My 2021 in data

A review of everything I've done in 2021. With data, insights and rambling.

Life

2021 brought the Jones family to a total of 4 with the addition of Toby Cooper Jones. It's been a difficult time to have a kid. I wasn't allowed into the hospital until the actual birth, having to wear a mask when holding my son for the first time. Relatives didn't get to meet him until he was nearly 2 months old.

2
2017
3
2018
3
2019
3
2020
4
2021
Jones family size over time

So it's been hard to find time to work on side projects with a new baby and a 3 year old. You can even see the drop in productivity in my Todoist completions. See if you can guess which month Toby was born in...

Todoist tasks completed by month in 2021Jan47JanFeb8FebMar11MarApr13AprMay7MayJun9JunJul29JulAug30AugSep23SepOct16OctNov15NovDec0Dec
Todoist tasks completed by month in 2021

Articles

One of my goals for 2021 was to "write more", and looking at the stats I've completely failed at that. Last year I wrote 3 articles, and this year I have written 4. Technically an increase, but not really what I had in mind.

103
Page Views
4
New Articles
0
Unpublished

I feel like the articles I've written this year are more thorough than last year's though, and are more in line with the kind of things I want to write more of. I've written about a new side project and my goals for 2021, which are less technical and more about me personally.

I do enjoy the technical articles as well, but good technical articles are hard to do right, and I end up getting sidetracked by other things. That's even how I came up with the idea for this almanac, I'm supposed to be writing an article on my move from Styled Components to Tailwind right now! I did finish it in the end, though.

Chronolists

I “launched” Chronolists in February, as a way to create chronological playlists for the MCU on a Plex server. After that I realised the same logic could be applied to other series and cinematic universes, so I expanded it to cover Star Wars, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Buffy and others.

In September I decided to make it more official, bought a proper domain name and launched on IndieHackers. The site is still technically in beta, but i've heard from several people from all over the world that have used the site, and that's a nice feeling.

The most popular playlists on Chronolists in 2021
33
MCU
11
Star Trek
9
Star Wars
7
Harry Potter

The prototype was built with Gatsby, but build times got a bit unmanageable as I added more series to the site. The new version is built with Next.js, which lets me make use of serverless API endpoints.

Github Contributions

This was the first year I've been using Github as my main code repo, so it's a good set of data to look back on.

