新年快樂. I think we are enough days removed from the New Year to talk a little bit about reality. This week I learned what "Active Dying" is. Last Thursday, the nurse gave my Mom three days to live. A week later she is still with us. It has been a whirlwind of emotions and tasks to figure out the logistics of where her final hours will be spent and where her body will rest.

It was also the second week of my triathlon training which has been a helpful reprieve from the constant pulse of the oxygen pump. This is the first time I have had to deal with a loved one in hospice and I am grateful for the support of my wife, family, and friends who have provided a meal train so I have one less thing to worry about day-to-day.

The Watch List

• The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent - Satire of Nicolas Cage playing himself. Worth wasting a couple of hours on.
• The Siege of Jadotville - A solid war tale of unlikely combatants. Right up my alley.
• Back in Action - Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx pair up for some really awful acting and predictable story lines. Skip this one.
• SAS: The Rise of the Black Swan - Meh meh acting, but a better watch than Back in Action.

The Linked List

• Reverse Engineering My #1 Hacker News Article - a breakdown of HN virality.
• How to improve your WFH lighting to reduce eye strain - reference to fix wifey's office.
• Samara Backyard XL-8 - beautiful modular homes with all-in pricing. Just add land - which might be the hard part in the Bay Area.
• Petrol Poodle: 981 GT4 Review - becoming difficult to resist the beck and call of the 981 GT4.

A couple of weeks in to the year and I have already fallen off the weekly publishing train. The Week As Steven was meant to be a personal review to spill my thoughts on the internet, but the last week has been one that I do not want to spill. My mother's illness has accelerated and we now have days rather than weeks. I have been spending time caring for her and the energy to write is simply not here. I am thankful for the hospice nurses who have recently stepped in to provide around the clock care.

I have been able to mostly stick to my triathlon training plan as a way to clear my head. The beatings will continue until morale improves.

The Watch List

• Black Doves - Starts off rather confusingly, but the development of Keira Knightley as a complex character navigating this unlikely story is very well done.
• Interstellar - Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway in a Christopher Nolan film. You sometimes forget that McConaughey is a great actor when you just see him in Salesforce ads with his half brother.
• Missing You - Another Harlan Coben adaptation. Predictable, but a decent way to pass the time.
• American Primeval - "Tim Riggins" is solid in this fictional portrayal of the settling of Utah.
• Ad Vitam - Action packed French film. Sometimes hard to tell if you are looking at the lead, Guillaume Canet, or his doppelgänger, Patrick Dempsey.

The Linked List...

• 2,000-year-old wine and the uncanny immediacy of the past - Archaeologists find a 2000 year old wine vessel, liquid still inside.
• 991 911 GT3 - the urge is strong for a P-sports car.
• 1970 Chevrolet C10 Pro Touring - this truck is absolutely wild.
• Managers Make Teams Deliver More Value, Not Deliver More Output - as titled.
• Magic/Tragic Email Links: Don’t make them the only option - wax eloquent on easy logins.
• Laid Off for the First Time In My Career, and Twice In One Year - an interesting personal account of job searching.
• How We Cracked a 512-Bit DKIM Key for Less Than $8 in the Cloud - a reminder that security teams need to be looking at internal configuration just as much as external threats.

Triathalon Training

My cousin was in town this week and feer (family + peer) pressured me into running a couple of morning 5ks. I thought my last run was in Summer of 2024, but according to Strava it was in 2021! So we knocked out a 3.86 miles at a 9:12 pace and I was extremely happy with that given I have not touched these shoes in over 3 years. More feer pressure when it was raining and we did negative splits in the rain. 28 minute 5k. Not too shabby.

How? Well... Peloton. I have kept my cardio up with indoor cycling and I am looking forward to my first triathalon in April. I was peer pressured into the Napa Valley Spring Triathalon and I am looking at Olympic rather than sprint. Will track more training in the weekly updates but first I need to find a pool to workout in.

Wok Shopping

As a home chef, my favorite tools of the trade have been my smaller Staub Dutch Oven, Le Creuset braising pan, Field Company Cast Iron Pan, and my Joyce Chen Wok. Over the weekend I found myself wanting a smaller wok to heat up a single serving for the kids and I found that it is NEAR impossible to find an uncoated carbon steel wok in smaller sizes. I have a 14" wok and I wanted a sub-10" wok. I swear I spent 3 hours combing the internet before I ended up with an 8.6" cast iron. I guess it's an odd thing to have a personal sized wok.

Ramen

I was attempting to veg on the couch with the kids when we stumbled upon a video the whole family wanted to watch. Chefs Eunjo Park formerly of Momofuku, Douglas Kim of JeJu Noodle Bar, and Toshiaki Kondo formerly of rockmeisha reviewed Instant Ramens on Epicurious.

What surprised me was how much insight they had into the texture and flavor of each bowl and how each had seemingly tried at least two-thirds of those being taste tested. These are pro chefs who operate some of the best Asian noodle joints in NYC. The second surprise was the level of science they could describe in each bowl. Great watch and we will be trying the ICHIRAN Take-Home Ramen at some point in the near future.

The Watch List

• Messiah - Binge worthy psychological thriller. Will mess with your head and poke at your beliefs.
• Furiosa: A Max Max Saga - I think the Mad Max series had to be one of my favorite syndicated movies growing up. This was a great prequel to Fury Road and the way they tied pieces of each film together was on point. Especially the ending, which I will not spoil here.
• Squid Game: Season 2 - Will finish tonight. I think the first season was more interesting, but the sequel is still highly entertaining.

The Linked List...

• Two Turntables and a Microphone - A brief history of the Panatrope which fueled film soundtracks in the 1920s.
• Why Yemeni Coffee Shops Are Suddenly Everywhere in Texas - A great piece in Texas Monthly on third spaces.
• Surviving ULTIMA GTR: BANNED in Style! // Nürburgring - Ultima GTR gets a shakedown from Misha Charoudin at the Nürburgring. Much want.

So I started with a weekly TWAS. This Week As Steven. I started getting into a groove... documenting things I had watched on Netflix and interesting links that I had come across. As the New Year started I thought I would keep it up, but then my Mom's health took a turn for the worse.

My Mom passed away in early February and so too did my desire to keep what seemed like a frivolous log of nonsense. I had a lot of things to deal with and I was not in the right headspace to keep up with... well... anything.

A few weeks ago I finally put my Mom's house on the market. It was a bittersweet moment. I had spent exactly zero years living in the house she left behind. I think I can count the overnight stays on one hand. But it was still a house full of memories. The first thing I went to recover was the family photo albums. There were so many photos of my Mom that I had never seen before and many memories of my early childhood that I had forgotten.

To be sadly realistic, the vast majority of my Mom's stuff accumulated over the years was "junk". Junk not in terms of not having value, but junk in terms of not being worth keeping. We gave as much as we could to refuge families at her church, but the rest was hauled away to the dump. I was honestly surprised at how there was so little sentiment attached to the things that I thought I would want to keep. It was also very sad to think about how young my Mom passed and how 71 years of life can be reduced to a few boxes of photos.

