Almost two months have come and gone since the last email. And believe me, it's been quite eventful o
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| March 29 · Issue #23 · View online |
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Almost two months have come and gone since the last email. And believe me, it’s been quite eventful over here in Dublin. Before I dive in, I’d love it if you could tell me what you appreciate about this newsletter: is it the personal news, the opinionated tech links, or the tone? Maybe a blend. Let me know by replying to this email, or submitting your feedback using the 👍🏼/👎🏼 buttons at the end. And now, brace yourselves for this is a long one!
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A lot has happened since my last email. First of all, I’ve turned 27. Two days later, it was Shana’s turn. And on the 14th of February, we celebrated our first anniversary together.
(You read that correctly: we met on Valentine’s Day last year 😍) We essentially spent that week going out to different places around town for drinks and dinner dates as we reflected on the past year of traveling, meeting one another, taking chances, and making it work despite the distance.
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For my birthday, Shana took me out to a delicious BBQ joint, in our neighorhood!
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Since we moved to Dublin, I’ve also gotten back to working out fairly regularly: we are lucky to live about 12mn away from Phoenix Park by foot, so I’ve been running over there once a week. In addition, I’ve been working out in the apartment using the Fitbit Coach app, formerly known as Fitstar.
It’s been super helpful to get back into shape after a devastating end of the year.
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I'm hoping to get my 5K under 30mn within the next couple of weeks.
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It’s also been VERY cold in Dublin. You might have heard of it referred to as the “Beast from the East”: an intense cold wave coming from Russia. It wasn’t as bad as the low temperature experienced in the US or Canada, but the climate is incredibly humid here in Dublin, so it kind of cuts through your bones.
We’ve got the confirmation of that fact after chatting with Shana’s Swedish coworkers: they get colder temperatures back home but it’s a dry cold.
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Beast from the East
I shared a few pictures of that wild cold wave on my blog!
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Here's what February 2018 looked like via 1SecondEveryday
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In the past few weeks, we also took a few trips around the country: the first one to Belfast, and the other one south of Dublin, to a small place called Killiney.
The blog posts below will give you a good idea of how fun these outings were!
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A Day Trip Belfast
A day trip to Belfast, my first time in Northern Ireland
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A Day out around the Killiney Bay
Enjoying a beautiful spring day to explore the South Dublin area of Killiney, with its bay and beach!
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On the professional front, I’m continuing to work with two regular clients who are trying to do a better job growing their communities on Social Media. I’ve also started working on two projects in the wide world of the Blockchain.
The first one is already live and aims to do a better job solving issues around Advertising and Privacy, with an emphasis on being a better alternative to Publishers and Web Users. I’m also excited because I get to work with my friend Anji, whom I’ve known since my San Francisco days, back in 2011.
The second one should be announced soon and I’ll happily share more once it’s live.
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In addition to this obvious newsletter, I’ve been trying to write a bit more frequently on my personal blog, as well as moving away from platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
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2018: “The Year of Twitter”
It’s not that crazy to think about. And to some extent, this is already happening.
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Outside from my personal blog, I’ve found a new community to join, for smaller interactions that do not require articles of hundreds of words. It’s called Micro.blog. They’re a smaller platform and community focused on personal interactions, and supported by a revenue model where you actually pay for the service, in exchange for access. It doesn’t collect my data, for a change. I seriously encourage you to try it out… if you’re into that.
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Micro.blog
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As you know, Pop Culture is important to me.
I’d be happy to go into more details about this, as I’ve recently integrated different apps and services directly with my Journaling app of choice.
But in the meantime, here are some of the things what I’ve enjoyed recently:
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Thankfully, we have a great little arthouse cinema in our neighborhood, so this makes it dangerously easy to go and take a break during the week, or have a lotvely date with Shana over the weekend.
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Phantom Thread
Watching this movie had me thinking deeply about the state of my own relationship and its dynamic.
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‘The Shape of Water’
A very touching story between two outcasts. Yes, it won The Oscar this year.
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‘Annihilation’
Following up from Ex Machina, Alex Garland has delivered an intense piece that focuses on the WHAT, not on the WHY.
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Mute
This is a movie that has a lot of cool world building, but a rather poor story. Mixed bag and a bit of a letdown.
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When it comes to TV shows, I’m trying to go through shows one season at a time, and removing dumb sitcoms. I still love these types of shows. But I want to focus my attention on high production value and great storytelling, more so than a “story of the week” with a few jokes here and there.
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Westworld
It finally happened: I finally watched that first season of Westworld. Loved it!
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Star Trek: Discovery
Besides the very first pilot, and the J.J. Abrams-produced movie, this is really the first time that I watch Star Trek. I really enjoyed this first season of this new show.
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Altered Carbon
A very interesting concept, for an average show. It’s not bad, but just a bit meh. I think I have a problem with Joel Kinnaman.
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The Wire - Season 1
FINALLY: I’ve only heard about it being the best show ever for like… the past 10 years or so! So I finally allowed myself to go through the first season. I’m enjoying this slowly, one episode at a time, one season at a time. But it was definitely worth it!
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Marvel's The Punisher
As expected, this was overly violent, dark, and watchable while doing something else on the side. I still prefer Netflix’s Marvel shows over the ones they show on ABC in the US though.
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Atlanta - Season 1
Ahead of the second season, and after reading a few articles about Donald Glover, I decided to re-watch Atlanta. It is such a good show!
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The Defiant Ones
Another highly-praised show that really is a four-part documentary. This was an interesting watch, a parallel exposition of Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine through their humble beginnings all the way to their collaboration working on the Beats headphone company.
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This Is Us
There’s probably no need to present this. With every new episode, my US-based friends burn my Facebook feed with deep emotions. This is one of those shows that we enjoy watching with Shana, and this second season was really good!
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Girls
I was late on the final season of Girls last year. This is a show that I enjoy watching because it makes me feel good about myself and the decisions I take in life. I’m glad that it is over though.
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'How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars: The Snapchat Story'
This is the inside story of how Snapchat came to become the company it is today. A fascinating read if you like these non-fiction types of books. It made me want to use Snap a lot more, and Facebook a lot less.
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'Ready Player One'
I wanted to read this ahead of the movie release (we’re going to watch it tomorrow with Shana in IMAX 3D.) While the story was alright and as nerdy as expected, some of the obsessive tendencies of the main character straight up creeped me out. But I hear that Spielberg did a good job removing the cringiest parts of the book, so I’m looking forward to seeing it in theater.
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Lately I’ve discovered a website called The Nib. Every day, they come up with cartoons relevant to the day’s news. Here are a few of my recent favorites:
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"Start the Presses!"
Introducing P.R.I.N.T. — a brand new innovative way to fight Fake News and keep your private data safe!
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"The Blockchain Is Secure"
Bitcoin might be a bubble, but the technology behind it is infinitely more useful. This post illustrates it perfectly!
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For my defense, I did warn you that this was going to be a long one. But I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to your feedback. Once again, use the little thumbs up/down buttons at the end of the email, or just hit reply to let me know how you feeeeeeeel. —Thibault
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Written in the heart of Montmartre, Paris, France
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