Final car news: It’s a holiday miracle! The morning we set off back to Chicago, the check engine light had gone off by itself and the door ding had undung itself overnight. The car got some fresh brake fluid as a treat for putting up with our mistreatment.

Spent a little time in the office this week. I think it’s always pretty quiet, and with holiday PTO on top, there were so few of us that all the lights kept turning themselves off every few minutes until you flailed your arms around and demonstrated some sign of life.

Given my distributed team, I really don’t feel any loss continuing to work remotely myself. If anything, I’m pushing for an off-site or two where we can see each others faces this calendar year instead of just doing Teams from a bunch of conference rooms instead of a bunch of houses.

The biggest thing I do miss about going to work in a building every day: food options.

Set foot in one of the Amazon Go robot stores in our building. I’m increasingly becoming a conspiracy theorist that the technology behind it didn’t pan out and they’re just faking it with someone rewinding through security footage. When the first Go stores opened, I remember getting a receipt almost instantly as I walked out the door. This time, I was in the store for 48 seconds, picked up a single item, and didn’t get a receipt for over three hours.

Coincidentally related: enjoyed Wrong Way by Joanne McNeil, which seems like it’ll be my last book of 2023. I only finished a half-dozen books this year, which might be an all-time low. I sure did start a lot though, so partial credit.

And that’s a wrap on 2023! Thanks for being here. Hoping all of us make it through 2024 any which we we can.