Latest Updates
- Updated Page
May 9, 2026, 2:40 p.m.
Updated notes/now with new content:
I've owned my domain and this website since 2019, but social media has been a much easier path to communicate with others. With the rise of federatd open platforms and LLM-generated software, the cost of experimenting with alternatives has gone down significantly and I occasionaly give it some attention. The goal is to use this website as the basis for RSS feeds and Email newsletters.
In June 2025 I've given up on Pixelfed. I'm thankfull that the project exists, but I still can't just whip up my phone and share a moment with it, the UX is not there yet. I'm keeping an eye on the space for polished clients, but for now, surprisingly the best image sharing experience is just using Mona to post directly to Mastodon.
As of May 2026 I've been working on generating machine-translated versions of that RSS feed, since as an immigrant I live in this in-between world of languages. I mostly post in English, which makes it hard for many of my loved ones to know what's up. I'm amazed that I can get pretty decent results hosting an open source model for free.
The next stretch goal is being able to deliver those updates via newsletter since most people have no idea what RSS is, and while Email isn't as catchy as Facebook, it is something that almost everyone is forced (for now) to have one way or another.
- Updated Page
May 9, 2026, 2:17 p.m.
Updated notes/now with new content:
My image of a good life has remained simple and consistent since I was a teenager: 1) skate to work eating an apple; 2) dine and chat with interesting people; 3) chill under the shade of a tree. When imagining the ideal life, that's what I've always visualised, though now those images always have my parter in them, and I swapped a skateboard for a bicycle.
A decade later as a young adult, I was finally satisfied with my formulation of my life's purpose . It's compatible with that idyllic imagery, but adds some specificity to the things I care about beyond the feel-good moments. The challenge now is to actually go about living it properly and consistently because, while fun to muse about, aspirations don't have immediate practical consequences.
- Comment
May 9, 2026, 2:08 p.m.
These # bcparks # camping reservations are becoming harder to get than concert tickets, it's wild. But here we go, Black Tusk trip in the works and its main logistics hurdle has been taken care of!
- Updated Page
May 9, 2026, 3:43 a.m.
Updated notes/now with new content:
I'm still working at AWS, with manageable levels of stress and off-hours work. Late 2025 I was finally able to transtion to a Management position, and I have been lucky to have a team that sails smoothly. The hardest part is not really the people, it's actually balancing a higher amount of spinning plates and most of them with cross-team hardships.
The one perenially unresolved aspect is working for Amazon the megacorp, and this seems to be getting worse considering the latest USA political developments. The corrosion of character is real, but I trick myself into not thinking about it too much - at least it's not Meta or Xitter, and I'm not working on anything ethically dubious; it's mostly deep in the weeds fault tolerance and availability improvements. I can sleep well as long as it's not related to crypto, gambling, weapons, fossil fuels, or unethical AI use.
- Updated Page
May 9, 2026, 3:26 a.m.
Updated notes/now with new content:
It took me a few decades but I'm finally satisfied with my formulation of my life's purpose . The challenge is to actually go about living it properly and consistently because, while fun to muse about, aspirations don't have immediate practical consequences.
I still semi-regularly workout lifting weights, it's not fun but it's the most efficient way to maintain a decent physique I need for so many other things that I do enjoy.
🚴🏽 I've been cycling all year round. Vancouver's weather is rarely inclement enough to make a 20 minute ride not be worth it. I'm up >92% compared to the previous 1Y period (919 km vs 479 km), and that's not counting the 85 km e-bike ride we did for Valentine's day!
🏃🏽 Running is moderately up, 14%. We travelled to Brazil just in time to miss both Vancouver's Sun Run and the BMO Vancouver Marathon, so the usual training push never materialized. The only reason it's not totally down is that Aline had some extra runs to treat ITBS that I tagged along.
🥾 Hiking has had a noteworthy increase as well, 136% (89 km vs 37 km). The main contributors were definitely our Sunshine Coast trip and the Panorama Hike. We started this season well, with an early spring Mt Gardner loop!
🏕️ Camping... I don't do any tracking, it's not actually a sport...? I just realized it's one of the few things that I just let it happen. I guess I have been relying on Aline and other friends too much to drive this one. Something to change for 2026. End of Spring we should have a bunch of campsites booked.
🏂🏽 Snowboarding is very much up, 81% (161 km vs 89 km). This season had snow for longer, we had a Grouse Mountain pass for the first time and I even went to the mountain solo once. We're both getting better at it, which makes each day yield slighly more as well.
- Updated Page
May 9, 2026, 2:51 a.m.
