Post vacation thoughts

I’m back in the office today after spending almost the last week in Mexico City. I was happy to be home yesterday and get back to work. I always felt a vacation did it’s job when I’m ready to go back to work afterwards and that’s how I felt this morning. For the first time in awhile, it was not a drag to turn on my laptop in the morning and get started with my day.

Mexico City is an amazing place. Great bars, restaurants, and people. The vibes all-around were great throughout the week. I would have loved to spend extended time in Mexico City at some prior to having Colin. It felt like the beauty of the city was mostly built around just relaxing with a coffee and a laptop in one of the many outdoor sidewalk cafes. I can see why so many people moved to Mexico City during the pandemic.

For Sophia and myself, we did more with Colin than we have really in any previous vacation. We sat down for lunch and dinner every day. We stretched his bed time. We went on a tour to the pyramids even. All things considered, he did great and most of my fears of having a crazy toddler were unfounded.

It’s great that he’s at the age where he can actually go out and do more. With a kid though, there’s another side of it in that it’s hard for him to sit down for an extended period and he now wants to be able to walk everywhere. Grabbing a drink at a restaurant is a difficult task as one of us is likely chasing him around the block at some point. With all the amazing bars in Mexico City, I had a ton of FOMO.

My Dad also joined us on the trip. It was really nice seeing him and he seems to have taken a liking to Colin. It was the first time in my life that I felt that he was old though. He turns 70 later this year and while he’s still active and healthy, he felt much more like a “Grandpa” than my Dad. He’s no longer young and he’s starting to have hearing and memory issues. The inevitability of our parents getting older is here and it’s a scary thought.

On the work front, I’m planning on spending the rest of the week just getting caught up. I didn’t get the chance to do a clean-up of the last quarter and I look forward to getting to a clean slate starting on Monday.

I largely stayed away from watching the markets but it appears that SpaceX stock has dropped below the IPO price for the first time. Naturally, the media is having a good time reporting on the stocks drop which feels sensational at this point. We’ll see where it ends up in a few months and whether it has any impact on Anthropic going public.

Mexico City 2026

We’re flying back to New York tomorrow after a family trip to Mexico City. We met my sister here on Thursday and then my Dad, stepmom, and half-sister came on Saturday. I honestly don’t think we’ve ever taken a family vacation with all of us. My half-sister is 15 so she’s much younger and they did their own thing when they were younger.

Being on a family vacation isn’t the easiest thing in the world. The extra hands to help with Colin is nice, but my family isn’t one to do the heavy lifting or really much of any lifting for that matter. All that said, we’re all getting older and I need to remember that these moments are special and I’m going to wish we could do more of these down the road.

In yet another vacation with a kid, there has been a bit of FOMO especially as Mexico City is just an amazing place with lots of great bars and restaurants that are just not conducive for sitting down with a 20 month old. I’ve still had a great time though and it’s been fun exploring the city.

We’ve made a lot of memories with Colin and my family got to spend time with him. He’s no longer a baby and he’s a full on toddler with opinions. Mine and no are some of his favorite words now which makes things more difficult. But he’s also finally at the age where we can play together and it’s been incredibly fun as well.

I’ve always said a vacation feels proper when I’m ready to go home and I’m excited to get back to New York tomorrow. A few weekends at home after being gone the last 3 is what is needed.

USMNT and Pressure

I was incredibly excited for the USMNT game last night versus Belgium in the round of 16. We had the opportunity to get to the quarterfinals in a home World Cup in a soccer crazed city of Seattle right after celebrating our 250th anniversary on the 4th of July. We had played great the last 4 games and Belgium was an aging team that wasn’t the same.

It had all the makings of a magical evening. Then the game began and the team froze under the pressure. Disappointed is one of many words that comes to mind watching the game yesterday. Not only did we lose, but we were utterly dismantled.

