A recent rediscovery has been 4850, a little cafe behind the hospital. It used to be Michelin-awarded fine dining, now’s it a coffee place and wine bar. During the week, they close at 3, but on Fridays, they’re open until 6. The team working there have such a great dynamic, and it’s fun to crack jokes with them. Perfect way to start the weekend.

The tram smells like perfume, coffee, and eggs. Amsterdam is cold, but the morning sun turns everything a beautiful orange. I have seven more days of antibiotics to go. I never thought I’d say it, but I can’t wait to go to the beach and sit in the sun.

Today, I have a track record of 2,500 days of alcohol-free hydration. In May I will celebrate 7 years of sobriety, but since I’m greeted by a day counter whenever I look at my phone, I couldn’t resist a moment of reflection.

The 2025 Lenten season and I are off to a beautiful start. I’m trying something new this year: I don’t want to focus on a habit I want to quit, co-opting Lent to dive into productivity/diet/whatever culture. Instead, I’m looking forward to identify a few of my common thinking traps, and learn how I can move beyond them to what I consider the less circumstantial, more profound beliefs I have about life. A gorgeous morning sky is making it all quite the treat.

Three wins

1. Gave a successful presentation during a company-wide meeting, and it prompted the responses and follow-ups I had aimed for
2. Took my first walk to the nearby park with friends who returned from a month-long holiday
3. Went to Sunday’s church service without crutches for the first time since the accident

Browsing around for my favorite blog post for Fabruary, I just ran into Lou Plummer’s What Were Your First Seven Jobs? I say “browsing” but I was really just going through only his archive. I knew when I decided to participate in Robert Birming’s Fabruary that the post I would submit as my favorite would be something written by Lou.

An enjoyable part of my day job is that I get to hyper-segment healthcare professionals into neat groups based on age, personality types, gender, educational level, tech-savviness, and behavioral patterns. I believe fervently that data can do good, which is: help healthcare professionals practice their craft and not spend 35% of their time on the menial tasks that make up the administrative part of their job.

I love that my employer is as excited about data as I am, and that I get to geek out with dashboards and spreadsheets to help development teams make better decisions.

At home, though, it’s a different story. One of the things I like most about my website is that I don’t know you’ve been here unless you tell me. I stopped using analytics tooling on my personal website a long time ago, and I like it that way.

For a few years now I’ve had a standing invitation to say hello. It has been providing me with friendly conversations with Internet strangers for years. It’s pleasant when some random guy from the American Midwest emails me to ask how my ankle is doing. Using the contact form on my hello page, it’s pretty easy to get in touch with me.

I’m very pleased to announce that there is now yet another way for you to let me know you’ve been here. It’s by signing my brand-new guestbook! I love seeing what people write on a website maker’s public wall, and I hope my page will slowly fill up with nice words from all over the world.

See you there?