2025 in Review
December 31, 2025Tags: careers, community, training
As we’re about to wrap up 2025, I wanted to answer some questions people wondered about this year.
If you had to pick your favorite presentation this year, which would it be?
Workshop-wise, it’s still my EventStorming workshop. I enjoy the engagement in this workshop, and I’m theming it to a variety of topics. For CodeMash 2026, I’ll be running the EventStorming workshop with a vending machine theme. From the standard candy bar and pop (soda/soda pop/Coke) vending machines to cupcake vending machines and more, there isn’t just a straightforward single experience. We’ll look at experiences using Big Picture EventStorming as well as EventStorming for Process Modeling. If you’re going to be at CodeMash and want to join in on this adventure, it’s “Snack Time: EventStorming with Snack-Inspired Systems” on Wednesday, January 14 at 1:00pm.
Session-wise, though, it’s a challenge to pick one topic. For work, I do public webinars for NimblePros. It’s like doing a virtual conference talk every month. My favorite one to do this year was the HTMX webinar, as I got to explore how to use this JavaScript library more for simplified front-ends. Unfortunately, we had audio issues during webinar. However, I have recorded the demos and made them available on the Front-End playlist on the NimblePros YouTube channel. If you can’t tell by my energy in the demos, I really had fun exploring HTMX!
What were some of the other adventures from 2025 that you wanted to share with others?
In January 2025, I had the chance to shadow the speaker team for CodeMash, in hopes of continuing on. It was a very insightful experience, seeing how things are run. However, I realized that I’m better off on the speaker side than on the organizer side for this event. So I stepped down from the organizing team. I also took the year off of session review. I hoped to submit to CodeMash 2026 and return as a speaker.
In February 2025, we started the maple sugaring process early. The weather worked in our favor to start tapping the trees for sap. We have a bunch of maple trees in our backyard at home. So we tapped 3 of them and made syrup. We do this every other year, giving the trees time to heal. There’s something satisfying about making our own maple syrup.
In March 2025, we returned to our cabin! It was good to be back there and see how it’s held up throughout the winter. While we have trailcams and watch remotely, it’s just refreshing to get away and be in nature. At home, I had more baking adventures - making a cake using a silicone mold. I’m more a cookie baker than a cake baker. However, I found a sunflower mold and had to have it. I love sunflowers!
April 2025 brought more cabin adventures - Kevin and I did a day trip down there to plant trees. We planted:
- 4 American Plum trees
- 4 American Hazelnut shrubs
- 4 American Persimmon trees
- 4 Shagbark Hickory trees
- 4 Chinkapin Oak trees
- 4 Dwarf Red Haven Peach trees
We eventually added 3 American Chestnut trees to that list.
Baking adventures involved revisiting a red velvet cake recipe and learning to fill cannoli. The boys wanted a red velvet cake and cannoli for their birthdays, so I made a multi-layer red velvet cake and filled pre-made cannoli shells. They turned out tasty!
In May 2025, my friend Cameron Presley taught me how to knit! We’ve been chatting monthly to stay in touch, as it’s hard to find overlapping events where we catch up in person. He knew I crocheted, and he wanted to show me knitting. Since that time, I’ve knitted a few blankets and continue to knit and crochet to this day. I also went to Stir Trek as an attendee - OMG! I loved that experience! It was a lot of learning and catching up with friends. Also, thanks to Brendan Enrick for putting a slide in there to encourage trolling!
Cabin-wise, I learned about another point of sale (POS) system, as our general store neighbors got their POS system installed. We also started campfires again - loving our Solo Stove and how easy it is for setup and clean-up.
Summer 2025 means that the farmers markets are back. Lots of cabin adventures as well as time with family. I spent the summer working on yeasted baking adventures - Chinese buns like the ones you see with Peking duck were made often. They make great mini-sandwich buns. Also pepperoni bread! The absurd part of this summer though was Lawson’s Chip Dip ice cream - thanks to Pav’s Creamery for that adventure!
In September 2025, my younger son came to me to tell me he was changing instruments - from saxophone to tuba. If you’ve met him, you know that he’s not that tall - and that the tuba is about 3/4 his size. It sounds like an absurd musical transition - from alto clef to bass clef and woodwinds to brass. However, when I was his age, I went from clarinet to double bass - so large instrument compared to me, alto clef to bass clef, and woodwinds (clarinet) to strings. He is enjoying tuba!
In October 2025, Kev and I had a weekend to ourselves down at the cabin. We managed to take a walking adventure between the two small towns near the cabin. It was nice to just walk around and have quality adult time with him. One of our adventures took us across the Morgan County Veterans’ Memorial Bridge.
I also spoke at Momentum Dev Con in Cincinnati! I got to see my friends Matt Eland and Samuel Gomez again. I talk with them very often, and I’m always happy when I get a chance to see them in-person. It was a great event - though I felt bad about leaving early. I presented my EventStorming session in the morning, and then I had a quick 4-hour drive back home to surprise my older son at a school presentation that night. He thought I would be in Cincinnati and miss his presentation. But there was no way I was missing that!
November and December led to closing the cabin and appreciating time at home with the family.
Overall, it was a busy year!
How are you doing?
I do get this question from people, and typically it boils down to “I’m fine.” However, it was a challenging year. My rheumatologist moved out of state without notice, so I had to find a new rheumatologist. While waiting to get in to see her, my arthritis meds started failing again. When my meds fail, my body gets out of whack, and thankfully I recognize the symptoms and know to manage them. But the brain fog - yeesh! I got in with the new rheumatologist in October, and I follow up with her again in 2026. We adjusted my meds in hopes of finding the right combination and delivery process.
It’s been about 2 months on the new delivery process, and I’ve seen a reduction in the brain fog. So this gives me hope!
What lessons did you learn?
In the 2024 review, I mentioned that videos were on pause until we got some soundproofing in my office. Kev hung the soundproofing tiles in my office, and it’s helped my recording quality. So I did do more videos in 2025 - though I realized that I don’t like doing long videos and would rather do shorter ones. So more on those in 2026!
I’ve realized in 2025 that I still need to be the voice of the human factor. AI doesn’t get it. When it comes to my projects, I’m the one asking the questions about “what if this?” and “who is using this system?” I ask a lot of questions because I truly care about the users’ experiences. I want them to be happy or excited about our apps. I want them to tell others about it too! Some of my personal goals for my work are aligned with user experience - from completing Storytelling for User Experience to going through a couple courses in Canva’s Design School. So stay tuned for more user experience-related posts and probably more Sadukie on User eXperience (SUX) posts!
Conclusion
2025 was a rough year for me personally. I had to go back to my camera roll to see all the photos I took to remind me of the good. The autoimmune adventures made it hard for me to see what happened. The brain fog fogged up those memories and held a dark theme over my head. But reviewing the camera roll reminded me of the fun adventures and the parts that mattered.
The key for 2025 was to survive. With 2026, I can only hope for an upswing health-wise. I can hope for more user group adventures (like ISC2 Cleveland in February 2026!) and more online videos. I can hope for more advocating for the users and reminding the world about the human parts.
Here’s hoping you have a great 2026!