Hi there 👋

Welcome to my website!

The Backstory

In 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, I found myself burnt out, depressed and stressed beyond anything I had experienced before. The little business I had started just three years prior was failing. New projects were being delayed, deals were falling through, my team started looking for work elsewhere, deadlines slipped, the money ran out, bills and debts became overwhelming, and I had little idea of what to do about any of it.

Meanwhile, New York City was practically under siege. Between the lockdowns, protests, never ending heat and all-night fireworks, the summer of 2020 was pretty miserable. In September I decided to take a break from the city, and drove my family to visit my parents for a few weeks in Silver Spring, Maryland. It was nice to be away from the chaos of the city, but my problems followed me, and so after a long walk, and a lot of thinking, I decided it was time to make some major changes.

But, what changes would I make? I decided I needed to reshape my life. This would mean a reboot on a number of fronts—closing the business, finding a new job, a new living situation, and a new focus on my mental health were my top priorities.

Fast-forward to now, and I’m much happier than I’ve ever been. I’ve got a job as a Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services, a new suburban lifestyle out in Long Island, and instead of spending all my money on interest and loan payments, I’m actually saving for the future.

This website will aim to chronicle my story with reflections on how I got to where I am now, and new ideas and insights as I continue to make them every day. It took me over a year to finally find happiness, and to rewire my brain enough to finally feel comfortable and secure with who I am, but the work never ends.

Investigations in AI, Cloud and Creativity

These days all I hear about is how "generative AI is gonna change the world as we know it." Sure. It will. But, there's so much more to it than that blanket statement we so often hear. My focus has been on how these new kinds of technologies will inform and impact human creativity. This newsletter and website will continue to chronicle my journey, but with a focus on exploring the technology from a practical point of view. How can I use these new tools to make new things?

In addition to the weekly newsletter, I'll also post more frequent articles on the things I've learned throughout the week. I call them my "Today I learned" posts (inspired by Simon Wilison, of course.) I've also started "going live" where I broadcast live on Twitch and YouTube. These sessions are called "Building Stuff on AWS in my Basement" and are largely unscripted streams where I try and figure things out.