Updated 2026-05-08
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.
Updated 2026-06-08
Recently read Coisa de Rico: A Vida dos Endinheirados Brasileiros (8/10) and Os ricos e os pobres: O Brasil e a desigualdade (6/10). Currently reading Memórias de um Sargento de Milícias and Find Yourself at Home: A Conscious Approach to Shaping Your Space and Your Life. Next book might be Sand Talk. Recently watched TÁR (7/10) and No Other Choice (7/10). Now watching Season 3 (9/10). Up next might be Season 1.
My image of a good life has remained simple and consistent since I was a teenager: 1) skate to work eating an apple; 2) share a meal 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. Small adjustments: now those images have my parter in them, and I swapped the skateboard for a bicycle.
A decade later as an 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.
Updated 2026-05-08
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 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 2026-05-09
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 January 2025 I was able to get my Mastodon, Pixelfed and NeoDB activity merged into a single RSS feed, which is also used to generate the content in my home page. This was much easier than I thought and renewed my belief in the power of these open platforms.
In June 2025 I gave 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. 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 to be able to deliver those updates via newsletter, since most people have no idea of what RSS is. While Email isn't as sticky as Facebook, it is something that almost everyone is forced (for now) to have.
To read more: my journey towards an independent web.
Zen Buddhism practice has been helping me pay attention to things.
Updated 2025-05-09
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, competing with public services, or unethical AI use. The list of bad things that pays well is long, unfortunately.
I am learning new things and experiencing the so called career growth. For now I'll hang on to it. I'm also getting kind of attached to the people who rely on me.