Updated notes/now with new content:
It's spring in Vancouver, but I'm currently eperiencing Rio de Janeiro's Autumn. Rio barely has seasons, it just swings between easygoing and hardcore summer. Aline has been away with her parents in SP for a few days now, and oh do I miss her and Vancouver. Staying a little extra with my parents is a privilege, though; could be better if I had more vacations to spend with them but working from here also makes this yearly tradition be less disruptive overall. I don't know how many more chances like this I'll get, and I try to remind myself of that often. Heavy stuff, but important. Like I've learned at Eininji:
Let me respectfully remind you: Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awake Awaken! Take heed: This night your days are diminished by one. Do not squander your life.
- Comment
May 8, 2026, 10:40 p.m.
I’ve had this # indieweb setup for a while now of aggregating on my personal website the things I say here on mastodon and my media tracking from neodb - Post-Elsewhere, Syndicate to Own Site (#PESOS); and besides putting it together on a home page, it generates an RSS feed. Today I was finally able to get a very basic translation model hosted for free that allows me to generate pt-only and en-only versions of that RSS feed. Not awe inspiring results but well, it’s free.
- Started reading
May 4, 2026, 9:39 p.m.
[machine-translated from Portuguese]
Coisa de Rico: A Vida dos Endinheirados Brasileiros
I picked up this book to complement reading "The Rich and the Poor: Brazil and Inequality" by sociologist Marcelo Medeiros (which emphasizes how the problem of poverty is a problem of inequality, and the problem of inequality is a problem of wealth.) That being said, beyond the sociological point of view, it will be interesting to see from an anthropological point of view how the 0.1% differs from the 1%, who strive so hard to differentiate themselves from the 99%. - Finished reading
May 4, 2026, 9:27 p.m.
[machine-translated from Portuguese]
Os ricos e os pobres: O Brasil e a desigualdade, 6 out of 10
Interesting to learn more about the types of inequality, the characteristics of inequality metrics, measurement of income and assets, definitions of social classes, etc. Interesting to understand a bit of the history and logic behind the Income Tax and IPTU. Interesting arguments about tax reforms and ways of looking at these taxes. I do not know if the book is very playful because the target audience includes people who are not familiar with percentages, but if it is, I think it would have been better to draw because there are paragraphs full of numbers that are difficult to digest. And if the target audience is people who are comfortable absorbing econometric tables in prose format, the book is very repetitive and troubled with analogies and metaphors, or stories and historical contexts that add relatively little. Overall, I found the edition a bit bad, but the ideas behind the book and the thesis defended are well argued; if the reader can connect the scattered points among the repetitions and stories. - Started reading
Apr 29, 2026, 11:44 p.m.
[machine-translated from Portuguese]
Os ricos e os pobres: O Brasil e a desigualdade
The theme of inequality is older than democracy itself; I was curious to know how the debate is going in this decade. - Finished reading
Apr 26, 2026, 6:04 p.m.
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, 9 out of 10
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, 9 out of 10 So ingenious. A really captivating read. The later half of the book veers into Invisible Cities territory with some surreal settings but overall the story has such a relatability, and Calvino knows it and plays with the reader self identification, it’s surprisingly fun. Maybe Calvino got a little bit too “excited” on the sexual relationships here and there… and perhaps this book won’t be as enjoyable from a vantage point other than a cishet male; it’s the work of novelist man in the 70’s after all. - Created collection
Apr 26, 2026, 5:49 p.m.
Books about Books
Books on and about reading and books - Created collection
Apr 26, 2026, 3:24 a.m.
[machine-translated from Portuguese]
ABRACCINE Melhores Filmes
100 Best Movies - Wants to watch
Apr 26, 2026, 3:24 a.m.
- Finished watching
Apr 24, 2026, 8:09 p.m.
Bugonia, 6 out of 10
A different kind of suspense and thriller, definitely current given the rise of conspiracy theorists in latest decades. The overall acting and directing was good, as unnervingly as probably intended. The ending… no way it’s supposed to be taken too literally, after all there’s zero chance that Teddy got anything right; but I can’t help but feel like it was a potential not fully realized. Would making it something obvious and straightforward too boring? Maybe. Maybe still better than what we got. Sometimes a fade to black is better than ending with the bang of a clown gun. - Started reading
Apr 20, 2026, 2:14 a.m.
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler I’ve read Invisible Cities last year while traveling, and it became my overall favourite book; so I’ll take the easy way in and pick up more Italo Calvino for this years big travel - Comment
Apr 19, 2026, 8:35 p.m.
