A running chronicle of what I’m learning, building, testing and following.
Zen Plasma started with AI.
I had already been using AI to organize ideas, work through projects, and even build my real estate website. That felt especially significant because I’ve been building websites in one form or another since around 2000 — from FrontPage, to template-driven platforms like Wix, to real estate systems that worked but left very little room to actually create.
AI changed that feeling. Suddenly, building became much more direct.
Then a friend showed me a prototype for an AI voice agent called Valentina — something that could potentially become a real business service. I took a live call with it to see what it could actually do.
It was a simple business conversation, but when the call ended, I had the feeling that I had just seen something before I fully understood what it meant.
That pushed me to start learning AI much more seriously — partly out of curiosity, and partly because I could see a real business opportunity in front of me.
So I started reading, testing, writing and asking better questions.
That curiosity became this Zen Plasma website.
I had wanted my own blog for years. At first, I thought Zen Plasma would simply be about AI. Then I realized how much I enjoyed having a place to write.
For a moment, I thought about starting another site for everything else I was interested in. Then I realized I already had the place I wanted.
So I widened Zen Plasma instead.
And now I just put things here.
Things I’m learning. Things I’m following. Things I’m building. Things I can’t stop thinking about.
Where it started.
AI is still the main thread running through Zen Plasma. It’s where the site began, and it’s where I’m continuing to learn, test and think through what this technology can actually do in the real world.
Explore AIWhat has my attention right now.
A hobby that slowly became something much bigger.
Watches came back into my life almost by accident and gradually turned into something I started paying much closer attention to.
Explore WatchesWork, independence and what I keep learning from the business.
Real estate became part of my life after I left the corporate world, and roughly a decade later it is still an important part of what I do.
Explore Real EstateThe things that don’t fit neatly anywhere else.
Markets, news, reflection, history, culture, cars and whatever else happens to have my attention.
Explore Everything ElseWhat I’ve been writing lately.
-
The Conversation I Want to Be Ready For
I started learning AI because of Valentina. Now I’m working backwards from the conversation I want to be able to have about the technology, the business, implementation, ROI and what…
-
Be Neutral
A small experiment in letting ordinary concerns stay ordinary — and seeing what happens when you stop carrying tomorrow around in your head today.
-
How AI Actually Gets Things Done
AI becomes much more interesting when it moves beyond conversation. Tools, permissions, memory, integrations, human escalation, and business systems are what turn intelligence into actual work.
-
The Watch World Forgot How Icons Are Built
Watch culture often treats modern homage brands as if imitation is a new moral failure. But many of the industry’s most respected names began by sourcing, borrowing, adapting, and surviving.…
-
Panama Changed the Rules for Foreign Property Buyers
Panama’s new Qualified Investor rules favor first-sale properties at $300,000 while requiring $500,000 for resale real estate. The change could reshape where foreign buyers put their money—and which parts of…
Start with understanding.
Before tools, platforms and automation comes understanding. We break AI down from first principles and rebuild it in plain language.
Understanding AI →Follow the question.
Zen Plasma examines important ideas, events and systems across technology, mobility, markets and global affairs. The goal is simple: understand what is happening, how it works and what the evidence actually shows.
About Zen Plasma →