What I’m doing now

(This is a now page, and if you have your own site, you should make one, too.)

Updated May 19th, 2025, from my home in New Zealand, where a cold and rainy winter is beginning.

learning Chinese

After three trips to China in one year, I’m enamored. I love being there, and want to live there ASAP. I’m spending hours a day learning Chinese (普通话) using Skritter, Wenlin, Anki, Michel Thomas, Pimsleur, and more under the advice of Olle Linge from Hacking Chinese. It will take years to get to fluency, but I’m committed.

Mac

I prefer OpenBSD or at least Linux but typing Chinese is so much better on a Mac that I reluctantly swapped my 10-year-old trusty desktop for the cheapest Mac Mini M4. I miss the Ratpoison window manager the most, but it’s nice to be able to use apps like WeChat, WhatsApp, Wenlin, MacWhisper, OpenMTP and Anki that were impossible or difficult on BSD/Linux.

learning AI

Using books + Anki so far to understand and memorize all the terminology and nuts-and-bolts under the hood of machine learning. Current book is How AI Works.

So, yeah, between Chinese and AI, lots and lots of learning and memorizing.

knee-focused exercise

After tearing the cartilage in my knee last year, cycling improved it enough to exercise again. So I’m working with ATG (“knees over toes”) to re-strengthen.

boy in high school

My son is in his first year of high school, and is so wonderfully insightful, philosophical, talkative, and creative. We just talk talk talk talk like 20+ hours a week, often while walking through forests.

rats are wonderful

The pet rats are adorable little hand-warmers.

missing UAE and India

It’s been over a year since I’ve been to UAE, and I’m really missing it, and friends in India too. I really love and admire UAE. Don’t be surprised if some day these three countries are my home: UAE, China, India. (Probably Dubai, Shanghai, Bangalore — to keep myself social and in the middle of things.)