Welcome

Welcome to my home on the web. This page is primarily a parking lot for small projects and a landing page for people looking to find me online.

If you are a recruiter, interested in connecting, please send me a connection request on LinkedIn. If you are an editor looking for a freelance contributor, please contact me either on LinkedIn or through my Contact page.

Current projects

CardsAndPoints.com: Creating better content about credit cards and rewards

For the past decade or so, I’ve been one of the leading expert contributors writing about credit cards and travel rewards for publications like WSJ, TIME, SFGate, Newsweek, Forbes, and countless others. I’ve also been a strategic advisor and interim editor for many of these outlets—much of the content that is published by some of these outlets today is structured based on plans and methodologies that I designed.

But in early 2024, I shifted my efforts toward launching my own site, Cards and Points. Many larger outlets have moved away from publishing interesting content created by experts and more toward mass-produced or AI-generated content geared toward SEO or pay-to-play pieces that make questionable product recommendations. With Cards and Points, I can write about credit cards and travel rewards on my terms.

At Cards and Points, we cover things like the best credit cards to use for groceries, cash back credit card sign-up bonuses, comprehensive guides to airline credit cards, and analyses of the value of points and miles. Since we launched, readership has grown quite a bit and we’ll probably be looking to take on additional expert contributors soon.

Aviation: Pursuing a commercial pilot license

The last year has been a busy one in my aviation life. In late 2023, I earned my instrument rating. Earlier this year, I earned a complex endorsement, which means I can now fly planes with retractable gear and fixed-speed propellors. That has opened up my flight club’s Piper Arrow IV, which is an excellent plane for longer-distance cross-country flying. And I’ve actually started using the airplane for transportation this year.

I completed my Fundamentals of Instruction exam, which is one item I will need to complete to become a certificated flight instructor. I’ve also been flying a lot with other pilots to build time and experience toward earning a commercial pilot certificate. Currently, I’m studying and practicing maneuvers in preparation to take a check ride later this year to earn a commercial pilot certificate.

I took a break from helping to put on the annual Girls in Aviation Day event at Flying Cloud airport this year because my brother is getting married on that date.

Minor projects/hobbies

I’ve been working on a few other minor (and not so minor) projects this year including:

• Building a fence. Learned how to design and build a fence from boards, screws, concrete, and brackets. Whatever the fence equivalent of apple pie from scratch is, we did that.
• Sailing races. My girlfriend’s parents sail and they invited us to help crew for a few sailing races.
• Gardening. We have a long-term goal of improving the hill behind our house. This summer’s projects included removing invasive buckthorn and replacing chickenwire and plastic with plants that are good at ground cover and erosion control.
• Gaming. I haven’t been playing as much Diablo IV as I would have liked, but with the release of the expansion this year, I’m sure I’ll find some time to blast some monsters.

Travel: Lots of hopping all over the world

In the last two years, I’ve been to Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Mexico, and Germany, plus a bunch of places within the United States. Lots of travel is planned, but I don’t generally post my travel publicly before it happens.