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Notes on building, systems, and figuring things out in public.

Latest

18
Oct
Every Rule Has a Scar

Every Rule Has a Scar

The rules file is for how to work. Everything else has a home, and putting it in the wrong one is how a rules file turns into a junk drawer.
5 min read
11
Oct
The VM That Never Sleeps

The VM That Never Sleeps

Last year I wrote a whole post about letting a jump box kill itself, because I couldn't be trusted to shut it down. The agents clean up exactly as well as I did. Same answer: don't ask, enforce.
5 min read
04
Oct
The Only One in the Room

The Only One in the Room

I've been the only technology person in the room for most of my career, and I never learned to write software. This year I built an environment where AI agents do most of the development, plus the rails that keep them from doing damage. This is the record, not a victory lap.
5 min read
01
Mar
I Gave Up Too Early. The Problem Was One Line.

I Gave Up Too Early. The Problem Was One Line.

Three months of Google Analytics on a blog I built to avoid Google Analytics. The problem was one Caddy directive. I stopped looking too soon.
2 min read
03
Jan
A Fastmail migration that turned into an unexpected audit of identity.

Untangling Email (and a few other things)

A five-hour evening spent untangling email, contacts, and identity. What started as a Fastmail migration turned into a reckoning with legacy systems, quiet dependencies, and the parts of my digital life I was finally ready to let go.
4 min read
01
Jan
Buying a Laptop Shouldn’t Be This Hard

Buying a Laptop Shouldn’t Be This Hard

I argued with myself for months over a decision that should’ve taken an afternoon. This isn’t about specs — it’s about letting go of an old identity and choosing a tool that stays out of the way.
5 min read
31
Dec
What I learned the hard way about cost, impatience, and building guardrails for myself—written as a snapshot, not a guide.

Letting a Jump Box Kill Itself

I wanted an ops host I could start when I needed it and forget about when I didn’t. What I built instead was a jump box that shuts itself off when I stop paying attention—and taught me more about cost, discipline, and designing for human failure than I expected.
3 min read
25
Dec
Transformation Without Narrative Is Easy to Erase

Transformation Without Narrative Is Easy to Erase

When nothing breaks, no one notices. This is about the quiet failure mode that follows successful transformation—and how narrative preserves continuity.
1 min read
24
Dec
Mermaid, as it turns out, is less about drawing pictures and more about admitting how things relate.

I Didn’t Set Out to Learn Mermaid. It Just Kept Showing Up.

A reflection on how diagramming crept into my work—not as a goal, but as a way to think more clearly about systems and decisions.
4 min read
23
Dec
Standing Up a Control Plane

Standing Up a Control Plane

What I learned the hard way about control planes, SSH, and trust—written as a snapshot of real decisions, not a step-by-step guide.
3 min read