2026 Goals

2025 is almost over and I've once again decided to turn my attention to the constant quest to be more intentional.

What this has really meant for me is to waste less time and do things I love doing and spend as much time with people in my life. In previous years, incredibly, I didn't actually spell this out. It was more of get dumbphone and my life will be perfect.

I've had to grapple with what exactly it is that I like doing. I like to learn and I like to be in good shape. If I am to effectively live intentionally then I should have no issue to accomplish the below.

Outcomes

Read 23 Books

This is roughly 30 minutes per day of reading at the pace I normally read.

Post 52 Times

Added rule of posting at least once per month. That's roughly one post per week. It doesn't have to be about anything in particular, a one sentence post is perfectly fine.

Finish Two Notebooks

I keep buying notebooks to use them and then I just don't use them. Two notebooks should be easy to complete between todos and regular life stuff.

100 Spin Classes

Recently got into spinning, I like it, it makes sense. 100 classes is fewer than 2 per week. I like to workout in the morning so getting to a spin class means I spent my night well and went to bed early enough for me to get to a class before work. Honestly, this should be 200 for the year but I know my motivation ebbs and flows.

Areas of Focus

Dumb phone first

This year I signed up for a second phone line. My iPhone has that SIM card and my dumb phone has my main line. The goal here, unlike previous years, isn't to get rid of my iPhone. Some things are too impractical to replace or not even possible (concert tickets shockingly being one of them).

But 90% of my life only requires I be reached in emergencies by text or call. WhatsApp can wait till I'm at my computer (which is often) and if I need my iPhone, I bring it along, nothing special.

No virtual subscriptions

This is the hard one and my personal Everest. I don't mind a subscription (like a phone bill or gym membership) what I do mind is a subscription to something that just enables me to do something in the virtual world. Think music streaming, photo back ups, cloud storage, app subscriptions.

I've flirted with the idea of a NAS for a while but maybe an external hard drive is sufficient. This is all a post in its own. I don't know how achievable it is but I always want to try. Switching to Bear is part of this goal, Bear supports buying a lifetime membership which I'm more keen on. I also know I won't be getting rid of my FastMail subscription, it's too good of a product.

iPadOS 26 is almost perfect

I recently picked up an iPad after not having one for a few years. I definitely don’t need it but I find them very fun. iPadOS 26 pushed me over the edge to get it and am currently rocking the current beta.

The features they added with window tiling and just overall making it more computer-y is very welcome. I probably won’t replace my MacBook Air when the time comes because an iPad with a keyboard can do whatever I was doing on the laptop. But there’s new window management is actually too computer-y, especially when trying to use it as a tablet.

The current version of iOS does a really nice job of easily allowing you to have 2 things on the screen and resize those two apps, slide over can also get you a third thing in a pinch. The new version of iPadOS does not allow you to just drop in two things on the screen and get to work. Settings gives you three options:
  • Full screen apps
  • Windowed apps
  • Stage manager
Let’s start with that last one. Is anyone actually using stage manager? With windowed apps I can’t really see a point in them. Windowed apps is the new feature, it’s great, works like a computer wonderful. Full screen apps I expected to act like how iPadOS has acted in previous versions but it’s not. It’s how iPadOS was like ten years ago. Literally one screen, one app, no multitasking at all.



In a perfect world, for me, that multi tasking screen would contain two options. Windowed apps and “simple multitasking”. 95% of the time, I just want one or two apps on the screen. I don’t want to have to mess around with moving windows around on the screen to be in the right place. iPadOS had this nailed down. The power of iPadOS 26 is that I always have the ability to turn this little tablet into a computer when I need it to be. Or for other power users that it’s the default but they have the ability to dumb down their “computer” into a tablet when they want to go into vacation mode.

It is incredible, every iPadOS version seems like it’s closer to replacing your laptop. This year it actually seems to be the case for the vast majority of people. I just worry that they’re also getting rid of the fun tablet in the process.

No rules

I can write absolutely anything here. And it’ll appear. Coming from the world of computers, this is the most wonderful idea. There is basically nothing I can do with just my brain and the keyboard attached to my iPad that will make this website crash and burn. 

Maybe my point won’t get across, maybe my English will be a bit garbled or covered in typos. But nonetheless, when I hit publish there is nothing (technologically speaking) bad that can happen. That’s so freeing.

