What I Was Up To Then

A look back on 2024

Joy, hope, and progress filled my 2024 against a backdrop of global crises. I hope I never stop feeling the contrast of these inequalities. I wish I could have done more to stop wars, climate change, and fascists because I would hope other people on the planet would do whatever they could to help me if roles were reversed. I remain a macro-optimist about humanity’s future while anticipating a more challenging path to progress.

Arthur

Since I assume many people reading this are coming from our New Year’s greeting, here is a quick Arthur-specific update. (Maybe poke him to do his own ‘now’ page!)

Arthur continues to lead the Platform & Partner Experience group within Spotify. He’s coming up on 2 years in that role and loving it. He manages the product and engineering teams responsible for using Spotify on any device other than a phone (tablet, computer, web, tv, smart speaker, game console, car) and fun features like Jam. He travels for work about every other month. If the destination city is interesting and I can find an inexpensive flight, I join him and take advantage of working remotely.

Arthur has been running 5–10 km several times a week. He usually returns home with a clip from Hard Fork or Pivot to discuss with me.

We celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary in October with a weekend at Näsby Slott. We’ve now spent over half of our lives together. I am grateful that we keep growing as individuals and for that growth to be in compatible ways. He yins my yang and we’re still better together than apart.

Work

This was my second year of self-employment. I primarily consulted with the Interledger Foundation on its big, audacious goal of creating an open, global payment network in order to bring digital financial services to people in middle- and lower-income countries. It’s not a problem that can be solved in a year, but it can be solved within a decade and perhaps I helped it get 10% there. (Check back in 2034!) My secondary focus was developing a social app that received a grant from the EU last year. I completed user research testing, the initial design, and a technical architecture study. I hope to get a private beta released sometime in 2025.

Focused consistency was my theme for 2024. The key line from the book The Lion Tracker’s Guide To Life by Boyd Varty is, “I don’t know where I’m going, but I know exactly how to get there.” The idea is that it’s ok to not know the destination when you do know your purpose and have the skills to make progress towards it. I did not accomplish most of the specific goals I set for myself, but I made satisfying progress in the direction of those goals. I learned much, connected with people, enjoyed the journey, and remain excited by the work ahead.

Scaling is my theme for 2025. I needed to just manage myself the last 2 years instead of the large teams I managed for years prior. I feel recovered from professional burnout and I am ready to increase my ambition professionally again. I hope to help the Interledger Foundation scale up its work and I hope to scale up my company from solo-preneurship. I don’t know exactly where I’m going, but I do know how to get there.

You know how in movies, a music montage provides an ellipsis of time for all the work necessary for the next act’s success? Maybe I’m in my montage era, but I sure am ready for the next act.

Activism

The European Union released a proposal in 2022 for combatting child sexual abuse material. While well-intentioned, the proposed regulation would require online service providers to monitor everyone’s private messages and submit any suspected illegal content to local police. I believe creating a surveillance state is a disproportionate response with potential societal harm exceeding that of the crime. The EU Parliament rejected this proposal in 2023, but the EU Council resurrected it in 2024.

I collaborated with DFRI (The Sverige Association for Digital Freedom and Rights), protested at Stockholm Pride, and wrote an article that was translated and republished in 5 other languages. I met so many passionate digital human rights activists this year. I hope we can stop this bad idea conclusively in 2025.

For the US election, my friends and I hand wrote 100 snail mail letters to inconsistent voters encouraging them to vote. Democracy requires participation and too many US Americans just don’t vote. The effort was organized by the non-partisan Vote Forward.

12 moments

2024 was a busy year. I am going to start with 12 highlights and add more later. Check back in a week for part 2 because there are too many wonderful people and moments I still want to share!

  1. I turned 40 in January. I met Karin for a cocktail before dinner. She then took me on a meandering taxi ride back to my apartment, where Arthur had prepared a surprise dinner party for me. I was greeted by a small group of friends, a living room concert by a duo singing some of my favorite songs, and a chef who made a 5 course plant-based meal in my kitchen.

  2. Cape Town, South Africa: The Interledger Foundation convened a Web Monetization standard working group work week in early February. Karin loves Cape Town and had wanted to go with me there for years. Our birthdays are 4 days apart, so we decided to go the week before my work week. I returned home understanding her affection for the southern tip of Africa. The highlight of the trip was a motorcycle sidecar tour of cape peninsula.

  3. Durango, Colorado: Arthur’s parents held a 5 year reunion anniversary ceremony. A massive snow storm interfered with their prior reuniting (remarriage) ceremony. So they invited everyone back again for a second attempt at celebrating. We rode the Durango–Silverton train to Cascade Canyon and back in a train car filled with love, good times, and a lot of champagne. Our departing flight got canceled due to weather, but this resulted in an unexpected overnight stay in Denver and I got to meet up with my former manager, Aaron Lerch.

