👋 Hey there! I'm TJ. I write about data products, technology, software, and economics.
I'm a husband and father, living in Singapore, and from the Philippines. I explore data engineering and accounting at Titanium Birch.
Review: dBrand Skin for iPhone and iPad
dbrand Matte Black skin and the Moft snap case
Since we had a baby, we added AppleCare+ to all our Apple devices, as the risk is now much higher that our devices meet an untimely demise.
A side effect of the warranty is that it made me brave enough to go caseless. However, I quickly noticed after a few days that a bare iPhone is too slippery and cold to the touch. I needed something that didn’t add any additional heft while making the texture a lot more comfortable.
That’s where the dbrand skin comes in.
As I’ve grown older and have less time, I’ve learned to appreciate the value of purpose-built apps over generalist ones, as they are maintained and improved by people apart from myself.
Every time, I am tempted to dive into Wordpress, only to be sent fleeing by the sheer complexity and bloatedness of it all. It all seemed simple enough and I was determined not to use any themes or plugins, but even the default theme left a lot to be customized in a janky web editor.
Moving Shares from Shareworks Solium to Interactive Brokers
Stock and Crypto Market Values. Photo by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash
I was lucky enough to be part of two companies that went public via an IPO: Uber and Grab, both ridesharing companies.
A common platform for managing and distributing these employee shares is Shareworks/Solium (now part of Morgan Stanley at work). While it’s great for seeing your stock compensation as you earn it, it’s not really a platform that you could use once those shares are granted to you and tradeable in the public market.
Book Notes: Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte
In 2023, I wanted to improve how I retained and utilised my personal knowledge. I’d always been one to keep my digital files well stored and organised, but seldom were able to use it to any real advantage. In this book, the author introduces the PARA method, a lightweight way to organise your knowledge that maximises actionability.
Digital gardens, Parenting, and Coffee
Newborn Sleep Patterns
Welcome to my digital garden
I’ve long lamented the inactivity of my website - but not for lack of trying. In the old website, I had 10 drafts sitting in the inbox queue, but could never bring myself to hit publish because they weren’t exactly as polished as the other posts from almost a decade ago.
On Newborn Parenting
Photo by Kelly Sikkema (Unsplash)
We recently added a beautiful baby girl to our family, and it’s been a wild ride. Since tech workers are a fairly new phenomenon, I suspect that a majority of tech workers are now currently in the same life stage. As this happens, I suspect that tech companies will change how work is done, now that more and more of the workforce leaves their 20s and moves into their 30s.