On the travel front: I'm originally from Texas in the USA. I didn't travel much until I left my hometown. Since then I've visited 23 countries and counting. I know many people have been to way more countries than I have but I'm not the "see 10 cities in 10 days" kind of traveler. I prefer to travel slow, usually spending at least a month in each place to figure out what makes it tick. This length of stay lets me get a feel for the local culture, meet people, and really experience a place beyond the tourist traps. Sometimes, I skip the tourist stuff altogether and just live like a local. After all, living like a tourist can get expensive very fast, and I haven't hit it big time yet. Since I quit to travel full time I've been to 17 cities across 7 countries with many more to come.

On the tech front: I'm a bit of a nerd. I got my bachelor's degree in Multidisciplinary Engineering Technology with a focus in Mechatronics at Texas A&M, which is far too long of a sentence so I just tell everyone "I studied robots". My research in Augmented and Virtual Reality along with my minor in embedded systems is where I really started to learn how to code. Since then I've spent the last decade or so going from "what is a for loop" to "I just built a website in a week". I went from new-grad hire to writing my senior-level promotion document (that I never finished because I quit first). My academic career was mainly focused on writing C, C++, C#, Python, and MATLAB 🤮. My professional career was mainly writing Java 8 in gigantic corporate systems that operate at ridiculous scale. My new solo career is more focused on full stack web development with very small audiences with code written in Svelte, Typescript, and Python. Right now, I'm building my "startup", StayMapper, in public. Meaning I share the wins, the bugs, and the business lessons learned along the way.

The name is the mission. It’s the two halves of my current life smashed together:

• Postcards: These are the stories from the road. Trip reports, city guides, and observations from my travels. They're less "wish you were here" and more "here's what it's really like here."
• Patch Notes: In the software world, patch notes are updates that fix bugs or add features. For me, they're the updates on my journey as a developer and entrepreneur—the bug fixes in my code, the new features I'm launching, and the lessons learned from trying to build a business.

Currently Exploring: As of July 2025, I'm posted up in Da Nang, Vietnam 🇻🇳, mainly just being a beach bum and working in cafes. I'm currently backlogged on writing, so expect posts soon from recent adventures in Colombia, Thailand, and of course Vietnam.

Currently Building: My main focus is launching this blog to support the development and launch of StayMapper. Follow along for the ride.