Quarterly Update Q3 2025

Fun

The boys visited me and some other friends in Seattle for the 4th of July. I took them on a hike to Wallace Falls, made smash burgers, crushed them at beer pong, went to Top Golf, played homemade trivia, watched Top Gun Maverick, and got humbled at pickleball. Overall, a really fun weekend with some of my closest friends. I’ve known them for over a decade now and hang out with them is always so fun. The ones who were visiting really need to move to Seattle ASAP.
A big group of friends and I went to Snowpeak Campfield for a weekend camping trip. It was essentially glamping and I loved it. There was a Japanese soaking bath, a sauna, private clean bathrooms, showers, and a well stocked camp store. I forgot how nice glamping could be. I will be glamping’s number one advocate from here on out.
I had an unusually low number of hikes/backpacking trips this Summer. I was injured for one or two planned trips but even so I feel like the number of outdoorsy things I signed up for went down quite a bit this year. I’m hoping to do more next Summer! It didn’t feel like Summer with so little outdoors activities.
The annual Tomato night that Roslyn and I host every year was so great! We had 6 friends come and bring tomato themed dishes. It’s maybe my favorite night of the year. Fresh in-season tomatoes, great company, and a perfect way to mark the end of Summer.
- Shout out to my friend Austin who gave us a copy cat recipe for the tomato focaccia from Radio Bakery in Brooklyn
- I bought some candle holders that look like little mice holding up the candles and I finally got to display them in their full glory that night.
My friend Bennett had his wedding in South Lake Tahoe in late September. The four of us who play video games with him online were invited and spent the weekend there together.
- I’m really happy for Bennett and Sasha! They make a great couple and I’m so glad I could celebrate with them. I’m looking forward to spending more time with them since they recently moved to Seattle.
- I played quite a bit of corn hole. It turns out I’m insanely good at corn hole. Everybody was shocked. Including me. Too bad I like my current job otherwise I’d go pro.
- I have 2 more weddings to attend in October so I used them as an excuse to buy a new suit and my first dress watch. I did a lot of research and planning for this outfit. It was all worth it. This wedding was my test run and it was great! Multiple people complimented the suit. Most said I looked like a CEO but the most unique remark was “You look like you sell crypto and I would buy it”. I’m really looking forward to wearing it to the other weddings!

Fitness

I signed up for Strava Premium + Runna as an excuse to use my fitness stipend but also to make training for a marathon easier. It’s nice to just have someone else tell me what to run and just do it.
I’m strongly considering joining a new gym for sauna access. I keep going back and forth whether it’s worth the extra time and money. I suspect it’ll just be something I think about every few weeks until I pull the trigger.

Career

I received my first performance review. Everything is looking good! I can do more to proactively own more things, stress quality (less PR churn), and deliver result more quickly. From my own perspective I can plan out work with more detail to help maintain a north star goal for my projects. Some more upfront work by me will do wonders down the line.
I organized my team’s summer event. We took a cooking class making chicken souvlaki, pita bread, and a greek salad. I think I’m the only one on my team that cooks regularly so I got to show off my knife skills. Usually I feel like one of the least competent people on my team but this event felt like a total role reversal.
I participated in my first company hackathon. We got extra free boba for participating! My leadership chain up to my VP saw the hackathon so it was pretty good exposure and recognition. Now they’re asking if I can make it production ready. The planning is becoming super complex. It’s looking like I just created my next two quarters of work.

Life

Engagement ring shopping slowed down a bit. We found some more things Roslyn likes but still haven’t found “the one” or the exact style. We’ll do more research during the fall and winter until we find something she really likes. Eventually I’ll have to either have her commit to a style or choose one myself but I don’t feel a need to rush just yet.
I started to volunteer for a local city council campaign. Kurt Dresner is running for Kirkland city council and I really liked his priorities so I signed up to help his campaign. I figure I can affect local political outcomes more than state or national outcomes and it’s a good way to be more connected to my local community. The main reason I’m support Kurt is his pro-growth and YIMBY policy priorities which I align with whole-heartedly.
- I’m canvassing for the campaign at least once a week. So far, I’ve probably knocked on about 500 doors and spoken with maybe a fourth of residents that I’ve canvassed.
- Kirkland is a great place to live and I’m hoping I can help make it more affordable and inviting for more people in the years to come.
- I’ve also been showcased in his weekly newsletter 2 times so I’m essentially a Kirkland celebrity. I won’t let the fame change me too much.

Interesting Links

Varieties of Abundance this paper published in the Niskanen center details a framework for thinking about how Abundance can take different political forms. I made a fun alignment quiz based on the paper you can take here. To my surprise the author, Steven Teles, reached out to me on LinkedIn about this quiz!
Everyone is Pro-Cancel Culture this article explores why everyone has some sort of pro-cancel culture opinions for anyone they despise enough. I found it really interesting and relevant given the cultural and political shifts in the US right now.
Good Cities can’t exist without public orderthis article argues that dense, walkable, transit-oriented cities (which many urbanists include me desire) are difficult to build or sustain in the U.S. without substantial public safety and order. High levels of violence, disorder, and perceived risk undermine both the demand for and the political support of good urban density and transit.
Fearful Folklore: The Rake, and Why Monsters Take Certain Shapes this article explores the reasons why so many horror story monsters have similar physical attributes. I found that once it’s explained the reason these monsters look so similar makes a lot of sense.
Illiteracy is a Policy Choice this article goes over the so called “Mississippi Miracle” in which Mississippi’s public education rankings went from one of the worst in the country to one of the best. It focuses on why teaching phonics, training educators at the state level, holding schools accountable, and holding back unprepared students in third grade made this change possible. I feel like education policy has been put on the backburner in the wake of the culture wars the past decade and a half and this article was a good reminder that we have a lot of work to do. The “Mississippi Miracle” is a great roadmap for increasing literacy rates in the rest of the country. I sincerely hope more blue states adopt these kinds of policy interventions.