One thing that we were able to keep though was her art. My Mom was a late bloomer as an artist. I had never so much as seen her doodle until she started taking watercolor classes a couple of years ago. She was a natural. What also amazed me was how prolific of an artist she became in such a short time. She had dozens of framed paintings and multiple portfolios of other work. We were able to keep a few of our favorites and offered up other pieces to her friends at her Celebration of Life.

Grief is a strange thing. Some days I feel like I was prepared all along to lose her, knowing how bad the cancer was. Other days, like Mother's Day, I feel the shock and overwhelming feeling of loss for someone who left this world way too soon. But three months on I do think I am starting to find a sense of normalcy again. And perhaps it is time to start writing again. I have a lot of things I want to share and a lot of things I want to document. I am not sure if it will be weekly, but I do think it is time to keep going.

As I lost my Mom I also "lost" my job and started feeling a loss of my... self. Kierkegaard once wrote, "The greatest hazard of all, losing one's self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss - an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. - is sure to be noticed." I think I have been in a bit of a funk since then. I have been trying to figure out what I want to do next and how I want to spend my time. I have have been working on some side projects and exploring AI tooling, but I have not been able to find the same spark of joy that I feel like I had while Mom was still around.

Nevertheless, we persist. I'll be here. Riding the indoor trainer. Out riding my bike. I hope to see you out there. I hope to see you here.

The final course of the evening was from Professor Jesse Hu of JhuBlades, who taught a half-hour course on making a Damascus chef's knife. This, of course, sent me down further rabbit holes. Jesse is finishing up a dual degree in engineering at the University of Michigan. If you watch Jesse's videos, you might experience some real cognitive dissonance. Is this a bladesmith who looks twenty years younger than he actually is? Steven, what are you doing with your life that you’re not perfecting some pre-Industrial Revolution skill that will be necessary when society collapses?

But the biggest lessons to learn from Jesse are from his about page. Jesse shows the first blade he ever forged and the hand tools he used to make it. He documents his progression from a 15 lb Walmart anvil to a 365 lb 1950s anvil you would find Wile E. Coyote drop on Road Runner. In his videos, you’ll see his use of a belt grinder instead of a belt sander and his impressive press skills with an insane 25-ton Coal Iron Works Forging Press. You’ll witness Jesse's evolution in knife making and that he calls out his mentorship of others in the craft — improving his own skills as a result.

I have managed software engineers from summer intern to architect level. A career is not built on that one important project you think will get you promoted. It’s not about checking boxes on the career rubric. Every great engineer I’ve worked with focuses on improving their craft, partnering with others to create a better product, and adding more tools to their belt. Tools, not titles. Be a craftsperson.

I just completed my third week of triathlon training and I can assure you that both gentleman would swim laps around me and still have energy in the tank. Up until a few weeks ago it had been over two decades since I showed up to a pool to swim laps. I was not a strong swimmer then and I can assure you I am not a strong swimmer now.

A few weeks ago a family friend had come by the house. She had once been a C++ programmer in the 80s but shared that she switched paths to project management. She felt like she stopped finding joy in her work because you constantly had to learn new technologies. I thought to myself "that's the fun part!", but as I have been learning to swim I can empathize with being on the learning struggle bus. This is what I have learned about learning the last few weeks and I think it loosely applies to how we learn as Software Engineers.

Jump In The Deep End

How does a middle-aged man just suddenly decide to start swimming? Well, he doesn't. He has a friend that convinces him to do a triathlon. I showed up at the pool to find a single empty lane and a lifeguard that was dozing off. I apologized in my head to her that she might actually have to do something today.

I jumped right in finding myself needing to tippy-toe to keep my head above water. As I started towards the other side of the pool I realized I had jumped in to the deeper end of the pool. After a few weeks of observing the other swimmers I realized that I was the oddball that started in the deep end, but I continued to make this my habit.

Jumping in the deep end has forced me to swim a quick check length. I take a quick "out lap" to get my bearings and check my goggles at the beginning of each swim and then a forced extra length at the end of each swim to get out of the pool. As with learning anything, the hardest part is starting and the second hardest part is finishing. When learning a new skill, do anything you can to gain that extra little bit of consistency and time you have set aside. And just do it.

My favorite way to learn a new programming language is through "Koans". Many years ago I ran across the EdgeCase Ruby Koans and I have since used them to learn the basics of a few other languages. The Koans are a series of failing tests that you need to fix to learn the language. They are a great way to jump in the deep end and be in the code rather than just reading documentation.

Ask for Help

This morning the pool was pretty full and it was the first time someone had ever asked to share a lane with me. I wondered if I was going to be a nuisance to the other swimmer. I was slow, in the way, testing out different tactics. He looked like an olympic swimmer. Shaved head, fast, efficient, and shoulders that showed he had put in time. I was honestly a little embarrassed to be sharing a lane with him.

When he stopped to take a break I asked him if he had any tips for a beginner and told him my first week goal was "not to drown". He agreed it was a pretty good goal, but also had some good training tips. He ended with "there's so many other optimizations, but don't worry about all that. Just work on a consistent stroke and keep at it."

I took his advice for a few laps and I was suddenly far more comfortable. The stats on my watch showed that I was not necessarily more efficient, but I could definitely go for a longer stint. I owed all of this to a friendly swimmer's time and the courage to ask a seemingly experienced stranger to lend their expertise.

I see so many early career engineers not knowing when to ask for help. I think for some they fear it makes them look like they don't know what they are doing without realizing that people expect them to not know what they are doing - and are ok with this. I always encourage banging your head against the wall on a problem for at least 10 minutes, but to not be afraid to ask for help. Asking a question, pairing, or a draft Pull Request are fantastic ways of learning.

Keep At It

As I walked out to the pool this morning it was drizzling. I was tired because I fell asleep on the couch. I was hungry and dehydrated because I only had an espresso shot for breakfast. I was cold because... it was cold. I had more excuses not to swim this morning that I am sure I could dig up but I jumped in anyhow.

Coursera has this clever course completion estimate that paces your learning at an achievable pace so you can keep at it. It guilts you in to falling behind. I found a 12-week triathlon training plan that I am following. My desire to stick with the program was greater than my laziness or the weather.

If you are anything like me you have a knack for finding new shiny things to learn all the time and the hardest thing to do is to keep at the it du jour. Write out your goals and stick to the plan. This will help you stick to keeping at it. When I have trouble keeping at it, I often use the Pomodoro Technique. 25 minutes keeping at it, 5 minutes for a mental break. Or pick your pomodoro rhythm. I guarantee that keeping at it will help you slog through the worst parts of learning a new software framework or a challenging project.

Stop Thinking So Much

The last 100 yards of today's swim was the first time I truly felt relaxed in the water. Maybe it was the pro-tips from my lanemate or that I now have thousands of yards of keeping at it instead of just trying not to die. As I thought about it more, I realized that I had stopped thinking so much about the mechanical minutiae of swimming and just started swimming.