There were not a ton of expectations for the team to get past the quarterfinals, but getting there would show meaningful progress that we may be over the hump and one of the best teams in the field. I still do believe that the team has what it takes to compete and beat Belgium, but it was evident to me that the pressure just simply got to them.

In the first 4 games, we saw a team that was free flowing and playing loose and having fun. Last night, we saw a team who came in playing scared and afraid to make mistakes. Credit to Belgium for also playing against our strengths well, but just looking at the way most of our players played yesterday was just awful to watch.

I have never been in any situation where the pressure is even in the same stratosphere for what the team went through last night. But I do know how much pressure can impact performance. Often I’m able to channel that pressure and stress into something great, but sometimes the pressure gets to you and you can crumble.

I have no insight into the practices or what was said or done over the last week since the last game. But perhaps the hype and enthusiasm for the team from celebrities, politicians, etc. was just too much for them.

Spontaneity

It was an interesting end of the week and weekend. With the end of the quarter, I had hoped that I could take things easy and unwind a bit. It was indeed a fun few days, but anything but relaxing.

It was a heat wave in New York with temperatures reaching over 100 degrees at points which made things even crazier. On Thursday morning, my building’s power went off and Colin seemed to have caught a stomach bug at daycare. That alone was a stressful situation, but we were supposed to leave the next morning to visit our friends in Virginia for the long weekend.

We had a decision the next morning on a go/no-go with Colin seemingly better and our A/C in our apartment still off. I was candidly worried and thought it was a force, but Sophia ultimately won out and we started to make the drive down.

We made our first stop once we got to Maryland for breakfast, and the minute we took Colin out of the car seat, we knew that he was off and it would be irresponsible for us to continue onto our friends and spread the stomach bug.

I’m proud of the way Sophia and I handled the situation. In perhaps earlier days of our parenting journey, I or we may have panicked and stressed each other out. But we both decided to make the best out of it. Instead of turning around, we found a park and figured out our game plan. After quick deliberation, we decided to go to Annapolis for the day and night and see how Colin was the next day.

We turned a disastrous situation into what ended up being a really fun weekend. We booked a nice hotel in Annapolis and ate some great seafood for lunch and dinner, and also squeezed a much needed mid-day nap. The next day, we continued to our friends place and had a great couple of days with them.

While reflecting back, I realized just how much I was missing those spontaneous moments or events. Everything in my life is planned down to almost the minute nowadays. My workday calendar is packed back to back. Colin’s nap and sleep schedule gives us structure when we’re not at work.

For once, it was really fun to just go off script and do something different. Colin is 20 months now and he’s fine and happy to be along for the ride. As we head into the middle of summer, I’m hoping for a lot more of these spontaneous moments.

America 250

Apparently I’ve decided to bring all the extreme weather to New York as it’s supposed to be the hottest in over 10 years in the next few days. As much as I don’t like the extreme cold, I absolutely hate the heat and humidity so this next week is going to be a brutal and sweaty time for me.

All that said, I am excited for the quarter to be over and things to slow down a bit. I’m taking the family to Virginia to visit friends for July 4th. Luckily they have a nice big house with great AC where I likely will be hiding indoors most of the time.

I’m always a fan of July 4th given the summer aspect, but this year feels especially unique given the 250th celebration of the USA. I think a lot of Americans feel down about the country and where we are headed right now. My stance has always to stay on the optimistic side of things and I am glad to be alive for our 250th year as a country.

We’re imperfect as a country like every country, but I still firmly believe that this is the greatest country in the world and I feel fortunate to have been born here. In a funny way, the World Cup event has really shined a positive light on America recently that has made me feel a lot better about things.

A lot of the world has explored America for the first time and has been fascinated by the things that we take for granted in this country. While some things are probably less glamorous, see gigantic soda cups, I’ve loved how visitors are finding joy in simple things such as our gorgeous scenery, vast road network, and barbeque.

