Jackie is detail oriented, and has an impeccable and effortless sense of style. I sometimes have on socks that don't match. Jackie is a thoughtful planner. I have vegetables growing in my garden that I definitely didn't plant there. Not sure what to make of that. And we've learned that these unique traits make us a great team - Jackie keeps us on track, and I, let's say… keep things interesting!
You see, I'm always coming up with great ideas. And once I come up with a great idea, I'm inclined to act on it! But it turns out that not all my "great ideas" are actually great ideas. And in the past, I just had to find that out the hard way. But one of Jackie's talents (among many) is that she can see into the future! She's able to tell me when one of my great ideas is actually a terrible idea. And that has saved me from disaster more times than I can remember.
I grew up doing all kinds of outdoor sports. But at some point along the way, I got so mired in work that I hardly made it outside anymore. Jackie, meanwhile, has been busy leveling up her talents and has picked up mountain biking, cross-country skiing, and fishing since moving to Reno. Her adventurous personality has given me the opportunity to reconnect with all these activities that I loved so much in the past. And now we do all these things together.
We first met five years ago while climbing at the gym in Reno, NV. Both of us were new in town, having just moved from the Bay Area and working remotely in tech. It was the height of the pandemic then - November 2020 - so we were masked up, hand sanitizer at the ready, but we still managed to make a connection through all the layers.
Since then, we have shared adventures around Lake Tahoe and the Eastern Sierra, up and down the entire West Coast, through Minnesota (where I'm from), and across the globe to Mexico, Colombia, Taiwan, and Korea. Every trip has been an adventure where Jackie's attention to detail ensures our success in whatever we're doing and my, let's say… lack thereof guarantees a healthy dose of the unexpected. Next up: snowboarding in Japan in February 2026.
Now, five years later, we have fully settled in Reno, complete with a flock of chickens and a garden full of surprises. Reno has been a great home base for all of the adventures we've shared together. Come visit us in the biggest little city in the world sometime!