When it comes to writing software, sometimes you just need to put your hands on the keyboard and start typing. Throw away code, prototypes, they are relatively inexpensive ways to get started and learn a thing or two. The same goes for experienced engineers. I have seen many a development team get stuck in analysis paralysis on a whiteboard instead of just trying to do something. And sure enough the project retrospective comes around and we all agree that we should have done some prototyping.

There is a saying that when you are planning you are making decisions when you know the least amount of information. With less thinking and more doing you gain information and experience that can help level you up without even realizing it.

Sink or Swim

Learning to swim at this stage of my life has reminded me that the basic principles remain pretty constant, whether you're diving into a pool or diving into code. Sometimes you need to start in the deep end. Sometimes you need to swallow some water before you swallow your pride and ask for help. Most of the times, you just need to show up. Stay curious, stay humble, and keep moving forward.

Not much reading this week as I was busy with family and Christmas. I got a sick little Milwaukee M18 Compact Blower (primarily for car washing not leaves) and a Pioneer DDJ-FLX4. I did manage to watch more than a few things though.

The Watch List

• The Mechanic - Good ol' Jason Statham.
• The Dead Don't Die - Bill Murray zombie film. Do NOT waste your time watching this. I want an hour and a half of my life back. I literally fast forwarded through some scenes because I knew nothing was going to happen but wasted cinematography.
• Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F - Cliche throwback. Quality mindless entertainment.
• Ronny Chieng: Love to Hate It - A little more real than I expected. Very Ronny, pretty funny.
• Your Friend, Nate Bargatze - Never heard of the guy. Solid deadpan.

Started Squid Game: Season 2 and finishing up Messiah.

The Linked List...

• How HondaPro Jason Became the Ultimate Honda Advocate - An absolutely fantastic interview on The RACER Channel. Jason is a true Honda enthusiast and teaches how to sell by RTFM.
• More Men Are Addicted to the ‘Crack Cocaine’ of the Stock Market - WSJ chats gambling and the markets.

The Upgrade Cycle

This week I found myself camped out in an Apple Store waiting for my battery to be upgraded. My iPhone 14 Pro needed charging around 5pm which finally got me annoyed enough to schedule a Genius Bar appointment. I was surprised by the tech's reluctance to replace my battery even though I was ready to pay the $99 fee. He said the typical battery health for replacement is 79%, but I was already struggling when it was below 89% and at 85% it was starting to become an annoyance.

I had found myself married to the 2-year upgrade cycle which I now realize was grounded in cell phone contracts. I just could not justify paying 10x or more for the iPhone 16 for features I would not use just to get battery life back. And so... I broke the cycle. Let's see how much smaller they can make the iPhone 17 before I figure out if I am just paying for battery replacements from here on out.

Phish

The increase in crypto related spam calls on my phone has increased over the last few months. An article I read this week on a man losing nearly $5MM in bitcoins has me somewhat thankful that I am a boring investor. This was a great reminder to stay vigilant even in non-crypto related settings.

Honsan? Nisda?

My first car was a Honda Civic. At the time, my Stepmom drove an Infiniti J30. Never would I have thought we would see a Honda and Nissan merger. And what does Mitsubishi have to do with this? It's sad that the Nissan Z is a bit of a sales flop and that Honda does not seem like it will ever bring back a RWD roadster. I hope both of these brands can find their way again.

What I Watched...

• La Palma - OK, so this was not very good. I watched it just to see what would happen. Based on the theory that an eruption in the Canary Islands would cause massive tsunamis. Good enough for mindless entertainment and to check the box on watching foreign flims.
• Zero Dark Thirty - did not see this when it came out. Solid counter-terrorist thriller that draws parallels to other bin Laden capture flicks.
• Midway - I love me a good pacific battle movie.
• The Six Triple Eight - A slow start to the film, but a great story. Tells the story of an all-black Woman Army's Corp regiment tasked with fixing the backlog of undelivered mail and restoring morale with troops during WWII.
• Captain Phillips - All the films I did not see when my daughter was an infant seem to be coming up on Netflix. The story of Captail Phillips and a 2009 Somali pirate hijacking of the Maersk Alabama. Tom Hanks is solid.
• Oblivion - Tom Cruise post-apocalyptic film. Would watch again. And I did, because I was too tired to watch it in one sitting. (It was 2am, my bad.)

What I Read...

• Torpedo Juice - WWII era moonshine. I had no idea this was a thing.
• The unbearable slowness of being: Why do we live at 10 bits/s? - OK, so I only read the summary. I think it explains why I feel dumb sometimes. I just cannot compute at the rate of compute.
• 1993 911 Carrera RS America - $130k with a few days left. This is the 964 to have.

1. Ghost Guns

Last week, the CEO of UnitedHealth was shot on a Manhattan street. The suspect allegedly used a ghost gun to commit the crime. This sent me down a rabbit hole of research including a 2023 BBC article on ghost guns and I was relieved to find that the key company featured selling parts is no longer in business. While this is not necessarily a new phenomenon, it made me want to find the best gun control group to donate to. Let me know if you find one, because there's mixed reviews all around.

2. Goose Poop

Two things I was not doing as a middle schooler - collecting goose poop and contributing to cancer research. The American Chemical Society reported this week that middle schoolers collecting goose poop found it "had a bacterium that showed antibiotic activity and contained a novel compound that slowed the growth of human melanoma and ovarian cancer cells in lab tests."

3. Dundon Motorsports

I was once again targeted this week by the internet advertising algorithms and spent far too much time on the Dundon Motorsports site. It is making me reconsider the 987 where they have very few parts, and instead wondering if I could hop on the 981S train. SO. MANY. COOL. PARTS.

What I Watched...

• The Foreigner - I had no idea this movie existed. 2017 with Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan in a "fun" vengeance thriller.
• Army of Thieves - Apparently a prequel to Army of the Dead. I am a sucker for heist movies. Solid mindless entertainment.
• Army of the Dead - A zombie heist movie. I did not expect the zombies to play so heavily despite the hint in Army of Thieves. The prequel was better than the "original".
• Stanceworks: E36 Touring Import - The story of picking up a Euro-spec E36 Touring from the port of Long Beach. What a sick car, especially with a little motor swap.
• Carry-On - A Christmas counter-terrorist movie. Jason Bateman is such a versatile actor and an excellent villain. Won't be a Christmas classic like Die-Hard but very watchable.
• Oracle Red Bull Racing: Game to Glory - Series follows eRacer Sebastian Job as he moves from the sim to real racecars. Really well produced and reminds me a bit of Fassbender: Road to Le Mans.

What I Read...

• Cars and Bids - 1998 Ferrari Testarossa - This gorgeous example went for $136k.
• Why We Switched To Astro - I have been thinking Next is overkill for my personal site and this article was a good read. Other projects coming soon in Astro.
• The Cold Email Handbook - Killer email strategies.
• Former OpenAI researcher and whistleblower found dead at age 26 - A story to follow as a former OpenAI researcher and whistleblower was found dead in their SF apartment.
• Esses Mag - Racing's Deadliest Day - Nice long form article on the 1955 Le Mans disaster.

