2013

As we now find ourselves in the last hours of 2013, it’s time for the annual wrap-up. 2013 was the year that…

  • I wrote the least entries during a year since I started to write over 10 years ago. I did, however, dig out some backups CDs from the back of a closet and discovered a few entries I wrote all the way back in 2009. It’s mostly very short reviews, though. Writing this year has been particularly slow in the last half of the year, but there are good reasons for that, reasons you’ll find further down this list.
  • Anniken and I went to a museum and had a laugh.
  • The one-liners collection grew with a few more one-liners.
  • I wrote a few how to-entries, like How to Make Chocolate Mousse With Raspberry Gel and How To Flash Tomato on the ASUS RT-N66U. Many of these how to-entries became the most read (and most commented) entries of 2013.
  • Edward Snowden, with the help of the Guardian, released loads and loads of documents revealing exactly how much the NSA and other government agencies (both American and other nation’s) really know about us. Because of all that was revealed, I stopped using proprietary, closed source software and cloud services. I wrote down everything I had to do to achieve this, and it resulted in the PRISM Break series of posts. The only thing I didn’t do was to stop using Gmail, which I will try in 2014.
  • The wp-days-ago WordPress plugin was updated a couple of times. It’s still a bit buggy, but I’ve got a developer version with new, apparently bug-free, core code running on this site. Updating the original plugin and making everything backwards compatible proved to be a bit tricky, though, so I never got around to release the less buggy code to the public. Maybe next year.
  • I wrote a few more reviews.
  • I was fortunate enough to be able to watch all the Formula 1 races, which is rare. I normally miss a couple every season. This season was so-so, Sebastian Vettel got a bit too dominant during the second half of the season. Next season, though, everyone is dealt a fresh deck of cards: New engine specifications! I even wrote a few Formula 1 entries this year, particularly during the first half of the season.
  • The rambling about designing and developing a computer game of my own continued, but very little nothing happened.
  • The site was redesigned, because that has to happen at least once a year, or I grow too tired of it.
  • Anniken and I went to Paris and had a great time together. Neither of us fell in love with the city in the way you are supposed to do, but it was a great trip nonetheless.
  • I replaced my Nexus 7 tab and returned to the cell phone form factor when I bought a Nexus 4. I also wrote a lengthy entry about all the fun you can have with a (rooted) Android phone: Supercharge Your Android Phone. For 2014, I’m seriously considering getting a Nexus 5.
  • I spent a lot of time outside on the terrace in our Oslo apartment with my laptop, a book, the hammock and a refreshing drink or two. And I absolutely loved every second of it.
  • Anniken and I went to Japan and had an amazing time together. While Paris might have been a tad disappointing, Japan certainly was not. If you ever have the opportunity to visit the country, do it.
  • As far as I can tell, I only managed to remove a single item from The List, item number 14: Visit Tokyo. I’m a bit disappointed about that, to be honest.
  • Even though I didn’t write a lot of entries this year, I wrote the longest in the lifetime of this blog. As part of a project at work, I wrote “Flow in Agile Software Development: What, Why and How”, a 2750 word piece you should read if you’re involved in agile software development.
  • Most of my time during the last quarter of 2013 was used on real life when Anniken and I…
  • sold our apartment in Oslo.
  • bought a house on Nesodden, about 25 minutes by boat from Oslo.
  • moved into said house.
  • bought a car.
  • and, based on the above you probably guessed this already, discovered we’ll become parents next year. That’s some crazy shit right there.

2013 was a good year and, without doubt, the year I racked up the most grown-up-points in my life - so far: 2014 will definitely be a year were we’ll test if it’s really possible to learn an old dog new tricks.

Here are the wrap-ups from previous years: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004.

As an added bonus this year, while we’re on the subject of time, the past and the future, I give you The History and Future of Everything by Kurzgesagt. It will put everything in perspective.


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