joeygaffney

Pokémon Vegas Regionals 2025

With the 2026 season kicking off for competitive Pokémon it was clear from the start that reaching an invite is a lofty goal. My favorite tournament, Vancouver Regionals, has been cut from the circuit and Regionals on the west coast in general are few and far between. I’m also busy this year with my weddingContinue reading “Pokémon Vegas Regionals 2025”

2024-2025 Season Review

With this new season some big changes were brought in for the invite structure to the World Championships. Instead of a 600 point threshold they switched to a Top X structure on the leaderboard. For the Masters division in North America, this would be the top 125 ranked players in points. This seems daunting givenContinue reading “2024-2025 Season Review”

My Dad

My dad always had the answers to everything. When I was young he taught me to read. I asked him how to pronounce different words and what they meant. He was very good with words. I used to ask him to do work puzzles for me whenever I couldn’t figure them out. He could solveContinue reading “My Dad”

2023-2024 Pokémon Season Review

In the 2022-2023 season, I bombed in Toronto, Vancouver, Portland, and NAIC. I didn’t make day 2 in any of those events and definitely felt like my play was sloppy. I still traveled to Worlds because it has always been a dream of mine to attend Worlds in Japan. However, while at the venue IContinue reading “2023-2024 Pokémon Season Review”

Deck List HOF

Here are the lists that I have played to some success at tournaments throughout my career. I will try to include some insights as well. It will be sorted from most recent. 2024-2025 Season This season they changed the invite structure to only award invites to the top 125 players in North America as opposedContinue reading “Deck List HOF”

the world’s best hand

I have been working at Sanctuary AI for a while, and one of the projects that I have had the absolute pleasure of being involved with is what I believe are the world’s best pair of robotic hands. If you haven’t already seen it, the video below is a good demonstration of the hardware capabilityContinue reading “the world’s best hand”

The Rarest Pokémon Card You’ve Never Heard Of

The Pokémon Trading Card Game has been around since 1996. Since then, over 43.2 billion cards have been sold worldwide. You may have heard of some rare ones like the 1st edition PSA 10 Shadowless Base Set Charizard that sold for $420,000 USD last March (2022). If you’re truly in the know then you mightContinue reading “The Rarest Pokémon Card You’ve Never Heard Of”

science world: robotics instructor

In Vancouver, Science World is one of the local landmarks that makes up the city scape. It is the big dome in the sky that everyone points at when they ride the Skytrain from Main Street to Stadium Chinatown. It is also the hub of science communication and outreach education in British Columbia. In myContinue reading “science world: robotics instructor”

is engineering physics worth it?

I just finished a degree that took SIX YEARS. High school isn’t even six years! And it wasn’t smooth sailing either, at times I had to take up to seven courses in a term. But I’m finally finished and upon reflection there’s just one question to answer: was it all worth it? To answer this,Continue reading “is engineering physics worth it?”

Fighting Cancer with Algorithms

For my second capstone project at UBC, I had the absolute pleasure of working with Dr. Hal Clark of BC Cancer Agency in order to develop methods for medical image registration to enhance cancer treatment plans. You can find his website here. The main problem that we wanted to address is obtaining useful scans forContinue reading “Fighting Cancer with Algorithms”