FAA certified private pilot with a high-performance endorsement. Every airport I've landed at: scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to pan, and click any airport for details.
Things I've built, broken, or kept running for the joy of understanding the stack a layer deeper.
Hotel and airplane Wi-Fi and an always-on VPN don't get along. This macOS menu bar app keeps my traffic on a private WireGuard exit node, steps aside just long enough for captive-portal logins, tells a sleeping laptop apart from a real outage, and puts everything back on its own. One menu switches between a private exit, my home connection, or no VPN.
Two lamps, linked over the internet. Tap the pad on one and both light up wherever they are; tap both within a couple of minutes and they switch to a shared animation. Each is an ESP32 driving a 16-LED ring with a capacitive touch pad, talking MQTT over TLS to a hosted broker. Setup is a Wi-Fi captive portal, so no app is needed.
I love the public markets. These are a few individual companies I like owning alongside my broader portfolio. Six picks for now. Seven at most.
6 / 7 individual picksThe average gain uses reported costs and equal starting dollars. The matched benchmark averages different holding periods; it is not the S&P 500’s uninterrupted return. Approximate dates and average costs make this an illustrative comparison, not a verified portfolio performance record.
Since approximate entry dates
Hover or touch the chart to inspect a date. Use arrow keys when the chart is focused.
| Position | Entry / date | Latest price | Since entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| PLTRPalantir | $17.75≈ Jan 2024 | $186.03Oct 16, 2026 | +948.1% |
| CLMTCalumet | $20.12≈ Dec 2025 | $57.75Oct 16, 2026 | +187.0% |
| KNSLKinsale Capital | $345.35≈ Jul 2026 | $365.24Oct 16, 2026 | +5.8% |
| AVGOBroadcom | $349.45≈ Sep 20, 2026 | $328.75Oct 16, 2026 | −5.9% |
| INTCIntel | $98.13≈ Sep 27, 2026 | $89.85Oct 16, 2026 | −8.4% |
| QXOQXO | $22.16≈ Feb–Mar 2026 | $10.86Oct 16, 2026 | −51.0% |
Purchase dates are approximate. Entry prices use average cost basis, except CLMT at its original $20.12 purchase price.
The average gain is the arithmetic mean of each stock’s price change from its reported cost. It assumes equal starting dollars, held without rebalancing. It is not a continuously equal-weight portfolio, an annualized return, or the return of my actual portfolio. Current position sizes and other holdings are not included.
The matching S&P 500 comparison invests the same amounts on the same approximate dates. Capital waits at 0% until each entry on both sides. This is a fair hypothetical equal-dollar comparison only under those assumptions. The full-period S&P figure instead assumes uninterrupted investment from the earliest chart date and is shown separately for context.
Average cost can reflect several purchases. Combining that cost with one approximate date does not reproduce the actual cash flows or a time-weighted performance record. A precise comparison would require dated trade lots and dividends.
For month-only purchase dates, the comparison starts on the first trading day of that month. September estimates use the next trading day: September 21 for AVGO and September 28 for INTC. QXO was bought around February–March 2026; its chart uses March 2, an estimate near the middle of that window. Stock lines use the entry prices shown; the S&P 500 starts from its close on the comparison date. A stock’s first plotted close may therefore be above or below its entry price. These are estimates, not a reconstruction of trade confirmations.
Both sides use price returns, adjusted for stock splits, and exclude dividends, fees and taxes. The benchmark is the S&P 500 price index (^GSPC). Historical closes and current quotes come from Yahoo Finance, with updates every 30 minutes on weekdays. Current-session data may be delayed. If a feed fails, the last complete comparison keeps its original date.
Essays on money, work, and how to live. Each one is private; ask me for the password.
I grew up in the Bay Area around lakes and hangars, asking how things work and trying to solve them—chess, Rubik's cubes, tools, airplanes. That curiosity stuck.
I studied data science at Chapman University and swam division III there. I'm an investment partner at FoundersX, investing in the top founders across the world to shape the future.
I fly for perspective and fun. I build to learn and I try to move fast on things that matter.
Built the aerobic engine swimming D3 at Chapman; running picked up after. Follow along on Strava.
Around the Bay: Alice's in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Woodside Bakery, and the Palo Alto farmers market.
