Category: sign on

The vestiges of Autumn are beginning to reveal themselves here in South Texas and if you are unfamiliar with Fall here, then you are missing out. It’s the most beautiful season here in my opinion outside of a small 2-3 week window when Winter turns to Spring. I plan to capture some pictures this year to catalog here for anyone who might be reading, but more-so for when I get old and start forgetting things.

Currently Reading: The Thran by Robert J. King (Magic: The Gathering Novel). I was recently introduced to the Magic: The Gathering card game by a dear friend, and my lust for expansive lore immediately kicked into gear. I had a blast playing my first rounds, and have carried that excitement from the weekend into my weekly reading. It’s been nice to disconnect from the noise for a bit with some light sword and sorcery.

Currently Listening:

Currently Working On: A large thought exercise and trying to put most of it on paper. The muck and the mire of what is going on politically and geopolitically, as well as some of the metaphysical properties of human behavior involved, have gotten me wondering about our potential as a species in general. I intend to share what I uncover here in the coming days.

Until then, take care of one another. Be nice. Go outside and talk to humans.

Good afternoon from South Texas. The weather outside is what we consider “beautiful” here – lows in the 70s to start the day, highs in the 90s. Autumn is knocking on the door and I am so keen to let it in. Not in the least bit because it’s my favorite season, but because of what happens to the mood in my environment. Yes, we can finally go outside, but also, people are hopeful for the future. We get to wear comfortable clothing. And the soup – my god, the soup.

On a side note, I’m watching in horror as the proliferation of agentic generative AI is already doing what everyone with a working brain thought it would: exposing more supply chains to a larger attack surface.

Don’t get me wrong – the technologist in me is excited that we continue to try and push the boundaries of what is possible as a an intelligent society. But for the love of all that’s decent, I asked ChatGPT to recommend me a book that fit a very specific aesthetic, and it recommended me one of the most boring books I’ve ever read. In fact, I’m adding it to the DNF pile today after having plodded through the first 120 pages over the past week. If GenAI can’t tell me what Google pre-AI used to be help me infer myself, then why would anyone let it make decisions for a business with unfettered access to it’s CRM?

I’m three cups of coffee in and I’ve got lots to do. Will check in later. Enjoy this mix in the meantime:

Yes, I am alive. The past few months have been a blur, but I held on tight and made it through to the other side with a bit more hope and a success or two to tout.

Though things have been busy, I’ve still had time to ruminate on a few things, which I will share here as time permits. Altogether though, the world feels much different than it did two months ago.

Here is an album that I’ve absolutely devoured over and over in my absence. Best listened to outside with headphones and a beverage.

With love, of course.

It’s been a little while. I’ve no real excuse for why that is. However I will say that the amount of doomscrolling I’ve been doing the past two weeks is in direct correlation with my lack of posting here.

What’s happening in Los Angeles is altogether alarming and unsurprising. It’s also very distracting. I’m having a hard time keeping focus throughout the day because I feel as though I must refresh the feeds to see how it is escalating. Do not do this. You will get sick.

Outside of that, it is also the end of the fiscal year at my day job and, given the nature of my work, that means there is lots to do and very little time to do it.

The looming question at the top of my mind today: how do I empty? How do I get the fuzz out of my head so I can make way for clearer thought?

We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. – Lao Tzu

One of the authors I follow in the blogosphere talks a lot about filling notebooks. Maybe this is how.

Enjoy this photo of my city, and remember how beautiful life is regardless of what the news tells you.

Been doing lots around the house. Thinking lots about the latest white paper on Google’s AlphaEvolve, which I’ll write some thoughts on later. Trying to be present. Still staying far away from social media. Happy.

Greeted by a balmy Tuesday morning and 6 hours of sleep, I decided to forego watering the grass and slip right into an espresso and some light reading about firewall control planes. It’s been daunting to get back into the swing of things since coming back from the beach. The trip was altogether too short and loads of fun. The little one unlocked a few core memories which was the whole point anyway.

Something that always happens to me during these getaways which I think is probably also the point of a vacation is that I find a moment of clarity. It usually happens when I’m not looking out for it and usually it hits me in the most unexpected places. This time it was while I was waiting in line for a coffee and some gelato.

Throughout my time on Earth I’ve spent a good bit of effort in resistentia to the things happening around me. It’s hard to explain but when I tried to my therapist some time ago I think I framed it as the feeling of a constant whirring of a buzzsaw in my head — my proverbial Matthew-esque “gnashing of teeth”. This feeling kept me in a constant state of fight or flight (spoiler alert: I fight), significantly affecting how I handled my emotions and eventually manifesting physically as a constant tightening in my throat.

But standing in line at that coffee shop I came to the realization that those outside stimuli only act in accordance to the natural order of my environment and to constantly be in passive opposition of those things is to exist in a constant state of stress and anxiety. I determined that from that point forward, I would focus on acting in alignment with that natural order. Some folks might say going with the flow. A very Daoist principal to be sure.

And you know what? It’s working.

Stay off of social media. Talk to your friends and family. Practice effortless action. And, yes, drink lots of water.

Yesterday was an absolute blur. Lots got done, but don’t ask me how or when. I looked up and it was 6pm and I was exhausted.

Tomorrow I will head to the beach with the family for a bit of a recharge. I’m actually very excited to take my daughter on her maiden voyage somewhere farther out than 100 miles or so.

Today will be a day of wrapping things up or getting them to a state of manageability that will allow me to get away without anything exploding.

I’ve been filling notebooks this week, but with all of the wrong kind of notes. This made me come to the realization that I know how to use my brain and how to logically process information, but I don’t know how to think. Will use some of my time away to explore how I can unlock some introspection.

Any other remaining time will be dedicated to finishing up The Three-Body Problem and listening to this:

Enjoy one another. I’ll see you on Monday, reader.

Good morning from South Texas. I’ve limited myself to two coffees this morning because I drink entirely too much of the stuff and I am entirely convinced that the acidity is having an effect, albeit indirect, on how swollen my stomach feels most of the day. Going to have a tea later this afternoon to see how I feel tomorrow.

Inbox at zero. To-do list at five large items.

Three quarters of the way through The Three Body Problem. Many thoughts, which I will write later. All in all, I am enjoying it and it’s sparked some curiosity in me about different concepts, but mostly it got me thinking about the differences in Newtonian physics and quantum physics, and now I can’t stop trying to understand concepts that I never thought I would.

Going to table that hyper-fixation until after work. Diving in.