It’s yet another reminder that life is good and we need to take time to appreciate life a bit more. We have it really good here in America despite all our flaws.

Balance

I checked another state of my list as we went to West Virginia for a family wedding. It is a gorgeous place with lots of greenery and mountains, and I enjoyed my time there. It was really special watching Colin play with Sophia’s family members and quite frankly, something that we won’t be able to do too often.

There’s always give or take though. We left West Virginia at 10am yesterday and got home past 6pm after a stop in Baltimore. These trips are absolutely exhausting especially on the way back after spending the whole day partying for the wedding. I struggled out of bed this morning but felt a lot better after my morning run.

It’s always a balance between having fun and living life, and also feeling great the next day. It feels like the more “fun” you have nowadays just drains the tank the following day or even two.

These events start to decrease as we get older and I’m well aware of it. I’m only getting older and it won’t be long until we start saying no to more social events in light of rest and also to prioritize Colin. For that reason, these weekends are well worth it still even despite the trade-offs of feeling tired for a couple days.

Learning from AI

AI has changed the way I work on many levels. One of the biggest benefits at work right now is that I have my own lawyer. One that cost much less than calling one of our lawyers and also works a lot faster. It won’t replace lawyers anytime soon, but it helps flag any relevant issues with the docs I see on a day to day basis and drafts most of our basic legal language nowadays. Legal works used to be incredibly draining for me, and it’s much more manageable.

A byproduct of working with my AI lawyer is that I’ve learned a ton as well which is likely the biggest benefit for my career. I have the LLM explain concepts to me that were previously foreign so I know for next time. My legal skills have improved significantly over the last few years.

On a personal front, I’ve used ChatGPT for most of my personal life. I learn more about nutrition and food over the last year than I perhaps have in my 30+ years prior. My Whoop AI has become my personal trainer to get me more fit but also feeling better on a day to day basis.

AI is a wonderful thing for people who are interested in learning. For me, I need to know why running in Zone 2 for the majority of my runs is better for my aerobic health than sending it full go. Of course, many are more interested in the output rather than the process, and I do believe they are short changing themselves and their career and personal growth.

Dog days of summer

Things are shaping up nicely for us as we wrap up the quarter. There won’t be a hectic rush to wrap things up in the next week which is great. Most quarters for some reason just end up being a bit crazy at the end with people waiting last minute.

The end of Q2 especially with the July 4th holiday is a nice one for all of us to unwind a bit after bust first half of the year. So far things are shaping up that we’ll all be able to take some time off as we had planned and I’m really looking forward to it.

All that said, we’ve got a lot of “debt” built up over the last couple quarters that we’ll need to focus on in July. Lots of clean-up work and things that need to get done in order for the second half to go well. As we head into the dog days of summer, it’s important that we make sure to keep pushing these items forward while also making sure that we all get some rest.

Sunsetting of the DAOs and NFTs

Back in 2021, I started to play around with NFTs and DAOs. It was a crazy bubble and everyone knew it, but it also brought me back to the days of IRC and gaming. The online communities being created was a ton of fun to participate in.

I joined a golf club DAO, a sports gambling DAO, a gaming platform, and a couple other just random communities. You basically needed to buy a NFT to get access to these communities, and I shifted some of my crypto gains for play money to participate.

It was always a mixed bag. For most, it felt like speculation was the #1 reason they were there which is natural in a crazy market like that. I had no expectation of making money from these NFTs so things worked out rather nicely for me. But I was able to meet some cool people.

I golfed with a group of folks from LinksDAO and attended a few events. I still talk to some of them every now and then. That DAO eventually did succeed in buying a golf course in Scotland and is still running despite things slowing down significantly.

Most of the other projects I’m part of does seem like they are wrapping up and closing down. It was a fun run while it lasted, but most of these communities were built on the fact that the NFT prices would go up. It’s impossible to build a real community when all you can offer is an increase in value.