1. Bitcoin 100k

In July of 2013 I signed up for an online course proctored by Stanford called "Startup Engineering". Part of the assignment called for adding Bitcoin payments to a web application. I remember thinking that Bitcoin was a silly concept and I sold the $1 or so worth of Bitcoin that I had acquired after tthe assignment. 1 BTC was approximately $100 USD at that time. Fast forward to 2021 and I still thought I would not have invested in Bitcoin, but there was a tinge of regret at what could have been. This week Bitcoin hit $100k USD and I am still just a crypto n00b.

2. b-a-n-a-n-a-s

A couple of weeks ago my children, reading the news captions on the family dashboard, alerted me that a banana had just sold for $6.2MM. It made absolutely no sense to me and I just accepted the jokes that followed as some odd thing that happened in the simulation we live in. This week The WSJ's The Journal podcast covered the background of the banana auction. While it still does not make much "sense", it totally makes sense now why crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun bought the art piece.

3. @mascunanabear's Autozam AZ-1

I have always been a fan of the kei car concept, which is ironic because I daily drive a full-size truck. If I did not have kids and lived in Japan I would definitely be rocking a Honda S660. I have followed @mascunanabear for a while because of his over the top Pandem 987 build, but what caught my eye was the Sprint Hart's on the Autozam AZ-1 he posted this week. I have always wanted to drive one of these and maybe the "EXCITING MICRO COUPE" Autozam should slot in above the S660.

... and more

• Broward Co. to vacate convictions for people who bought crack made by the Sheriff's Office (CBS12 Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

• Vintage digicams aren’t just a fad. They’re an artistic statement. (Ars Technica)

• You Eat This Insect Every Day (Odd Animal Specimens)

My pops has often told me that he wanted to be a radio DJ and I may have never existed. In the end, he just passed on a variety of music tastes from Andrew Lloyd Weber to Metallica, and from Beethoven to CCR. I can distinctly remember hearing Nothing Else Matters in the Miata. It seemed like it was not part of the typical Taiwanese-American immigrant experience, but it was deeply rooted in ours.

I've been thinking about the song a lot lately as my Mom is battling Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. The song is about trust and vulnerability, and it has absolutely nothing to do with my life, while simultaneously being everything. I resigned from a well-paying job a couple of weeks to focus on family... and the refrain of "nothing else matters" just jives.

It is difficult to know how raw to be on the internet and to friends, but Metallica's Nothing Else Matters was one of the first times James Hetfield had shown vulnerability through music. "Never opened myself this way". My Mom likely has just a few months left and I feel extreme peace in not focusing on career or anything else in this time.

"... and nothing else matters."

When the "older" siblings got their Driver's Licenses we would spill out of the community center parking lot, a motley crew of teenagers high on faith, hormones, and the Big Gulp I had picked up at 7-Eleven a few hours before. And like moths to a griddle top flame, we would all end up at the same holy place: Denny’s.

Not just any Denny’s, mind you. The Warm Springs Denny's that no longer exists and now stands as a Chase branch. This beacon of late-night why did we love this mediocrity that held an almost mythical status in our lives was not just a diner serving soggy hash browns. It was our diner. We would slide into those vinyl booths, sticky with syrup residue, laughing too loud and ordering too much, long before we told our kids to "sanny" before eating. I am not sure how we ended up paying for everything, but I do remember that someone would always come up short and the rest of us would cover.

For a couple of hours, under the warm glow of terrible lighting and the comforting clatter of the open kitchen, we were free. The worries of curfews, crushes, and Mr. Lau's AP Calculus faded as we talked about nothing and everything all at once. Denny’s was the perfect backdrop for the liminal phase of life when you’re halfway between a teenager and the post-baccalaureate who is picking up their credit card from Mr. Smith's bar (RIP) on a Monday after work for the third week in a row.

And then... just a few hours later... I’d be back.

By Saturday morning, I’d shuffle into the same Denny’s, this time with my parents. My parents were creatures of habit, on our usual rotation between Denny's and Tung Kee Noodle. These mornings were quieter but just as meaningful. But somehow less cherished. In my "old" age, the visits to both church and Denny’s became less frequent. Life shifted, priorities rearranged themselves, tastes changed, and eventually, I stopped going altogether. To both.

I’m not sure when it closed — whether it was a casualty of changing times or simply the end of an era. 99 Ranch Market paid for my childhood and I should be glad it sits in the same plaza, but every time I drive past the intersection of Warm Springs and Mission Boulevard I feel a hollow ache. For Zorba's Deli Cafe, for Jonny's parents restaurant which had the best damn stir-fried Shanghai rice cakes this side of the Pacific, and Denny's. (Except for the Burger King and the Jack in the Box which still stand. Where many a Sourdough Jack and Chicken Sandwich was consumed. I still love you.)

My high school friends and many after them would likely respond "yep" if you described me as "emo". This is why we are seven paragraphs in to a blog post about Denny's of all things. And I feel a hollow ache still, like I’m searching for something that no longer exists and I should go rewatch Natalie Portman and Zach Braff in Garden State. It is not just the Lumberjack Slam or figuring out which one of our friends was a cheap skate. That Denny's was a cornerstone of the experience — the memories that place held, now occupied by Jamie Dimon's minions. The nasty vinyl booths, the crappy lighting, the feeling of belonging - we will never have that again.

Maybe I’m still searching for that feeling, a booth somewhere in the universe where time stands still and everything is carefree. Or maybe I already found it once and that’s enough. So, here’s to the Warm Springs' Denny’s: the diner, the sanctuary, the church of late-night youth. And the place where, for a little while, I felt like I truly belonged.

The older I get, the more I appreciate my Son. He is a textbook Highly-Sensitive Child (HSC). I can't help but think he inherited those traits from me. Walking to school this week, I asked him what the highlight of his weekend in Tahoe was. Of course he answered that it was the entire day we had spent just the two of us on the slopes. Was I fishing to have that engrained in his memory? Maybe definitely. Did he have to answer that way? No. My boy is genuine in his responses.

Sitting on the side of the mountain waiting for the boy to strap in to his snowboard bindings, I realized that I had been visiting this same mountain for more than 20 years. I have made sure that we have always had AWD vehicles in the stable for this reason and I cannot remember a single year since that I have not made it up to Lake Tahoe in the winter.

By all accounts, my daughter is "normal". Academic, yet social; sporty, yet artsy. My son and I seem to be proud of being weird. We enjoy time by ourselves. We can spend hours engrossed in the same thing, terribly frustrated, yet simultaneously enjoying ourselves. The boy and I like being on the water and being on the snow. It seems to calm our busy minds. It seems to give us something else to focus on.

