Founder of Always Cool AI, delivering enterprise AI solutions that transform how regulated industries operate—from FDA-compliant food supply chains to nuclear safety systems.
My Notes Philosophy
This site is essentially my public notebook. These are my working notes—processes I find useful, projects I'm exploring, and thoughts worth preserving. They're written primarily for myself as reference material, but I share them publicly in case others find them helpful.
You'll find three types of notes here:
- Process Notes - How-tos and procedures I've developed or discovered
- Project Notes - What I'm building, learning, and experimenting with
- Thought Notes - Reflections, insights, and perspectives on technology and business
I believe in learning in the open and sharing knowledge as it develops, not just when it's polished. If something here helps you solve a problem or sparks an idea, that's a bonus.
What I Do Today
- Founder of Always Cool AI - Delivering AI solutions with LangGraph orchestration, MCP and A2A Protocol integration, and OpenTelemetry observability for FDA-regulated food supply, nuclear industry, and expanding into finance
- Co-Founder of Always Cool Brands - Managing Engineering and Finance to build better-for-you products with transparent supply chains
- Member of KeyBanc's Mosaic team - Advising investment banks and fund managers
- Founder of Austin LangChain AIMUG - Building a 1,000+ member community of AI practitioners
The AI Transformation That Started It All
My journey with modern AI began when I discovered the "Chat with data challenge" by Harrison Chase, Founder of LangChain AI. It was a basic RAG workflow using pre-0.1 LangChain. I applied it to our manufacturer due diligence process at Always Cool Brands and uncovered fraud that would have led to an SEC violation. This single AI implementation saved our company and secured our supply chain.
That moment showed me the transformative power of modern Transformers and RAG architectures. What started as solving one problem evolved into automating every manual process slowing our teams down—from nutrition calculations to supply chain verification.
From Food Manufacturing to AI Innovation
Over two and a half years building Always Cool Brands, I learned that creating better-for-you products requires mastering every detail: reverse engineering formulas, navigating quality control, scaling production. Just like in my hyperscale infrastructure days, I automated the friction points.
Simple scripts became synchronous agents. Those evolved into asynchronous workflows using LangGraph. But the real breakthrough came when I implemented OpenTelemetry for complete observability—because observability is the key to moving from AI scripts to AI infrastructure. Every decision, every action, every outcome became traceable and auditable.
Today, I'm consolidating these tools into Always Cool AI—a comprehensive platform that transforms how regulated industries operate. We implement Model Context Protocol (MCP) for seamless tool integration, A2A Protocol for secure agent-to-agent communication, and OpenTelemetry for enterprise-grade observability. This ensures control and compliance in industries where mistakes aren't an option.
25 Years of Building Internet-Scale Systems
My technology foundation began on midnight shifts automating production for CIA surveillance systems in 1998. I moved to Silicon Valley at 19 with Stanford recruitment letters and near-perfect SATs, while serving as a Marine Corps reservist. That unique blend of Silicon Valley innovation and military discipline shaped my approach to solving complex problems.
Over 25 years, I've architected some of the world's largest web systems—including being brought in as the Network Architect for Apple iCloud. I built a $180M/year business line from scratch, earned CCIE Storage certification (#18233), contributed to OpenStack and OpenDaylight, and reduced outages by 58% at Oracle. I've developed network software for Cisco Systems and created intellectual property that enabled major acquisitions. This deep infrastructure and business-building experience now powers my ability to build AI systems that scale. For the full journey, see my experience page.
Community & Vision
Through Austin LangChain AIMUG, I lead a group of engineers "Learning in the Open"—accelerating AI skills in our group, our companies, and in the communities we are members of. We believe the best way to advance AI is by sharing our discoveries, failures, and breakthroughs publicly. Our hackathons, collaborative projects, and regular meetups create a space where 1,000+ practitioners push the boundaries of what's possible together.
I believe AI will fundamentally transform how we approach supply chain transparency, business operations, and community problem-solving. My commitment is to open knowledge sharing and building intelligent, sustainable technological solutions that benefit everyone. I'm particularly passionate about using AI to eliminate harmful ingredients from our food supply while making supply chains transparent and efficient.
How I Can Help Your Organization
My experience reducing outages by 58% at Oracle and automating systems that saved $27M taught me what works at scale. Now I apply these lessons to AI:
- Need AI compliance? I've survived 38 enterprise audits and built systems for FDA/NRC requirements
- Worried about AI reliability? I kept the White House and Marine Corps online with 12 engineers
- Scaling challenges? I've managed 116,000 devices and $70M budgets efficiently
- Want observable AI? I pioneered hyperscale observability at Oracle, now applying it to AI