Another year, another wrap-up! I’m an absolute broken record on these things, but you haven’t read one in a year so maybe you don’t remember that I write basically the same thing every year. 2025 was definitely even better than 2024, which is hard to believe. Before I sit down to write these posts I think, “I guess not that much new happened this year, but I’ll write about it anyway” and then I look at the photos and am reminded of just how much happened. Here are some highlights in no particular order.
Nature
Halfway through the year or so I felt like I was spending too much time in front of screens and decided to spend more time in nature. I decided I’d hike a small part of the Appalachian trail in 2026 and started researching lightweight gear (no one is surprised here…). I was worried I wouldn’t use the year very much but I’ve already gone camping a few times and have absolutely loved it. Believe it or not, Vegas has a couple really great camping spots. In the summer you can go up to the mountains where it’s cool, and in the winter you can hike to some amazing hot springs next to the Colorado river.
My wife and I also got into RV trips. We went from Vegas to Seattle and then did an RV trip through Banff a few months later. We were going to buy an RV and probably still will, but we’ve had too much going on to deal with it right now.
The boat also works again (I said it worked last year, but it ended up breaking for most of this year) and we’ve been out on it a ton. When we’re in Vegas we probably go camp across the lake on it once per week. I also did some fun upgrades so that we have good internet and tons of power while we’re out there. I’m probably going to write a blog post about boats because I don’t think people understand how awesome they are. Everyone knows they break a lot and are expensive, but they never realize that boat owners know this better than anyone and they still have boats.
Cruises
Speaking of boats, I went on 6 cruises for a total of around 66 days. Sort of crazy that 18% of my year is on a cruise ship! Abstractly it felt like borderline too many cruises, but as I look back at the photos, each one was such an amazing time that I couldn’t choose one to have cut out. The best cruise by far was one where I had already planned on going with a bunch of friends, and then invited family members, thinking they probably wouldn’t come. It ended up being 50/50 family and friends and was such an awesome memorable time.
(Photo is a cool cliff view from Funchal, Madeira)
CruiseSheet
And… I’m in the business of cruises! AI programming became amazing in 2025 so I finally nailed down some features I’ve always wanted. Mainly the cruise ship tracker and the port guides. The port guides are so good that they’re basically the only thing I check when I go to a new port. I didn’t work a ton of hours, but AI helped me get some great leverage and get good results. The business has grown a little bit YoY, but not tremendously. That’s ok— I’m happy to have the site I like instead of the most profitable site.
Island Progress
Speaking of places I go that are totally surrounded by water… 2025 was an amazing year for the island. We had some really memorable and fun trips and got a lot done. We now have indoor running hot and cold water, power, and internet (internet may have been last year, can’t remember). My cabin has also come along nicely and is 100% waterproof and has two decks, one screened in and one open. I love spending time there and already can’t wait to get back there this spring.
Photo is my cabin
Art
I was on a tear ten years ago buying art, but I hadn’t bought too much since then. This year I got two art pieces that I had been hunting for for years. The first is a ceramic piece by Yu Tanaka. Todd waited outside at her show in Tokyo so that he could be the first in and we could buy sculptures before she sold out. I also got an oil panting by Károly Lotz, who is my favorite Hungarian artist.
Photo is the Yu Tanaka sculpture. It’s ceramic, not cloth.
Art of Watchmaking
My Rolex had started to be a bit fast (10 seconds a day). I was about to take it in to get it fixed and then I thought… why don’t I try to fix it first? If I break it more, I was going to get it fixed anyway. I had to buy this wrench that’s so small that you can’t see the jaws with the naked eye, and used it to adjust the two weights on the balance wheel. It worked! I honestly couldn’t believe it.
Photo is me working on it. I couldn’t get a picture of me with the wrench because the slightest tremor could break the watch.
Family
This was an awesome year for family. I spent a ton of time with my nephew, and every year he’s more fun to interact with. Family members came on a cruise with me, came to the island, and met me in Japan. Since covid I had fallen out of visiting my dad’s side of the family, but I spent some great time with them this year and am already planning to see them again this summer.
My grandfather loves hearing about my travels and random real estate purchases, but he’s 95 and doesn’t travel anymore. This year I had the idea to buy a Quest 3 to record my spaces and then let him put it on and look around. He was absolutely blown away and can’t wait to see more. So much for extra space in my backpack.
Friends
I made a couple of new friends this year, including one who introduced me to the world of board game conventions. I could write a whole blog post about that. I spent a lot of quality time with my existing friends, both in Vegas and on trips all over the place. I also went to a middle school reunion and reconnected with a few of my favorite people from then. My middle school was a really special place with special people, and it’s been so fun to see who they’ve become. I met one of them and his family in Chicago after the reunion, and another and her family came to visit in Vegas.
Chicago
My wife and I bought a place in Chicago. I thought i was done with more home bases but I spent a week in Chicago and was just blown away by how awesome it is. I’ve been enjoying the museum, the ballet, the symphony, kayaking on the river, the food, the architecture, and just walking around a beautiful city. Of course I mainly like that it’s an opportunity for me to do projects. Now I am really done buying new places… It’s already too hard for me to visit all of the places I have as much as I’d like to.
Photo is me kayaking in the Chicago river.
Travel
Other than cruises, it was a pretty normal travel year. I went to all of our properties 2-3 times and went to some new places. My favorite new place was Poland. Both Krakow and Warsaw were amazing, and I look forward to spending more time there. We visited the salt mine outside of Krakow and I thought that was one of the more unique things I had seen all year. I’m now up to 99 countries visited, which is the most annoying number to be at. It’s such a pointless achievement and yet when you’re at 99, all you think of is going to one more country so you can never think about the number of countries you’ve been to again.
Photo is a church inside the salt mine.
The Future
I have very few goals these days, especially stuff that won’t happen automatically. I’ll visit at least one new country and get to 100. I’d like to do more cool trips with family members and friends. The Chicago apartment needs a lot of work… The bulk of it is done, but a big bathroom remodel will come some time this year. I’d like to write more blog posts than last year. I think a lot about becoming more active on X, starting a podcast or youtube channel, etc. I’ve spent the past year trying to deprogram myself from being so frugal with some success. Hopefully I’ll continue down that path. Other than that… more of the same would be great. I’m a lucky guy with a great life and great people in my life.
How was your year? Every year I ask for people to send me a recap of their year. I’d love to hear how you did with your goals, what you did this year, what you hope to do next year. I read all of them and if you send me one I search to see if you sent me one the year before and I re-read it. Also if you want me to blog more, tell me what you’d like me to write about.
Hope you have an amazing 2026!
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Main photo is a view of our campsite near the hot springs. You can see the tents in the bottom left. The title is Bye 2025 in Polish.
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