I decided that next year I am going for it. After four plus decades on Earth, the background noise of life has grown so loud. I love being on the racetrack because of the sheer focus and inability to do anything but drive fast. I love being on the mountain because there is a focus on riding and the inability to do anything but enjoy yourself. 2024 is a year of cleanup so that 2025 can be sent becoming the man I want my son to become.

I had been putting off replacing the battery in our 2006 Cayenne S for a while. I only drive the vehicle occasionally and it was consistently needing a trickle charge between drives, the symptoms being that the car would show a "Four wheel drive system faulty warning" error at startup. Porsche's brilliant engineers decided the best place to put the battery is under the driver's seat. Because you vitally need to optimize the handling of the ultra-sporty 5,000lb family hauler </sarcasm>.

Most things I do end up being JBOT instead of JIT, that is, just-barely-on-time instead of just-in-time. I ordered a Mighty Max AGM off of Amazon which I have used in other cars and it was set to arrive the night before the job. "Perfect timing!" I thought. Naturally, Amazon missed the scheduled delivery. The app said they would try again the next day but our guests were landing in the morning and driving up to Napa right away not 4:45pm to 8:45pm. Left with a few hours before their flight I figured it was time for a Costco Interstate battery.

The "base" V6 Cayenne takes an H7 battery. The V8 S and Turbo models take an H8 battery with many owners opting for an H9 for extra amp hours and CCAs. This is all fine and dandy until you realize the previous owner put an H7 in the car and the H9 is out of stock at Costco.

Armed with a 10mm triple square socket (because why would you use a normal bolt head?) I got to work. The install was straight-forward other than gorillaing the massive batteries out of the barely large enough openings. I would have loved to have put the H9 AGM in but apparently the positive battery cable is different so I may have run in to issues there as well.

For future reference that longer battery cable is Porsche #95561209010 available at FCP Euro at time of publishing for $46.69.

I "saved" every penny from my after-school and summer jobs to budget it in bubble tea hangouts where all of the local import enthusiasts would meet and to modify my Civic. An Iceman cold air intake came first. Then a pair of Skunkworks (now Skunk2) threaded-sleeve coilovers. Koni Yellow Sport shocks were added when those spring rates eventually blew the OE dampers. Neuspeed Suspension bars filled out the handling package. As an obnoxious teenager, I obviously had to have an aftermarket exhaust on my slow four-cylinder Honda: first a terribly welded universal Magnaflow, then a Blitz NÜR Spec which was loud enough to earn me a visit to the state ref, a 5Zigen Fireball with an insert to bring the noise down, and then finally an A'PEXi World Sport for a cleaner sound and look. And of course I had to have a killer sound system, starting with a ludicrous pair of 12" subwoofers in the back before finally settling on a single 10".

By my senior year of college I had gone through four sets of wheels, finally splurging on my dream set of SSR Schumachers. Through most of school I worked the night shift, loading inventory on automotive body shop supply trucks. One of the route drivers was an old body man and he taught me how to work a spray gun. I painted and installed a JDM Mugen front lip, a Civic Si grille and rear lip under spoiler, JDM Civic Type R side mirrors, and a small rear lip trunk spoiler reminiscent of that on the E90/92 M3.

I would still have this car with a K24 motor swap if not for the fact that the car was totaled by insurance the last time, of three, it was stolen and recovered. The thieves cut harnesses to start the car and to steal the aftermarket radio headunit and that was that. After owning a variety of "better" cars since, I truly miss Haeru. She drove me on my first dates, moved me into college, took my friends and I all over the SF Bay Area, San Diego, and even up to Tahoe, and frequently served as my personal therapist. She did this with a dialed-in canyon carving suspension, clean OE-plus styling, and an amazing soundtrack. My current Craigslist searches frequently end in looking for the same generation Civic hatchbacks. Maybe one day the spirit of Haeru will continue on.

Amazon Prime day is upon us! July 12th and 13th, 2022. Why is this so important you ask?

6% cash back when you make purchases with your Amazon Prime Chase Card at Amazon.com or Whole Foods! If you have items in your cart you have been waiting to buy, wait until Tuesday and Wednesday. Earn up to 20% when you use your Amazon Business Prime AMEX!

Don't have Prime? Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

All prices are shown as Business Prime prices.

UPDATE: PRIME DAY, DAY TWO

Hey, hey. We are in the second and final day of Amazon Prime Day. A couple of previous recommended items have sold out or their lightning deals expired and have moved to the bottom of the list. A couple of items are also a few dollars cheaper today! Happy Prime Day, and let me know if you catch any sick deals.

Consumer Electronics

• Meta Portal TV - $56.99 - Save 62%

If you are constantly on Messenger this is a great video calling device. Also supports Netflix, Pandora, Facebook, Spotify, Amazon Instant Video. META's Smart Camera is really neat and follows you around the room.

• ASUS Chromebook C203XA Rugged & Spill Resistant Laptop, 11.6" HD - $129.99 - Save 48%

LIGHTING DEAL! A great kids first laptop or a random living room surfing device.

• USB-C Portable Monitor - 15.6 Inch FHD HDR FreeSync Zero Frame - $175.99 - Save 20%

LIGHTNING DEAL! Great for showing items on a screen without all huddling around a laptop. Or use with the Nintendo Switch for better viewing.

• Hiboy KS4 Pro Electric Scooter - $559.99 - Save 20%

LIGHTNING DEAL! Hiboy is a Track Day Paddock favorite for electric scooters. This one goes up to 19mph and has 25 miles of range!

• EF ECOFLOW River 288Wh Portable Power Station - $199 - Save 43%

This is kind of just wow. 288Wh or 576Wh with the extra battery. Juice anything you need in a power outage or camping. I'm buying this for the bug out kit. This was sold out for a minute, but back to being a deal... with a one week shipping delay.

• DJI Action 2 - 4K Action Camera with Dual OLED Touchscreens - $299.00 - Save 45%

Like a GoPro, but from the maker of more than 80% of the world's drones.

• Apple Watch Series 7 - GPS 41mm - $279 - 30% Off

• Kindles - Save Up to 55%

Perfect for summer travel plans. e-Ink easier on your eyes. Prime Day is always the best time to pick up a Kindle e-Reader!

• Beats Studio Buds - Noise Cancelling Earbuds - $99.95 - 33% Off

• Beats Fit Pro - Noise Cancelling Earbuds - $159.95 - 20% Off

• Apple AirPods Pro - $169.99 - 32% Off

Digital Storage

• SanDisk 2TB Extreme Portable SSD - $180.49 - Save 59%

The SanDisk 2TB Portable is perfect for huge portable file storage on the go.

• Samsung T7 Shield 1TB - $99.99 - Save 38%

Small, fast, durable. If you have a Tesla, this is the absolute best drive to store Sentry video camera footage.

• SanDisk 1TB Extreme microSDXC UHS-I Memory Card with Adapter - C10, U3, V30, 4K, 5K, A2 - $151.99 - Save 39%

Tons of storage and Class 3 for your GoPro or other video device!

