Things I'm Into (Round 1)

The first post introduced this site. The post after that talked about how it was built. This one introduces me.

This isn’t a dossier. It’s just some stuff I’m into. This isn’t even the full list, but it’s a good start.

Running

I love to run, but my tendency towards inconsistency stems from not having a target. I’ve always needed something on the calendar to keep me driven. A race, an event, something with a date on it. That’s just how I’m wired.

Over the years, the events have evolved. It started with the usual suspects, 5Ks and 10Ks. Then Spartan races, because apparently running wasn’t hard enough without walls and mud. Then half marathons. Then a full marathon, because I guess I hate my knees. And now? It’s landed on group events, like Ragnar trail relays, and I think this might be the one that sticks.

Ragnar combines quite a few of my favorite things: running, camping, firepits, hanging with friends. It’s a relay format, so you’re out there with a crew of good buddies, running through trails in crazy locations (like Zion National Park). You run a leg, hang at camp, run another leg at 2 AM with a headlamp, sleep for maybe three hours in a tent, and do it all again. It sounds miserable on paper. It’s genuinely one of the best experiences I’ve had.

Gaming, if I can find the time…

I’ve been a gamer for as long as I can remember. The NES was the starting line — Mario, Battletoads, Duck Hunt, the classics. The Game Boy came next, and with it, Pokémon. I don’t know how many hours I sank into Pokémon Red on road trips and under the covers past bedtime, but it was an unreasonable number and I regret nothing.

Then came the next-gen era, and honestly? What a time to be alive. Halo on the original Xbox was a revelation — LAN parties, split-screen multiplayer, the kind of gaming memories that are seared into your brain forever. Final Fantasy VII on PlayStation remains my favorite game of all time. Not up for debate. And Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a close second. If you know, you know.

PC gaming entered the picture with World of Warcraft and StarCraft, and that was a whole different beast. Suddenly I wasn’t just playing games — I was losing entire weekends to them. WoW especially had a grip on me that I’m not sure I’ve fully recovered from.

Fast forward to now, and on paper, I’m living the dream. Custom-built gaming PC. PS5. Switch 2. New games coming out left and right. RPGs with deep worlds and 80-hour campaigns. Social games like Arc Raiders and Call of Duty where I can hop on with friends after the kids are in bed.

The twist? I have only a fraction of the time I used to. Kids, work, life, the general busy-ness of being a functioning adult, everything else in this post… it all conspires against gaming time. The hardware has never been better and the backlog has never been longer. The humanity.

I make it work though. Even if “making it work” sometimes means 45 minutes before I pass out on the couch. Worth it every time.

Reading

Every day. No exceptions. Physical books, kindle, audiobooks — I bounce between them depending on whether I’m at home or in the car.

Right now I’m working through my third read-through of Dungeon Crawler Carl ahead of the impending 8th book release. If you haven’t read it, stop what you’re doing and go fix that. I’m about to do the same re-read treatment with Red Rising before Red God drops. These are not casual re-reads — these are “I need every detail fresh because I know the new book is going to wreck me” re-reads.

My taste is broad but leans heavily toward fiction: fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, thriller. I’ll read almost anything with a good hook. Almost exclusively fiction, though — I get enough non-fiction at work. Every once in a while something real-world grabs me, but it’s the exception, not the rule.

Books are probably the most consistent thing in my life. The genres shift, the formats change, but the habit doesn’t.

Expect this specific topic to generate multiple posts on its’ own.

Golf

Last thing I’ll mention here, but this is definitely not the limit of my interests. Just the ones top of mind.

Golf is my answer to a lot of things at once. Staying competitive. Being outside. Meeting new people. Hanging out with buddies. Getting humbled by a 4-foot putt. It checks every box.

IMO, it truly is one of the greatest games, and subsequently, greatest hobbies. I foresee this continuing until I physically can’t do it anymore — hopefully many, many years from now. Playing with my kids as they grow up, weekend rounds with my wife or friends, maybe eventually one of those old guy leagues where everyone argues about gimme distances. I just love it. Nothing else to say.

A random tie it to reading, look into The Golfers Journal. Phenomenal content, the community is huge and welcoming, all around a great investment, both time and money.

More to Come

Like I said — this isn’t the full picture. Just top of mind. More interests, more obsessions, and more questionable opinions will surface in future posts.

For now, this is a decent snapshot of who I am when I’m not engineering. Thanks for reading.