Archive • Letters to a friend • Buttondown

A change in my brain

September 23, 2025

I’ve noticed a change in my brain and my own “snappiness” over the last five years, and only recently have I been able to form a hypothesis on what I think...

Return of excitement

August 26, 2025

I am excited again. My excitement usually comes in waves, and tends to crest when my interest in my job starts to enter a valley. When this happens, I throw...

The Joy of Building

Hey, I'm fighting through our first wave of daycare sickness (first of many) while we have our annual company summit happening this week. Despite all that, I...

Thoughtfulness makes for great design

Hey,I originally tried writing this as a blog post but was struggling too hard with Blog Post BS™ so I’m writing you an email instead. This feels like the...

I think you should write (to me) more

January 19, 2025

Hey, I think you should write more. Yes, you. I have too many friends with interesting lives and work and thoughts who don’t share enough. Don’t write for...

Yet another year end post

January 1, 2025

Hey, happy new year! 2024 was the best year of my life. It's as simple as that. Having a kid has been a ton of fun (her A+ sleep hygiene allows me to say...

December: Living in Awe

December 11, 2024

Hey, This week I’ve been reminded of what an amazing time and world we live in. It sounds hella cheesy, but I’m trying to stay in this state of wonder as...

May: Project Meet People

Hey, I’m back. Obviously since last time, I had my daughter, and that’s been keeping me busy. But that’s not why I’m writing. How have the first 5 months of...

December: Puzzle & Flow

December 3, 2023

I'm sitting at the fold-out table we bring out this time of year to push around puzzle pieces. It's still dark outside and there's no snow yet. What kind of...

Making my younger self proud

August 31, 2023

My 16-year-old self would be proud of me today. After years (decades?) of toying with the idea of learning to animate and taking zero action, I finally...

Second marathon in the books

October 12, 2022

Hey, Today's a short one. I'm still in the midst of recovering from a marathon and it's taking longer than I expected. My body is punishing me after I...

Running for my life

October 4, 2022

Hey, The next time I send this we’ll have run our marathon! It’s in just 5 days. Wild. Liz and I have been training for about 7 months, this is the longest...

Becoming a personality

September 20, 2022

Hey, I have a somewhat embarrassing confession to make: my goal for the next 12 months is to become a “personality”. Arbitrary, yes. Fun challenge? Kind of....

Finding a routine

September 13, 2022

I've been trying to find consistency in a sea of freedom

Notes from a plane

August 30, 2022

I try way too hard to be interesting.

August 25, 2021

Hey, I’m writing you at the last minute from our Sonder in Toronto, have you heard of them? It’s kind of like Airbnb meets hotel - I think they just buy up...

Life in seasons

August 18, 2021

Hey, I’m back from Edmonton and getting settled again at home. But of course, we are going to Toronto this weekend for the final week of my sabbatical. As...

Training camp and a slurry of ideas

August 11, 2021

Hey, Since arriving here on Thursday last week, I’ve swam just over 9km and as of when this email goes out, it will likely be closer to 12km. This is more...

Crying in my kitchen

Hey, Did you get Monday off? It was a holiday in most, if not all of Canada. A long weekend meant trying to do a few more things than normal. We went to go...

Getting into a routine

Hey, I can’t remember if I already told you, but I’m currently on a short two-month sabbatical. I’m about halfway through it now (!!) and I think I’m finally...