• SanDisk 1TB Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Memory Card with Adapter - 120MB/s, C10, U1, Full HD - $109.99 - Save 45%

Boost the storage of your Nintendo Switch with this 1TB microSDXC.

• Western Digital 16TB Desktop Hard Drive - $237.49 - Save 47%

A dinosaur of an HDD, but 16 terabytes to backup BTS videos and family photos.

Home

• Philips Sonicare Electric Toothbrushes - Save ~40%

• BLUEAIR Air Purifiers - Save 30%

Get ready for fire season. This one is going to be a doozy with the lack of rain in California. We have a Blue 411 Auto ($93.09) in the bedrooms and the Blue 211+ Auto ($237.99) on a timer in our living room.

• roborock S7 Robot Vacuum and Mop - $429.99 - Save 34%

We call our roborock, Jarvis. Jarvis has saved us a lot of time with his smart AI mapping. You should totally get one of these if you have messy kids.

• Ring Cameras and Bundles - Save 25 to 30%

Too many items here to list individually. Video doorbells on sale too! If you have been waiting to get security cameras now is your chance. I'm thinking about getting additional cameras to catch the dog that keeps pooping on my gravel.

• Blink Outdoor - 3 Camera and Mini Kit - $124.99 - Save 56%

Think of blink as the Amazon Basics of home security cameras, except with the full technology of Alexa and Amazon. Ridiculously affordable with long-lasting batteries and mobile apps for monitoring.

Kitchen

• Contigo Insulated Travel Mugs and Kids Water Bottles - Save 30 to 50%

We are a YETI family, but know lots of folks that love Contigo. Our kids have moved to bubba water bottles, and this adult sized one looks great ($12.74 - Save 36%)!

• FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer - $139.99 - Save 30%

Invaluable for freezing meat and sous vide prep! We love ours.

• SodaStream Terra Sparkling Water Maker - $59.99 - Save 40%

Cheaper on Day 2 of Prime Day. I thought I would never leave LaCroix, but then we won a SodaStream for secret santa. Now I much prefer the SodaStream. A splash of real lime or lemon juice tastes way better than artificial LaCroix flavors. Yes, you have to buy new cylinders, but if you consume sparkling water at the rate our family does you will come out ahead in the long run. Save money and have better tasting sparkling water!

• Tramontina Fry Pan Professional 10-inch - $27.50 - Save 31%

Let's face it. Non-stick pans are consummables. Our Tramontina's have lasted longer than any others that we have tried, including the very expensive ScanPan. Oven-safe without the handle to 400degrees. It is dishwasher safe but we hand wash to save the non-stick coating. Buying two more today.

• Kitchenaid Artisan Mini Plus 3.5-Qt. Tilt-Head Stand Mixer - $259.99 - Save 32%

We have the big boy and it takes up a tonnnnnn of room. Got my Mom this Mini last Christmas and it doesn't! Great deal and one you can potentially save for a holiday gift.

• Amazon Basics Chelsea Martini Glass Set of 6 - $19.87 - Save 35%

I always thought having martini glasses at home was a bit extra. But at $20, why not?

Travel

• Samsonite and American Tourister Rolling Luggage - 30% to 60% Off

Check out these Kids' Disney Spinners ($209.99). Perfect for your next Disney Cruise. This Disney Frozen roller and backpack combos is just $84.69.

• Disney Apparel!!! - Up to 41% Off

Seriously, gear up at home for Disney Cruise or your Disney World trip so you don't have to buy your kids stuff there.

Automotive

• Chemical Guys Car Wash Products - Up to 41% Off

Here's the deal. I have wholesale access to Chemical Guys, but I often cannot beat Amazon's pricing. For them to then put it on further sale is absolutely insane. Here is what I use and what I am stocking up on...

• CG Woolly Mammoth 36"x25" Drying Towel - $19.59 - Save 30%
• CG Waffle Weave Drying Towel - $6.99 - Save 30%
• CG Gold Microfiber 24 Pack - $34.99 - Save 30%
• CG Clay Luber and Block - $13.99 - Save 30%

the Lightning Fast Stain Extractor works great on home carpets as well, but not on Prime Day sale.

• Meguiar's (up to 50% off) and Griot's Garage (up to 18% off)

It's a great day to be alive. If it seems like the Griot's discount isn't much, it's because it is rarely discounted. After restoring the single stage paint on the '99 Miata you have to believe in this stuff. The Hybrid Ceramic Spray Wax is best for lazy washers. Easy application and amazing water beading properties. I clean off bird doodoo with Griot's Ceramic Speed Shine. My typical habit is once a week clean up with P&S Xpress Interior Cleaner (not on sale), but Griot's makes a great product as well.

• Meguiar's Headlight Restoration Kit - $13.59 - Save 20%
• Meguiar's Polishing Compounds - Clay, 105, then 205, then follow up with a wax or ceramic.
  • 105 Ultra Cut - SUUUUUPER AGGRESSIVE defects - $10.79 - Save 43%
  • 205 Finishing Polish - $23.99 - Save 36%
• Meguiar's Hybrid Ceramic Spray Wax - $18.25 - Save 24%
• Griot's Garage Ceramic Speed Shine - $16.14 - Save 15%
• Griot's Garage Interior Detailer - $14.44 - Save 15%

Chat with me if you are confused about any of these products or need other wash recommendations. I have not included my full arsenal as many of the products are not currently on Prime Day sale.

• CTEK - 40-206 MXS 5.0 Fully Automatic 4.3 amp Battery Charger and Maintainer 12V - $73.49 - Save 38%

It's simple. If you want a battery maintainer, CTEK makes the absolute best. Dedicated AGM mode if you have a fickle AGM battery like on the E90 M3. Even if you have a simple battery, this unit will not overcharge it ever. You are driving your car less and less these days, get a CTEK.

Baby

Hi preggo friends! Here's a bunch of random small stuff. Save the big stuff for uncles and aunties to buy. These have made our life easier. Some stuff like actual changing table pads and stuff aren't on Prime Day sale so you can always buy them later.

• Amplim No Touch Professional Forehead and Ear Thermometer - $18.58 - Save 54%

Mixed reviews, but it's way less expensive than the Philips units we have. You're probably fine with just the iHealth. Upgrade to an ear if you think the forehead thermometer is lying.

• Smart eLf Portable Diaper Changing Pad - $12.54 with coupon - Save ~40%

Pretty much EVERYONE has the Skip Hop Pronto portable changing pad. It's about $26. This is pretty much the same but cheaper and an extra $5 off coupon right now. Get one for the stroller and one for the car.

• Bellababy Wipe Warmer - $23.69 - Save 26%

Ok, this might seem kind of extra. But your baby ain't want no cold wipe. Since it's on sale it's only a couple bucks more than a traditional wipe holder (which is nice because one handed wipe pull).

Dead Deals

You snooze, you lose on Prime Day! I missed out on the EF ECOFLOW Portable Power Station while researching other products. Do not leave items in your cart. Just checkout!

