Using 2023 MEPS healthcare data, I built a small Azure analytics pipeline: landing raw Excel files in ADLS Gen2, orchestrating ingestion in Data Factory, transforming data in Databricks, and visualizing gold-layer outputs in Power BI.
Combining David Allen’s Getting Things Done with Tiago Forte’s Second Brain and leveraging AI to keep it all organized.
When context clicks I had one of those conversations today where, at first, nothing landed. We were discussing whether we could allow orders for items still in transit by estimating when they’d arrive, be received, and be ready to pick so that customers could buy them before the warehouse technically had them “in stock.” I was tracking along, but not connecting it… until one term surfaced: ATP. I didn’t know what ATP was until someone explained it me. ...
Chasing Nano Banana When Google quietly dropped the Gemini image model codenamed “Nano Banana” (Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash Image model) and only exposed it through an API, I was disappointed that I couldn’t immediately test it out. Since I’ve been enjoying building things recently, first thought was, “I’ll just build the app I want.” I wanted a fast way to play with the model, optionally add a reference photo, and see what kind of edits it could muster. That became Picture Wizard. ...
“I’ve got a great idea for a weekend project!” Two months later… “I’m launching my weekend project!” The Dream vs. The Reality I want to give anyone the power to learn anything, however they want to. That was the idea. With the Age of A.I. changing the way we think and work, I thought this would be a great time to get started turning that project into a reality. As the technology advances, so can my solution. So I whipped up a proof-of-concept in a couple of days, thought to myself “that’s not bad!” and decided to launch it to get feedback. I just needed to wrap up a couple of technical details so other people could play with it, and I’d be all set, getting valuable user feedback! ...
How I went from drowning in tasks to finding clarity by building a custom AI assistant with Google’s Agent Development Kit.
Delving into Cursor Ok, I’m late to the game. I just started using Cursor to write code. To be fair, writing code isn’t really part of my day-to-day job as a Product Manager for an advanced data analytics team, but I wanted to scratch that “builder” itch in me. Also, I wanted better data than what is available through Jira’s API. That means I need to write some code, probably in Python since that’s my jam. And why not use these AI tools that everyone else is using? But which one(s) should I use? ...
My Journey with MCP Servers I recently learned of MCP (Model Control Protocol) servers through a post on Hacker News. The premise seems really neat. MCP is essentially a protocol that allows AI models like Claude to interact with external tools and services through a standardized interface. I can write a very simple server and create “tools” for the Claude.ai desktop application to connect to and use. The example in the post created some tools that gave Claude access to read and write to the local filesystem (unrestricted, by the way). The original intent was to have Claude write some application. I cloned and ran the sample MCP server from the article to play with it, and was immediately impressed. This unlocks so many opportunities to integrate an LLM with countless services! ...
A videography hobbyist In my free time, I like shooting videos of my family’s adventures and doing some basic editing. I shoot on my cellphone and a GoPro. For the past several years, I have rendered my final projects in 1080p at 24 frames per second. I liked the ability to shoot in 4k and still “zoom in” digitally to 1080. That also let me shoot slow motion video at 1080, and match my final render resolution. I recently got a newer GoPro, so now I can shoot 4k at 120 fps, which allows me slow down to 20% speed if I render my final project at 24 fps. ...
Building a large language model from scratch I’m a machine learning / A.I. hobbyist. The technologies fascinate me, and I can’t seem to learn enough about them. Sebastian Raschka’s book, Build a Large Language Model (From Scratch) caught my eye. I don’t recall how I stumbled on it, but I found it when it was still in early access from Manning Publications. I purchased it, and started working through it as the final chapters were being written and released. I just completed the book and all the included work and loved every minute of it. ...