I love end-of-year posts and reading everyone’s posts. Every year, I draft one, and then I give up on publishing it around March or April after a comically long time. I’m going for shorter than longer this year because a lot happened this year, but most important is how I felt closing 2024 out. Overall, 2024 was a good year despite its many ups and downs.

Family

My kids grew a ton; we ended the year with a three and seven-year-old. Three-year-olds have big personalities, and my first-grader decided he could read anything after the first two weeks of school. We had several family trips, including a big family reunion in Chicago(ish) and a trip with my family to Colorado, so we got to see a lot of both families.

Each of our parents went through one hip surgery, and both are doing well. One of my parents had some more serious medical issues that we are hoping are behind everyone now. We buried two aunts in 2024, which brings me down to just one aunt and uncle (both by marriage).

Because time is so short, my new metric of a good year is measured by the health and well-being of our family and parents.

Writing

I published 230 posts this year on my Micro Blog, which ranged from short thoughts to longer posts. I have always wanted to blog, but 2024 is the year I finally made it a priority and figured out what worked for me to ease the publishing friction. I wrote about everything from Python to Django to UV to what I was watching, and I was surprised to see it inspire other blog posts and podcasts. So writing works, friends. Even if it’s just about what show you watched last night.

I’m also pleased with how my Now turned out. The page shows the latest movies, series, and games we are playing. It’s rapidly becoming a dashboard for me, which might be what my homepage turns into.

Conferences

I attended PyCon US in person for the first time since 2019 and DjangoCon US.

Volunteer/Community Work

2024 was a break for me after a decade of leadership roles in several non-profits. After five years on the Python Software Foundation board, 2024 was my first full year off. I stayed in one workgroup, but I stepped down on everything else.

After serving as President or Vice President, 2024 was my first full year as only a Django Events Foundation of North America (DEFNA) director and a DjangoCon US organizer. I had room to volunteer during DjangoCon US without my time being spoken for. It felt more or less like an emeritus role.

I mentored a small cohort for Djangonaut Space this year for the Django Packages project. It was a rewarding process, and I look forward to helping in a future session now that I know what to do. (If you were in my cohort, I promise to post that follow-up blog post soon.)

I joined the Django Software Foundation (DSF) in December, intending to hire an Executive Director. I was so happy to have my time back in 2024 that I decided to give the DSF one more year to do this on their own, but a small mob of friends asked me to run at DjangoCon US this year. So, I ran for the board, and now I have less than two years to hire someone so I can go back to normal life.

Office Hours

I hosted several Office Hours every month, letting them grow into what they needed to be. Some weeks were more structured than others, but watching this turn into a community on its own with lots of new and regular faces joining and sticking around. It’s fun and something I want to keep doing in 2025.

Side Quests

I enjoyed a ton of side quests this year, which I have already written about over the last year. From the newsletter to a job board to even a project to try to make Django talks more discoverable to a bunch of random AI projects. I had a lot of fun working on side projects and side quests.

Going forward

I left a ton of details out, but that’s alright. After 230 posts last year, it’s hard to summarize the journey, but I plan to keep removing the friction that keeps my drafts above 200 posts, which may never see the light of day.