Month: May 2026

I’m making a concerted efforted over the next few months to do more things with people. Part of it is addressing the fact that curling stops during the late spring and summer, but there are other motivations as well. I pitched a few ideas last week, but only a couple took. One of those that did was me hosting brunch after church on Sunday.

I busted out my new muffin pan for the first time, a small victory. I often buy a muffin on Saturday mornings, but it is overkill to make a dozen just for myself. I did leave them in the oven a couple of minutes longer than I would have liked, but cooking times get weird when there are multiple things in the oven and I was simultaneously cooking bacon. I also brought out a venison tenderloin to share because having guests over is something worth celebrating and nothing says celebration more than a choice cut of meat. We rounded out the meal with eggs, strawberries macerated in limoncello (that was an experiment that needs some refinement), mango, and dragon fruit. I was proud of my little spread even if it would not trouble the editors of the Michelin guide.

I was close with my timing and portion estimates with almost everything. The only thing I overshot was the dragon fruit, a little bonus that I picked up a few days prior when I happened to be near the Asian grocery store while doing other things. At least I wasn’t short on anything and the dragon fruit has kept in the refrigerator.

I don’t have the greatest amount of seating in my living room, but there is enough for five to sit comfortably. Yet as normally happens, people congregated in the kitchen as I finished cooking and people chose which juice or syrup to use for their homemade soda. Once everything was ready, people got their plates and we moved to the dining room for the meal and discussion. It was a sprawling conversation, flowing from topic to topic, a far cry from my usual posture of eating alone at that same table. Then I had a nice nap after everyone left as I didn’t feel like walking during the hottest part of the day.

There are new AI tools and features coming out every month or even week that are changing how we go about our workflows. But I’m also working with AI to try to enrich other aspects of my life. I’ve set up two projects for my personal life, and while I am in the earliest stages there have already been a few good results.

One project is called “Cooking.” I envision it as a repository for completed recipes eventually, but that isn’t how I’m starting things out. What I did to start was to feed it all of the sauces, herbs, spices, dry ingredients, etc. that I have in my kitchen. This is kept as something like a running inventory list. Also, the last time I went to the Asian grocery store I asked what 2–3 things I should pick up in order to expand what is possible. I haven’t used any of those things yet, but I will. What I have used it for thus far is something like this: I have x, y, and z vegetables and meat to cook tonight; give me recipe ideas. Then it offers three directions, I choose one, and then we quibble about portion sizes based on how much of the main ingredients I have and then I execute as best I can. I’ve already had to insert system instructions to account for a slow oven and the quirks of my stovetop, but with each round of feedback the results improve a little. It’s definitely not to the point of preparing a full menu card to a crazy high standard, but I am using some of those things I bought with grand ideas but never actually used before.

The other project is called “Books and Media.” It is more ambitious and even newer. The goal is to enable content discovery, whether books, podcasts, television shows, music, or movies, beyond what a Netflix or Spotify algorithm will show me. I’m still building out the base content layer, but I’ve already ordered a few books to read in advance of my big summer trip based on a pattern from the data and some AI recommendations. We’ll see how that works out, but it would be really cool if it works out well. I haven’t really used it yet for anything else, but I’ll probably try out some cross-pollination soon. I expect it will take some refinement but I’m hopeful.

Last week, I was in Tucson for a retreat. It is one of those “work” trips that I get to take as a business owner a couple times a year. It was certainly a productive trip from the perspective of building my business, but that’s not why I’m part of Rhodium. I also would not have chosen to go to southern Arizona on my own volition, but I did get to visit the Saguaro National Park and see plenty of the famous cacti.

Rhodium is a group of people from all over the country (and a few even from outside the US) who are unified by (1) being entrepreneurs and (2) operating digital businesses. They fudge a little on #2 for me as I often represent people buying and selling digital businesses, but they don’t hold it against me too much. It is a group I’ve been a part of for several years and a group to which I attribute a good deal of the growth in business we’ve seen in recent years as it is an incubator and sounding board for me. I also enjoy being around people who understand what it’s like to run a remote-first business and who are working on some really cool projects.

As with almost every conference right now, there was plenty of conversation around AI. The difference is that almost everyone in the room has been using Claude Code for several months now and several people are working with it for hours each day. It’s the whole “if you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’re in the wrong room” thing. I definitely took some things home with me as I continue to build infrastructure and tools for our little law firm. At this point, I’ve also been in the group long enough that we’re familiar with each other’s lives and every meeting is meeting with friends I get to see in person twice a year. Some of the best moments were those spent around the fire at night telling the sorts of crazy stories that you can only share with people you’ve known for a while and with whom you have been through some travails.

The resort itself was something of a fever dream. It is about half an hour away from downtown and the university. It has two golf courses, manicured lawns on the grounds, and plenty of flowers. It is set against the backdrop of the Catalina foothills, but the whole area is the Sonoran Desert. It was lovely but felt incongruous. For one of the group activities and since we were staying at a golf resort, we had a drive, pitch, and putt contest with some handicaps. It was the first time I’d picked up a golf club in years. I also won the overall competition; it’s not exactly a golfing crowd.