It’s the end of an era of these crypto projects. But I’ll probably pick a couple to stay involved with. It was a fun period especially when the world was still coming out of lockdown.

Grateful Monday

There’s a lot of miserable people in New York. This morning I had a grumpy guy push my backpack aside with a swipe as I waited behind a Dad and his kids trying to get through the turnstile. The train was still minutes away and there was zero reason to get agitated or frustrated.

I really try to my best to not let these things impact me. I had to catch myself this morning to not say something to the guy. Misery loves company, and I have no reason to ruin my morning. Life isn’t perfect for me, but life is really good. After this amazing Father’s Day weekend, I’m feeling especially grateful for everything.

I had an incredible Friday “day-off”. With Sophia back in town, she let me go out and spend some time by myself. After a few hours of morning work, I went to to get a massage to relax. And then got a nice sushi lunch by myself. I met up with some friends at a bar for the US Men’s National Team game and had a few rounds with the guys.

On Saturday, we got a baby sitter and went to celebrate our friends’ baby shower. We don’t get to go out much, and it was again really nice being at a bar with friends just socializing. Even better, we were in bed by 10:30 and it made Sunday a bit better.

On Sunday, I got to celebrate Father’s Day by not doing too much but spending time with Colin and Sophia. I was a bit exhausted from the prior two nights, but just relaxing and watching Colin run around and live his best life was a special core memory for me. He’s at such a fun age where he’s now seeking me out and looking to play with me all the time.

Parenthood is exhausting, but every day is so incredibly special if you take the time to sit back and embrace the small moments. Core to being able to enjoy those moments is definitely being a better mind space. My sleep, rest, and health have all significantly improved in the last 6 months that I’ve prioritized it. That’s allowed me to be a better father and husband.

I’m not one for holidays and Father’s Day always felt like a bit of a fabricated and commercial one. With that said, it was a really good day to sit down and celebrate Colin, be proud of how far I’ve come as a parent in the last year, and also remind myself how grateful I should be for the life I have right now.

AI Travel Agent

My Dad has run a small travel company specializing in travel to Indonesia for the last 35 years. It’s a dying business with the age of the internet, but it was fun growing up and always was the spark for my interest in travel.

I’ve been frustrated the last couple days as I’ve been trying to book my flight to Uzbekistan for my trip in August. The Uzbekistan Airlines website feels like it was made in the 1990s, and whenever I try to book my flight and pay, the payment portal errors out. I’ve tried to contact and email them to book to no avail. It seems like a common problem.

In 2026, there’s really no excuses for this. A customer is trying to book directly with you to avoid paying agent fees and nothing seems to work. I had to settle and ultimately book with Expedia which went through seamlessly.

I know there are many startups looking to become an AI travel agent for you. I wonder when the product gets good enough that I can type in what I want, when I want it, and have it give me all the options with pros/cons. Maybe that exists and it’s time to start looking at these services.

Building in 2026

It’s been fun helping the product and engineering team with their roadmap for the upcoming months. A lot of the Secfi platform was built back in 2021/2022 and we are due for an update and a refresh.

Lots has changed in those last 4-5 years. What was once considered advance back then is now well a bit obsolete given the age of AI. I recall that the onboarding flow took us months to build out back in the day. With AI tools and agents, I can imagine that things should take mere weeks if not days.

Everything is being built at 10x the speed nowadays, but the same underlying problems will always plagued things. Garbage in, garbage out. Our data and tracking needs to be up to par in order for some of the new functionality to be built.

Again, in this day and age of AI, there’s not too many excuses anymore for taking that unstructured data and getting into structured format. AI is amazing at doing just that and eliminates the need for manual data entry for most part. There will be some sort team pain, but the automation and functionality that we can build will make everyone’s lives easier down stream.

How big will they get?