  4. Barcelona, España: Arthur attended Mobile World Congress for work. We stayed at our friend Mark Hendrickson’s beautifully renovated guest apartment and got to catch up on life since we both left San Francisco.

  5. Seoul, Hanguk (South Korea): Arthur met with Samsung in April. I found the most uncomfortable airline seat ticket and joined him. My request to bring my ADHD medication was not granted and I had a rather unproductive remote work week. We explored the major tourist sites, the famous skincare boutiques, and the underground gay nightlife. The highlight was a day trip to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). I learned much about the 625 War (Korean War), what the country meant to the proxy powers, and the political challenges that continue today.

  6. Ljubljana, Slovenija: The Interledger Foundation convened another Web Monetization working group meeting in July. It was another intense work week, but our local hosts showed us the beauty of their city and the tastes of the delicious local wine.

  7. Roma, Italia: Arthur & I are not having children, but we are committed uncles to our 6 niblings. We told them we would take them on a trip to any country they want to visit when they turned 13. Our first nibling chose Italia for “food and beach”, so we planned a trip to Roma. She experienced the chaos of the Crowdstrike bug delaying her departure a day, ITA losing her luggage for the entirety of her time in Roma, a restaurant burning down after confirming our reservation, her first Michelin star restaurant, a Vespa sidecar tour, lots of gelato, the beach of Sperlonga, and a tour of the Sistine Chapel (silencio!).

  8. Stockholm Pride: Our SF-now-Puerto Rico friends Chris Harper and John Hathaway visited us the first week of August. We had fun making dinners together, visiting Artipelag, and celebrating Stockholm Pride. Another Internet-turned-meatspace friend, Lode Vermeiren, also met up with us and introduced us to his fun group of traveling buddies after the parade.

  9. Provincetown, Massachusettes & Lake Winnipesaukee: Wes turned 30 and summoned his friends from all corners of the world to the gayest little town in the US. It was my first time there and crazy fun. Wes declared a Grey Gardens group costume theme for our attendance of Tea Dance on his birthday. I was assigned “sexy raccoon” and I’m certain the purchases will haunt my Amazon recommendations for the next decade. I serendipitously met up with one of my favorite professors (Jason Roush), a college friend (David Lewis), and fashion designer Carson Kressley, making the trip even more magical. The celebration continued in New Hampshire at Wes’s parents’ summer home on Lake Winnipesaukee. It’s a beautiful, clean glacial lake.

  10. Thanksgiving: Arthur and I hosted 24 people for Thanksgiving. It’s always been one of my favorite holidays. Arthur’s mom visited us and helped Arthur prepare a delicious feast. We expressed much gratitude over dinner with fellow American emigrants and local friends.

  11. Praha, Czechia: Arthur planned a European Christmas market tour for his mom. She retired this year and such a trip was on her bucket list. They went to Budapest, Vienna, and Praha. I joined them in Praha for the weekend. We learned of the terrifying tradition of Mikuláš, attended a choral concert in a cold St Nicholas cathedral, played a (future) Michelin star guessing game at Marie B, and met up our Vienna-based American friends Carter Green and Kent Siebeneck.

  12. TeXmas and Virginia: We visited our families in Texas and Virginia at the end of the year. We usually visit Texas for July 4th, but were not able to due to our work schedules. I appreciated the opportunity to reconnect with family in Virginia I had not seen since I moved to Stockholm.

Most enjoyed media

TV & movies

  • Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War (Netflix) is essential watching for every US American to understand the current geopolitical situation
  • Bridgerton season 3 (Netflix)
  • Downton Abbey: I watched the series after everyone told me to watch it after I expressed how much I loved Bridgerton.
  • Silo (Apple TV+)
  • Matlock (2024)
  • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+)
  • For All Mankind season 4 (Apple TV+)
  • The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping (Netflix) showed the horrors and trauma of the unregulated, troubled teen industry in the US
  • American Fiction (movie)
  • Polite Society (movie)

Books

Podcasts

Music

Up next

2025 will be another busy year. I will attend FOSDEM in Brussels in February. We hope to visit Nippon (Japan) for the first time for the World Expo in May. I hope to join my friend Leah on her 50th birthday somewhere in June. My sister and her husband might celebrate their anniversary in Schweiz (Switzerland). Interledger Foundation’s next summit will be in Mexico City in October.

Whatever happens, I will also try to update my /now page quarterly. Poke me if I don’t!

Check back in a week for the part 2 update: Brandon’s visit, dogsitting Finn, Midsommar, Dansehuset, Dave Matthews, Moulin Rouge x2, Sandhamn hike, Shepard Fairey, Banksy x2, Steve Woz, Al Gore, Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkeström, Tech Arena, voting for the first time as a Sverige citizen, watching the US election results, lifting heavy things with Marcus, and so much more!