2022 in review

A review of 2022, adding to my year in review blog post collection.  It was certainly a busy year.

Statistics

Sadly blog post writing was down again, with only 19 posts written - probably my lowest number to date :( .  I've still got a lot of posts in drafts, about 30 but at least some of them are different to the 30 posts in draft at the start of 2022!

In terms of steps and miles traveled on foot / by bike, my FitBit tells me I scored 3,487,644 steps and 1,515.59 miles (compared to 2021's 3,616,151 steps / around 1,599 miles).  That makes me slightly down on exercise which I was expected given some of the weather (either too hot or too cold) and the fact I now drive to the office when I go in.

I also bought zero pens this year, very restrained indeed.

Reviewing my 2022 targets

• ✅ Done (ongoing) - Continue learning Welsh, and get confident in speaking it in general conversation
• ✅ Became a Chartered IT Professional with the BCS (British Computer Society)
• ✅ Added some further home automations
• ✅ Watched the Welcome to Night Vale live show in London
• ✅ Undertook one public speaking engagement (a second was booked but got postponed due to strikes)

I didn't manage to further develop my consultancy business, largely because I changed jobs so didn't prioritise my consultancy work.  I also, sadly, didn't complete app-integrated registration for eVitabu - I've just not had the headspace to do so.

Family changes

Sadly we lost my mother-in-law at the end of October, something which was good (she was no longer in pain), but sad (we lost her).  I won't say more about that publicly.

New job

In June I changed jobs, leaving the council after seven years, where I'd been a Deputy Senior Information Security Officer for the last several years.  I'm now the Senior Information Security Officer (SISO) for a software development company, and it's exciting (but challenging / scary at times) to improve the security position of the company.  I'm still getting used to being the top decision maker in the cybersecurity chain.

Home automation changes

I didn't add too many automations, and those I added were around lighting.  My wife hates coming home to an empty, dark, house, and I hate leaving lights on when they're not being used (environmental and cost implications).  As we all now have mobile phones I created an automation so when people get home the lights in the hallway turn on, so long as the sun has set.  Due to the radius of the home location the lights actually come on before you arrive, which is nice.

Not wanting lights left on, and noticing that the landing light was often left on when we were all downstairs, an automation was added to automatically turn that light off after ten minutes, between certain times.

Simulating presence was also added as an automation, and I blogged about that here.

My last automation of the year was to turn all the lights off when the number of people in the house hit zero.

Solar panels

We had solar panels and batteries installed at home which have made a big difference to our purchased energy costs.  In the summer, when the panels are generating the most energy, we don't use gas to heat our water.  When energy generation is low we can top up the batteries overnight while the energy prices are cheaper.  We were very fortunate to have had that opportunity, especially given the current energy prices!

Gaming

I'm still playing Satisfactory by Coffee Stain Studios, and still enjoy it.  Given I don't play that often (a morning every couple of weeks) I've still not completed the game, but it's good fun and is something I can enjoy with my cousin.  I also compare factories with my former boss, who has a number of tips that I make use of.  I'm managing to mix Welsh into my Satisfactory playing too, leaving myself reminders of what I'm working on in Welsh:

I'm still playing Terraria with my daughter, recently in journey mode.  It's nice to have control over the spawn rate, weather, time, so you can just build.

eVitabu

I've already mentioned that I didn't finish integrated registration, very frustrating, but largely I didn't do much eVitabu at all.  I did go to Europe with eVitabu project manager Geoff, to attend a conference where various groups working in similar / related spaces gave talks.  To be honest, much of the conference wasn't too useful as it was largely about content creation (which we don't do), but I did get a lot of development done while I was there.

European roads are significantly better than England's roads.

Became chartered

It was one of my goals for 2022 to become a Chartered IT Professional, something I've wanted to achieve since I joined the BCS aged around 20.  To be chartered you have to be working at a particular level and my jobs haven't always allowed me to do that.  Since being a deputy SISO, and then a SISO I've been working to the required level so applied for chartered status - awarded to me in early December.

Books

Some of the books I read in 2022 (some a re-read):

• Daemon and Freedom (TM) by Daniel Suarez - probably my favourite tech author, I re-read this duology and continue to enjoy it
• The Possession by Michael Rutget - another re-read of this thriller
• Alice isn't dead by Joseph Fink - a mystery thriller novel by the co-creator of Welcome to Night Vale
• Permanent Record by Edward Snowdon - an interesting autobiography about how a man exposed some of the world's most prolific survieilance

Targets for 2023

• Continue learning Welsh
• Maintain my continual professional development
• More public speaking engagements
• More blog posts than 2022 - hopefully at least four in January to get the year started!
• Attend more BCS events
• (Finally!) finish app based registration in eVitabu

Banner image: "tango office calendar", from OpenClipart.org, by warszawianka.