Now - October 2023

A busy fall of travelling. I’m on my way back from the UK after attending Statsbomb Conference and speaking at Shiny in Production, and I had a great time away while in PNW through early September.

Both conferences went great - it was brilliant to meet people in the soccer space at Statsbomb, especially since I’m not super familiar with the overall landscape like I am with NFL analytics. I felt a little imposter-y when Bobby and Tiago kept introducing me to all of their friends and industry folks as the “GOAT of R”, but I’m learning to take the compliment for what it’s meant to be and not immediately think about how inaccurate I feel that is and think about who I would actually consider as the greatest. It’s also super cool to talk to various people who have heard of nflverse at a soccer conf.

The talk went well too - I started writing slides on Monday and I’m super glad at how it all came together into a cohesive storyline by Friday. It felt a lot more comfortable than when I presented at RStudioConf in 2022, although I think that’s also a function of a smaller, more niche audience. Very interesting to see that my slides alone had made the R Weekly highlights (thank you Tony!) and made for a nice podcast discussion from Eric and Mike.

Going to these conferences was a good reminder of how grateful I am for the friends I’ve made in these spaces, and I’m also starting to recognize and appreciate the reputation/influence that I’ve seemingly accumulated over the years.

My PNW trip in September was a great chance to properly disconnect from work and explore some cities I hadn’t visited before. It’s a real blessing that my friend network has become so global that I had friends in every city - a function of Zelus being so distributed and that my attention has largely spun global instead of local over the last few years. I also had a wonderful time forging a chef’s knife with Gordon at Von Helmick Knives - super cool experience and one I’ve wanted to do ever since I saw Kenji Lopez Alt promote it. Super recommend if you’re ever in the Portland area.

Travels aren’t over yet - in November I’ll be visiting Pittsburgh (for CMSAC and a Steelers game) and San Francisco immediately afterwards (for the annual Soccer onsite, and catching a 49ers game while there as well). I’m looking forward to these and yet also getting a little weary - I’m feeling a lot of internal resistance to the idea of travelling again to Vietnam or Japan in December to meet with my family since the idea of another long haul flight feels exhausting. Maybe I’ll find that energy in the time between now and then.