Jan 1, 2022
2021 List of Stuff
An Ongoing List of Things I’ve Looked Into for the Entire Year
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Apps (17)
- Clubhouse
- CoinMarketCap
- Dispo
- Fetch
- FinViz
- Hiro Wallet
- ID.me
- Miro
- MyHealthONE
- Nerdwallet
- Phantom Wallet
- Radical Dot Map
- Rarity.tools
- repl.it
- Schwab
- Webflow
- ZenHub
My apps primarily centered around three things coding, money, and crypto. As I stabilize more and more I’m constantly thinking about how to invest to make sure that in 20–30 years from now I’m financially stable. The way this manifested this year my growing interest in how money works, and really digging into all the new stuff around crypto. I’m excited and confident about my financial independence and can’t wait to get those acorns growing.
Books (3)
- Koko’s Guide to Austin
- Texas Towns
- Wallpaper City Guide Austin
These are the books I bought, but I downloaded a bunch more to my phone. I like to skim through them and periodically come back to them from time to time, but I’m not really a let’s make time to read guy. Podcasts and audiobooks are really more my speed.
Companies (5)
- Austin Transportation Department
- CityCoins
- OpenSea
- MetaMask
- Star Atlas
Transportation, web3, and the metaverse were where I was looking when thinking about where things might go. With the exception of ATD all of the companies listed are only a handful of years old. Excited to be on the cuse of the changing tide of technology.
Events (19)
- If Then/She Can exhibit
- Hangout with Kathryn
- Hangout with Claire
- Shopped at Book People
- Hangout with Mateo
- Austin FC vs. Seattle FC
- Hangout with Natalie
- 4th Annual Austin Birthday Bash
- Opening day of Waterloo Park
- Beach Day at Sea Rim State Park
- Visited the Sabine Pass Battleground in Port Arthur, TX
- Daniel Johnston Exhibit at Austin Contemporary
- Hangout out with DTS
- Lomelda at 3 Ten ACL Live
- Mount Bonnell
- Hangout with Cristina
- Dia de los Muertos at Waterloo Park
- Creek Show at Waterloo Park
- Gallbladder surgery
I really wanted to get some hangs in this year. See people again and get out to social events. I did a lot of that especially in Austin. Other than that I travel to some parks and made it out to a couple of live music sets.
The last part of the year was going through my first surgery, which started in October when I had a scare, then at the end of November I had the surgery, and the beginning of December I was in recovery.
Gear (3)
- Floyd Bed Frame
- Ikea Table
- Oculus Quest 2
Furniture and games. Makes sense because I moved and I want to explore the metaverse in VR.
Movies (35)
- A Quiet Place 2 (In Theaters)
- Army of the Dead
- Army of Thieves
- Avengers: Infinity War (rewatch)
- Bliss
- Buffaloed
- Chaos Walking
- Coma
- Dances with Wolves (rewatch)
- Dr. Strange (rewatch)
- Dune
- Finch
- Free Guy (In Theaters)
- Ghostbusters: Afterlife
- Godzilla vs. Kong
- Infinite
- Jungle Cruise
- Legally Blonde (re-watch)
- Luca
- Mortal Kombat
- Nobody (In Theaters)
- Oats Studios Volume 1
- Palm Springs
- Pig
- Prince of Persia
- Prometheus (re-watch)
- Shang-Chi (In Theaters)
- Spiderman: No Way Home
- Suicide Squad
- The Little Things
- The Matrix: Resurrections
- The Tomorrow War
- The Vault
- Willow (re-watch)
- Willy’s Wonderland
It was a good movie year for me. Mostly at home but I saw 4movies in Theaters. I averaged about 3 movies a month which was probably normal. Nothing really altered my reality, but I did enjoy getting to return to a pre-pandemic activity and get the experience of get movie food and propping my feet up in an oversized recliner.
Music (12)
- Adam Melchor
- Bill Callahan
- Billie Ellish
- Brent Faiyaz
- ELIO
- Foxwarren
- John Mayer
- Julia Jacklin
- Justin Beiber
- Phoebe Bridgers
- Remi Wolf
- Willum Maindo
I found a lot of my music on this Spotify playlist called Lorem. It’s my go to for new stuff, that and Carla’s Infinite Playlist, she’s a TikToker who has great recommendations and where I found out about some of my top listens this year. Loved Julia Jacklin and Willum Maindo the most.
