Now

What I’m up to right now

(updated January 2026)

Home: My wife and I continue to unpack, furnish, and organize our new place in Yonkers near Bronxville. It’s a slog, but we’re making progress. The garage workshop remains a future project.

Coding: Most of my free time goes to NY Benchmark (app), a civic data project focused on NY local government financial transparency. I started building it during a trip to Buenos Aires in December 2025 and have been deep in Rails development since.

Civic Engagement: I’m getting involved in local Yonkers politics. This week I discovered that self-certification permitting reform (S.7217 / A.7675) is before the City Council. I sent emails supporting the initiative and wrote a blog post about why it matters. I’ll be testifying at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

Reading: Just finished Dan Wang’s Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future—insightful about China’s strengths and challenges, its remarkable development and building capacity, as well as the cruelty and ineffectiveness of the one-child and zero-COVID policies. The book is also about the US: China as a country of engineers that build, America as a country of lawyers that protects individuals and communities so well we can’t build anything to serve them. Wang has deep insight, great writing, and is often very funny. More books like this, please!

Life Reflection: Settling into Westchester is opening space for creativity, productivity, and civic engagement. My focus now: NY Benchmark development, local politics, and building a more orderly daily life.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Last updated: January 24, 2026