Colorado Startup Life: Weeks 13 and 14

Sorry for the delayed updates on my life, I've been busy living my life. For starters, life is good. Everything I am about to complain about is luxury living. What I mean by that is, I support Give Directly, every pay check. I donate a little money every two weeks toward a basic income  experiment. They give $22 a month to people in rural parts of Kenya, and are studying how that basic income is changing peoples lives. Initial results are positive. Everyones lives seem to be changing for the better, they aren't all doing drugs and getting drunk every day. I blow through $22 like it is nothing, yet for many people it can change their month.

The last two weeks at work I really struggled with a little mechanical problem. Finally, about five days before Christmas on Thursday morning, after multiple people with seniority to me recommended a change, I decided to model a whole new system from scratch. About ten work hours later, there was an initial model out there. I didn't want to admit that the previous design didn't work when all I had was mediocre ANSYS results to say that. I'm pretty bad at ANSYS. I can do it, and the results can be acceptable, but they aren't elegant, which is the state I aim for in my work. Let me tell you, working on a design that ends up being a failure is disappointing. I put, and most engineers put, emotion into their work, and want to see it get into production, and there are times when the design is simply a failure and is rejected, and that's okay. Yet it is always hard. Several times I have spent weeks and a few months on something just to see it canceled or started over from scratch. As I get older I am more okay with the idea of a failed design. In fact, it's very much okay. Some might even say if you have not designed a failed design you haven't engineered long enough. Still, it's emotional.

Running has been going better and better all the time! I think I ran an 18 mile week and a 22 mile week, but I'm not totally sure. I still feel like part of my lungs is not usable. I am breathing harder than I "should" be for 8:30 pace. Yet I am also 15 pounds heavier than desired (145 lbs. vs 130 lbs.), 32 years old, and didn't have a single month over 165 miles this year. So I'm pretty out of shape. Yet I still have running goals, and I'm going to work to put myself out there to accomplish them. I am closing in on a 40 mile week, which for me is where the detraining ends and training begins.

Otherwise... I started a new dating app, Coffee Meets Bagel, and so far I'm pleased with it, the women seem to generally be even higher quality than Bumble.

I also spent a few evenings and part of Sunday rock climbing, and while again I don't feel in good shape at all, I think 2019 is going to be a good year for my climbing. Hopefully I will finish the 14ers and be able to lead a few interesting routes, like the Casual Route on the Diamond or Sykes Sickle on Spearhead.