Last week I revived my blog with my first post in two years and boy did that feel great. I feel the old writing juices stirring again.
However, I realize now that I jumped straight into the weeds about things like my intended writing cadence, the web framework I used, the IndieWeb crowd I’ve been hanging out with…
…but I completely forgot to introduce myself. Whoops.
Let’s try this again!
Who I Am Now
👋 Hi there! My name is Al.
💼 Professionally, I’m a designer and product guy, usually on early teams. After a whirlwind 15 years at SF startups, I moved back to my hometown of San Diego.
🚴 Since moving back, I’ve gotten into old passions like Disneyland, photography and cycling, as well as new outdoorsy hobbies like camping and bikepacking.
My Origin Story
🇹🇷 Turkish-American, immigrated to the U.S. when I was 3. Still fluent and very close to my family back in the old country. Fortunate that I've been able to spend extended stints there over the years for both school and work.
💻 First computer experience was writing a chat program in BASIC on a TI-99/4A in grade school.
🧠 Was pre-med in college and worked in a neuroscience lab.
⚽️ Played soccer my whole life until I blew out my knee trying to go pro abroad.
Things I Love
❤️ My wife, even if she won’t let me take pictures of her.
🐕 My two little chihuahuas, who can’t object to having their pictures taken.
🏄🏻♂️ The ocean. I haven’t been able to do watersports lately because of a neck sprain, so instead I’ve been getting my kick by doing photo shoots of others.
🏔️ The mountains, especially in the winter.
🤓 Grassroots artisanal web creators.
🤳🏼 Candid photos of interesting people.
🧬 Science fiction. I read seven of the Dune books leading up to the movie. Last year I was blown away by The Three Body Problem and am currently reading more from Liu Cixin.
🚀 Space exploration. It’s happening and we should do it right this time.
That About Covers It
This was fun to write! I have an About page in a fun slideshow format that I haven’t updated in years, so it was fun to do a newer expanded version in a different format.
Thanks for reading! Cheers 🥂