Sure there are some rules that I take for granted. For instance, that “a” comes after “r” in “granted” or that my brain is able to process what “granted” means in this context and can pronounce it in my head. The ability to remember my login to my blog, or know what application to type on my iPad or remembering the login to said iPad. Sure sure sure. All of these are technically inhibiting me. But once I clear those hurdles, it’s just simple text. There’s nothing to debug.

No matter how bad bland or boring my writing is up to this point, all of these text before it is still there. It’s really magic.

The Joy of Fiction



I read one of those Silicon Valley self-help/motivational books once that said something to the effect of you should try to create more than you consume. I’m pretty sure that’s the reason I still have an active blog. I wanted to have a low resistance way of making stuff where I could just throw things out into the ether.

Every year it does feel like I have more things that make it possible for me to consume. And more of my time is dedicated to consuming things. Just feeling like this blob in space that needs to constantly be fed. Notice I didn’t attribute what book it was that I read, because I truly have no idea. I’ve read dozens of those books over the years.

I’ve always felt like reading should be a goal. Read more. But after several of these books, the information just tends to blend together more and more. Every podcast I listen to is just background noise information. Going in one ear and out the other. Writing this blog post, that idea actually is kind of comforting. If I royally screw something up here, it won’t matter because this post would just be one of the hundreds of things that reader would have consumed today. Sad, but comforting, sort of like no one noticing you dancing at a concert. Freeing that you can do whatever you want but lonely in that you are ultimately not being noticed.

But that’s why I’m here writing. Not because I have anything novel to say but quite the opposite. I have information in my head that’s just there, swirling around. And here I can give it a job. Using this time to write allows me time to not consume. I’m giving my brain a moment to process and to relax as opposed to shoving another YouTube essay into it.

After this post I plan to read. I’m sitting here still recovering from a surgery. In between naps I drink water, write and read. It’s not a bad life. But this consumption will be fiction. 

I used to feel like non-fiction reading was in someway superior. But as established previously, it’s just more information on top of the pile of information I already have in my head. It took me a long time to get into fiction reading, dialogue was always hard for me to follow. But creating the imaginative worlds forces your brain to work. It has to conceive of what the characters sound like, what they look like, what the house smells like. All the senses are engaged when you read fiction.

Soberish

At some point in March 2020, shortly after it was clear that life as we knew it was on pause indefinitely, I wanted to stock up my fridge and bar with the essentials: gin & beer. To limit my exposure, I wanted to get enough so I wouldn’t need to go to the LCBO for at least another month. I grabbed the largest backpack I had and set out on foot.

I came home with at least two bottles of gin and enough beer that I immediately needed to foam roll my back. The beer that was supposed to last me one month made it to the end of the week. The gin that was supposed to get me through the end of times was down to about half a bottle. At this point, it was clear the pandemic would last far longer than two weeks, and this was becoming unsustainable.

Seeing my empty fridge and the bin full of empties, I grabbed every bottle of alcohol on my bar and started dumping them down the drain. Unknowingly, I was about to join the millions of other people my age who were exploring the world of sober curiosity.

I don’t believe I had a problem with drinking and I still don’t believe I do. I was drinking because I was bored. But I did feel like I was getting close to losing control and I was tired of feeling like shit. Thanks to things like Bubly and Aha and even my poor, neglected SodaStream, I was able to get by without any issues right away. That is until I wanted a Negroni. I was absolutely craving that bitter sting of a Negroni. 1 part gin, 1 part vermouth, 1 part Campari, 1 part euphoria.

I tried a lot of non-alcoholic substitutes. Only to realize they’re all pretty bad. It reminds me of when I first went vegan and tried to get meat substitutes; some are okay, but others are truly horrible.

I’m back now to a fully stocked bar, I’m back to going out from time to time. When I do drink, it’s rare for me to have more than a few drinks. Most of my friends aren’t going crazy and a few have stopped drinking completely. I have no desire to be sober, but my urge to be able to have a bitter drink to sip that’s not alcoholic only grows stronger and stronger. If anything, I want to become accidentally sober. I want to drink less in the same way I don’t eat a lot of meat today because there are so many amazing vegetarian and vegan dishes.