The World Cup has been a very fun kick-off to summer. We’re no strangers to tourists here in New York but seeing packs of visitors from various countries is really cool to see. The reaction on social media has seemed to be fairly positive as people from all over the globe come to visit the U.S. It’s a great reminder of how awesome we have it in this country. We’re not perfect by any means, but I firmly believe that despite our faults, this is the greatest country in the world.

On the work front, SpaceX announced that they are buying cursor after their successful IPO. The acquisition makes sense on many levels as SpaceX has compute and Cursor has distribution. In a world where models and capabilities are far outpacing the compute, it’s hard to see SpaceX not in a prime position to capitalize.

We are in a world of mega companies in the U.S. with the 10 largest companies representing almost 40% of the entire S&P. In a world of AI, how much bigger will these companies get as they possess the actual capital to get access to the compute in this AI war?

A special weekend

It was a special and rare weekend here in New York. The SpaceX IPO and the US Men’s National Team opening match in the World Cup kicked things off on Friday. It was an amazing performance by the team Friday night, and I couldn’t help be wonder whether we’ve turned a corner. The city was buzzing with energy heading into the weekend.

Of course, Saturday will forever be known as the Knicks’ day as they won the NBA Finals. The city was going nuts throughout the night and the videos are epic. Of course, I would have wanted to be out there despite not being a Knicks fan. These occasions are rare.

Alas, I was stuck at home being a Dad all weekend with Sophia out of town. Mild FOMO aside, I had a really special weekend with Colin. We had dim sum for lunch and then I took Colin to a block party down the street where he roamed around for hours playing with the fire hydrants and toys on the street. It was a very Brooklyn day that I never experienced as a kid and I loved watching him smiling ear to ear playing everywhere.

We spent most of Sunday at the park and playground. And then ended the weekend with a nice pool session and dinner together. Despite missing all the fun happening in the city, it was a special weekend for us.

The bonding and experience that we had together was something special that won’t be replicated. Watching him laugh and smile while we were playing in the pool together was something I’ll remember forever. Not everything about parenthood is great of course, but these times are a reminder of why it’s all worth it.

The big day

It’s SpaceX IPO day. I’m going to be fascinated to see what happens when the stock starts trading. I have a hard time not seeing the stock pop today. A lot of people’s net worth is about to jump significantly. Of course, the million dollar question is what happens afterwards. Every price movement in SPCX is going to be followed and talked about for at least the year.

The excitement continues into the evening as the World Cup for the US Men’s National Team kicks off. Here in New York, the excitement is definitely overshadowed by the Knicks’ finals run. It feels like Americans barely know that the World Cup is happening in North America this year.

That can all change quickly though. Americans love a good story and want something to root for. The US Men’s National Team has a chance to give the country just that. I wonder if the lack of pressure and attention may do wonders for the team. There is not a level of expectation that US is a contender by any means and most seem very content for us just to get out of the group.

Being an underdog on home soil is a great place to be.

The calm before the storm

I couldn’t sleep last night so I turned the Knicks game back on. Despite losing that extra hour and half of sleep, I’m glad that I did. It was an epic game that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I need to remind myself that I am indeed not a 70 year old that can’t stay up past 10pm at times and I do need to live a little. Can’t happen every night if I’m prioritizing my sleep and rest, but there’s ways to pick your battles.

Things are heating up literally and figuratively heading into this weekend. Tomorrow is the SpaceX IPO and it’s going to be one to watch. I don’t think there’s been a more anticipated IPO in the short history of the stock market. Everyone will be watching closely whether you’re rooting for SpaceX or not.

The World Cup starts tomorrow as well as the US takes on Paraguay. And of course, the Knicks go back to San Antonio on Saturday. The city will be mayhem if the Knicks can pull off the win. If not, Game 6 in New York on Tuesday is going to be absolute mayhem.

I’m excited for a fun summer here in New York. Sophia and I wanted to make sure to enjoy this year with a young toddler where things are starting to get a bit easier to live life a bit.

