It’s the end of the year, and that means it’s time to take stock of what was and what will be yet to come. Here’s some of what made 2025 what it was:
Stuff I Bought This Year, Enterprise Software Edition: While I bought Google Workspace Enterprise in March for work, it’s not much to share, since I feel like we’re the last living folks to have done it. There were a couple of big software purchases outside of that that are worthy of note:
- Nudge Security — We’re not to the point of routing all our authentications through an IDP yet, and there’s a whole lot of brownfield IT happening out there. We deployed Nudge this Fall to find out just what everyone was using, and then we’ll use it during 2026 to figure out what we want to keep and how we push people into our funnels instead. I am so far very happy with this purchase. (They are also MAF sponsors!) We found half a dozen apps in widespread use that we should probably be using more of, and half a dozen apps that we’re paying for with very limited usage. Discovering holes in the IT pipeline has been just great for us so far!
- Auvik – With eight physical networks that I’m spending time maintaining, it’s critical to know where things may be going sideways in realtime, and Auvik’s been great for that so far. Part early-warning system, part dashboard, part future-proofing, this is a Swiss army knife I’m excited to explore more of in 2026, especially as we undertake replacement of one large network next year. We’ve already used it to spot a couple of pieces of failing equipment, and to plot for a big upgrade next season.
Stuff I Bought This Year, Home Lab Edition: I replaced all of our network core at the house in the Fall, adding Wi-Fi 7, and 10-gigabit links between the floors. UniFi continues to make incredible product decisions for high reliability, low fussiness equipment. Their switch and AP lines right now are crisp products that perform at every level, and I can’t wait to expand their footprint at work. These folks are just hitting on every level, get yourself some.
Worst Decision I Made in 2025: I bought an iPhone Air. I bought it on vibes and promises that a lighter phone that was still capable was going to be just enough. I made it less than 3 months. The battery life is pretty atrocious (I’m averaging 120% charge per day… which means I’m charging intra-day all the time) and I miss the camera flexibility. I thought the external battery pack would suffice, but it wasn’t enough either, and just became something else with a battery meter I had to track.
I’ve ordered a new iPhone 17 Pro to replace it, and I’m trading the Air to my carrier at a several hundred dollar loss. I’m mad, but only at myself for buying the hype. I wanted a lighter phone that could make it all day, not one that I’d have to constantly babysit.
Best Decision I Made in 2025: Prioritizing my own sanity. I didn’t succeed at this 100% of the time, but I feel like a lighter human than I did this time last year. My new job is both more rewarding and something that leverages my own experiences better. I started bike commuting in 2025, and got more gym time in than I had in previous years. More than 500 miles of tracked bike rides this year to and from work, plus more than 50 days in the gym. I’m hoping to double both numbers in 2026.
Album of the Year: No Hard Feelings by The Beaches – Easily my number one album this year. Pop Rock at its best, upbeat, excited, engaged, and utterly heartbroken. Jordan Miller’s vocals are raw and sultry in turn, in front of jangly guitars and frantic drums. It’s a banger from start to finish. Their live set at All Things Go this fall made my top five.
Game of the Year: Blue Prince. I got to this one way late — only in the last week or so! — but wow, what a game. It’s giving Myst vibes, with a ton of great puzzles, and a whole lot of exploring to do. I’m going to be playing this one for a while.
Song of the Year: Oh Lord, by Foxy Shazam – Yes, it’s the title track from this year’s season of Peacemaker, and yes it’s from 2013, but this was the song that I just couldn’t stop thinking about in 2025. What a banger of a track.
Show of the Year: This was the hardest decision in this piece. I saw a lot of great shows this year — Doechii at The Anthem, Wilderado at 9:30 Club, The Beaches at All Things Go — but the winner was absolutely Daisy Grenade in support of Stand Atlantic at The Atlantis.
Travel Experience of the Year: Sure, I went to Disney in January and did the VIP Tour with family members, but the award here goes to my Unintentional Invasion of Denmark in early October. After a weather and equipment delay in Göteborg, the replacement plane experienced a sensor failure in the air over Denmark, necessitating an emergency landing in Billund, Denmark.
The experience was a bit surreal, as KLM handled my rebooking without assistance, covered my hotel, covered my meals, and eventually paid me just about $700 for the delay.
It is truly amazing what you can achieve when you require that airlines actually care for the people they’re flinging around in aluminum tubes at high speed. Contrast that with flying in the US where, thanks to the new administration, they recently rescinded rules that made airlines more accountable for their delays and problems.
Travel Stats: This year’s travel was less than half of last year’s, which was another pleasant side effect of changing jobs. The travel I did this year (MacAD.UK, MacSysAdmin) was largely just for the Podcast, but there were also some side jaunts to new places (like Durham in February for the MAF Retreat), and for Spring Break that were just drives:
Cannonball 