This is a running update on what I'm focused on right now. The idea from nownownow.com.
July 2026
July in Seattle always makes me so happy I live here, and not somewhere hotter! Sometimes in the winter I dream of living somewhere with more sunshine year round, but I have lived in Arizona, and I never want to do that again ๐
This year has been a busy one so far! Here is what I have been up to recently:
- Local Public, the project I have been working on for the past few years spun off as it's own Public Benefit Corporation on 7/1/2026, and with that came a promotion of Director of Product. It's pretty amazing that this spinoff finally happened, it has been a long time coming! It is exciting to be a big part of the beginnings of a new company, but it has also been a TON of work! Being a very small team of 7 full time employees, I have taken on a lot of different roles including pieces of IT, HR, GRC, on top of my Product work & the supervision of 2 full time contractors! We are no over the hump of the biggest hurdles of getting the company set up, but there is still much work to do ongoing - something that won't change anytime soon. More updates to come as the project moves forward, and upward ๐
- My partner and I recently spent two weeks in France, which was lovely! We stayed mostly with our friend in Paris, but also ventured out to Brittany for a few days to visit Saint-Malo & Mont Saint-Michel. We booked a nights stay on the Mont which was a very unique and wonderful experience, the island is so different with all the tourists gone. Our only regret is that we didn't stay another night or two outside of Paris, the slower pace and sea breeze were absolutely lovely ๐
- Reading my way through the Dungeon Crawler Carl series - I'm on book 4 and not planning to slow down until I'm forced to! Book 8 recently came out, and the series is planned through book 10. The books are silly, very nerdy, crass at times, and very fun to read - hoping they stay fun as I go deeper into the series ๐
- Setting up this new website using Bear Blog which has been super easy and fun to do! I was hosted on Ghost before, but it was overkill for what I needed. After exploring some options, Bear stood out as basically the perfect solution for me. Excited to keep playing with the site and building it out as I go!
January 2026
A new year is here! I had some good long time off at the end of December and into early January which was nice and refreshing ๐ Here's what I've been up to:
- Graduated with my MBA in December! Still hard to believe, but very happy to be wrapped up. Had a great experience in the program at Seattle University, writing up something to share more about it soon.
- Finished my 70th book as the year ended! Read more last year than ever before in my life after setting a goal to read more and taking it to the extreme ๐. Doubtful I'll beat that number this year, but looking forward to digging into more great stories in 2026.
- Played a ton of Hades II with my partner over the break, an excellent experience. Cleared both sections once each, then put the Steam Deck down for a while ๐ฎ. As good as, maybe better than, Hades I, looking forward to continuing through it with a bit less manic rage this year.
- Getting into Mahjong ๐๏ธ, which seems to be everywhere right now.
- Working through the Google Data Analytics certificate on Coursera, going great so far.
- Adding more social events to my calendar, a goal for this year now that I have more free time.
- Looking for a new volunteer opportunity after wrapping up a year at the Seattle Central Library.
December 2025
Winter is settling in and it's been rain, rain, rain, and more rain here in Seattle. A bit of sunshine peppered in to keep us sane, still better than the sliver of daylight I grew up with in Alaskan winters. The solstice is fast approaching, always look forward to the other side ๐ . This month I am:
- Finishing up my MBA program at Seattle University! Excited to be done, and glad I started when I did. Looking forward to directing my own learning instead of required coursework ๐.
- Working through the first Google Data Analytics course on Coursera, filling in some gaps in my knowledge around data.
- Continuing through Boot.dev, still enjoying it though I've slowed down. Planning to finish the first project by end of year, then decide what direction to go next.
- Playing Is This Seat Taken on the Steam Deck, a fun little puzzle game. Next up: starting Hades II with my partner over the winter holiday.
- Listening to the Shell Game Podcast and laughing along as chaos ensues, also realizing how far "AI agents" have to go before they're taking anyone's job.
- Reading about Shiro Kashiba and his part in shaping sushi culture in the PNW. Made a reservation at his Belltown restaurant for NYE, a great way to round out the year ๐ฃ.
