There was little hope of me catching up on my TV watch list or unread pile of books while I was unemployed. Whether I have full time employment or not, I end up working about the same amount in any given week.

My last extended break was after my time at Vanilla six years ago, at the end of which I started this blog. The work I did then was entirely on myself — I’d shattered and was slowly piecing myself back together (an ongoing process). This time, I entered the break with a to-do list and confidence, and it was a very different experience.

This is a brief recounting of how I spent my four months away, grouped into three buckets.

Personal development: Attended StaffPlus & LeadingEng in NYC to level up my executive & technical leadership skills, prepared to test for the next rank in my martial arts practice, submitted multiple talk proposals to a conference, and wrote more here. I built a marketing website for my dojo to learn how WordPress’ site builder tools have evolved recently (quite a bit!), learned about & used LLM-based transcription tools (pretty good!), dug into Docker, FrankenPHP, & Laravel for the first time, leveled up my Linux admin skills (after two decades of “good enough”), and researched new tools. Just yesterday, I learned how to connect data in a Google Sheet to widgets for macOS, iOS, & watchOS.

Projects & planning: I published my five beliefs for Agorakit and rebuilt much of its development environment. I built & released Nitro Porter 4.0 that introduces file migrations and many other improvements, and yesterday I started building it a Docker container for easier access. I founded an LLC, wrote two open source grant proposals, dealt with my taxes & updated my personal finance plan to be business-grade, sorted out insurance issues, and transferred my small investments into better institutions & plans.

Home improvement: I fixed a number of issues around my historic home, put the basement & attic in order, organized my Magic: The Gathering collection for the first time in years, and strategically sold off some cards to free up space & liquidity.

I’m deeply critical of anyone who sees “resume gaps” and thinks they are a negative signal. If anything, I grew more in these last few months than I had opportunity to do in the preceding 8 months of employment. I feel like hiring managers & CEOs are telling on themselves — maybe if they had the time off, they’d just sit on the couch and watch movies. Or maybe they just think no one else has the same intrinsic motivations they do, because they’re special. Whatever it is, it’s delusional thinking.

I could frankly use another four months, but my bank account disagrees! On Monday, I start a part-time contract as a technical consultant while I continue home improvement projects and invest in open source. I expect to hear back about the grants right as the contract wraps up in April, so it could be a very interesting spring.