Blinded by My Refrigerator; My Mom's Silver Service

Why does my refrigerator blind me every time I open it, sun or pre-dawn dark? A small rant about obvious missing features, my endless war against owning too much, and how S accidentally donating my mom's silver service years ago turned out to be a strange relief.

The Lime Wire Sardine Can

At Lime Wire in SoHo, the spacious developer pod gave way to a shiny new sardine can of an office, which never benefits the rank-and-file. Then they lost the giant lawsuit and the whole thing vanished. Now I see the name resurfacing online and wonder who bought it.

Don't Give Up and Get Fat

I stepped out of the car at a kid's birthday party and my first thought was how many very heavy people were there, probably just a representative sample of the country. A reflection on living in a bubble of fit retirees, and a plea: do what it takes to not give up and get fat.

Elgato Stream Deck for Workouts?

I've wanted an Elgato Stream Deck for years without a justification. Now, chasing three workouts a week, I'm imagining a button per exercise to track reps and sets with live web stats. I still haven't pulled the trigger, but the idea is awfully tempting.

Park Friends

At the park getting work done while J angles to play with a friend who shows up. The friend only wants to play Agents, and after a standoff she walks away until J caves. Perfect, that's all I needed to hear. I call N manipulative; my wife is happy to keep her as a park friend.

Sunday Traffic

Easter approaches and I'm braced for epic traffic past the mega church on our route. Instead, nothing. My wife's theory: they probably had a Palm Friday service and called it good for the week. When these places close on Christmas Sunday, you know they've lost the plot.

Death by Boomer

In our tiny rural grocery store parking lot, someone tries to kill us nearly every trip: cars backing out blind, a driver blowing through a crosswalk and stop sign without a glance. A meditation on unaware drivers, high-trust societies, and doing the right thing because it is right.

The Value of Field Testing

All my home testing said the bike-camping rig was golden. Then I hit the first uphill out of the parking lot and the front tire lost all traction under the rear load, leaving me unable to steer. A lesson in why field testing beats neighborhood laps every time.

Free Hymns

Wanting good recorded hymns for the drive to church, I asked Grok, which pointed me to public domain choir recordings on Archive.org via LibriVox. I picked an album-like-thing and downloaded the first one. It is literally people speaking the words of the hymns. What in the world.

Programming Triumphs

An interview question I love to ask: tell me about a favorite programming triumph. Mine are all personal projects, like the C program that impersonated an iTunes server, or decoding an AM station in software to badly duplicate a $5 radio. Why can so few programmers talk my ear off about this?