Turned the big 3-0 a few days ago and was fortunate enough to celebrate the milestone with my girlfriend, friends, and family.
Some friends have asked me, “do you feel any different?”, as friends do on your birthday.
I’ve actually been reflecting on that question over the past week or so, and to be honest, nothing huge has happened, things are pretty much the same.
I do think that I am surer of myself now though.
Surer about the decisions that I make.
Surer about what I like and what I don’t like.
Surer about who I am as a person.
Surer that if you knock me down, I’ll get right back up again.
It’s been a long and quick three decades, but I’m still here. I’m still Stanley.
A few weeks ago, I took a mini vacation to Mexico City! I’ve been to a good amount of cities in Mexico previously, but first time in CDMX.
I had a blast! The food and museum scenes were amazing, and definitely the highlights for me.
Of course, we ate a ton of tacos, probably averaged about two taco stops per day over the four full days we were there. You just can’t beat al pastor tacos con piña, with the pork cut right off the grill.
I think Taqueria Orinoco had the best ones. I would go back just for those alone haha. They also some interesting chicharrones tacos as well.
We were lucky enough to score a reservation at Quintonil, one of the best restaurants in the world, and it lived up to it. My favorite dish was a crab tostada, but I also very much enjoyed the charred avocado tartare with ant larvae. You don’t eat that everyday…
The National Museum of Anthropology and Museum of Modern Art were both fabulous, with really cool and well-designed exhibits. Also, sipped on some coffee and tea overlooking the Palace of Fine Arts.
The city’s main library, Biblioteca de México, was gorgeous. I loved that there were big courtyards and many of the buildings were open-air, so it felt like an outdoor library. This was the rare book room – stunning:
Outside of the food and museums, I also loved how colorful and green Mexico City was! There were a lot of great parks and trees everywhere, and beautiful art and colorful markets too.
Oh yeah, and I can’t believe I almost forgot our night at Lucha Libre! We went on a Tuesday, so the stadium was only half full, but it was a super fun atmosphere with a rowdy crowd and everyone getting into it.
They sold your standard stadium concessions like hot dogs and nachos, but for some reason, they also served hot cup noodles? That was unexpected and fun haha.
This ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip.
I didn’t come into the trip with big expectations, but ended up absolutely loving everything about Mexico City, from the food to the art to the culture.
Excited to go back and explore more neighborhoods!
I joined a startup called Pipefy a little over a month ago and got the chance to visit the Brazil office recently.
A few of the things that attracted me most to Pipefy were (1) the unique origin story and culture (at least by Silicon Valley standards) and (2) the opportunity to make an impact at a global scale.
I didn’t quite know what to expect when I arrived in Curitiba, Brazil, but when I got there, I was blown away. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly. The energy and spirit was amazing and contagious. I fell in love with the culture.
Maybe it was because I was being welcomed into the company or some other reason, but I definitely felt the love. If anything, I learned that Brazilians know how to party and they know how to barbeque.
Brazilian barbeques felt like the quintessential activity. Pretty much every house has a barbeque grill oven built into the side of it, and when you host a barbeque, you just invite over your friends, play some music, throw endless amounts of amazing meat on the grill, have some drinks.
You just can’t help but have a good time.
My weeklong trip had a little bit of everything:
- A day trip to a cute town called Morretes where they are known for a stewed beef dish called barreado.
- Played futbol with the Pipefy crew. Brazilians are good at soccer fyi.
- A trip to a beautiful beach
- Happy hours with cachaca and caipirinhas
- Learning the lyrics and dances to some popular songs
- Lots of steak
Unfortunately my trip back home didn’t go so smoothly. As a frequent flyer, I encountered one of the worst scenarios when we my plane was about to take off from Sao Paulo.
As we were accelerating on the runway, there was a small explosion in the right wing engine. I was seated on just a few rows ahead in the middle of the plane and saw it all: the boom and the orange flash of fire. Luckily, the fire went out right away and we slowed down.