Total Contributions: 1709

1st January 2021: 19 contributions
2nd January 2021: 7 contributions
3rd January 2021: 8 contributions
4th January 2021: 3 contributions
5th January 2021: 8 contributions
6th January 2021: 14 contributions
7th January 2021: 6 contributions
8th January 2021: 9 contributions
9th January 2021: 4 contributions
10th January 2021: 3 contributions
11th January 2021: 1 contribution
12th January 2021: 1 contribution
13th January 2021: 11 contributions
14th January 2021: 1 contribution
15th January 2021: 3 contributions
16th January 2021: 1 contribution
17th January 2021: 1 contribution
18th January 2021: 1 contribution
19th January 2021: 6 contributions
20th January 2021: 1 contribution
21st January 2021: 5 contributions
22nd January 2021: 5 contributions
23rd January 2021: 3 contributions
24th January 2021: 8 contributions
25th January 2021: 3 contributions
26th January 2021: 1 contribution
27th January 2021: 7 contributions
28th January 2021: 8 contributions
29th January 2021: 6 contributions
30th January 2021: 8 contributions
31st January 2021: 13 contributions
1st February 2021: 0 contributions
2nd February 2021: 1 contribution
3rd February 2021: 1 contribution
4th February 2021: 1 contribution
5th February 2021: 8 contributions
6th February 2021: 6 contributions
7th February 2021: 6 contributions
8th February 2021: 1 contribution
9th February 2021: 0 contributions
10th February 2021: 0 contributions
11th February 2021: 1 contribution
12th February 2021: 1 contribution
13th February 2021: 6 contributions
14th February 2021: 3 contributions
15th February 2021: 0 contributions
16th February 2021: 0 contributions
17th February 2021: 0 contributions
18th February 2021: 6 contributions
19th February 2021: 0 contributions
20th February 2021: 1 contribution
21st February 2021: 2 contributions
22nd February 2021: 1 contribution
23rd February 2021: 3 contributions
24th February 2021: 1 contribution
25th February 2021: 1 contribution
26th February 2021: 0 contributions
27th February 2021: 0 contributions
28th February 2021: 0 contributions
1st March 2021: 0 contributions
2nd March 2021: 1 contribution
3rd March 2021: 0 contributions
4th March 2021: 0 contributions
5th March 2021: 1 contribution
6th March 2021: 6 contributions
7th March 2021: 7 contributions
8th March 2021: 5 contributions
9th March 2021: 2 contributions
10th March 2021: 4 contributions
11th March 2021: 2 contributions
12th March 2021: 1 contribution
13th March 2021: 0 contributions
14th March 2021: 0 contributions
15th March 2021: 0 contributions
16th March 2021: 14 contributions
17th March 2021: 4 contributions
18th March 2021: 2 contributions
19th March 2021: 0 contributions
20th March 2021: 0 contributions
21st March 2021: 0 contributions
22nd March 2021: 0 contributions
23rd March 2021: 16 contributions
24th March 2021: 7 contributions
25th March 2021: 1 contribution
26th March 2021: 0 contributions
27th March 2021: 0 contributions
28th March 2021: 2 contributions
29th March 2021: 7 contributions
30th March 2021: 1 contribution
31st March 2021: 1 contribution
1st April 2021: 0 contributions
2nd April 2021: 3 contributions
3rd April 2021: 0 contributions
4th April 2021: 2 contributions
5th April 2021: 2 contributions
6th April 2021: 21 contributions
7th April 2021: 5 contributions
8th April 2021: 0 contributions
9th April 2021: 0 contributions
10th April 2021: 0 contributions
11th April 2021: 2 contributions
12th April 2021: 7 contributions
13th April 2021: 1 contribution
14th April 2021: 4 contributions
15th April 2021: 2 contributions
16th April 2021: 2 contributions
17th April 2021: 0 contributions
18th April 2021: 0 contributions
19th April 2021: 0 contributions
20th April 2021: 0 contributions
21st April 2021: 0 contributions
22nd April 2021: 4 contributions
23rd April 2021: 0 contributions
24th April 2021: 6 contributions
25th April 2021: 0 contributions
26th April 2021: 0 contributions
27th April 2021: 0 contributions
28th April 2021: 0 contributions
29th April 2021: 0 contributions
30th April 2021: 0 contributions
1st May 2021: 2 contributions
2nd May 2021: 2 contributions
