I spend a lot of time on the internet. I won’t call any of it the worst day of the internet, because my life is extremely physical (carpenter, father, fiancé to a woman 12 years younger) even just looking at a screen for an hour or two is not a big deal. The kid and carpenter part of the day is completely offline, so I am starting from a good place. But could I be reading, meditating, sleeping, cooking, or whatever else? Yes. I’m mostly doomscrolling advice on how to work or life better, or checking out other carpenters’ projects on Instagram. Or buying a lot of equipment (cameras, woodworking tools). The worst part, to answer your question, is when I end up buying some equipment I’m curious about but don’t need to own. Maybe it’s because I’m so used to trying everything out as a former product reviewer that I feel entitled to that. But also, maybe because I just find it soothing. 

Instagram, rumor sites for brands I purchase things from (Leica, tool shops in Japan, Apple).

I feel ok. I’m overly productive and structured in my time otherwise. Maxing out my screen time is usually a response to me being overworked or overwhelmed by real life. But, again, I’m not trying to justify that part of my life. It could be a lot better. 

It has to be less than 3 hours. As someone who watched the iPhone launch in San Francisco as a tech reporter, I’ve had every model of phone since. I wonder what would happen or what it would feel like if I locked my phone up for a month?

Like any pro, I think we stop counting after awhile. I’m not so oriented toward feedback, either. I think maybe we did something nuts for Wirecutter, where a writer interviewed a bike thief about the bike locks he would tell his mother to get. Partway through the interview, the thief talked about one of the best bikes he ever stole. The writer held his tongue, but it was actually his bike.

As far as my own writing goes, I got some nice feedback from people about my life this past year, my time trainings apprentice in Japan, and how much ’, and how much effort it took to get here. That was a really good feeling. 

Which parachute? Leaving Gawker? That was perfect, because I could tell I was not going to beat the big Apple scoop the year before, and yet, I was being asked to double traffic to make a tiny bit more money. Hilarious!

Wirecutter, in hindsight, I wish I had gone a few more years with someone else in charge. It was growing without doing anything other than existing. And I was burnt out. And when you own 90% of something that is worth $35M, you tend to lose hunger and want to just get going on whatever is next. I think I wanted to try and sell it before 39, though. Vanity milestone! I think it has to be worth 10x that right now. It sounds unnecessary but I am confident I can spend any amount of money in an interesting way, and I give a lot away, recklessly. I could do a lot more of all of this with more. Which is why I always think about getting back into the game.

HOWEVER, I also parked way too much money into a house I fixed up, by plan, to force myself to stay in the job requirement. I just know too many people paralyzed by wealth, held hostage by it, and man, it’s my ENTIRE FAMILY who lives off of the money that my grandpa made. I don’t benefit from that at all. It was decided because “I don’t need it,” and that’s caused a lot of bitterness that I've thankfully released over the last few years. I’m happy to not be paralyzed by it! 

A few years ago, I got into some mental tools a friend who is a Zen monk gave me. It’s Rinzai Zen, for samurai ready to die for a cause. Not the Americanized kind where it’s endless philosophizing and accepting the fate the world gives you. It’s for people who want to live big and change themselves and the world. One of those concepts is about rolling through life like a boulder. I’ve been trying to do that. Every time an obstacle gets in your way, you roll around it. You just keep going. I’ve been using this idea a lot in 2025-2026 as I navigate a separation and work as a carpenter in Japan, cutting traditional timber frames. I brought my ex, my kid, and my fiancée. It’s been a lot, but as long as I don’t dwell on things and process (not repress) how I feel, I have been able to sort of manage it all. Except for the recent chest pain, which has convinced me to take it easy a bit, and sleep a little more.

I would keep WC longer, and honestly, I am so grateful to have avoided the Thiel / Hogan era of Gawker. I really respect you for how you navigated that time. I would probably avoid restoring the Japanese-ish mid-century modern house, which ate up a lot of money that I wish I could pile into a new publication.

It’s a toss-up between a tea house my company made in Japan, my daughter, and my fiancée. 

YES. But AI and the mob ate how I made Wirecutter, and I seem to have gotten less fixated on quality and fun and more fixated on something scalable that can make money. I will reassess my approach and go for something fun that will take a few years to catch on. I am currently working on a publication, actually, about non-Eurocentric woodworking, which could be huge but I’m like dropping these secret techniques on an English-speaking audience, that I am sure less than a dozen people in the US know how to do. And yet, people seem to still be fixated on what tools are Best. I’m really trying to move beyond that part of my life, but honestly, I have failed. I spend so much money trying out high-end equipment. Usually, stuff that is not just pragmatic but a little romantic, well-designed, and, yes, expensive. I might just get back into it, to scratch the itch. 

My buddy, the Zen monk, challenged me about my love for things when he caught me gazing longingly at a new Toyota Land Cruiser in the temple parking lot. I actually told him that I think it’s transcendent when humans create beautiful objects and tools. I feel very romantic about my commercial work. I think the world has gone a bit mad with that Wirecutter-type thinking, which I chalk up to anxiety. But it’s still a part of me, but hopefully evolved.

My favorite party trick is when someone seems to be having a hard time deciding on a trivial object, like a hair dryer or a camera, I will offer to help them pick something. Then I go and pick it for them in like 10 seconds, using a tiny bit of research and then a lot of instinct, knowing that in most cases, anything will do as long as the person using it knows what they are doing. It’s shocking how little I do comparison shopping anymore. But I should disclose: if there are three things I am interested in, I just get all three! It’s still fun to scratch that itch. And my two major creative endeavors, Japanese woodworking and photography, are extremely gear-intensive for a reason. I just love carrying as much equipment as I can and studying how to use it better.

It’s a really interesting part of my brain. In a world where I didn’t know if I could depend on people, I always knew I could depend on and be inspired by a really beautiful and well-built piece of machinery or tool. I don’t have to judge myself for it, I guess. But I wonder where I will be with it in 20 years.

**********************************************************************

MORE IN THIS SERIES: