Just Life

Reflecting on 2019

Random Observation/Comment #636: Be present. There’s no time like now to listen and enjoy the little things. In 2019, I fell in love with the monotony of living a simple life. Traveled to: Philly, Utah, San Francisco, Toronto, Twice to Colorado, Minnesota, London for SIBOs, Virginia, London for Cordacon, Boston, Rhode Island Triumphantly: Finished a 30 day challenge drawing Evie,...

30 Ways to 1 Million Devs

Random Observation/Comment #635: Tis the season to be coding! Reaching 1 Million Devs Reaching 1 million developers for any platform requires two steps: (1) clear motivations and understanding of the new economics for virality and (2) low friction for getting started to gain platform stickiness. The first layer of growing attention may be pushed forward by incentive multipliers (e.g. recommendations)...

30 ConsenSys 1-Year Retro Items

Random Observation/Comment #628: Time flies when you’re having fun. Why this list? In Sept 2018, ConsenSys had a Solutions off-site in Dublin with 200+ professionals greeting each other with open ears, arms, and hearts. I wrote a 30 lessons learned for that offsite. One year later, I find it fitting to do retro of these ideas in practice. ConsenSys is...

30 Ways to Disconnect

Random Observation/Comment #626: Digital retreats are so hot right now. Airbnb with no wifi is a feature. Why this List? You know you’re addicted. It’s made to be addictive and easily accessible. You love being connected. You need to share. You seek validation. You yearn to be admired from afar. Dependency. All you do is share. All you want is...

30 Requirements for a Home

Random Observation/Comment #625: “Home is where the heart is, so your real home’s in your chest” ~Captain Hammer Why this list? In this phase of our life, we get a chance to re-evaluate our settled habits and preferences as a couple and a family. What parts of how we were raised do we want to keep for Evie? Which parts...

30 Survival Skills

Random Observation/Comment #624: I am poorly prepared for the zombie apocalypse. Why this list? Most of what I do in my professional career depends on computers and creating resilient systems that have Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity plans. These practices need to carryover to my real life. What if electricity failed? What skills do I need to learn to survive...

How to be a Good Meshian

Random Observation/Comment #623: Do no harm. Do good. Be good. Seek excellence. I’m coming up on my one year anniversary at ConsenSys and I’ve certainly learned, changed, and grown quite a bit. Not only have I embraced the remote first lifestyle, but I’ve also become an advocate for self-organizing habitats driven by passion. They may not be the most profit-seeking strategies...

30 Favorite Toddler Meals

Random Observation/Comment #620: I can’t find a purer way to show my love than through cooking and sharing food. Why this List? As soon as Evie could eat solids, I claimed head chef of the household. It started off with creating purees of everything using our Beaba and making sure we had as many colors as possible throughout the day…...

30 Smart Cities Buzzwords

Random Observation/Comment #619: Every industry has its business buzzwords. Speak the language of your peers. Why this list? The past 3 days, I attended the Smart Cities New York conference, and quietly listened and took notes throughout fascinating panels and talks. Much like coming up with my list of 30 blockchain buzzwords, it didn’t take long to hear some common...

30 Things I Suck At

Random Observation/Comment #618: You can’t be good at everything. Why this list? Own up to what you suck at and be your own worst critic. I was inspired to write this list from a coworker who embraces constructive criticism and learns from what she didn’t even know was a weakness. Some of these were easy to write, and many of...

Reflecting on 2018

Random Observation/Comment #610: There’s always more things to do. In 2018, I embraced fatherhood: Traveled to: Boston, Toronto, Dallas, Baltimore, New Jersey and Upstate weekend trips, DC, Pittsburgh, Philly, Dublin, Sydney, and Singapore (all for work) Triumphantly: embraced fatherhood through swim class and little gym weekends, wrote Blockchain4Babies and ABCs of Blockchains, became an accredited investor, helped with Corda Enterprise...

Goodbye, my friend

Random Observation/Comment #609: I guess we’re no longer cat owners. It’s all rain clouds. I’ve never really had a cat or dog growing up because of my parents’ allergies, and probably also to save me from the eventual pain and void of a loss companion. Man, it sucks. It sucked that it was so fast. It sucked we selfishly just...

30 New Little Things

Random Observation/Comment #607: She’s the missing TARDIS to my Doctor Who. Why this list? I lived for a lot of little things and even wrote a whole list about it: http://seelemonslive.com/2015/08/07/list-of-30-the-little-things/ Since writing this list, there have been a lot of new little things that have been making me beam with pride and joy. Happiness still comes in little doses....

30 Lessons Learned from Solutions Offsite

Random Observation/Comment #606: Meshians are pretty damn cool. Why this list? Jam packed information workshops, 100 new faces-names-roles-locations mappings, and sleep deprivation leads to a rollercoaster week of immersion. When we have time to distill the overwhelming amount of collaboration and mesh love, maybe we’ll remember a great week and come to similar conclusions. Mesh culture’s DNA is based on...

30 Signs of Self Organizing Culture

Random Observation/Comment #605: A lot of unlearning from the “traditional” hierarchy culture is necessary to fully grasp the self-organizing/decentralized company operational efficiency. Why this list? My unofficial introduction to ConsenSys was through a “self-organizing” workshop between thought leaders and peers. We discussed less about a self management philosophy and more about good practices to share in the community. Coming from...

Our Life in Lists of 30 Logistics

Random Observation/Comment #604: Sometimes I write completed things in checklists so I can check them off. If you haven’t heard, I’m writing a sequel to “My Life in Lists of 30” called “Our Life in Lists of 30“. Not only have I turned 30, changed careers, gotten married, and became a father, but I’ve also written a lot more lists....

Favorite Photos of 2017

Random Observation/Comment #596: Seriously, what am I going to do with all these baby photos? This has been an incredible year of love and family. While I may not have traveled too much outside of work, this year was in itself the beginning of a new adventure. ~See Lemons Remember 2017

Reflecting on 2017

Random Observation/Comment #595: Be Kind. The world can use more kindness. I’m slowly getting closer to the meaning of life. In 2017, I became a father: Traveled to: Boston, San Francisco, Toronto, Grand Canyon (for babymoon), Las Vegas, Bahamas (for fyrefestival), Miami, London, Los Angeles, Austin, Peru, DC, and Philadelphia. Triumphantly: became a father, road a bike across the Golden...

Favorite Blogposts of 2017

Random Observation/Comment #594: Adulting is so hard. Time is better than money. Life is overall pretty good. I had some very ambitious blogging goals for writing about my experience as a new parent, but parenthood did not give me the same time. Regardless, I think I came up with a few gems. Here are my favorite blogposts of 2017:  ...

30 r3 corda wordplay

Random Observation/Comment #591: Sometimes you need a break to get unstuck. Why this List? I personally love our logo designs. Kudos to Vault49 and their attention to detail. For those who haven’t seen it:         I know, so great. The best part is the cr3ativity we can have with c()mbining our logos with words: bar3 (we actually...

30 Fyre Festival Memories

Random Observation/Comment #580: Make the best out of a bad situation. Background Over promising and under delivering is dangerous. #Fyrefraud made the major news outlets (CNN, Bloomberg), but it was completely blown out of proportion by social media. Here’s what I experienced. I was in Exuma by 1pm with a tequila in hand and high spirits. The flight wasn’t the...

30 Drinking Tips for 30-year-olds

Random Observation/Comment #577: NYC is filled with functional alcoholics. I am certainly one of them. Why this list? There are a lot of reasons why drinking changes for your 30s. It’s no longer about getting drunk and pulling off shenanigans – it’s more about being social and catching up with people in your limited time juggling multiple “grown up” responsibilities. The...

30 Organizing Meet up Tips

Random Observation/Comment #576: There was a time when I lurked meetups around NYC to meet new interesting people and pick up women. The picking up of women didn’t work very well. Why This List? If you’re organizing meetups for your company around software or specific industry trends, it’s always a good idea to follow the lessons learned from some very experienced...

Designing Your Life

Random Observation/Comment #573: It’s never too late to redesign your life. Ever since I’ve started drawing every night (currently at a 200+ day streak), I’ve started doodling more random infographics about life. This one came to me when I was thinking about a community hub model to connect people to their interests. I wanted to map what people need for a...

Happiness Jar

Random Observation/Comment #569: You don’t need a reason to feel great.   I loved fireflies growing up. Whenever I visited Pennsylvania, I’d grab a mason jar and run around the meadows with my brother catching them. Because the flickering green made me happy, I always thought I had bottled happiness. I learned a valuable lesson that first summer: happiness needs...