2013 year in review

(The following is inspired by my brother’s 2012 en chiffres and 2013 en chiffres “year in numbers” posts, with some twists!)

In 2013, we had 1 baby

The first defining moment of 2013 for our family was the birth of our second son in February. He is now 11-month-old and thriving.

In 2013, I lost 1 grandfather

The second defining moment of the year was the passing away of my grandfather. With this I have now lost all my grandparents. I should be grateful that he lived to the age of 92 with a good quality of life. Yet I agree with Ray Kurzweil, who views death in general as “a tragedy”: it is the loss of a person, of a mind, of memories, for which there is no proper “backup”.

Number 1 and his great-grandfather in 2012

In 2013, I took 2 trips to Switzerland

The first one was in June for the funeral. I am glad I took that short trip to share this with my family. The second one was in December/January for a family vacation. These are my only two trips by air this year. I don’t miss the days where I travelled so much for business!

In 2013, we sold 1 car

We sold my wife’s 1999 Miata, for which we didn’t have much use anymore with 2 kids. It was pretty easy to sell it, as it was in pretty good condition and, I was told, a used Miata was the car to have this summer in the Bay Area!

In 2013, I voluntarily fasted 4 days

During the month of April, I decided to try to fast once per week as an experiment, to see what it would feel like. The rule: no solid food from the time I went to bed the day before until the morning the day after. It was a bit painful at times but it turned out to be doable, if a bit unpleasant. I did allow myself a fruit juice during the day. The day after fasting, however, I felt hungry a good part of the day even with regular-size meals.

In 2013, we had a lot of family visiting

After the birth, we had visits and help from family both from Taiwan and Switzerland. I am grateful for this, as that allowed us to deal with the work and tiredness that come with a new child.

In 2013, I posted 44 work blog posts

I posted 18 of those on my personal blog:

2 on Scala.
5 on personal topics.
11 short “link blog” style.

And I posted 26 of those on the Orbeon blog.

In 2013, my weight oscillated 10 lbs

That’s too much to my taste. The minimum was in March and the maximum in October. I have been fed too well, and I have been too lazy! I think that lack of sleep and exercise, and stress due to the second child didn’t help.

In 2013, I went to the gym 23 times and took at least 7 small hikes

In short: not enough.

In 2013, I posted 1,294 tweets and sent 2,201 emails

That’s 209 more tweets than in 2012.

In 2013, I watched 8 movies, 2 documentaries, and watched 3 series

That’s not a lot, but we’ve had other things to do. None were at the movie theater. The series are:

The Big Bang Theory
Doctor Who
Les Mystérieuses Cités d’or (1982-1983)

In 2013, I read or listened to 10 books or audiobooks

I even include my organ book in this count, which technically I finished in 2014. Of these:

5 were “serious” reads
5 were audiobooks
4 were rereads
2 were science fiction

In 2013, I had 7 colds

This looks like a lot, retrospectively:

February 3 (I wrote “mild”, but this was followed by weeks of coughing)
April 6
April 23
August 11
October 15
November 11
December 17 (with coughing)