I have to say, life right now is pretty good. I’m spending my birthday weekend in one of the most beautiful areas of the country, with my lovely wife, and our awesome dog. Last night we celebrated by sharing a vegan chocolate mini cake we happened to find at the Whole Foods here. We both have steady incomes, and a home we own. Materially, we want for very little.

Around each of these last few birthdays — probably since I turned 30 — some part of me feels very amazed that I am still alive, that I’ve lived to be this old.

But here I am. And I’m thankful for that.

So what do I hope the next year to be like?

I want to get my asthma under control. I’m tired of coughing all of the time. I’m tired of not sleeping through the night. I miss biking and running and strenuous physical activity.

I want to find another house for us to live in. One that provides more room, where Sherri’s mom can come live with us and where we can control the environmental allergens better (allergies to dust mites and soil mold are the main cause of my asthma).

I want to continue working on the Stumptown Syndicate activities I love, including Open Source Bridge and BarCamp. We’ve made a lot of progress this year, and I think we can make even more progress during the next.

Lastly, I want to have more adventures this year. Admittedly, Sherri and I both work too much. Between our full time tech jobs and our community work, we hardly take any time off. I’d like to work on changing this and I’d like to do so by exploring more of the beautiful Pacific Northwest and by taking a more extended vacation. We’ve been brainstorming ideas, but haven’t settled on anything yet. A vegan cruise. An Alaskan cruise. Driving through the Southwest to the Grand Canyon. Returning to see more of Hawaii.

I think this next year is going to be a good one.