Obviously, I work in tech and enjoy writing about tech things, but I have plenty of other hobbies and interests as well.

Low and slow Barbecue

While I'm born and raised in Texas, smoking meat is a new hobby for me. I've got an offset smoker and have cooked some tasty things on it already :-P

Music

For most of my life, I was hell bent on being a professional musician. I'm still a damn good guitar player. After learning to program, I had a crisis moment one day where I decided to be a professional programmer and go back to being a hobbyist musician. This one decision changed the entire trajectory of my life from where I would live, to who I would marry, to what kind of person I would be. Here's an old video of me jamming on one of my songs with some of my Berklee buddies.

Reading

Reading is the fastest way to learn a new skill or get inside of someone's head. To get an idea of what kinds of books I enjoy reading, check out my Goodreads profile. I've given up on trying to sort things into the to-read/currently-reading/read categories. In fact a number of books in my to-read category are really there because I want to read them again!

Hiking

Nothing relaxes and recharges me more than time alone in nature. That's why I named my blog Open Solitude and included a picture from a hike I took awhile back in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness of Colorado. For my next hike this year, I plan to wander around the Shining Rock Wilderness of North Carolina.

Basketball

I don't play basketball nearly as often as I used to, but I still have a killer 3-point shot. Watch out!

Business

How businesses survive and thrive by bringing value to their customers is a topic that is incredibly fascinating to me. When building software products, it must have a purpose. Building a business on top of software products is the best way to validate whether or not that purpose is useful and worthwhile.

Faith

This one isn't a hobby, it's a core part of who I am. Unfortunately, in modern America, especially the tech community, Jesus is a four-letter word and it's a dangerous topic to mention. And Christians have earned this ire in-part by responding in anger, self-righteousness, and hipocrisy. God calls us to love our neighbors as God loves them. Our neighbor includes those who are different from us, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual idenitity, socio-economic status, or present and past mistakes. In other words, God calls us to love everybody! For true Christians, our mission is not to criticize or condemn people, but to love, serve, empathize, and share in kindness and with gratitude.