Axel Valdez
Design Engineer

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This sections contains both medium-to-long blog posts, and short and quick thoughts from the stream of consciousness (stream for short) section.
I've seen three blog posts about this in my feeds today, and it's notable that so far everybody avoids openly sharing that they blog.
Apr 30, 2026 · Read post →
Everybody's talking about how Steve Jobs was a product guy and Tim Cook wasn't (we've heard every analisis youtuber say the words "supply chain" every single time they talk about Cook), and how now Apple will be back with John Ternus as a product guy. But Ternus is a hardware guy. Steve Jobs was definitely not a hardware guy. Or a software guy. Steve Jobs was the Rick Rubin of tech products. A vibe-tech-product-developer.
I miss email as a personal communication tool. Surely I still use it, but it is 20% paper trail for transactions, and 80% cold-messaging from companies I don't know—or plain old spam, if there's even a difference.
Apr 28, 2026 · Read post →
It's been a long time since I was as excited as I am for a single piece of software: Antinote by Johnson Fung. I even stopped using my home baked ephemeral note system for this awesome thing.
This is a note from my journal that works as a constant reminder of being kind, something that's very important on my current journey. I share it here because, as simple and silly as it may seem, sometimes finding something simple at the right time can give someone a shift in perspective, and I've found innumerable things on my own path that I'm extremely grateful for.
Apr 16, 2026 · Read post →
In its simplest form, journaling is keeping a record of our thoughts, emotions, and reactions to our circumstances. It gives us a history to revisit, reference material that would otherwise get lost in unreachable corners of our memory. I've gone back to pages from 4 or 5 years ago and been surprised to realize that I'd already lived through situations similar to current events I considered new.
Apr 14, 2026 · Read post →
Give me ADHD and a timer and I will conquer the world.
It is in a state of pain that we find most answers to our own unknowns. If we keep avoiding pain, steering away from painful situations out of fear of discomfort, we remain static, just watching life pass us by.
Starbucks isn’t a coffee chain. It’s a global network of clean restrooms with a coffee side hustle. Overpriced? Charge me double, I don't care. Some heroes wear aprons and misspell your name.
For years I’ve tried to have a digital-only note system, but it’s difficult. It’s easy to have an organized archive for quick-reference in digital form, but for daily on-the-go notes nothing beats the availability of pen and paper.
Mar 04, 2026 · Read post →