Got this book looking for interior design and decoration expertise but got advice on which salt to use for a ritualistic bath, which precedes a “vibe” cleansing ritual to shake up the energy of the home, reading blessings as you go. — Find Yourself at Home: A Conscious Approach to Shaping Your Space and Your Life Percentage: 35%
- Started reading
Apr 18, 2026, 7:04 p.m.
Find Yourself at Home: A Conscious Approach to Shaping Your Space and Your Life
Another one randomly chosen among the VPL audiobooks for home interior design and decoration - Finished reading
Apr 18, 2026, 4:51 p.m.
House Lessons: Renovating a Life, 3 out of 10
Things upper-middle-class people do to cope with therapy material; the home renovation edition. Boring, uninteresting, formulaic. - Started watching
Apr 14, 2026, 3:39 p.m.
SPY x FAMILY Season 1, 9 out of 10
So cute and wholesome that it pierced the bubble. Re-watching with my partner. - Finished reading
Apr 14, 2026, 3:37 p.m.
Life After Cars, 8 out of 10
The book is quite packed, each chapter its own thesis, but then the book closes up nicely with guidance on activism and creating change. If you are in the know about car dependency the middle of book can feel a bit slow, but it will have a little something new for almost everyone. - Comment
Apr 13, 2026, 11:09 p.m.
“George, the contractor I’ve been expecting climbed out. As he walked up the front steps, I could see he had a sturdy build and an open face. I felt an instinctive confidence in him, but no sparks between us. Good, I thought. When the experts tell you how to select a general contractor, they usually focus on issues like estimates, experience, licensing and bonding, and references. But as a married woman, I’ve got a few other criteria that are rarely mentioned. The first is: never be attracted to your builder. In my list of cardinal rules, it’s right at the top, because while affairs between an architect and a client have been known to happen, there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that says it’s far more likely to occur with a builder. Think about it. A builder is almost always a strong and capable man, working inside your house day after day. He does whatever you ask. He cleans up when he’s done. He sees you in the morning with your bathrobe. Hears you yell at your kids and he still comes back the next day. It can be like catnip for women, so I make sure that’s a non starter right from the beginning.” Wow. I don’t know if I should laugh or cringe. — House Lessons: Renovating a Life Percentage: 37%
- Finished reading
Apr 11, 2026, 9:00 p.m.
How to Do Nothing, 8 out of 10
Good stuff. I dig the push for eco regionalism, getting involved with local things, stop and breathe and look around, appreciate third spaces, activism to protect those spaces, gratefulness towards the past activists who created these spaces, reconsider the hustle culture and using monetary lenses for all things. Leans a bit hard on the literary references, but I guess the writer is well read and does not mind flexing it, the intertextuality doesn’t feel forced - just mildly distracting. Reading it for the second time felt better. - Started reading
Apr 11, 2026, 8:51 p.m.
House Lessons: Renovating a Life
Very boring early chapters. Typical writing from a person who never really accepted life in the city but has no self awareness, obsessed with the image of a quaint life in a mansion in a small city; the eternal thirst to grow roots on someone else’s stagnant soil. - Comment
Apr 11, 2026, 7:33 p.m.
Vancouver had a blessed weather week and mood is fully restored. It’s the perfect timing to to overcommit with camping and hike plans that I’ll slightly regret then later be extra grateful I did it anyway
- Comment
Apr 9, 2026, 10:49 p.m.
I miss 2024 when people just said “tool” instead of “agent”. Executives are obsessed with agentic everything, even when clearly what they really need is a spreadsheet with a VLOOKUP And the early days of “AI fluency” interviews has been painful to watch. I don’t know how interviews are supposed to work if most managers think “cross validation” is an acceptable answer for a question about generative AI guardrails for vibe coding
- Comment
Apr 9, 2026, 3:24 p.m.
The downtown BIA has lots of interesting material and they are generally onboard if self serving urbanism like bike lanes and better transit but… BIAs will BIA and openly advocate for vibes based policy making, whatever it takes to bring in that suburban shopper who’s afraid of visible social issues. At least I gotta give it to them the goal of having both… but this is proven a zero-sum dichotomy time and time again in the halls of city council and voting booths
- Finished watching
Apr 7, 2026, 5:25 a.m.
Requiem for a Dream, 7 out of 10
The movie is really intense and masterfully executed. The music, the scenes, all the juxtaposition. There are some interesting details like the obvious disregard from doctors, and the choice to include the mother in the parallels, but it’s also kind of obvious how this movie is a product of the drug scare that grew throughout the 90’s. - Finished watching
Apr 7, 2026, 3:19 a.m.
