OCTOBER FAVORITE THINGS

October 2025 was one of those months where everything seemed to align perfectly. Between celebrating our 10-year anniversary in Paris, officiating my brother’s wedding, and diving deep into AI development, it felt like a month packed with meaningful moments and new adventures. Here are my favorite highlights.

Paris & Our 10-Year Anniversary

Bonjour! The absolute highlight of October was our trip to Paris to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary. It exceeded every expectation I had.

From the incredible food and world-class museums to buttery croissants and that iconic Eiffel Tower view, everything felt magical. But honestly, the best part was simply having uninterrupted time with my wife. Getting away from the beautiful chaos of parenting for a few days and experiencing a new city together reminded me why I fell in love with her in the first place.

Fun fact: We toured the French Crown Jewels just days before they were reportedly stolen. Coincidence? I think not. 😉

Check out photos from Paris here.

Officiated My Brother’s Wedding

My brother got married this month, and I had the incredible honor of officiating his ceremony. As a first-time wedding officiant, I was equal parts nervous and excited.

The most meaningful part was writing the ceremony and weaving in a special memorial to our dad. It felt important to have his presence felt on such a significant day. Based on the feedback from guests (and the fact that the couple is still married), I apparently didn’t mess it up too badly!

Fall Fun at Queens County Farm

There’s something magical about the first crisp fall days that makes you want to do all the seasonal things. While we couldn’t squeeze in our usual apple picking trip this year, we discovered something even better right in our backyard: Queens County Farm.

It still amazes me that this 47-acre working farm exists in the middle of Queens. Surrounded by apartment buildings and busy streets, it feels like a time portal to rural America. By all logic, this land should have been developed into condos decades ago, but somehow this little slice of agricultural history persists.

We stumbled upon a group harvesting vegetables, and Zeke was able to join in. He was excited to get his hands dirty and then try what he harvest — beets were not a hit, but the potatoes were great.

Check out the photos from our pumpkin patch adventure here.

AI Development Breakthrough at Work

This month marked a turning point in how I approach engineering problems. I’ve been experimenting with AI coding assistants, and the results have been mind-blowing.

Using GitHub Copilot paired with Claude 3.5 Sonnet, I was able to build a CMS feature that had been sitting on my wishlist for two years. What would have traditionally taken me weeks of development happened in just a day and a half.

I was amazed when I copied a ticket description directly into VS Code Chat and watched the AI agent complete the entire implementation. It was a fairly straight forward task but still it allowed me to do two thing at once.

This experience has me thinking about the future of engineering management. If simple, repetitive tasks can be delegated to AI agents, it frees up human developers to focus on the complex, creative problem-solving that actually moves the needle.

Launched This Website

One of my proudest accomplishments this month was finally launching this personal website. After years of drafting posts in various apps and sharing thoughts on social media platforms I don’t control, I now have a proper home on the internet.

This space brings together all the things I’m passionate about—engineering insights, fatherhood adventures, running stories, photography, and the occasional random thought that needs a proper home. It feels good to own my corner of the web again.