June 2025: Slowing Down to Speed Up
Code, Cousins, and Poetry
This month, I looked in the mirror and was taken aback by what I saw.
Somewhere between fatherhood, travel, and leadership meetings, I realized my edge was getting a little dull, especially when it came to tech.
So, I rolled up my sleeves and got back to work. I built an enterprise AI stack, a real-time market trends monitor, and even resurrected my 10th-grade Pascal final project.
June became a month of rediscovery: tech, poetry, family, and a whole lot of reflection.
Here’s a peek at what’s been on my mind.
Python & AI, Oh My.
After attending ServiceNow K25 last month I became painfully aware of how much I had let my tech skills decay. For the first time in my career I felt like I couldn’t hold my own in a tech room.
So, I decided to do something about it. This month I worked on a few projects:
Deployment of an enterprise-grade LLM stack
As I wrote in my blog post “The Only Way to Understand AI Is to Build It”, well, the title kind of gives it away.
Here are the details (and you can see the source on GitHub):
📊 Stack
Streamlit Cloud: Live web deployment with persistent secrets and remote git sync
GitHub: Version control and continuous integration
Matplotlib / Plotly: For rendering dynamic charts and line plots (optional enhancements)
Python 3.11+:
valid_ticker_filter.py: Validates and filters ticker symbols from NYSE/NASDAQmarket_trend_analyzer.py: Detects momentum, volume spikes, and sector trends
Trend Scoring Engine: Calculates normalized trend momentum for stocks, sectors, and industries
Finnhub.io API: Real-time market data for equities (price, volume, metadata)
CoinGecko API: For crypto market trend monitoring
I also built:
& I rebuilt my 10th grade Pascal final project.
What did I learn through all of this? I may be rusty, but I still learn fast. I can hold my own.
Show Up for Your People
There are some people in our ⭕ who show up no matter what.
They’re there supporting all my wild ideas. They volunteer to be the financial chair of my short-lived political career. They come to the opening of a now-closed service business. They show up on random weeknights for takeout and for Sunday “family dinners.”
These are our people.
And if you’ve got people like ours, hold them close. You’ll only meet a few of these beautiful humans in your lifetime.
Love y’all.
A Reflective Old Man.
I’ve been reading a lot of poetry recently, and trying to write a little as well. This one hit me hard and made me feel all the things.
The Men That Don't Fit In
There's a race of men that don't fit in,
A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain's crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
And they don't know how to rest.
The full poem can be found HERE.
A Small Business To Know: Get Lost Shave Ice.
I first met Todd Askins when I was running the Military/Law Enforcement business unit at Under Armour. Todd has one of those vibes that makes you think, “Damn, I wish I were that cool.”
Over the last fifteen years, I’ve watched Todd build Tactical Distributors into an eCommerce powerhouse and a clothing brand with undeniable swagger.
But shave ice (not to be confused with shaved ice)?
In 2023, Todd and his wife Stephanie opened Get Lost with the kind of effortless style only they could pull off. If you’re in the Virginia Beach area and want to experience something special, check them out.
An Update from the Homefront
It’s been a great month with plenty to celebrate.
Two of my brothers-in-law got engaged: congrats to Marcus & Lauren, and to Micah & Carly!
We also celebrated Ford’s baptism and enjoyed lots of quality family time. Ford got to spend time with his partner in crime, cousin Luca, and the two of them made the most of it.
Ford is growing so fast, with an big laugh and an even bigger smile. With a little encouragement from his big cousin, he’s this close to rolling over.
It’s amazing how the little things end up meaning so much.
As always, Thank You.
What a month! As busy as May was, June is shaping up to be even fuller, starting with Ford’s first plane ride to… wait for it… Cleveland (for my stepsister’s wedding).
Then it’s off to Paris to keynote at Planisware Exchange25, followed by a trip to Boulder for leadership team meetings, NYC for a client event on Wall Street, and a massive Meetup in Raleigh.
Plenty of great stories ahead. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
Until next time,
-AM
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