About me

I currently work at Blue Sky Studios as a lead software engineer on the pipeline team. Before that, I interned at DreamWorks Animation as a department technical director.

I’ve got a masters degree in computer graphics from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelors degree in computer science from the University of Nebraska Omaha.

I enjoy writing and try to have fun with this website. I’m learning that I don’t really know what I think about something until I try to explain it to myself on paper. Recently, I’ve been writing a lot about the animation industry and my adventures with iOS app development.

I’m moderately active on Twitter and Letterboxd if you want to follow me there.

About this blog

I love this story:

A professor of philosophy stood before his class with some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks about two inches in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed it was full.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly and watched as the pebbles rolled into the open areas between the rocks. The professor then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They chuckled and agreed it was indeed full this time.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. The sand filled the remaining open areas of the jar. If you put sand into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks or the pebbles. The same can be applied to your lives. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are truly important.

This blog exists to remind me to focus on the big stuff, the rocks:

  • Trying new things and being brave when the new things scare me
  • Surrounding myself with people who inspire me and make me better
  • Building things and sharing the things I make with others
  • Reminding myself that I don’t have to experience the world in the ways I’ve been told
  • Helping others realize something similar

Basically, I’m learning what it means to be an adult, trying to make that transition as fulfilling as possible, and documenting what I learn in the process.

There’s a monthly newsletter if you’re into that sorta thing.