3rd May 2021: 0 contributions
4th May 2021: 4 contributions
5th May 2021: 0 contributions
6th May 2021: 0 contributions
7th May 2021: 1 contribution
8th May 2021: 0 contributions
9th May 2021: 0 contributions
10th May 2021: 0 contributions
11th May 2021: 1 contribution
12th May 2021: 0 contributions
13th May 2021: 0 contributions
14th May 2021: 0 contributions
15th May 2021: 8 contributions
16th May 2021: 1 contribution
17th May 2021: 0 contributions
18th May 2021: 0 contributions
19th May 2021: 5 contributions
20th May 2021: 2 contributions
21st May 2021: 1 contribution
22nd May 2021: 12 contributions
23rd May 2021: 1 contribution
24th May 2021: 0 contributions
25th May 2021: 7 contributions
26th May 2021: 0 contributions
27th May 2021: 0 contributions
28th May 2021: 1 contribution
29th May 2021: 0 contributions
30th May 2021: 9 contributions
31st May 2021: 0 contributions
1st June 2021: 0 contributions
2nd June 2021: 0 contributions
3rd June 2021: 1 contribution
4th June 2021: 4 contributions
5th June 2021: 0 contributions
6th June 2021: 0 contributions
7th June 2021: 6 contributions
8th June 2021: 0 contributions
9th June 2021: 0 contributions
10th June 2021: 0 contributions
11th June 2021: 0 contributions
12th June 2021: 3 contributions
13th June 2021: 0 contributions
14th June 2021: 0 contributions
15th June 2021: 1 contribution
16th June 2021: 10 contributions
17th June 2021: 50 contributions
18th June 2021: 0 contributions
19th June 2021: 0 contributions
20th June 2021: 0 contributions
21st June 2021: 0 contributions
22nd June 2021: 0 contributions
23rd June 2021: 0 contributions
24th June 2021: 0 contributions
25th June 2021: 0 contributions
26th June 2021: 3 contributions
27th June 2021: 6 contributions
28th June 2021: 0 contributions
29th June 2021: 5 contributions
30th June 2021: 0 contributions
1st July 2021: 3 contributions
2nd July 2021: 3 contributions
3rd July 2021: 1 contribution
4th July 2021: 0 contributions
5th July 2021: 8 contributions
6th July 2021: 3 contributions
7th July 2021: 1 contribution
8th July 2021: 0 contributions
9th July 2021: 0 contributions
10th July 2021: 0 contributions
11th July 2021: 0 contributions
12th July 2021: 0 contributions
13th July 2021: 0 contributions
14th July 2021: 0 contributions
15th July 2021: 0 contributions
16th July 2021: 2 contributions
17th July 2021: 5 contributions
18th July 2021: 2 contributions
19th July 2021: 0 contributions
20th July 2021: 0 contributions
21st July 2021: 0 contributions
22nd July 2021: 0 contributions
23rd July 2021: 1 contribution
24th July 2021: 2 contributions
25th July 2021: 1 contribution
26th July 2021: 1 contribution
27th July 2021: 0 contributions
28th July 2021: 0 contributions
29th July 2021: 0 contributions
30th July 2021: 0 contributions
31st July 2021: 3 contributions
1st August 2021: 5 contributions
2nd August 2021: 4 contributions
3rd August 2021: 9 contributions
4th August 2021: 0 contributions
5th August 2021: 4 contributions
6th August 2021: 11 contributions
7th August 2021: 0 contributions
8th August 2021: 0 contributions
9th August 2021: 4 contributions
10th August 2021: 3 contributions
11th August 2021: 2 contributions
12th August 2021: 4 contributions
13th August 2021: 0 contributions
14th August 2021: 1 contribution
15th August 2021: 0 contributions
16th August 2021: 0 contributions
17th August 2021: 0 contributions
18th August 2021: 1 contribution
19th August 2021: 0 contributions
20th August 2021: 0 contributions
21st August 2021: 1 contribution
22nd August 2021: 0 contributions
23rd August 2021: 0 contributions
24th August 2021: 0 contributions
25th August 2021: 0 contributions
26th August 2021: 0 contributions
27th August 2021: 2 contributions
28th August 2021: 1 contribution
29th August 2021: 0 contributions
30th August 2021: 1 contribution
31st August 2021: 0 contributions
1st September 2021: 0 contributions
2nd September 2021: 0 contributions
3rd September 2021: 0 contributions
4th September 2021: 0 contributions
5th September 2021: 0 contributions
6th September 2021: 0 contributions
7th September 2021: 0 contributions