So far I’ve found some good things:

Tonic Water

Much of the Gin & Tonic flavour comes from the tonic, ergo…

Barbet

This is a very floral kind of drink that scratches the juniper-sized itch gin would normally provide. It’s a bit of an acquired taste and quite unlike anything else I’ve ever had. It’s a great example of a non-alcoholic drink that’s not trying to replicate anything in the alcoholic world, it’s just its own thing.

Gingerbug

A not-kombucha-but-kind-of-like-kombucha Ginger beer. It’s a little sweet like Barbet with a nice sting from the ginger.

Bad things I’ve tried:

Seedlip

This is typically the first thing recommended to people on a non-alcoholic kick. I’ve tried several different flavours, it’s just really not my jam

Most non-alcoholic beers

I’ve tried so so many. Most can get the flavour down well, but they finish very poorly.

Early 2021 Goals

All of these are due for April 30th, 2021. Let’s start the year strong!

3 Month Emergency Fund In Cash
Combined with my RRSPs, I have more than that goal. I want to build back up that savings account back up.

*Read 3 non-fiction books
I want to get better at technical writing. The advice I’ve heard over and over is you need to read and take note of how people write.

Progress: 0/3

Release 10 YouTube Videos
I’ve been making funny YouTube videos for a bit now and I want to get
better at writing the scripts and using my video editing tools.

Progress: 1/10

Relaunch Mass Transient
I started this podcast several years ago. Really didn’t have the time to do it right so put it on the shelf. More eager now to tap into my creative side.

Run 100KM
This is in total, not all at once. Getting fat from the holidays.

Progress: 10KM


Religion Reading Challenge: Part 2

Start with Part 1 for the rundown on what’s going on here

I just finished the first book in this challenge. This post is going to start with a sad story: my Kobo ate all of the highlights and notes I made in this book. Lesson learned that I should have started writing this blog post while I was reading.

The Book 

Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?: Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World

Book Cover

The Gist 

The author of this book paints a picture of how to live in a diverse society through his actions. This is done tastefully without making himself look pious or holier-than-thou.

Following 9/11, he encouraged his church to reach out to a nearby mosque. They gave support in different ways, one of which was offering to run errands with members of the mosque if they felt unsafe going out alone.

He and his wife befriended their Muslim neighbours in their first apartment complex.

All of this was done out of love. Not out of a desire to convert. He stressed throughout the book that he was 100% Christian. This wasn’t a diet Christianity that he was practicing and insisted that this is how Jesus would have behaved in the same situation.

Finding Meaning 

I’m someone who flirts with being some mix of Agnostic, culturally Christian, a Red-Letter Christian or Buddhist (depending on the day). I don’t necessarily find my self holding on to a single holy text. I do, however, find myself clutching on to dogma in other ways.

In my earlier posts, I talk about going zero-waste and living a more intentional/deliberate life. Let me tell you; there’s some cult level dogma out there. You can run down a very toxic rabbit hole that consumes your life and you forget why you’re even doing this.

In the book, McLaren talks about the “Us vs. Them.” We perceive the “enemy” to be the “Them” when, in reality, the “Us” can be more dangerous. We do things to make sure the “Us” knows we’re on the same team. In the context of Christianity, this might look like an anti-Semitic post on Facebook. That post might get you closer with the “Us” but it doesn’t get you closer to Jesus, it’s not showing love.

There’s a part of a chapter where he talks about different ways of there being an “Us vs. Them” conflict within different major religions. Again, my highlights got eaten, so I can’t recall the specific examples, but just off the top of my head I’m thinking of some possibilities:

  • Christians being conflicted about gay marriage.
  • Jews being conflicted about Israel-Palestine.
  • Muslims being conflicted about the hijab/niqab.

All of these things might be seen as getting in the way of the “love” taught by their respective prophets.

I saw this happen in the zero-waste movement a lot. One time, I saw someone post on Reddit how excited they were that they remembered to bring their reusable mug to the airport. One less thing in the landfill!

This was someone who was new to zero-waste. The top comment on that post? Chastising them for flying in an airplane and using disposable utensils with their meal.

This commenter was appealing to the “Us”, trying to appear holier than thou of the zero-wasters. The “Them” in this case could be seen as fighting consumerism and global warming. The “Us” becomes toxic. The “Us” can make you lose sight of what you actually believe in.

My main takeaway, here, don’t be so quick to judge. Don’t be an ass. It helps no one.

Next Reading 

Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs and Rituals

Next reading book cover