An Encounter with a Coyote

/ Cali, Me

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Photo at the top of Bernal Heights, shot with the iPhone 7 Plus.

On my way to watch the sunrise this morning, I saw a coyote walking around in the middle of the road. There was a woman curiously chasing them around. She introduced herself to me, sharing some basic guidelines around coyote interaction and safety. If you want to learn more about Coyotes in San Francisco, check out Janet Kessler’s blog.

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Screenshot from my Facebook Live stream of the Coyote.

I’m kind of bummed that I didn’t bring my camera along with me this morning—it could have been a great photo opportunity. Instead, I shot a Facebook live video.

According to my conversation with Janet, coyotes were hunted for such a long time that they virtually disappeared from San Francisco; however, in recent years they’ve come back and repopulated. The coyotes roam along the streets, often chasing and stopping cars. People typically feed them, which encourages this unusual behavior.

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Panoramic photo of the sunrise from Bernal Heights.

As the coyotes return, Janet explained to me that everyone in San Francisco will need to find a way to co-exist with them without feeding them, similar to raccoons or skunks.

Here are some tips from her website:
• Never feed them
• Don’t approach them
• Walk on and don’t linger
• Keep dogs leashed
• Don’t let cats roam free

A Couple of Photos

/ Me, Photo

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Selfie of Annie and me next to Highway 1.

As much as I love the camera on the new iPhone 7 Plus, there’s just something magical about using a DSLR to capturing a moment. I shot this using a mini tripod, a timed exposure, and my old trusty Nikon D600.

I scrolled back and looked at some of my recent blog posts using my iPhone, and I’m just not satisfied with the results. I guess I’m going to have to start lugging my DSLR with me everywhere. Hah!

By the way, I wanted to share a couple photos from a trip I took recently. Here’s a sneak peak–I’ll post more soon.

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Kent taking a photo of a sea turtle at the Marina Del Rey Aquarium.

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Annie and Julia taking a selfie in front of McWay Falls in Big Sur.

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Los Angeles at night, from Griffith Observatory

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Sunset at Santa Monica.

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Astrophotography on a semi-hazy night at Big Sur.

Ps. Thank you everyone for all the support. I’m reading them all your messages and I will respond to you soon. I’m just taking the moment to reflect, meditate, and edit photos. ^_^

Farewell Flare

/ Design, Me, Product

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Reflecting on next steps.

After working on Flare for the last 2 years, we’re shutting it down. I hold my head up high knowing that I worked with an awesome team, and I tried my best in an extremely tough space. I want to thank my comrades, my co-founders, my mentors, our investors, Expa and all the Flare users for giving me the chance to build this. I also want to thank Annie, my family, and all my friends for being so supportive of this dream.

This has been the most humbling experience of my life. I’ve learned some lessons along the way, and I wanted to pay it forward by sharing the insights. I’ll be posting a little more over the next few days, so stay tuned.

One Night in Seattle

/ Me

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Photo of the hotel room I stayed at in Seattle.

Last week I flew to Seattle to hang out with some folks at Convoy. They were nice enough to fly me out there and put me in a nice hotel for the evening.

I’ve been sleeping on a janky bed for so long now, I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have nice sheets, pillows and what not. Yes, I can probably afford to get nicer things, but it’s hard to spend the money when you don’t know where you’ll be in the next year. It’s also nice to live minimal… but there’s an ironic price to owning less.

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View from the hotel room.

The room was super comfortable and had a baller view of the city. I’d like to thank Nicole from Convoy for hooking me up and saving some money. This was awesome.

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View from Convoy’s office.

As I talked to Dan Lewis from Convoy’s headquarters, he pointed out the view of all the new Amazon buildings in the area. And yes, that is one really progressive rain forest green house.

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Another view from the opposite side of the office.

Notice the mountains off in the distance. Call me a sucker for landscapes, but I absolutely love the scenery. Despite it being balls cold, I think Seattle is a pretty nice city. I’m hoping to head up there again for a vacation in the near future (when it gets a little warmer).

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Photo of Amazon Go, while in an Uber heading to the airport.

Holy shit, I thought that Amazon Go was just smoke and mirrors… but they’re actually building one next to the Amazon headquarters in Seattle. I’m a huge believer this is going to be a game changer on so many levels. What a fascinating company.

Anyway, I think there’s some interesting stuff brewing in Seattle.

VR Developer Stories: Snowday

/ Gaming, Me, Tech

This is the story of Snowday, a VR game created in SF.

Joe and I did some research around VR and decided that we wanted to put together a series of videos that highlighted VR developers in the community. We interviewed Shem Nguyen and Jeremy Bernstein (co-founders of Snowday) to share their perspectives about trends in VR, Unity vs Unreal, and their greatest challenges building a game with limited resources.

I’m really thrilled to have put this together in my spare time. I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that trying to build a game in a space that has a small (albeit engaged) audience–and that’s friggin’ challenging. It’s hard enough to create a compelling game, and it’s even more challenging to try and make money off an early marketplace.

I think Shem and Jeremy are real passionate technologists and artists, and I truly admire their story. I’m rooting for them. It takes real visionaries to be an indie developer, and this team is glowing with passion. Download Snowday from Steam.

I’m hoping that Joe and I can find a small niché and create some content to promote the VR community. It’s also a good way for me to sharpen my story telling skills. Let me know if you want to see more videos like this.

Sunset from the Office

/ Me, Photo

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Photo of the sky from the office. Shot on an iPhone 7 Plus.

Wow, what an amazing sunset. While San Francisco needed the rain this week, it’s definitely nice to see the sun through all the clouds.

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Another photo from the office.

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