8th September 2021: 0 contributions
9th September 2021: 0 contributions
10th September 2021: 7 contributions
11th September 2021: 0 contributions
12th September 2021: 8 contributions
13th September 2021: 1 contribution
14th September 2021: 1 contribution
15th September 2021: 5 contributions
16th September 2021: 0 contributions
17th September 2021: 0 contributions
18th September 2021: 0 contributions
19th September 2021: 0 contributions
20th September 2021: 12 contributions
21st September 2021: 3 contributions
22nd September 2021: 7 contributions
23rd September 2021: 0 contributions
24th September 2021: 1 contribution
25th September 2021: 6 contributions
26th September 2021: 8 contributions
27th September 2021: 10 contributions
28th September 2021: 4 contributions
29th September 2021: 4 contributions
30th September 2021: 0 contributions
1st October 2021: 10 contributions
2nd October 2021: 0 contributions
3rd October 2021: 0 contributions
4th October 2021: 13 contributions
5th October 2021: 17 contributions
6th October 2021: 11 contributions
7th October 2021: 21 contributions
8th October 2021: 8 contributions
9th October 2021: 0 contributions
10th October 2021: 0 contributions
11th October 2021: 5 contributions
12th October 2021: 8 contributions
13th October 2021: 9 contributions
14th October 2021: 16 contributions
15th October 2021: 1 contribution
16th October 2021: 0 contributions
17th October 2021: 3 contributions
18th October 2021: 7 contributions
19th October 2021: 4 contributions
20th October 2021: 7 contributions
21st October 2021: 10 contributions
22nd October 2021: 1 contribution
23rd October 2021: 0 contributions
24th October 2021: 0 contributions
25th October 2021: 9 contributions
26th October 2021: 0 contributions
27th October 2021: 31 contributions
28th October 2021: 11 contributions
29th October 2021: 6 contributions
30th October 2021: 0 contributions
31st October 2021: 7 contributions
1st November 2021: 9 contributions
2nd November 2021: 7 contributions
3rd November 2021: 27 contributions
4th November 2021: 20 contributions
5th November 2021: 11 contributions
6th November 2021: 1 contribution
7th November 2021: 0 contributions
8th November 2021: 14 contributions
9th November 2021: 17 contributions
10th November 2021: 14 contributions
11th November 2021: 7 contributions
12th November 2021: 14 contributions
13th November 2021: 0 contributions
14th November 2021: 9 contributions
15th November 2021: 10 contributions
16th November 2021: 11 contributions
17th November 2021: 25 contributions
18th November 2021: 18 contributions
19th November 2021: 46 contributions
20th November 2021: 4 contributions
21st November 2021: 10 contributions
22nd November 2021: 24 contributions
23rd November 2021: 22 contributions
24th November 2021: 24 contributions
25th November 2021: 8 contributions
26th November 2021: 25 contributions
27th November 2021: 15 contributions
28th November 2021: 6 contributions
29th November 2021: 58 contributions
30th November 2021: 26 contributions
1st December 2021: 33 contributions
2nd December 2021: 22 contributions
3rd December 2021: 20 contributions
4th December 2021: 1 contribution
5th December 2021: 1 contribution
6th December 2021: 22 contributions
7th December 2021: 20 contributions
8th December 2021: 3 contributions
9th December 2021: 10 contributions
10th December 2021: 0 contributions
11th December 2021: 3 contributions
12th December 2021: 1 contribution
13th December 2021: 3 contributions
14th December 2021: 11 contributions
15th December 2021: 10 contributions
16th December 2021: 25 contributions
17th December 2021: 38 contributions
18th December 2021: 13 contributions
19th December 2021: 7 contributions
20th December 2021: 37 contributions
21st December 2021: 32 contributions
22nd December 2021: 7 contributions
23rd December 2021: 0 contributions
24th December 2021: 0 contributions
25th December 2021: 2 contributions
26th December 2021: 0 contributions
27th December 2021: 0 contributions
28th December 2021: 1 contribution
29th December 2021: 5 contributions
30th December 2021: 3 contributions
31st December 2021: 0 contributions

