I was recently reading Hacker News and stumbled upon a post entitled “Why Blog If Nobody Reads It?” What really resonated with me was this reason:
- Future you. Your posts become a time capsule of your evolving mind.
I’m turning 40 soon, so let’s do just that. For the next 30 days, I’m going to write a little about myself each day. Highlights from the first 40 years, or just small tidbits about things I like.
For post #1, let’s start with a general update!
Alicia and I are still rockin’ it
As of exactly today (February 14th, 2025), Alicia and I have been together 20 years. We just hit our 15th wedding anniversary in August of 2024. We’re still in love, she’s the best person to talk to.
I left Target
After 12 years at Target, I chose to step away from being a Director of Data Science in October 2024. I’m currently job hunting. There wasn’t one major reason I left, but there were a ton of contributing factors:
- I had not taken more than seven consecutive days off of work since I joined the workforce in 2010.
- I had built a Data Science team focused on Pricing and Promotion, but leadership “swapped” my team into Demand Forecasting in July 2023. In one month, my team was solving completely different problems in a totally different organization, which was really tough for morale; I lost two team members.
- My immediate supervisor – the Senior Director of Forecasting – resigned his position early May of 2024 and the position remained unfilled through my resignation.
- Major life events were coming up – travel for my wife’s birthday, the Super Bowl in New Orleans, family health issues – that made taking time off much easier.
Mostly, though, I’m ready for a new challenge in my career to ensure I continue growing as a Data Scientist.
We bought a second house in New Orleans
In the deep pandemic of 2020, fearing a very cold Minnesota winter, Alicia and I booked an AirBNB for November/December in New Orleans. Our honeymoon cruise in 2009 had set sail from New Orleans and it’s a city we’ve visited several times since. At the time, we had just paid off our student loans and we were looking for an upgrade from our starter home in Minneapolis. But staying down south that winter, we fell in love with the city.
When there’s blood in the streets, buy property.
Baron Nathan Rothschild
The house we eventually bought is two bedroom, two bathroom shotgun house built in 1920. It was only four blocks away from our AirBNB rental in the Marigny neighborhood and is a 3/4th mile walk to the French Quarter. Plus, the finances worked out – mortgage interest rates were below 3.0% and the combined total of both houses was less than our budget for the Minneapolis upgrade. We knew owning two houses would be tough and it might end up being a mistake, but it’s been a heck of a learning experience.
Plus New Orleans is crazy. Last month alone, it snowed 10″, tying the record set in 1865. Three weeks later, the Super Bowl came through town. Down here, I’ve learned to love live music, have walked more here than in my entire life, and started loving pinball. Currently, we’re in the middle of Carnival season and I’ll write more about Mardi Gras in a future post.
We adopted a new cat
Punkin was probably born under our New Orleans house in the summer of 2023. We first saw her come to our back door for food in July 2023 when she couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old. At the time, we weren’t ready to adopt a cat, but Punkin was still around when we returned for the winter. As a result, just before NYE 2023, we cat-napped her and brought her to the vet.
Her name (coined by Alicia) is a portmanteau of “punk” and “pumpkin”. “Punk” because she was a ferocious little kitten that would not stop meowing at our back door. “Pumpkin” because her eyes are a very vivid orange.
There are two other cats in our back yard – Minnie and Mootch – that are similarly striped but black and white (instead of grey) that she treats like her parents. Which is strange, both Minnie and Mootch have their ears clipped, suggesting they’ve been fixed. Every single morning, Punkin insists they get fed before her. She’s such a sweetheart, but very shy. If you visit us, consider yourselves lucky if you get a glance of her.
Fashion Changes
I guess the last major change has been my style. I’ve grown my hair out into a long front curl. I really enjoy not traditionally masculine accessories, like a flower in my hair. Mostly, it’s an attention thing. I’m constantly stopped on the street and complimented.
Cheers!