The year that was 2016.

Change. I made some.

2015 was pretty stable. I changed that in 2016.

In September I wrapped up three years of pushing IPv6 at Yahoo; I took trips to Arizona, New Orleans, and Panama City. I moved out of my apartment in San Francisco on November 20th. I arrived in Amsterdam on November 29th; I started work at RIPE NCC on December 1st.

Let’s talk about the other changes inherent in that: the role is research-focussed; the organisation is not-for-profit; the organisation is much smaller than Yahoo; the work is all network-oriented, not advertising-oriented; the research is pragmatic, operationally focussed; the work is much more public than corporate culture allowed. These are all good.

As I write this, I’m about to move into a more permanent apartment. My daily commute will be no longer than a 20 minute walk to or from the office. London is an hour away, Scotland not much more. I double my vacation allowance. It’s been winter, with some days dipping comfortably below freezing. This week, my belongings turned up after their transit from California. These changes are all good, and things are now settling down.

Last year I also managed trips to Berlin (IETF96), Portland (twice), Seattle (twice), Ottawa, and also back home to Scotland. Squeezing all that around limited vacation time on the West coast of the US is, to say the least, tiring. I’m pleased I’ve relocated somewhere more central.

I also managed to beat my previous times for Bay to Breakers, and my time for a half marathon, leaving open the question of whether I could beat those again.

And hopefully we’ll see! I’m planning on running Bay to Breakers again in 2017. This time, I’ll have gone through a winter and I’ll probably be running with some jet lag; should add to the challenge!

So, hey, 2017. We’re almost two months in already, but it’s going well so far. Hoping for more.