Five-Year Break Reflections: Family Moments and Passion Projects
After five years with OneStream, I was given a little breathing room to chase personal interests and catch up on life outside the office. I'm grateful for the trust and flexibility, and I wanted to jot down the highlights while they're still fresh.
Family Highlights
- Gemma's first movie adventure: We grabbed popcorn, found the perfect middle-row seats, and watched her eyes go wide at the big screen. Throughout the rest of my leave we also made a few park trips, apparently animated worlds spark playground energy.
- Finn's crash course in mobility: Most of my time was spent at floor level cheering Finn on as he figured out how to crawl, sit up, stand, and occasionally topple into a giggle fit. The milestone finish line was his first haircut—he wasn't sure about the clippers, but the post-cut snack made everything better.
- Coworking with my favorite person: Sharing the office with my wife isn't new, but a break from meetings meant she could camp out beside me all week for coffee refills, music debates, and shared lunch breaks.
- Uninterrupted creative time: Having quiet hours to plan and build for myself reminded me why I fell in love with tinkering in the first place.
Personal Projects in the Lab
- Weather-aware sprinklers: I wired my new weather station into Home Assistant so the sprinklers stop when rainfall is on the horizon. The real test will come next spring after winterizing the system almost immediately after finishing the automation. Fingers crossed.
- Waterpark simulator speedrun: My wife got curious after hearing me watch YouTubers play, so we dove in together and I took a break from all the code for a quick speedrun.
- AI spec-driven development sprint: I went deep on refining my prompt templates and workflows, then put them to use by refreshing my personal blog, side business sites, and the supporting backend services. AI development still demands time and careful balance—being a cautious early adopter is tricky—but every so often the risk pays off when AI and code click.
- Euchre site reboot: It's not fully shipped yet; the first playtest a few months ago technically worked but lacked personality, which birthed the avatar idea. After three or four implementation attempts I've finally got the customizable avatars in place, and real-time, WebSocket-driven euchre games are coming soon.
What Comes Next
This break was the reset I didn't know I needed. I'm heading back to work recharged, with new ideas for the blog, a backlog of experiments to explore, and the reminder that the best projects are the ones you get to share with the people you love.
If any of these projects spark questions—or if you want to trade sprinkler automations or euchre strategies—drop me a note. Always happy to swap ideas.
