Year review
30 December 2015
I wrote this post a few weeks ago when everyone on the internet was writing their own year review, I decided I would join in.
It’s hard not to be a pessimist when I’m constantly looking at how I can get better and achieve more in my life. I have to force myself to stop and think about how far I’ve gotten to truly appreciate my accomplishments and be proud of myself.
Overall, a good year. 4/5 stars, would live it again.
My dog died
This year would have gotten 5/5 had my dog not died.
Dogo was awesome.
He was fluffy and cute and gorgeous. He always made me feel better. He died of old age.
Every now and again I think about him and it makes me smile.
I cooked and ate good food
My husband and I are at the point where going to restaurants is mostly a let down. Our food is just so much better. I assume that somewhere down the road when we have kids they’ll prefer some god-awful fast food place, as I did when I was a child. When I was in the first grade, my favorite dish was ketchup with a side of Egg McMuffin… or ketchup with a side of anything.
That being said, here are some restaurants I enjoy eating at again:
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Insomnia Cookies, NYC. Best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had, paired with the best ice cream I’ve ever had (Birthday cake). Ice cream with frosting, genius.
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Din Tai Fung, Hong Kong (or any other location). Best Xiaolongbao ever.
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Dalida, Tel Aviv. Favorite dishes are the Polenta, the bone marrow French toast.
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Eiji, San Francisco. Probably the best Japanese meal I’ve ever had.
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Truck Deluxe, Tel Aviv. I loved the pulled pork pancakes.
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Sweet Maple, San Francisco. OMG THAT MILLIONAIRE’S BACON.
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Nam, Tel Aviv. My favorite weekday restaurant. I love their soups.
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Nansen, Berlin. Recommended to me by a local, this place surprises me with it’s unique combinations and tasty food in the land of pork and potatoes.
I spent a lot of time traveling
3 x San Francisco
2 x Stockholm
2 x Berlin
1 x New York
1 x Hawaii
1 x Amsterdam
This list seems rather short now.
Spent time with friends from all over the globe
I’m so grateful to have befriended all these weird, wonderful people. I love that I can point to a country that I’ve been to and say “Yeah, I know < enter name here >, they have some crazy stories / their kid is adorable / they’re a great < enter profession here >”.
Went from 0 to keynote speaker in 4 months
It all started with my wanting to go APIStrat in Berlin. My boss suggested we both send in talks so the company would be motivated to pay for it. I had my most eloquent friend help me with my abstract, I had my harshest critics review my talk and slide deck. My boss’s boss suggested that I send in CFPs for conferences in Israel as well, which I was hesitant to do as I view Israelies as the toughest audience. I sent in CFPs to all of the conferences I wanted to go to and assumed nothing would happen, but most of them got accepted.
When I was in Berlin, after APIStrat was over I had an idea for a talk. It was one of those moments when everything suddenly clicks and makes sense. Luckily I had my computer with me so I could take advantage of it and write down all of my ideas. I was done with my abstract within 15 minutes, had my husband and a friend review it, then sent it in for Endpoint conference.
That talk got me the Keynote speaker spot. I nearly peed my pants when I got the email.
The conferences I spoke at in 2015:
Integrate 2015 Conference + EXPO, Endpoint 2015, Signal, APIDays Berlin & APIStrat Europe 2015, DevCon TLV , Sela Developer Practice
I’m proud to say that I’m already booked to speak at more conferences in 2016.
Of course, there were a bunch of other little things that made this year awesome but mentioning them all would have made this post very long.
Anyway, there’s more to come, that’s for sure.
Goodbye 2015, you’ve been great.