August 2020 Life Update
Seattle skyline with Mt Rainier in the background
2020 has been a challenging year for us all. With the US presidential election around the corner and the end of Quarter 3 of 2020 in sight, I wanted to give a quick update on what I’ve been up to this year and why you haven’t seen more writing out of me.
COVID-19 has dominated 2020, particularly in the United States, where the viruses unrestrained spread has devastated communities, killed hundreds of thousands, and destroyed years of economic growth, leaving millions out of work and leading to a rising tide of evictions. Suffice to say; we’ve done a bad job addressing this challenge. Added on top of this, we have an extremely contentious electoral year with a virulent divide in opinions on President Trump and his election (personally, I think the federal government’s incompetence on containing COVID is reason enough for a change in leadership). 2020 has also seen mass unrest over police use of force to target BIPOC. I’m hopeful that this will lead to meaningful systemic change to our system of policing, whose roots in slavery and white supremacy have never been eradicated(Paul Butler’s no-holds barred column on the topic is great and the movie 13th has a fantastic historical breakdown).
While I’ve managed to stay healthy, engage politically, and continue to work from home, the year has been challenging for me on a personal level as my then-fiancée and I made the difficult decision to split up at the start of quarantine. These broader national and global challenges combined with my personal ones have meant that I have not released as much writing this year as I’d like to. Therefore, I wanted to give a little bit of a recap of what I have been up to, and what you might be seeing from me during the rest of the year.
Writing
In 2020 I have worked with Microsoft to author two new eBooks on digital transformation in financial services and intelligent banking services. I’m hopeful that both of those pieces, as well as an eBook with Datto, will be publicly available in the near future and I’ll share them at that time.
I’ve also released a couple of blog posts earlier in the year:
We must act to save modern media – or risk our democracy (Medium)
How political campaigns can effectively use chatbots and AI (my blog)
Politics
Politically, I’ve mostly been in the background: donating and fundraising for candidates and causes I care about and attending Black Lives Matter protests over the summer. While I engaged heavily in the 2019-2020 Democratic Presidential Primary (including starting a viral hashtag #refundpete on twitter in December of 2019 encouraging donors to refund their donations from Pete Buttigieg – New York Times Story here) I’ve been focusing on non-presidential races during the summer of 2020 and plan to continue with that focus into the fall.
I’ve also been engaging in non-electoral politics, working with recycling innovation startup Ridwell during the spring as an advisor on political solutions and strategic communications at both a local and state level. This fall, I’m working with Seattle City Councilmember Andrew Lewis to host information sessions on mass timber innovation in the Pacific Northwest with some talented architects, engineers, and developers. The mass timber industry has incredible potential here, and we need to do what we can to encourage and grow it.
Play
On the play side of things, I’ve been doing my best to get outdoors hiking this summer. Still, with restrictions due to quarantine and social distancing, I’ve also embraced my love of strategy board games, engaging with the online Twilight Imperium on Tabletop Simulator community (a program to virtually play a myriad number of tabletop board games) and delving deep into Twilight Imperium strategy.
I’ve become a regular invitee and tournament participant, advancing to the semifinals of both the 216 person SCPT tournament and the 76 player Blue Space Factions Tournament while being one of 36 players worldwide invited to the 14-point Tournament earlier this year. I’ve linked some of the streamed games below, and you can also catch me on Twitch as an occasional commentator for top-level Twilight Imperium Tournament play.
SCPT Semifinals Game (very close loss with excellent late game play – preliminary round win was not published)
14 Point Invitational Tournament: Part 1, Part 2 (One of the craziest games I’ve played in, very close to the win – lost to the eventual tournament champion)
Blue Space Factions Semifinals (2nd place – I blew this one but a great game, excellent agenda phases)
Outside of strategy games, I’ve been diving into my love for shuffling/cutting shapes, a footwork focused style of dance generally used to dance to house music. I’ll try to post a video or two later in the year for fun.
What I’ve been reading/watching:
In addition to diving into some hobbies in 2020, I’ve read, listened to, and watched some incredible pieces of content in the first 2/3rds of this year and have several I’d highly recommend:
13th (Documentary via Netflix) – 13th is a thought-provoking documentary that analyzes the US prison system and the inherent racism and criminalization of Black people in the US. This is a must watch to understand the roots of systemic racism and the impact on Black communities today.
Designing Your Life (Order the book via Powells) – Written by two Stanford professors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, this book takes a look at how to intentionally design a “well-lived, joyful life”. This book takes some time to complete with design exercises taken from their famous Stanford course on life design. Well worth the effort, this book is a great way to refresh yourself and ensure you’re aligning your actions with your values.
Why We Sleep (Audiobook, via Audible) – An incredible book and a dense one, I’d recommend this book to anybody but certainly those in their early 20s: it illustrates the history and importance of sleep, making the case for why we need to stop depriving ourselves of a full 8 hours and making key recommendations for how to sleep better, longer, and more purposefully.
How to Change Your Mind (Book, order via Powells) – Michael Pollan (author of some other favorites of mine such as Caffeine and In Defense of Food) delivers a fantastic book on the promise of psychedelics research and the ability of psychedelics to bring positive mental growth, help cure many mental diseases including depression and PTSD, and increase creativity. This book helps break down the stigma against these naturally derived molecules and explains the sad history behind their prohibition.
The Bomber Mafia (Four part podcast series via the Revisionist History website) – Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast is always interesting, and this four part series on the history of General Curtis Lemay, the might of air power in war, and the horrors of napalm is a fascinating listen with twists and turns you don’t see coming.
