Another year has gone by and life has gotten way more stressful, which is why I’ve been late with my yearly “Great things of <year>” series. Let’s dive straight into it. As always, everything is in no particular order.
Great blog posts read
- How to Win at Risk Every Time by Using Systems Thinking
- How we built an auto-scalable Minecraft server for 1000+ players
- My £4 a month server can handle 4.2M requests a day - Also checkout the HN thread
- The Framework is the most exciting laptop I've used
- Also check out: Ask HN: What does one look for in a laptop these days?
- Lifehacks Stacks Exchange - Also checkout the HN thread
- The Melancholy of Subculture Society (2009)
- One decade later, Minecraft world generation is interesting again
- Ask HN: Where are you getting your money's worth?
Great articles read
- Saharan dust: Orange skies and sandy snow in southern Europe - This actually happened just last week again. The first time I remember experiencing it was at the start of 2021, which this news article talks about. It was a really surreal sight, as I couldn't capture a photo with my phone but still saw it.
- The Coronavirus Is Here Forever
- Why Lo-Fi Music Draws Listeners In
- Depression is more than low mood – it’s a change of consciousness
Favorite podcasts listened to
I haven't picked up any new podcasts in 2021. I continued listening to:
Favorite musicians discovered
I have really gotten in VTubers. I find them very entertaining and the music many of them do is also a banger. My favorites:
Favorite shows discovered
Favorite games discovered
Countries visited
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was sadly unable to visit any new countries in 2021. However, I was able to visit again:
- Germany
It was just a day trip, a quick hop over the border basically. No, I did not catch covid (as far as I know).
Great tools discovered
- Send: A Fork of Mozilla's Firefox Send - Also checkout the HN comments
Programming languages I hacked in
I didn't learn any new programming languages in 2021.
Tech products I bought
- Samson Q2U (May) - Great microphone quality for a very cheap price, with the option to hook it up to an professional audio DAC. I currently use it with the Mini USB connection and it still sounds great.
- HP OfficeJet 8012 (May) - My printer finally died after 10 years of usage. I decided to stay with HP and finally got myself an automatic paper feeder shaft.
- Texas Instruments 30X Pro MathPrint (August) - For school we needed a non-programmable advanced calculator and this was the recommended model.
- Samsung Galaxy SmartTags+ (April) - I have SmartTags+ on all my important things: My keys, my backpack and my car. It allows me to search directly using my phone with the integrated UWB chip or by ringing a sound.
- Samsung T7 Portable 1 TB (September) - It was on sale and I always wanted a external SSD for a while, so I took the shot.
- Sony WH-1000XM4 (September) - I upgraded from the XM3 to the XM4 and the noise cancelling is so much better, I immediately loved it!
- iFixIt Mako Precision Bit Set (November) - The only item that was on sale on Black Friday that I bought. Always useful to have such a kit at hand.
- TFA Dostmann Airco2ntrol Mini CO2-Measuring Device (November) - In school all classrooms had CO2 monitors which every teacher strictly adhered to (keeping it under 1200 PPM). I bought my own small one for my room and it helped get rid of tiredness I always had.
- Razer Orochi V2 (December) - Perfect gaming mouse for my laptop. It allows connection through Bluetooth and I can easily give it to other people which can then use the USB connection. Perfect for school gaming (hehe!)
- Citroen C3 1.6i 16V (July) - Not necessarily a tech product but I bought my first car. It's second hand but it was cheap and fulfills my needs, plus it's automatic and allows Bluetooth connections.
Plans from previous years
|
Goal |
Year |
Achieved |
Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Write a blog post at least once two months. |
2020 |
No |
This has once again not happened. Now that I’m on able.bio, I think I should be able to make it in 2022. |
|
Shrink my Plan to Watch list. |
2020 |
No |
It grew even more. I'm now at 217 shows (at the time of writing), up from 126. |
|
Stop some coping mechanisms. |
2020 |
Yes |
|
|
Pass ending exams for my apprenticeship |
2021 |
Yes |
I passed as the overall second best student in my canton. |
|
Get a new job when my contract ends in August |
2021 |
Yes |
I’ve started the Berufsmatur BM2 but stopped that in January and now work as a retail worker again. |
|
Get my drivers license |
2021 |
No |
I failed my first try at the exam but I will have my second try in about a week and I hope I’ll make it then. |
|
Get into investing and the stock market |
2021 |
Yes |
While the stock market has dropped quite a bit recently (thanks Putin!), I still want to continue investing more, despite being down currently. |
That is 4 out 7 goals achieved or a 57.14% success rate, once again.
Plans for 2022
As always, last years’ unachieved goals get taken to the current year but I additionally want to:
- Finish GitArena
- Start watching Anime regularly again.
- Scale up my newly founded company.
I see a lot of accomplishments. But it's also worth taking a break. I recommend you this website where you can buy games very cheaply: https://royalcdkeys.com/
great post