Podcasts (4)
- Bankless
- Data Skeptic
- Gary Vee Experience
- The Austin City Councilman
Crypto and politcs that’s what I crave. I also listened to GaryVee for a minute but his stuff is just old and tired. He’s got good point I just tired of his watch me attitude.
Quotes (1)
- Lost time is never found again.” — Ben Franklin
Restaurants (39)
- Artisan
- Best Thai
- Bobo’s Snack Bar
- Buddy’s Mexican Grill
- Cenote — Windsor Park
- Chaba Thai Bistro
- Cherrywood Coffeehouse
- Chipotle
- Civil Pour
- Cousins Creamery
- Dickey’s
- Domino’s
- Elephant Room
- Ellis
- Family Thai
- Fareground
- Flower Child
- Fruitealicious
- Grateful Head
- Hank’s
- Heim
- Honest Mary
- Jason’s Deli
- Kalimotxo
- Launderette
- Little Deli & Pizzeria
- Madam Mam’s
- Mai Thai
- Maudie’s
- Mozarts
- Palace 2
- Pi Social
- Roosevelt Room
- ShareTea
- Super Thai
- Taco Flats
- Thai Fresh
- Thai Spice Cuisine
- Xian Sushi and Noodles
I was really proud of myself for trying a ton of new restaurants this year. About 3 a month, and of course all the revisits. Mostly went for Thai and bars, but also hit some of the chain classics. Every changed in the last 3 months though because of my gallbladder, so I’ve switch to eating healthy mostly at home, stopped drinking, and only eating out at GF and vegetarian places.
Shows (29)
- Blown Away (Season 1)
- Cobra Kai (Season 3)
- Fate: The Winx Saga
- Foundation
- Hawkeye
- Lego Masters (Season 1,2)
- Loki
- Making the Cut
- Motherland: Ft Salem (Season 1–3)
- Nine Perfect Strangers
- Orville Season 2
- Panic
- Resident Alien
- School of Chocolate
- See (Season 1, 2)
- Sex Education Season 3
- Squid Game
- Sweet tooth
- Ted Lasso (Season 1,2)
- The Book of Boba Fett
- The Crew
- The Great
- The Morning Show (Season 1,2)
- The Selection
- The Ultimate Fighter
- The Witcher Season 2
- UFC 257, 259, 260, 261
- Wanda Vision
- Y: The Last Man
This was a good year for shows. Foundation, Motherland, See, The Morning Show, Wanda Vision were favorite. School of Chocolate, Orville, and Ted Lasso, Cobra Kai were good honorable mentions. I’ll definitely have some good recommendations if anybody needs them.
Skills (5)
- Cooking healthy meals
- Data management
- Excel
- NFTs
- XD
Thinkers (2)
- Allie Miller
- Conor McGregor
Not a big year for Thinkers. I wasn’t really inspired by anyone. I’m wondering if this is largely due to the infinite clips on TikTok where I hear from so many wonderful minds, but nobody really stands out because they’re content is pretty mundane.
Travels (142)
- Texarkana, AR
- Texarkana, TX
- Queen City, TX
- Atlanta, TX
- Linden, TX
- Lone Star, TX
- Pittsburg, TX
- Mount Pleasant, TX
- Madisonville, TX
- College Station, TX
- Sugar Land, TX
- Surfside Beach, TX
- Galveston, TX
- Baytown, TX
- Pasadena, TX
- Pearland, TX
- League City, TX
- Texas City, TX
- Lufkin, TX
- Nacogdoches, TX
- Palestine, TX
- Eureka, TX
- Midlothian, TX
- Venus, TX
- Alvarado, TX
- Fort Worth, TX
- Frisco, TX
- Shreveport, LA
- Marshall, TX
- Lawton, OK
- Duncan, OK
- Ardmore, OK
- Gainesville, TX
- Sanger, TX
- Stanton, TX
- Midland, TX
- Odessa, TX
- Monahans, TX
- Kermit, TX
- Jal, NM
- Andrews, TX
- Big Springs, TX
- San Angelo, TX
- Bronte, TX
- Tolar, TX
- Stephenville, TX
- Dublin, TX
- Hico, TX
- Meridian, TX
- Hamilton, TX
- Goldthwaite, TX
- San Saba, TX
- Lampasas, TX
- Copperas Cove, TX
- Killeen, TX
- Arkadelphia, AR
- Hot Springs, AR
- Little Rock, AR
- Lockhart, TX
- Victoria, TX
- Port Lavaca, TX
- Corpus Christi, TX
- Port Aransas, TX
- Kingsville, TX
- Edinburg, TX
- McAllen, TX
- Harlingen, TX
- Donna, TX
- South Padre Island, TX
- Brownsville, TX
- Los Fresnos, TX
- Laguna Vista, TX
- Port Isabel, TX
- Halletsville, TX
- Austin, TX
- Live Oak, TX
- Carrollton, TX
- Fredericksburg, TX
- Kerrville, TX
- Marble Fallas, TX
- Llano, TX
- Mason, TX
- Junction, TX