Memento, 8 out of 10
Definitely one of the greats in terms of using non linear time as a plot device, but also a great story on its own. Makes me think about the illusion of systematic objectivity and the role of memory for contextual history keeping. - Comment
Apr 2, 2026, 2:49 p.m.
# maptap is fun but seriously getting tired of getting small time US cities every day as “easy” while whole countries out there haven’t shown up yet. It’s a game by Americans for Americans I guess, so I think I’m over it
- Comment
Mar 31, 2026, 3:16 p.m.
L: cities are noisy T: cars are noisy, cities without them are musical @ urbantruth.bsky.social https:// fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app /profile/did:plc:thigatosnyxffhfeyxgaahdf/post/3midms2rba22y
- Comment
Mar 13, 2026, 9:34 p.m.
Sam Altman is selling the commoditization of intelligence. What does the economy look like in a world where you can get metered human-level language and reasoning on demand? I don’t believe we’re close to that, but it’s still an interesting thought exercise. How much more worthless can human life get under capitalism?
- Comment
Mar 10, 2026, 9:25 p.m.
Software people made themselves valuable pushing the narrative that they could automate away other jobs. The idea sold like hot cake, and digital transformation became a story of displacement instead of augmentation. Now it turns out that software development became so valuable and abundant that it became the ideal target for LLMs, so bots writing code are taking off even before self driving vehicles. Inadvertently developers made themselves a single point of failure for labour, then imploded.
- Comment
Mar 10, 2026, 3:58 p.m.
Good on Texas for having an upcoming progressive (at least for Texas) politician that is broadly appealing, ie a white evangelical guy. But I will never not find it funny that his surname is slang (in pt_BR) for someone who gets involved (sexually) with a friends’ partner, probably because of a song from the early 90’s
- Comment
Feb 22, 2026, 7:53 a.m.
Is there any other city in this world where we don’t get snow but if you drive 25 min you can do some snowboarding (sure, icy and packed, but still)? And does that city has a moderately walkable downtown with apartments that cost less than 1MM CAD?
- Comment
Feb 4, 2026, 10:45 p.m.
There’s this phenomenon where each generation believes its level of progressiveness is the right one, so everything before was backwards but every step forward is not needed. I guess I should look for things that make me think “ok that’s too much”… perhaps veganism as the ideal diet? Or polyamory as the ideal relationship? These come to mind as the kind of thing that I don’t think I’d ever be able to adjust, but youngsters are welcome to experiment 🤷 (3/2)
- Comment
Feb 4, 2026, 10:37 p.m.
And there’s vegetarianism, urbanism, gender roles, fatphobia, pedagogy… so many things to stay curious and to be instructed. I wonder which layers I’ve yet to peel. I guess if most of these are blind spots for most of my friends, statistically speaking I should conclude there must be a myriad of blind spots of my own. (2/2)
- Comment
Feb 4, 2026, 10:37 p.m.
I’m fully immersed in a circle that believes that vaccines work and human-caused climate change needs to be addressed. I’m grateful for that much. But then there’s an inner circle of people who understand the merits of harm reduction. And another inner circle that don’t think that “immigrants have a duty to assimilate” (is there a word for this?). And a circle that understands there’s no such thing as “apolitical”. (1/2)
- Wants to read
Feb 2, 2026, 5:58 p.m.
- Comment
Jan 30, 2026, 4:18 p.m.
# CBC Listen shows are not regular podcasts - ie public RSS I can subscribe with whatever app I want? I didn’t know CBC was in a position to be so selective about how they reach their audience. What’s confusing is that they have tons of podcasts, so they know how to do this
- Comment
Jan 29, 2026, 8:37 p.m.
“Virtue Signaling” = I don’t like what you’re saying but I can’t argue against, but that would mean that I’m wrong and that can’t be it… so I guess the only explanation is that you’re screwing with me
- Comment
Jan 18, 2026, 10:34 p.m.
An American thing that will never not be weird to me is root “beer”. It’s like toothpaste soda that lost some of its carbonation
- Comment
Jan 17, 2026, 9:54 p.m.
If millennials were chained to an abstract notion of “making it” in life mostly based on materialism, Gen Z are going to have it worse because # Wealthsimple just dropped a literal ranking of wealth accumulation so we can track how far/close we are to the 1% (or 0.1%, yes it actually goes there)
- Comment
Jan 17, 2026, 12:54 a.m.
I wish I wasn’t exposed to crypto material every time I came to grab a coffee at Funk
- Comment
Jan 10, 2026, 5:34 p.m.
“The market is not the economy”. I’ve only learned this recently after years of being told Nasdaq numbers going up meant the country/world was going well.