November 2025
Fall has firmly settled into the PNW and the allure of cozy indoor spaces is hard to resist. I see many coffee shops and bookstores in my future ๐ฑ. This month I am:
- Working through the last full month of my MBA program at Seattle University, looking forward to opening up more free time for other projects.
- Reading Escaping the Build Trap, full of excellent product wisdom, ties in well with Outcomes Over Output, both feel relevant to the stage my products at Cascade PBS are in.
- Working through Boot.dev's Python module. A few start-and-stop attempts at learning to program before, but their gamified approach fits well with my ADHD brain.
- Integrating Atlassian's Rovo AI into my workflow at work, the most useful AI tool I've used to date: building PRDs, cleaning up bug and feature request tickets in Jira, and searching for tickets I can't quite remember.
June 2025
A beautiful shift in the seasons as I shift into my 35th year! This month I'm working on:
- Working through my picks for the SPL Summer Book Bingo, my partner and I are going for a blackout this year!
- Finishing my final in-person MBA classes, three more and I'm all wrapped up.
- Learning and re-learning piano fundamentals from a few different angles.
- Looking forward to a two-week stay-cation coming up soon!
May 2025
This month I turn 35! Kind of wild how time keeps moving forward. I've been pretty happy with how I've been spending my time lately, here's what I've been up to:
- Started reading Business School and the Noble Purpose of the Market by Andrew J. Hoffman. Wouldn't have hit the same a few years ago, but nearly two years into my MBA the message lands. Recommend it to anyone adjacent to business school.
- Continuing my music journey, learning Ableton Live and picked up a Novation Launchkey MK4 25-key MIDI controller. Under $200 and a lot of fun.
- Picked Duolingo's Spanish course back up after a while away. A lot of it stuck from college, next step is conversing more with others.
- Picked up a 13" iPad Air, originally for reading sheet music but it's turned out to be great for cooking magazines and cookbooks too.
April 2025
Spring is in the air here in the PNW, the kind of bright and sunny that's still colder than it looks, but at least there's sun ๐. This month I have:
- Kept up a one book/week pace, very rewarding. I track everything on Storygraph and would love to connect with others there.
- Started in-person piano lessons for the first time, after teaching myself through Piano Marvel and finding the lack of a guide difficult.
- Enjoying my two classes this quarter, an intro to cybersecurity and an overview of "Great Leaders," nice to take more interesting electives as the program winds down.
- Exploring a bit of vibe coding with Coda and other tools, and blown away by Gemini's deep research feature.
March 2025
It's been a chilly, soggy end of winter here in the PNW, with a few days of "false spring" thrown in before the cold comes right back. Lots of time inside working on projects and learning new things. This month I've been:
- Continuing through the Free Code Camp curriculum, finished HTML and CSS and onto JavaScript. Really enjoying it, aiming to finish the whole course by year end.
- Finished Impact First Product Teams by Matt LeMay, brief and excellent. Also recommend his other book, Product Management in Practice.
- Deepening my piano and music theory practice with Piano Marvel, supplemented with a Berklee School of Music theory course on Coursera to fill in the gaps.
- Finishing my winter quarter in my MBA program, two more classes in spring then three more after that.
February 2025
Thrilled to be through the darkest part of the year here in the PNW, growing up in Alaska there's actually more light here, but December and January are always the hardest for me. Here's what I'm focused on this month:
- Continuing through the Free Code Camp curriculum, now on the CSS module.
- Reading Lean Analytics and working through the Data-Driven Decision Making certificate on Coursera.
- Playing Sable, whose soundtrack is by one of my favorite artists, Japanese Breakfast.
January 2025
The beginning of the year is always a great time for, well, beginnings ๐. Here's what I'm focused on this month:
- Starting to build out this site, meant to be my home on the net, both a portfolio and blog space that'll evolve over time.
- Beginning the newly released Free Code Camp curriculum, working through the HTML section. Finding it engaging and easier to stick with thanks to the redesign's instructional videos.
- Using Beeminder to track goals and habits, started late in 2024 and leaned into it for the new year. A monetary penalty for missing goals sounds odd, but it's working.
- Working on reading at least 25 pages a day, rotating through a variety of books.
- Starting to volunteer at the Seattle Central Public Library every other Saturday at the volunteer desk ๐.
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