- Columbus, TX
- Flatonia, TX
- Moulton, TX
- Shiner, TX
- Gonzales, TX
- Blanco, TX
- Bulverde, TX
- Boerne, TX
- Bandera, TX
- Buda, TX
- Kyle, TX
- San Marcos, TX
- New Braunfels, TX
- Geronimo, TX
- Seguin, TX
- Luling, TX
- Red Rock, TX
- Garfield, TX
- Crystal City, TX
- La Pryor, TX
- Uvalde, TX
- Sabinal, TX
- Utopia, TX
- Temple, TX
- Cameron, TX
- Milano, TX
- Caldwell, TX
- Dime Box, TX
- Giddings, TX
- Nederland, TX
- Port Neches, TX
- Port Arthur, TX
- Bridge City, TX
- Orange, TX
- Vidor, TX
- Rose City, TX
- Beaumont, TX
- Cut and Shoot, TX
- Laredo, TX
- Encinal, TX
- Cotulla, TX
- Dilley, TX
- Pearsall, TX
- Devine, TX
- Lytle, TX
- Yoakum, TX
- Cuero, TX
- Goliad, TX
- Kenedy, TX
- Karnes City, TX
- Poth, TX
- Floresville, TX
- Stockdale, TX
- San Antonio, TX
- Poteet, TX
- Pleasanton, TX
- Jourdanton, TX
- Christine, TX
I thought that I traveled a lot last year visiting 75 cites. This year I almost doubled that, which is what I said I wanted to do last year. What’s more is I was out for most of October, November, and December dealing with an ailing body.
This year’s 142 cities was brought on by a few common themes, getting ready to leave North Texas, and moving to Central Texas. In North Texas, I had access to the upper half of the state and surrounding states Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico, whereas in Central Texas I mostly have access to the southern part, and the coasts. North Texas cities are a lot more compact, Central Texas cities are spread out.
I’m still on my quest to see all 1700 cities in Texas. After the first 68, they all fall into less than 50,000 population. I’ve seen 56 of the 68 or 84%. My plan is to see the remaining 16% in 2022. To hit all the ones around Austin Metro, and really hit the ones around San Antonio metro.
Additionally, I’m planning some big trips to cities outside of Texas that I’ve never visited but are in the top of the list of major cities in the country.
YouTube (13)
- Alistair Hume
- Cas and Chary VR
- CoinMarketCap
- Dapp University
- HashLips NFT
- Hiro
- Javier Vidana
- Josh Cross — DeFi NOW
- Max Maher
- Okcoin Crypto Exchange
- On Chain Gaming
- Rainhet Chaneru
- Tech With Tim
My YouTube subscription continues to be the source of my learning around new topics. This year I really got into crypto, Web3, defi, and VR. I only see my interests in these areas growing. They’re all relatively new fields of study, and I see a lot of upside to learning about them now while the interest hasn’t quite captured the mainstream mind yet, so that when people start waking up to it in the middle of the decade I’m already years ahead.
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Reflection
This is my 8th year of List of Stuff, and I’ve managed to amaze myself, especially in my travels, attending events again, and taking on a surgery that had a profound affect on my life.
This year’s pose is at my parent’s house in Carrollton again. My body is facing one direction, my head is looking over my shoulder, and I have my hands on my hips ready to take on what’s next.
Last year was a tale of two cities. I started the year in Dallas and ended the year in Austin. I went from working in Housing to working in Transportation, and completely pivoted from case management to software development.
Turning 40 and returning to the place where it all began, Austin, completed a long life cycle that seemed conspicuous. I feel like I’m where I should be. I feel like it’s the right time, I’m in the right place, I have the right support, and I can see a strong future here.
I’m confident that 2022 will be another big year. I’m looking forward to make a few big trips outside of Texas, and challenging myself to think bigger about what my life in Austin can be.
Wishing everyone good health and well being.
Keep looking forward, and keep moving!