You can see the beginning of the year I was keeping to my goal of working on some form of side project at least once a day. I kept that up for the whole of January.

In February my second son Toby was born, and pretty much straight away I started to slip slightly. The real drop came a few months later, which lines up pretty well with the relaxation of distancing restrictions. I spent some of my free time actually seeing other people, and they weren't willing to log it as a Github issue.

9
New Repos
918
Commits
37
Pull Requests
19
Repos Updated

It's really picked up again since September. Part of that is down to a project at work that is using Github, but I have also been more active on a few of my side projects. In the last few months I've been working on this site, a rebuild of Chronolists and another new top secret project.

7
metaHack
18
pauljones.io
Todoist tasks completed by project in 2021

Apparently the majority of my time this year has been spent on this site, which makes some sense. I rebuilt the whole thing, and have added just about every daft thing I can think of

The numbers may seem low, but my tasks are generally high level. For example, I have a task in my Chronolists project simply called "Complete rebuild in NextJS", and I had one for this site that was just "Move to Tailwind CSS" which took me about a week. I should really get better at breaking things down.

Site Visitors

You might spot a bit of a gap in this data... I gave Plausible a try in January, but at the time I couldn't justify paying for analytics. After 6 months of trying various free options I coughed up the cash, so take that as an endorsement.

Unique visitors to pauljones.io in 2021Jan0JanFeb0FebMar0MarApr0AprMay0MayJun0JunJul0JulAug0AugSep14SepOct39OctNov38NovDec116Dec
Unique visitors to pauljones.io in 2021

Gaming

For the past few years I've been trying to stick to 12-in-12 with my gaming, essentially setting out to complete 1 game from the huge number in my backlog each month. I think I've done OK, considering I chose 5 huge RPGs, 1 of which was the entire Mass Effect Trilogy.

That said, Mass Effect Legendary Edition is incredible, I'm so glad people will be able to play these games without having to buy Bioware points in order to get the DLCs.

16
Total Games
63%
Completed
31%
Abandoned
6%
Not Started

One thing I learned last year is that forcing myself to complete games I'm just not enjoying is a good way to be miserable, so I don't really mind that I've bounced off a few of these games.

Cyberpunk 2077 finally came out, and it was... ok? I played on PC, so didn't see the massive issues that the consoles had, and I waited until a lot of the major bugs had been fixed (and until I got a new graphics card).

Twelve Minutes finally came out as well. This has been on my radar for years, and it was fun while it lasted. I do wish it was longer, or had some more replayability. I couldn't bring myself to go back for the other endings.

Tom Clancy's The Division 2 cover image
January: Tom Clancy's The Division 2
Outer Wilds cover image
Feburary: Outer Wilds
Mass Effect: Andromeda cover image
March: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Dragon Age: Inquisition cover image
April: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Tyranny cover image
April: Tyranny
Mass Effect Legendary Edition cover image
May: Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Assassin's Creed: Syndicate cover image
May: Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy cover image
June: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
NITE Team 4 cover image
June: NITE Team 4
Spore cover image
July: Spore
Middle-earth: Shadow of War cover image
July: Middle-earth: Shadow of War
Twelve Minutes cover image
August: Twelve Minutes
Cyberpunk 2077 cover image
September: Cyberpunk 2077
Anno 2205 cover image
October: Anno 2205
Control cover image
November: Control
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire cover image
December: Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

A big theme with the games this year was games that I just couldn't run on my old PC. I had to stop playing Cyberpunk, Control and Assassin's Creed: Syndicate because I just couldn't run them. I ended up buying a new prebuilt PC, because a whole PC with a Geforce 3070 worked out cheaper than what graphics cards were going for earlier in the year.

One other game that I don't think anyone has ever heard of is NITE Team 4, a hacking simulation. I love these kinds of games. They're basically just puzzles with a terminal slapped in front of them, but I just can't stop playing them.

New for 2022

This year I'll be tracking a few extra things:

  • Music listening, with Last.fm
  • Time spent on projects with Toggl
  • General time productivity with RescueTime