August 2025

Life

• Our son has successfully potty-trained and transitioned to a toddler bed, which was an absolutely brutal adjustment but we survived it. Our daughter is this close to walking. The fall is going to be an absolute zoo around here.
• Our son has also just started a new Spanish-immersion preschool and he's excited and nervous. Today is the first day, so we'll get the lowdown after he gets home!
• Minimal travel on the horizon and appreciative of that. It's still hot in Austin but fall is approaching and it's a glorious time to be here. We're enjoying the routine, pool time, and quality time with our local friends.
• Still doing my best to stay in shape, but slacking off a bit as work has picked up. Hoping to get into a good rhythm as I settle into a work schedule with my new fractional clients.
• Reading my way through Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy and absolutely loving it. Brutal and vulgar and dark, but a little funnier and more accessible than other epics like Game of Thrones.
• Bought myself a Nintendo Switch 2 and absolutely hooked on Donkey Kong Bananza. Still never enough time but the portability has helped me get a little bit of game time here and there.
• Working our way through all of Andor and loving it, even though some episodes have been a little slow for us. Started the new season of Rick and Morty and the new season of Foundation is next on the list, but TV time is as hard to come by as gaming.

Projects

• Wrapped up our moonshot aviation idea (Solstice). We spent a year learning from industry leaders and researching how to bring a hydrogen-powered 76-seat aircraft to market... but ultimately concluded there's no viable non-defense path in the U.S. Grateful for the experience and the crash course in hard tech, though, and always happy to share learnings with others exploring this space.
• Have formally kicked off my consulting LLC (Anthimeros) and fractional work, starting with two incredible clients: Duckbill (human + AI personal assistants) and Firesale (the fastest way to sell anything—like a garage sale with AI superpowers).
• Still tinkering with a few of my own ideas, right now mostly an alcoholic beverage (vermouth!) and some thinking around urban mobility (specifically cargo e-bikes). Lmk if you are interested / knowledgeable about either!
• Newsletter continues to wither but will come back around soon enough. Expect another edition sometime in the next month or so, with a little luck.

Thinking

• How do I be more present with my children, even as they become somewhat more independent (and sometimes boring)? What are some fresh, lightweight adventures we can go on together, especially my son as he gets a little older?
• I remain more cynical than ever about the state of politics and the world in general. I read and listen to more news than is probably healthy and I struggle with the tension between wanting to know less and also wanting to pay attention to history as it unfolds. Part of me wants to bury my head in the sand, part of me wants to fucking run for office.
• What is the next phase of AI? I find myself using it all the time but also somewhat disappointed with the latest trajectory and improvements. I'm most intrigued by how AI continues to impact the real world, and what opportunities there are to build interesting businesses leveraging AI and humans-in-the-loop (see Duckbill, for example).
• Evergreen: how do I effectively prioritize my time so that I can be successful in work, family, and health, while also enjoying travel, hobbies, and down time? And right now, especially, how do I prioritize my work to include only the highest leverage activities given my limited contract hours and other life responsibilities?
• Can we all just agree that note apps are less about revisiting and reading what you write down, and more about just writing them down at all? Get 👏 out 👏 of 👏 my 👏 head! 👏