McAllen, Texas · Building in public
By day I’m a principal engineer in Architecture, supporting the AI and Payments teams. Nights and weekends I ship apps, manage rentals in South Texas, and build systems that help my family enjoy the journey while creating more freedom for the future.
Sousbook 
HypeLap 
Glora: My Upkeep 
Rise & Capy 
While We're Here 
Heirloom 
Fillbook 
FamilyStop 
Gulp 
Rally 
Bean Hunt 
Vault Runner 
Square Sweep 
Color Flood Conquest 
Catalyst Chain Reaction 
Fillin 
Real Estate Manager Latest entry
Notes on designing an AI harness for my day job, inspired by how a small X team built its web app with coding agents: shared instructions, skills in the repo, and guardrails on every commit.
After a week with the iPhone Duo: the best apps I have found that support it, four of my own, the big apps still missing support, and how the battery is holding up.
A room-by-room rental inspection checklist you can print or copy, plus how to document condition so security deposit deductions hold up at move-out.
Meet Beige Box, a coming-soon retro computer app for iPhone Duo, iPhone and iPad, with five original machines, web browsing, BASIC and games.
If you build apps
App Store Connect shows a download but RevenueCat shows no customer? A pending report isn't a zero. The data mix-ups that make indie app analytics look broken.
Seven months of daily App Store data across 12 apps shows a 46x gap between my best- and worst-converting listing — and it is not the app people assume.
How GPT-6 Astra carries an app from idea to a verified result in Codex: one working session across SwiftUI, App Store metadata, websites and releases.
The work behind the work
Every entry pulls on at least one of these.
Leverage
I use AI to investigate systems, build products, automate decisions, and turn one engineer’s effort into more useful output.
Read the AI entries →Freedom
I’m building income beyond a paycheck through software, real estate, and careful decisions that protect the family foundation.
Read the app entries →The reason
Ambition only matters if it helps me show up better for Dora, the kids, and the life we are actually living now.
Read the family entries →The app shelf
Sousbook Recipe organizer and personal cookbook for iPhone and iPhone Duo 
HypeLap Live race tracking and cheers for runners 
Glora: My Upkeep Track beauty and self-care routines 
Rise & Capy Capybara alarm clock with wake-up missions 
While We're Here Conversation cards for real tables 
Heirloom Read and preserve old letters 
Fillbook Trading journal and review 
FamilyStop Family restrooms and stops 
Gulp Drink water, stop scrolling 
Rally Pickleball live scoreboard & match stats 
Bean Hunt Coffee journal & cafe finder 
Vault Runner Treasure escape roguelite 
Square Sweep Minesweeper-style puzzle 
Color Flood Conquest Color fill brain puzzle 
Catalyst Chain Reaction Fast chain reaction puzzle 
Fillin Daily fill-in-the-blank word game 
Real Estate Manager Property management for small landlords Playbooks
Written from my own apps — the guides I reach for every time I start something new.
Turn one clear problem into a smaller v1, a verified release, and a sensible next decision.
Start here if you are still deciding what to build. Get it on Gumroad ↗One real iOS feature taken across the boundary to a tested, deployed .NET API.
For a working local app that now needs an API and a database. Get it on Gumroad ↗Turn real app footage into short video you can actually publish on a schedule.
For an app that works but needs a repeatable way to show it. Get it on Gumroad ↗Follow along
Wins, misses, numbers, and the family moments in between. No algorithm required.