I found my old Audiovox XV6600 Pocket PC in storage a few weeks ago and have been trying to get it back in working order. As you can imagine, the original battery had ballooned after 15 years in a box, but after a quick eBay adventure I was able to...
This webbed site now supports dark mode!
I revived my old Linksys WRT54G the other day. With a little help from dd-wrt, I powered my home network with it nearly 20 years ago, but thanks to improvements in wireless speeds eventually retired it to the ‘ole “boxed hoard of cable and gadgets.” Not being one to let...
About two years ago, just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside down, my grandmother passed away.
I finally installed LineageOS on my old Nexus 5x. I’m not entirely sure why I did it, seeing as Lineage dropped support for the 5x over a year ago, but the simple act of deGoogling one of the most Googley of the Googled devices I have felt surprisingly cathartic. Sometimes...
Years ago, before Google and I stopped seeing eye-to-eye, I bought an Asus Chromebook C100P. It’s a great, cheap little machine with mediocre specs and decent battery life that was good for browsing the web and not much else. I had originally intended to get a lightweight laptop for writing...
I started listening to Andy Weir’s “Project Hail Mary” audiobook today, and I have to say that Ray Porter is the single-best audiobook narrator in the business. The guy brings so much personality to his work that there is a marked difference between reading a book yourself and listening to...
I’ve been experimenting with offline-first technology lately. Typewriters, cassette decks, Game Boys… I like single-purpose tools that can’t distract, divert, or otherwise take my attention away from what I am doing – seriously, why the hell does a fridge need an internet connection?
Popped into the thrift store today, just to see what I could find. I like looking for new VHS movies to import or older technology I can rescue, but today… I stumbled upon a treasure trove of semi-modern gadgets for a tenth what they would cost on eBay. For myself,...
Anyone remember Gopher? It was an old alternative to the World Wide Web that was largely text-based (see: awesome). Over the last few years, computerists (computerers?) more adventurous than myself have been flocking back to Gopher in droves—relatively speaking. I think that most people can agree that the World Wide...
Posted on August 12, 2021
career
So I’m starting a new job, and for the first time in what feels like an eternity, I am very excited! While I learned a lot about managing people at Liqid, and how to thrive in a high-growth startup at Automox before it, I have an opportunity to go back...
I have a weird appreciation for “upgrading” old (see: obsolete) technology. I don’t know what, exactly, but there’s just something completely satisfying about surfing the wave between the past and the present. In one sense, finding ways to extend the life-span of aging tech is exciting; but, in a completely...
Like many technologists out there (see: nerds), I have an inordinate amount of obsolete technology that I can’t seem to make use of, nor part ways with. The thought of trashing perfectly good gadgets is a painful one, and not the least bit unsustainable. There are enough old smartphones and...
This last spring, my daughter expressed an interest in learning about computers—how they work, how to use them, what they’re made of. A lifelong computer geek myself, I jumped at the opportunity to bond with her over something that I have always been passionate about. I suggested that we build...
There’s been a lot of buzz lately about GitHub Copilot mostly as it pertains to code quality and copyright law. For the most part, I appreciate Copilot’s suggestions, but just like with Stack Overflow before it, I know better than to blindly accept code without reviewing it. That said, it’s...
Last year, right near the beginning of the pandemic, my family and I started enjoying going on drives. Nothing was open, so there wasn’t really anywhere to go, but we have the benefit of living in an area with a lot of nature to take in. While we occasionally parked...
“There is a limit to the time assigned to you, and if you don’t use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.” — Marcus Aurelius
I’m not much of a morning person. I like the concept of mornings, “a new day filled with new opportunities,” but as a sleep-deprived parent working too many jobs I have a habit of starting my day in all the wrong ways. Why do things the right way when doing...
This is a collection of thoughts that started formulating in my head towards the end of the last year. With everything that has happened recently—global pandemic, political violence, racial injustice, tiger king—I’ve been feeling a fair amount of anxiety over the world we are leaving for our children.
