personal

Link to Cal Newport’s article Probably like hundreds of thousands, if not millions, I’ve been deeply influenced by Tim and his books. I didn’t start with the 4WW though (I was still in high school with other things on my mind). I first read The 4-Hour Body and it drastically changed my approach to diet and exercise in general. By then I was at University in the UK, and I’m not kidding when I say that by following some of Tim’s advice I lost about 28 pounds and have never regained them....

Personal I'm a Venezuelan/Italian programmer based in the US. Lately I've been dividing my time between San Francisco and Miami. Work Currently, I’m a Sr. Software Engineer at Akorda where I spend most of my time writing backend code and ensuring that things run smoothly. I’m also cofounder of Tiny Rockets where Orlando and I are building the best wellness platform for Latin America....

In “The Art Of Learning”, Josh Waitzkin talks a lot about "incremental growth" as a core part of his learning philosophy. The key, says Josh—who has used this technique to become a chess grandmaster and a Tai Chi Chuan world champion—is to focus on the fundamentals, practicing them over and over and add to them slowly, piece by piece. There's nothing new here. Josh is simply putting ancient wisdom to practice....

Increasingly it's been accepted that glucose and insulin are at the core of a variety of dangerous diseases and health conditions: from Alzheimer's (now called type 3 Diabetes by some), to fatty liver syndrome, and type 2 diabetes, we're just now starting to understand how dangereous high blood glucose levels and insulin can be. Diabetes (T1) runs in my family. So concepts like insulin, gluconeogenesis (the process by which the liver creates new glucose), glycation are not new to me....

One year ago this week I started running. Initially it was just a challenge. After spending most of my life swimming or playing underwater rugby I wanted to try something different and learn how to go on long runs. Here are 6 lessons I learned along the way: Start small. It's OK to wanting to run a marathon or even an ultra, but when you're taking your first steps it is best to keep it simple....

I love Christmas because of the food! Christmas is the time of the year that we all come together to prepare traditional dishes that are so laborious that we only make them once a year, if at all. In my multi-cultural and eclectic family—we're Venezuelan, Italian, and Latvian—this means a flavorful combination of pastries, cookies, and savory dishes. What follows is a chronology of all the Christmas food and family traditions I love and dearly miss because it’s the best culinary time of the year....

My friends know that I'm passionate about coffee to the point of obsession. It's not that I have a caffeine addiction so powerful that I can’t get by without my daily cup of joe. If burnt Starbucks-like coffee is the only option, I'd rather go a day without any coffee at all. I like coffee because it's a nice hobby and part of my morning ritual since I was in middle school....

Growing up I never missed a Formula 1 race. I still remember the adrenaline I felt watching them. I was too young to remember the prowess of Ayrton Senna—perhaps the greatest in the sport. But I reminisce the fierce competition between Michael Schumacher and Mikka Hakkinen. To me—a Ferrari fan—the competition between McClaren and Ferrari was like a fight between good and evil. Then came Fernando Alonso to win a world championship with Renault of all cars....

In a recent newsletter, Vicky Boykis compares the path to become a Grandmaster in Chess to career paths in the tech world. She writes: "Even though there is one way to get to Grandmaster, there is no one single way to interview and become a senior developer or data scientist. The difference with the tech world is that there is not one single set of rules like there is in a chess game: everyone is playing on a different board, with an ever-growing number of pieces....

Uncle Gianfranco is one of my favorite cooks and has a passion for food that only Italians can understand. On a recent Facetime with him, he gave me the following piece of advice: "Learn to cook really well 3 or 4 pasta sauces. This way you'll always have friends around for dinner." Seeing him cook over the years to parties of all sizes, from small family gatherings of 10-15 people to large groups of friends, it makes sense....