A life spent entirely at a keyboard is no life at all. The disciplines I practice away from the screen — physical, creative, mechanical — are not separate from my work as an engineer. They are complements to it. Each demands focus, patience, and the willingness to fail repeatedly on the way to competence.1
Physical Disciplines
Martial Arts
Practicing since age fiveThe martial arts have been the longest thread in my life — longer even than software. Beginning at age five, the practice has spanned multiple styles and decades. What began as a child’s fascination with movement became, over the years, a discipline of the mind as much as the body. The dojo teaches you to be present, to read situations quickly, and to respond rather than react. These lessons transfer directly to every high-pressure moment in a career.
Skydiving
More than 10,000 jumpsThere is a particular clarity that comes from stepping out of an aircraft at altitude. I have done it more than ten thousand times, and it has never once felt routine. Skydiving demands total commitment to procedure, an intimate relationship with risk management, and the ability to make decisions in seconds that matter absolutely. It is also, simply, the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced — the silence above the clouds, the geometry of the earth below, the extraordinary privilege of human flight.
Motorcycling
Long-distance and recreational ridingRiding a motorcycle is an exercise in sustained attention. Unlike driving a car, there is no cocoon of safety, no margin for distraction. Every ride is a negotiation with physics, weather, and the unpredictable behavior of other road users. I find this centering. A long ride empties the mind of everything but the immediate: the road, the machine, the next curve.
Creative & Mechanical Arts
Woodworking
Furniture and fine joineryWood is the most honest material. It shows its grain, reveals its flaws, and punishes inattention. Building with wood connects me to a tradition of craftsmanship that predates software by millennia. There is a satisfaction in a well-cut mortise-and-tenon joint that no amount of refactoring can replicate — the physical proof that two pieces belong together, held by nothing but geometry and glue.
Horology
Mechanical watches and clockworkThe mechanical watch is perhaps the finest analogy for good software architecture: hundreds of components, each with a single responsibility, working in concert to produce a result that is both functional and beautiful. My interest in horology — the study and repair of timepieces — feeds the part of my mind that delights in systems, precision, and the elegant solution of mechanical problems.
Music & Sound
DJing & Music
Electronic music and live mixingMusic has been a constant companion. DJing, in particular, appeals to the same instincts as software architecture: reading the room, managing transitions, building toward a peak, knowing when to strip things back. It is improvisation within structure — the same balance that good engineering requires. The turntable, like the terminal, rewards both preparation and intuition.