Life can resume and summer can officially begin after hitting SEND! Such a fun nine-month deep dive into how Chinese open-weight AI is spreading across parts of the Global South, and why what looks like a recent phenomenon may actually be decades in the making, shaped in part by China’s infrastructure investments throughout the 2010s.
Life, Currently
WC in Mexico just hits differently. Fortunate to experience it with good friends.
All that suffering since I was 8 years old as a Knicks fan and finally the payoff. How do you celebrate? Recession Special from Gray’s, of course.
Dunkin’ in New England just hits differently. I think it’s the nostalgia.
I don’t know, y’all, but peak cherry blossom season in DC is something else.
Finally made the siblings + Mom trip back to Vietnam happen. First time back together as a family, my first time back since leaving at age two, and somehow it lined up with our family’s 40th anniversary in the U.S.
Three weeks traveling the country, visiting relatives, seeing our old homestead, eating extremely well, and learning a little more about where we came from by actually being there. Really grateful we got to do it together. Only wish we’d done it sooner.
First trip to the Kingdom of Tonga. Beautiful country in the middle of the South Pacific, with a population small enough to fit inside some football stadiums. One of my favorite details is that national law requires businesses to close on Sunday for family time, which is both very cool and also gives the place just enough quiet to feel like a very scenic set for a post-apocalyptic zombie movie.
Also found the country’s best Vietnamese restaurant. To be fair, I was told it’s the only Vietnamese restaurant in Tonga.
First international trip of 2026, first time in New Zealand, and first time surfing in about four years. Piha Beach was well worth the wait. Somehow I remembered how to stand up.
If you’re ever out there, give Phil at Piha Surf School a shout.