Desk Setup

There was a time when Facebook and Instagram felt like a lifeline—a way to stay connected with friends, share life’s moments, and keep some kind of bridge between us. Then, at some point, Mark Zuckerberg decided my nostalgia needed to be monetized. These days, my Facebook feed looks like this: Ad Ad Friend at the beach in Puglia (ouch, thanks for reminding me) Ad Friend eating fresh mozzarella (okay, now you’re just hurting my feelings) Ad Random guy trying to sell me crypto Meanwhile, I’m in New York, staring at a so-called “fresh” mozzarella ball that has the texture of a wet sponge. ...

The NYC Bread Hunt: How I Finally Found (and Made) the Perfect Loaf You ever bite into a slice of bread and think, This is it. This is the one? Because for the longest time, I didn’t. Moving to New York, I figured finding good bread would be easy. I mean, it’s NYC! Home of the best bagels, killer pizza, and a food scene that never sleeps. But Italian-style bread? That was a different story. ...

Why I Switched from Jekyll to Hugo (And Why You Might Too) I started blogging last summer because I wanted my own space on the internet. No algorithms, no distractions, no social media noise—just a place I actually controlled. At first, I went with Jekyll because it was GitHub Pages’ default. It worked… until it didn’t. Jekyll was like an old car—reliable but constantly needing maintenance. The issues kept piling up: ...

I work from home in an old Brooklyn apartment with high ceilings, creaky floors, and a history that whispers through the walls. Our study is actually our daughter’s bedroom during off-hours, repurposed as a workspace where my wife and I sit at separate desks. Just enough space to pass between us. Close, but not too close—perfect for love and concentration. She’s studying to become an elementary school teacher, headphones on, eyes locked on her screen, so intensely focused that I’m convinced she could ignore a fire drill. I’m right beside her, lost in lines of PHP code, wrestling with bugs that refuse to die. ...

For most of my life, I’ve been at war with my own memory. I’m great at solving problems, debugging complex code, and figuring out tricky logic flows. But ask me where I saved that important note from last week? Gone. Ask me what I was about to do five seconds ago? No idea. My brain has this incredible ability to cling to completely useless information while ruthlessly discarding the things I actually need. ...