Once again, I find myself in a familar place: reminding myself that writing is good for me and I should do it more often.

I have two modes: on and off. In just about every area of life, I'm either 100% invested and laser focused at knowing everything there is to know and honing my skills to their absolute limit... or I am utterly incapable of even feigning interest.

I've been told that's likely a marker for neurodivergency. I'm not sure if that's true, but I'm sure I don't care.

What have I been up to since September 2025?

Okay, saddest sitrep of all time: it's mostly just been work.

I've been learning a lot while shipping both personal and work projects. I created both Photo Logic and The mOperator – both the website and the multi-purpose Slack Agent we're now using at Vercel. Similar to this site, I don't update them nearly often or consistently enough.

Fairly often lately, I catch myself thinking things like "work is not a personality" and I give far too much energy to my work. I do care deeply about doing a great job and pushing myself into uncomfortable environs, but there's a point of diminishing returns. I'm still having fun learning about development, so much so that I'm thinking about trying to make a career pivot towards GTM Engineering or whatever this faster-paced vibecoding world is becoming. Thankfully that's sorta happening organically in my current role, so plenty happy where I'm at for now with Vercel.

Early last fall, I shot some senior portraits for a family friend. It had been a long time since I had done a proper photoshoot with off camera lighting. This ended up being one of my all-time favorite portraits from a technical standpoint. Tried to make it very "Joe McNally." He's the best in the biz.

Haleigh and I also spent a long weekend in Long Beach, WA with the same family friends to try razor clamming. It was fun, but we weren't very good at it (pro tip: bring a bike light), but it was a lot of fun to walk the beach at night and hear (but not see) the ocean.

Haleigh's work schedule makes Thanksgiving travel tough, so I visited my family in Florida solo this year. We spent a day at Hollywood Studios (which is becoming a bit of a tradition, now 2 solo trips in a row) and otherwise just spent time with everyone. I have no particular love of Florida or Disney, but it sure was nice to see everyone, even if just for an extended long weekend.

I rode the Kitsap Color Classic with my friends, Ben & Melissa. Seeing all the bikes take over a ferry felt like an amphibious assault. That ride was ~52 miles IIRC and had one of the most punishing climbs I've ever done. I loved it: we came around a corner and it was like we ran into a massive wall. Super steep, long, and a cacophany of gear shifts and curse words as everyone realized what they were in for as they came around the bend. For a heavier rider, I weirdly like climbing. Cascade Bicycle Club events aren't races and attract riders of all fitness levels, but relative to the average cyclist I think I have a better-than-you'd-expect aptitude for climbing. Must've been all the mental toughness the Marine Corps imbued into my soul.

Around that time, Haleigh also caved and approved my purchase of a new road bike. I of course bought another Lauf, this time the Úthald. There's nothing I don't love about this bike: it's light, it's fast, and perhaps most importantly of all, it's purple (sometimes - it's blue with purple flake that color shifts in the right light).

Otherwise, winter has been fairly monotonous. Work, workout, sleep, repeat. I have been doing a ton of riding, as Ben and I are training to attempt STP in a single day this year (~207 miles). That's been a lot of fun and the ritual of discipline has been paying off. I've been much more conscious about my diet and eating more protein, which has led to me actually gaining 5 pounds. But my legs feel as solid as they did when I was in the Marines.

I plan on taking more pictures this year and being more diligent about updating this blog... Mostly because the writing is therapy for me. Reflecting is good. Screaming into the void helps. Who knew?

I'll leave you with an image of a hummingbird who has been frequenting my office window lately. Hummingbird's always make me think of my Gee. They were her favorite.