Hey, happy new year. I’m glad to be here. I’m glad you’re here, too.

 — okay, look. I know. 2017 was, well, a whole thing. I kept saying the year felt like it was ten minutes and ten years long, all at once. Heck, on levels both national and global, it largely felt like an unmitigated trash fire. But on a personal level, the year was actually (weirdly?) quite good to me, despite the non-stop barrage of terrible news. I decided to travel much less in 2016, which left more time to be, well, home. More time to talk with my wife, to spend time with my grumpy little cat, to read books, to make new friends. More time to visit with old friends, to laugh with them, to play with their kids. More time to follow local politics, to join local activism groups, to attend more rallies than I ever thought possible.

And professionally, I had a decent year, though it didn’t feel like it at first. Right after the 2016 election, I did some pro bono consulting for a few local non-profits, including the Massachusetts chapter of CAIR. Last year, I also worked alongside Source and ProPublica, organizations I deeply respect and admire. I’ve been looking for opportunities to bring my design practice in line with my beliefs, and I’m grateful to have found clients who gave me the chance to do just that.

This was also the year where I decided to take better care of myself. I had some (minor) surgery this year, which has really helped me sleep better. (Even despite all the news.) I’ve been running for the last few years, and kept at it — and with less travel on my schedule, it was easier to stay consistent with it. I also joined a nearby gym, and for the first time ever, I’ve been going consistently — and what’s more, I find myself enjoying each trip. Don’t get me wrong: I’m still slow as heck, and you could easily beat me in an arm-wrestling contest. But I’ve been getting a bit stronger. And I find I’m really quite proud of that.

And finally, one of the things I’m most proud of is, well, this little website, which I launched hastily just over a year ago. And over the last entirely-too-eventful year, I’ve surprised myself with just how much it helped to be blogging again. Because while the world’s been not-so-lightly smoldering, it felt — and feels — good to put words in a place where I can write, think, and tinker, a place that isn’t Twitter, a place that’s mine. I wrote some twenty-six articles in 2017, and I’m proud of each of them. They covered topics ranging from video games to container queries, from pattern libraries to protests, from Google AMP to new backpacks. I’m not one for resolutions, but more than anything, I’m looking forward to publishing more on this little site.

So, that’s my year. I hope yours was as good to you as it could’ve been; at the very least, I hope you’re doing okay. It’s like I said: I’m glad to be here with you. Because this year, we’re turning this war rig around. And sure, maybe it’ll be a hard ride. But we’ll take care of each other.