bringing you fresh ideas.
    I’m picturing the top of a hill, which you’ve climbed yourself with the bike – that could be the best inspiration.And since you’re completionist, you just have to start 🙂

    Reply

  89. Happy Birthday Matt.

    I just turned 29 recently.
    Hope you have a great 2010.

    Interesting about the Kindle. My father just got one and since I’ve played with it for a few minutes I’ve really wanted to buy one but now I’m waiting to see what Apple comes out with.

    Reply

  98. I thank God that you were born. I will never be able to blog if it was not for WordPress that you invented.

    I was trying so many stuff in order to bring my Christian resource blog online, before I stumbled upon WordPress, and none of them really worked.

    Any way happy birth day and looking forward to WordPress 3.0… God bless you and your work.

    Reply
  100. Pingback: Motivation For 2010 — Sticky Bean Legs

  102. Happy birthday! And while I’m at it, thanks for the inspiration that brought me into the web development world.

    Cheers!

    Reply

  103. Happy Birthday Matt! Hopefully you can make it down to Hawaii again like you did that one time at pod camp lol. We shook hands but never really talked, lets add that too the list of resolutions if you make it back down here 🙂

    Reply

  106. Feliz cumpleanos, amigo… As a fellow gringo who grew up in a broder state, I can tell you the quickest way to learn Spanish is to find yerself a very pretty and smart “profesora”… but your current squeeze won’t be too happy.. I married my profesora, thus ending my foreign languages… Thanks for being here..thanks more than I can ever express for not only bringing WordPress into being, but making it so eazzy… I am an ex-Drupal user… gave that up in 2007… felicidades!!!

    Reply

  110. Happy Birthday, Matt.

    One thing, in addition to being a palidrome, yesterdays, date in binary was 30. Coincidentally, the day before was 26 in binary.

    Thanks for your great work with WordPress!

    Reply

  111. I particularly love your first resolution! I am also going to follow in your footsteps there. Hope you had a great birthday. The cooking thing will get a revisit if I have anything to do with it.

    Reply

  113. Happy Birthday! And thanks for introducing me to the word completionist. Sure describes me! Good work for your first 25 years. I’m sure the best is yet to come.

    Reply

  122. Happy Birthday Matt. You’ve done an amazing job getting a lot done by the time you turned 26. I look up to you a lot in that regard as someone who is a few years younger. Keep up the good work!

    Reply
  131. Pingback: Things I learned this week – #3 | dougbelshaw.com/blog

  132. Happy Birthday! Of course, by the time I was 26 I had also conquered the Internet with my own open source software. No, wait, sorry… I meant I was addicted to Half Life 2, but it’s kind of similar… 🙂

    Reply

  133. Happy belated Birthday Matt!

    You take beautiful photos, many of the photos of people look wonderful. Even if you print a limited edition of your photo book for friends and families will be a great fun.

    P.S. I am looking at my library copy of Jeff Bridges’ “Pictures”. Jeff has taken some beautiful photos over the years and he started with printing a small number of copies for cast and crews of the films he was in.

    Reply

  135. Alles Gute zum Geburtstag! Nachtraeglich!

    – regarding your year ahead; you want to ‘[e]liminate “sort of” and “kind of”’ from your regular expressions?

    As being precise and clear in descriptions and commentary?

    Then read more, practice in writing and speaking (writing a speech). Very complementary, uh!?

    Reply
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