After being introduced to John Grisham and A Few Good Men, I figured I'd be a lawyer. But in the early 2000's I found myself adrift in the deep south of the United States. I did what anyone would in this situation: became a barista.What a time to be alive. The pretentiousness of specialty coffee was palpable in those days.I bought VHS latte art tutorials. Need I say more?I found my way onto the campus of Holmes Community College. Two years later, Dan Harmon decided to make a hit TV series roughly diagramming my many years there.I quit my job at least 2.5 times over the course of 10 years. But they kept pulling me back in and I kept pulling espresso shots through college.I made my way to Millsaps College and graduated after another several dozen weeks of self-deprecation with a business degree so well rounded the diploma still rolls off my desk.It was 2012. The earth was still warm. I was a somewhat educated, somewhat experienced graduate. I accepted a management role at Cups. I got married. We bought a home. I was nearing the end-game.A rift appeared in my sanity. I returned to college to take a summer Calculus II course.I was intoxicated by all the math and science that I'd overlooked for the first thirty years of my life.Sparked mainly by a restless discontent that would confuse Steinbeck and a love of the show Lost, I figured I'd study some physics and get an engineering degree.I got halfway there; the harder half too, from what I understand...so I basically have an engineering degree.We had our first child and enjoyed it so much we kept going.Formal education was again put out of my life. I grieved. I found freeCodeCamp, YouTube and the pure days of MOOCs (looking at you, MIT).I learned to code, I dabbled in data, I began to write, I made some videos, I listened to hours of podcasts, I built and butchered websites. Accepting a remote role (still at Cups), I moved back home to the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee and took up ultrarunning.The world fell apart, but I had already gone remote before it was cool. I ran some more. I began using LinkedIn on the regular. I began to see gray hairs in my beard.We bought a mini van.I'm currently writing a tech newsletter, growing a YouTube channel, publishing a daily reflection on addiction, reading a bunch of books and not watching any sports.Press the follow button and reach out—I’d love to say hey. 👋