Last update: 2024-01-24

Life, the Universe, Everything

If we haven’t caught up recently here’s the gist of it all:

  • I moved to Aranjuez, Madrid, in 2021. I love it here but someone should definitely open a decent coffee place in this town.
  • I miss my friends. Moving obviously did not help, but most of them have moved far away from Madrid anyway. If you ever come close please ping me and I’ll make you coffee.
  • I am now working at Qatium as a Product Engineer, which is a fancy way of saying I’m still a generalist doing multiple things and I will retire being unable to explain what it is exactly what I do for a living.
  • Both my wife and myself have embraced the “part-time job” movement and are working 30 hours per week (Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 14:00 approximately). The impact on our economy is noticeable, but it’s not even remotely comparable to the improvements we’ve made in mental health and happiness. 10/10 would do it again. After working remotely, this is the single most impactful thing we’ve experienced in our professional lives.

What I’m building

I try not to spend too much time in front of a screen when I’m not working, but I consistently fail at that. I’m currently working on:

  • My Telegram channel, Naranja Naranja.
  • At work:
    • Documenting our internal SDK. Writing technical documentation is one of those things that I definitely did not see myself enjoying. But it turns out to be a great combination of my skills, and a great way to drive a product direction (because of course I’m not only writing docs 😅).

What I’m reading

I’m one of those monsters that reads multiple books at the same time. I’m currently reading (or trying to read):

  • The Path to Senior Product Designer, by Artiom Dashinsky. I’m reading this for a few reasons, but mostly because of a question that keeps popping in my mind: “what if an IC career path had been an option for me back in the day?”. I’m still on Part I, but it’s being a very iluminating read.
  • Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig. I’m reading this book for the second (third?) time, only because I recommended it to someone and was curious to see if it was as good as I remembered.
  • Docs for Developers. For work. Not bad, but also not amazing.
  • Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius. I don’t yet have an opinion on this book, but I’m reading it because it’s a classic. I’m reading the Standard Ebooks version.

Recently finished:

  • Clear Thinking, by Shane Parrish. I don’t know what to think about this book yet. I came in with high expectations, and I’m not sure if they were met. Shane is articulate and smart, the book is well written, and it’s a quick read. But I feel like I didn’t learn anything new. I’m not sure if that’s because I’ve read too much about the topic, or there’s somethin else here. I’m starting to have serious doubts about this whole “smart thinkers” category, because it feels most (or all) of the material is written by privileged white men that give too much credit to their brains for their success.
  • Extra Focus: The Quick Start Guide to Adult ADHD. Interesting, practical, and short. I’m not sure if it’s worth the price, but I enjoyed it.
  • Shikake, by Naohiro Matsumura. A book about the concept of shikake, a way of designing products that encourage people to do the right thing. A nice read, but it could’ve been a blog post.

What I’m watching

I mostly watch YouTube videos because I have commitment issues with audiovisual media 😅. But when I don’t I watch:

  • Reacher: Guilty pleasure, the show is extremely violent, but if you can stomach it, it’s a fun watch.
  • Carol & The End of the World: Just started watching this. The premise (the world is ending, we know the exact date it will stop existing, and people are being pretty chill about it) is intriguing.

What I’m enjoying

Things without screens, basically:

  • Bike riding
  • Weight lifting
  • Selling all the stuff I’m not using on Wallapop

What I’m drinking

I’m a coffee nerd, so I’m always trying new beans. I’m currently drinking:

  • A pair of ethiopean coffees from Atmans Coffee that I’m enjoying a lot. The fun thing about them is they’re the same beans, with different processing: one is washed, the other is anaerobically fermented. And they taste completely different.
  • A brasilian coffee from Virgen Coffee, which is not as fun as the ethiopeans, but is nice for lattes.
  • A decaf from Honduras, from Randall Coffee Roasters. Decaf is always terrible, but this one is less terrible.