- Cricut Maker - $209 - 58% off

LIGHTNING DEAL! If you know our family you know we are a Cricut family. Get yours now instead of having to come to our house.

This was a pretty good deal, but if you want one at a similar price head to Wal-Mart online!

- Sacrack USB C Fast Charger - $29.52 - Save 58%

Luckily this no name Chinese company has not littered the product with their brand name. 3 USB C and 3 old school USB slots. 90W, fast charging. On lightning deal now. Buying this for travel!

Sad. I checked out too late.

- Premium Garlic Press - $6.99 - Save 46%

We use a press daily. This one is dirt cheap.

- Amazon Basics Silicone, Non-Stick, Food Safe Baking Mat - $7.89 - 40% Off

Silpats. Wife, didn't you say you needed these last week?

SOLD OUT!!!

- EASYFUN Packing Cubes - $16.99 Lightning Deal - 54% Off

Cheap! Ends at 6pm PST.

- Travel Inspira Digital Luggage Scale - $9.59 Lightning Deal - Extra 20% Off

Big trip or international travelers, this is a must have to see if you are over the limit. These work great. Just don't throw out your back with the 110lb maximum.

- MotorBuddy Safety Hammer - $13.56 - Lightning Deal 24% off

Do you fear going over the side of the San Mateo Bridge? This safety hammer will cut seat belts and break windows. I'm finally buying one today.

- Kidsneed Video Baby Monitor - $57.39 - 28% off

Lightning deal! Good deal for one with a separate handheld screen and speaker. Don't get the ones that hook up to your phone. That's dumb. Why you gonna tie up your phone and drain your battery.

- iHealth No-Touch Forehead Thermometer - $15.99 - 71% off

~~Lightning deal! A thermometer is a thermometer. These devices are so cheap to make accurately these days that it's hard to go wrong. Choose one that you don't have to touch the baby's skin, so you don't need to wake him or her up. I prefer ear so... ~~

- Diaper Caddy Organizer - $9.59 - Save 47%

Nice to have next to the changing table.

Happy Prime Days!

pros: if you like kettle chips, Lay’s BBQ flavor, and a good mouth kick this is the flavor for you. pairs well with a fruity IPA.

cons: there’s nothing Korean about these. cultural appropriation at its finest. the korean on the bag 고기집 translates to "meat house" but the true meaning of this is false advertising. they taste like regular BBQ chip flavor with a little extra spice. on top of this you will be wistfully consuming these in a dark hotel room because your kids are asleep and it's far too early for you to, your wife is out with her college friends having the time of her life, and so too are the folks in the hotel room next door who are pre-partying and will not leave until 1130p (don’t worry... if you're feeling lonely, they’ll be back at 230a). after realizing you’ve been duped by both the pharmacy and Kettle Chips you will crave a pile of regular Salt and Pepper Kettles with some real kimchi on top. unfortunately this is not something room service can provide.

originally published in #platform-random at SlackHQ

And this news hit me hard today because it hits me hard whenever we lose people in motorsports. If someone randomly has an incident at a track day, those are my people and I hurt. When Richard Reins, a corner worker at Laguna Seca, was killed late last year that hurt really badly. I couldn't imagine what the driver, who is also an Engineering Manager, felt in the days that followed. These memories take me back to watching my childhood hero crash in to a wall at nearly 200mph at the Daytona 500 my senior year of high school. Those cut from the motorsport cloth know the risk on the track but expect a bit of immortality on, but especially off, the track.

Shortly after my high school graduation Jimmy Eat World released the album Bleed American. I can hear the intro riff simply by typing those words.

"I'm not crazy because I take the right pills every day."

I'm an odd one. I grew up in the South. American. Hanging flags in my college dorm. That kind of 'murican. But over time my bleeding american has turned in to bleeding out american. I was a dedicated Atlanta Braves fan but turned my back on baseball for a distinctively Canadian sport. I lived, ate, breathed NASCAR only to become a Perrier-drinking sports car and F1 follower.

To most Americans Charlie Whiting's passing will be non-news. They've never heard the name. For me, it hints that we are too insular, too elitist, too "American".

You will be missed. You moved the sport in non-obvious and non-flashy ways, working behind the scenes to deliver and steer a product to the delight of millions. If we could all be so committed, so lucky, and so able to make an impact at that scale. Rest in peace, Charlie.

I am not usually one to set specific New Year's resolutions, but I am a fan of goal setting. I like achieving. This was something I set myself up for really well in 2017 but did such an awful job of in 2018. I need to get back on track.

At the beginning of 2017 I set out a Five Year Plan. In it I wrote:

2018:

• publish a book on [insert something here]
• teach my daughter how to ride a bike
• buy a dedicated track car
• spend at least 10 days on the track and graduate to the equivalent of NASA HPDE3
• learn and ship a side project in Ruby on Rails

I barely accomplished these things. I made no progress on a book. V still doesn't know how to ride a bike. I did buy a track car. I spent maybe 6 days on track but did graduate to NASA HPDE3. I did not pick up Rails again so I definitely did not ship a side project.

What I definitely did was consume. I bought a Miata and proceeded to rip out the interior and order parts to get it track ready. When my simracing wheel gave up I bought a new one and picked up a way better pedal set. I watched a heck of a lot of television. I drank crazy amounts of beer and whiskey (a Costco-sized bottle of Bulleit Rye all by myself in a matter of 6 weeks).

Something I need again is focus, organization, and the willingness to be vulnerable and make mistakes. These are things that I have done really well at work but have completely neglected in my personal life. I need a new Five Year Plan. But 2019 will look like getting back to basics.

A commitment to improving my racecraft

Both in real life and in iRacing. I set a new personal best at Laguna Seca in the M3 last week but it was still slow. I set a new personal best in iRacing in the MX5 Cup car earlier this evening and it was pretty quick. Both of these can get way better.

A commitment to reading more

A book a month doesn't seem like a big ask especially if internet surfing is replaced.

A commitment to writing more

My personal and professional writing was at its best at the beginning of 2017 when I was forcing myself to write every single day. I completely fell off the cliff because that pace was unsustainable, but a post a week across this space and my "public" site doesn't seem like a terribly big deal. And if I can do that, writing a book doesn't seem that hard.

A commitment to take care of my body

We are starting with a mile of running a day, but at my age the dadbod is the default state. I don't want to go down the slippery slope of not caring.

So a Five Year Plan is in the works but ultimately I want to get back to the basics. I hope that 2019 is a commitment to just that. Recess, reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Early in my career one of my managers told me that I was the most goal-oriented individuals she had ever worked with. After working in an organization with quarterly OKRs, I have come to find that while I have always had clear goals in mind, I amm generally terrible at achieving them because I hardly write them down. (See the New Year's post)

Today I decided to sit down and sketch out a Five Year Plan to concretely answer the "where do you see yourself?" question. My goals largely follow a few themes.