Priorities

It’s Knicks mania right now as the finals come back to MSG for Game 4. Monday was a crazy day in the city with the President attending the game and the entire city going crazy. I feel a little bit out of the loop as these games start at 8:30pm and I’ve been only making it to half-time. I feel like a bit of a loser and old, but ultimately my rest/sleep has been the priority as I learn to navigate being a father and working a demanding job. I’ve got to get my priorities right.

On the topic of priorities, my life this week has been one blur moving from meeting to interview. I’ve barely had time to sit down and be with my own thoughts for longer than a few minutes. This world works in funny ways and things always seem to get hectic at the end of each quarter without fail.

I’m excited about the work the team has put together this quarter and it’s an exciting time right now in the private markets. After these next 3 weeks are up, I need to remember to make sure we celebrate as a team as we’ve all been grinding things out.

No SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic in the S&P500

I suppose the public majority won out as the S&P 500 will not change their rules to include new mega cap IPO companies this year. There are good arguments for both sides here of course and I’m not necessarily sure which side of the argument I generally align with.

SpaceX will be one of the largest US based companies and if the goal is to own the top 500 companies, then not having SpaceX in there does go against the core idea. I understand the worry of a newly IPO’d company especially at a valuation that seems to be a bit lofty. With that said, if SpaceX stock does continue to do well in the next quarters and years, then the S&P500 holders will lose out.

Those arguments aside, I’d imagine a lot of the decision was at least partly based on the adverse feelings of Elon and AI in general. The public majority does not seem to have a positive response to AI right now. People are generally much more fearful of AI and the people running these companies than welcoming.

I understand their fears whether they are right or wrong. The ability to make a living and provide for your family is everyone’s top priority. No one wants to hear that their career or line of work is at jeopardy because of a new technology. As I’ve stated before, I do believe a lot of the fears are overblown and I generally lean towards an optimistic view of AI.

Elon, Dario, and Sam have a lot of work to do to overcome the public perception of their companies. It feels like the majority of the country will be rooting for their downfall rather than success.

Monday musings

Sophia and I got a baby sitter and went out for the first time together on Saturday. We did a 5pm dinner so we could take time after to just have some drinks and relax. It was funny thinking about how much our lives have changed. We had a fantastic dinner at 5pm alongside a lot of elderly folks. Things have changed a lot in the last few years and we’re at a different stage in life.

It was a much needed night out for us. We haven’t spent much time together just us two and we need to remember that it’s important for our marriage to continue dating and living our lives despite being parents as well.

On parenthood - I’m loving this stage of life with Colin right now. He seeks me out all day and just wants to explore the world. I’m more than content spending most of my weekends doing just that. With that said, things are undoubtedly a lot more exhausting. Even after a Friday night in at home, I woke up on Saturday and spent most of the morning counting down the hours to Colin’s nap so I could get some rest.

Life as a parent isn’t easy. It’s an adjustment on many levels, and I find myself constantly tweaking my life so I can stay happy and refreshed as much as I can. It’s a constant battle between balancing my social life, my health/workouts, and my role as a Dad. The consistent between my data is that I need to do a lot less in life and get more rest. That’s been my focus the last few months and will continue to be my focus this year as I get older and things get more tiring with Colin.

Let the games begin

SpaceX will make their public market debut next Friday in the biggest IPO in history. This will kick off a busy summer as Anthropic and OpenAI likely will follow behind unless the IPO completely flops.

The idea of “sell in May and go away” won’t apply for those of us who work in finance this year. I’m excited to see what happens, but also remain a bit worried on the overall market. Things feel fragile right now and I’ve seen things turn south quickly. Only time will tell how everything will go.

While I am looking forward to the events, I am also very much looking to taking some time off in July. It’s been a fun and busy quarter. We’re all feeling the burn right now and a little breather is going to be nice once the quarter is over. Of course, first comes what will likely be a crazy few weeks. I’ve got my popcorn ready.