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How I Figured It Out

There’s a saying my mom used to tell from time to time: “There are three things you should do in life—raise a kid, plant a tree, and write a book.” I never asked where it came from or the relevance of each of those three actions, but now that I’m older, I think I’m starting to understand why.

I didn’t commit to fulfilling the three statements, but I started raising a kid anyway. Actually, I have two now, and I’ve definitely learned a lot from them; it’s an experience I never imagined. My first kid came at a time when I was very focused on my job (and who isn’t these days), and he taught me to pause and notice the beautiful things that surround us and that we take for granted. When was the last time you stared at the sky on a starry night just because? How many times have you stopped to appreciate how amazing a toad is—able to hibernate through the whole winter?

As my kid was enlightening me with all the amazing things nature has, planting a tree came into view. It sounds like a simple task—and honestly, it’s not hard. But what about keeping the tree healthy and making sure it grows year after year? Maybe the challenge goes beyond the act of planting. Maybe the real task is keeping the tree safe from harm. I know it now, after planting several trees from seed, seeing some die just days later, and only a couple still alive after two years.

And while I haven’t written a book—and maybe I won’t in the foreseeable future—this site, How I Figured It Out, is my way of writing something that may last and be useful for the people who land here. It's a set of personal reflections across travel, food, technology and more. I hope you enjoy the content.

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I enjoy experimenting with cloud platforms, infrastructure automation, and generative AI tools. This space will showcase some of those mini-projects and proofs-of-concept.

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