Writing

I found my love for writing (and reading longform pieces) in a somewhat odd way. One of my high school English teachers would give weekly vocabulary quizzes. I would try to tell a story every week with all of the words. Ever since then I thought I might have the creativity to publish an actual work. I have dabbled in creative writing over the years, writing small stories, dabbling at being a consistent blogger of some sort. I am hoping this year's goal of writing 500 words intended for publishing a day will help not only improve my writing but add to some writing goals. A convenient by--product of this is writing almost 200,000 words and having enough posts to seed a bunch of "actual works".

Developing

I love building things and seeing them come to life. This is one of the key reasons that despite being a pointy-haired manager I can not seem to stop writing code. But there is a curse in all this in that I can never decide on a language or framework and stick with it. I have a bad case of shinynewitis when it comes to these things. Looking at the Five Year Plan should remind me that there is a lot of time in life to master specific technologies, and hopefully I can actually stick to a technology on an annual basis.

Racing

As a kid growing up in the South, I would go to church on Sunday and spend the afternoon watching NASCAR races. My favorite games growing up were Rad Racer on the original Nintendo and Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II on the Sega Genesis. I started going to track days after I finished college and spent a couple of years autocrossing before getting married and having young kids ate in to both time and money. Now that I've established some roots it's time to go back to one of my early passions.

2017:

• authoring 500 words x 365 days
• weigh in under 155 pounds
• attend at least 5 HPDEs and get solo sign off at at least 2 tracks
• launch a Slack App in the App Directory

2018:

• publish a book on [insert something here]
• teach my daughter how to ride a bike
• buy a dedicated track car
• spend at least 10 days on the track and graduate to the equivalent of NASA HPDE3
• learn and ship a side project in Ruby on Rails

2019:

• reach 1000 users for my indie software project
• teach my son how to ride a bike
• spend at least 10 days on the track and graduate to the equivalent of NASA HPDE4
• learn and ship a side project in Swift

2020:

• publish a book on [insert something here]
• start training my daughter for go-kart racing
• start teaching the kids to code
• become a HPDE instructor

2021:

• throw a shindig for our 10th wedding anniversary!
• start training my son for go-kart racing
• obtain my wheel-to-wheel racing license
• move south to Millbrae or Burlingame

This isn't comprehensive and I bet some of these will change. Somewhere in there I would love to reach the next level up at work, though this will largely depend on business need. You have goals. I know you do. And I know a major step to reaching goals is writing them down at all. Can't wait to see yours!

A visionary who lacks execution. This is how my wife often describes me. Her evidence is the laundry list of unfinished and unfunded projects we have around the house. Have you ever held on to IKEA furniture that you still haven't built after 3 years? My parent's strongest piece of evidence lies in the many musical instruments I have played over the years: piano, violin, trombone, trumpet, guitar.

My personal evidence comes from the many domains listed in my namecheap.com account. Of the 12 domains I own, 1 is a financial blog that I ran for a year before I lost interest, 3 belong to previous companies I started that no longer exist, 4 are related to web projects in some half-finished state, and 2 others are domains that I bought about 5 years ago because they seemed look good projects... to start... one day.

I don't deny this description. I was born a tinkerer and my jack of all trades master of none style is actually one of the things I truly enjoy about living my life and being me. But it turns out I have a love--hate relationship with being a mikka bouzu. In the case of instruments it turns out I stuck with one. It just took (more than) a few tries to figure out where to focus.

Personal/Market Fit and You Economics

The two things that will guarantee eventual failure for an upstart are lack of product/market fit and poor unit economics. Venture Capitalist Marc Andreessen says, "The #1 company-killer is lack of market." If you can't sell the thing you're making then what future do you have?

Unit economics describe gains and losses associated with a business model, for instance, a true customer is worth something around $14k to Starbucks. Quoting another Venture Capitalist, Sam Altman, he talks about the joke during the dotcom bubble being "we lose a little money on every customer, but we make it up on volume". If it is all just a losing proposition then what is the point?

My theory is that this same sort of venture theory applies to the individual as a venture. For all the projects and ideas I have floating around, if it's not something I can sell as worth of my time and if at the end of the day it is actually a losing long-term proposition then isn't it something that I should just forget about. But how do I even figure that out?

Writing

This year I'm commiting to write about all the things that I have interest in. The plan is to publish, or plan for publishing, at least 500 words nearly every single day. I'm going to write about anything and everything to find something that has both personal/market fit and satisfies my own time economics. I have a few obvious places to write about specific topics: this site for personal things, and over at donutindustries for anything technical related, but the potentially truly stupid part of this is that I could end up with many many more ideas and an infinite number of projects.

My hope is that I will finally find something that sticks. As I look back at this time next year I hope I will have given up a bit of perfectionism, shipped a software project, and to get over my fear of failing to impress. I'm going to write. Some of it's going to suck. Some of it's going to be a pain. But maybe, just maybe, some of it will stick.

It has become a rather popular meme this year to blame 2016 as a sh!tty year that just needs to end. And while I personally think it all started downhill when the San Jose Sharks lost in the Stanley Cup Final, what better time than now to reflect on the positive, rather than the fact that we have a classless president-elect.

The Biggest Win

The single best decision I made all year was making the leap of leaving what would be a well-known and, in hindsight, very comfortable job to work at one of the fastest growing enterprise software companies ever. It has been a crazy 9 months at Slack and the company has almost doubled in headcount since I joined, but I couldn't ask for a better place to work. The people behind the product are amazing and I can't wait to see what we ship in 2017.

The Best Purchase

After many, many years of searching the internet for modified Honda Ruckus', I finally bit the bullet and bought one of my own. There were very few that showed up on craigslist used for a reasonable price so I bought a new old stock 2015. Not having to be crammed in to someone else's armpit, get stuck in an underground tunnel because of a street car delay, or wait for an hour for a bus that ironically is called "the express" has infinitely improved my quality of life. Add to that the feeling of freedom you get on a two-wheeled motor vehicle and you end up with a ridiculous amount of joy from a little 49cc scooter.

The Most Unexpected Joy

Owning a Volvo. If you asked me when I was 16 if I would ever own a Volvo SUV I would have laughed at you. The 3rd row seating has come through as an extremely useful addition and while the steering has the response of a wet noodle, it still reaches 0-60 in 6 seconds. The feeling of safety, the impeccable Bowers and Wilkins sound, and the Range Rover-like presence is something I never thought I would say about a family car. I love our Volvo. Weird.

The Biggest Blessings

Earlier this year my wife quit her high-stress finance job. This meant she no longer had to travel out of town every 3 weeks and that she could take care of virtually all of the pick-ups and drop-offs for our 2 small children. This couldn't have come at a better time than as I was adjusting to my new job. On top of that, it meant that she was able to travel to Taiwan to spend about 2 weeks on a mother-daughter trip while staying with my parents there. To see the smiles on their faces and to introduce my daughter to "the motherland" is something that could have never happened if she had never taken that risk. And while 2017 looks to be a very different situation for a family, I will always see this year as a year we got to grow closer as a family.

As we close out a weird, terrible, frightening, and uncertain 2016... here's to hope for the future.