The flight got cancelled and on the bright side of things, I got to unexpectedly spend a day in Sao Paulo. It was Easter Sunday, and I walked all around the city, exploring Avenida Paulista (the huge main street in the city which is closed to traffic on Sundays), Ibirapuera Park, and Liberdade (SP’s Japantown). It was a great little walking tour.
At night, I flew out without any issues this time. I had a blast in Brazil and hope to visit again soon.
Good vibes only.
It’s one of my favorite times of the year as the Major League Baseball season started a few weeks ago.
I’ve always been a huge baseball fan. Each year in March, all baseball players come back to work and get ready for the upcoming season through Spring Training, mostly in Arizona or Florida where it’s warm.
There’s something really special about Spring Training. It’s when you have minor leaguers and veterans competing to make the big league roster. Every team starts with a clean slate and the hope of an entire fanbase thinking “this might be our year.”
After casually talking about going to Spring Training over the years, I finally made it to a Spring Training game in Surprise, Arizona this year. I got lucky that I was scheduled for a work trip in the Phoenix area and couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
It honestly felt like I was making a trip to the holy land, something that every diehard baseball fan has to do in their lifetime.
As I strode up to the stadium, I couldn’t hide my excitement. It brought me back to when I was eight years old.
Every day after school, little Stanley would wait impatiently for his dad to get back from work with the newspaper. I would immediately grab the sports section and flip to the baseball box scores, where I would meticulously read through the stats from the previous day’s games.
Remember, this was pre-internet, so TV and newspapers were all I had to work with. And the sports segment of the news only came on for a few minutes, so the newspaper was my baseball bible.
Most people are surprised when I tell them that my favorite sport is baseball. Many think it’s boring and ask me why I like it so much.
When I was younger, I didn’t even play little league (insert something about the high cost of youth sports). I just played in a free summer Junior Giants league run through the city police department. But there was something about the strategy of the game, the multitude of stats, and the anticipation with each and every pitch that pulled me in. The homers, the strikeouts, the steals, I loved it all.
I was hooked and have rooted for my hometown Giants ever since. Baseball was my sport.
Back to now, walking into the Spring Training game, I was as wide-eyed as when I was a kid stepping into my first baseball stadium. It was everything I ever wanted: the crack of the bat, the chatter in the crowd, the smell of the grass…
Dreams of my eight-year-old self finally came true.
Whenever I go a long time between hiking trips, I feel like I start to lose my connection with nature. This gets especially tough when work gets busy and all that time indoors in an office gets me a little stir crazy.
I’ve been in a little one of these funks lately, but with a few days off before starting a new job, I decided to use that time to get out into the woods!
So off I went with a friend to Yosemite National Park on a Wednesday and Thursday in March and it was fantastic.
The only other times I’ve been to Yosemite have been during the busy summer or a holiday weekend, when the park is packed with visitors. This time was completely different, as you can imagine with a midweek March visit.
For one, there was still snow on the ground in Yosemite Valley, though it was sunny out. The snow made for an different, but beautiful landscape from what I was used to seeing in the summer.
And because there were barely any other people there, it was amazing to take in the sights of Half Dome, El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, Mirror Lake, and Bridalveil Falls, without all the crowds competing for photo ops.
There was a nice quiet everywhere, other than the occasional rustling of leaves or the constant crunching of rocks and snow as we walked.
We hiked all along the Valley Loop trail and for most of it, we were the only ones hiking. It was just me and my friend, and the calming sounds of nature.
Even the animals (those not hibernating) seemed more chill. We saw a herd of deer casually strolling along the side of the path one day, and also saw a coyote walking around and laying in a snowy meadow, seemingly without a care in the world.
I’m happy that I went on this little trip on short notice. It definitely fulfilled my nature fix for the time being and was a nice recharge before diving into the next work challenge.
I’ll be coming back for you, nature!
