Posts in 2023

Analog Versus Digital

Over the last several months I've been trying to decide how I want to keep my notes and my journals. I've gone back and forth between using a notes app and a moleskine notebook.

Tackling My Podcast Queue

As I write this, my podcast queue is sitting at 1,136 episodes. Wowzers! If I listen to every episode in its entirety at normal speed would take almost 40 days. I might have a problem, and I think I need to come up with a way to help tackle this.

Reading Log - September 25, 2023 (#45)

This week is a little podcast heavy since I'm trying to bring down my podcast queue. Also, NASA successfully returns from an asteroid.

My Blogging Workflow

Since my plan to start writing more will undoubtedly cause more posts on my blog, I figured I'd write down my general workflow on how I go about writing some of my more in-depth blog posts. It might sound familiar, but thought it might help someone who might be starting out.

The Strange Inability to Finish a Project

I'm sure I'm not the only one, but I seem to be unable to finish a project. I have a handful side projects I've been puttering around with, but haven't been able to see them through to completion.

Writing Everyday

Recently I started reading Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman. It’s a collection of short stories he’s written. At the beginning, he went through all the stories and briefly touched on each one of them. On one of them he described an interaction between a friend of his, and Ray Bradbury, author of Farenheit 451 among others. One line stood out to me.

Reading Log - September 18, 2023 (#44)

This week I read about how mistakes made in 1999 are still relevant today, .NET 8 RC1 being released, and the never-ending scam that is public funding for sports stadiums.

Summer is Fading

Summer here in the Northeast USA is winding down and I couldn't be happier.

Reading Log - September 11, 2023 (#43)

This week we look at privacy nightmares in new cars, updates to security in .NET, email development being awful, and more.

August 2023 Check-In

August was a mostly uneventful month, which seems to be par for the course for me. I'm good with that though, I like being able to take it easy...especially with this heat.

Integrating Notion into my Site

Over the course of the last few weeks I’ve been revising how several of my pages get their data. Instead of having to manually edit a JSON file that’s in my code base, I’ve been pulling from Notion’s API. The benefit of this is that it’ll be easier to update the pages. I figure I’ll show how I did it in hopes of helping others.

Added Book Notes

You might have noticed that I added a new section to my page called “Book Notes”, and RSS subscribers might have noticed the same thing. Inspired by a Mastodon post by Matthias Ott, I decided to add something more than quick notes on the books I read.

Reading Log - September 4, 2023 (#42)

This week I finally read a great profile on Mike Masnick, the founder of TechDirt, NASA being concerned with its ability to maintain its Deep Space Network, more reasons to just build your sites, and more.

Reading Log - August 28, 2023 (#41)

This week includes hacking through social engineering, coffee and sleep, a classic Star Wars game, and more.

Digging Into Astro

Over the last week and a half, I've been starting to play around with Astro again. I had built a good bit of my site in it a while back, but then decided just to re-jigger my Next.js site. Reading and listening to some podcasts has brought me back to starting over.

Reading Log - August 18, 2023 (#40)

Hey there, this week I read about the question of if a "Regular Joe" could get a hit in the major leagues, more .NET 8 news, NYT and ChatGPT, and more.

Integrating with Notion's API Using .NET

Over the last year, I’ve been posting my weekly reading log. This is my list of articles and various things on the Internet I’ve read that I found particularly interesting or helpful. The way I’ve started to manage them is through a Notion database.

Reading Log - August 4, 2023 (#38)

This week we look at the danger of KOSA, a new dark matter telescope, and the dangers of climate change.

July 2023 Check-In

July was a scorcher. I know we had it lucky compared to other areas of the world, but I don’t do well in the heat so the constant 90º weather was not pleasant for me.

Digging Into Blazor - Setting Up Custom Authentication

One of the things I wanted to integrate with this project was user accounts. I am not sure that I really need it since I’m not really intending to release my card collection app as a full fledged website for the masses. But I still wanted to add it in if for no other reason than to learn.

Reading Log - July 28, 2023 (#37)

A little light this week, but I've read about a new horrible law being pushed through U.S. Congress that could ruin the internet, Google supporting some bad DRM policies and more.

Reading and Watching Notes

Lately I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction and have been watching some documentaries like The Roosevelts. I’ve found them to be incredibly interesting, but also very much in depth with a lot of information to digest. Sometimes it feels like I’m back in middle school, but I’ve started to take notes on what I’ve been reading and watching.

Reading Log - July 21, 2023 (#36)

It’s another double issue as I was away in Maryland last weekend. Lots of stuff in here from many classic games being no longer available, new C# & .NET features, some CSS tricks, and an unfortunate outcome in the FTC vs. Microsoft case regarding their acquisition of Activision.

Reading Log - July 7, 2023 (#35)

A Lot of software development links this week as well as a history of the fall of Google Reader and more.

June 2023 Check-In

Half the year is over. This month also had me surviving another trip around the sun.

Reading Log - June 30, 2023 (#34)

Got a lot this week. The NHL and Paramount+ make very poor decisions, some CSS & dev tool tips, Meta's possibly joining ActivityPub and more.

Gary Bettman and the NHL are Cowards

Last year, the hubbub started when Flyers (my team sadly) defenseman Ivan Provorov decided to not skate warmups wearing the Flyers pride night jersey. Of the 20 active skaters and goalies, he was the only person to not be out there on the ice, and in the pride jersey. This week, the NHL & Gary Bettman gave into the anti-LGBT hate and said that teams will not wear specialty jerseys for warmups in the 2023-24 season.

Reading Log - June 23, 2023 (#33)

Two weeks worth of articles this week as I was in New York City last weekend. This log has a bunch of news out of the Microsoft-Activision acquisition, Reddit following the path of Twitter, and more.

It's Easy to Fall Off the Train

I’ve been pretty good with my fitness to start the year. For the first 3 months of the year I worked out in some fashion just about every day. Then I tweaked my hip flexor and it came crashing down.

Goodbye Reddit!

Well, it’s official...I deleted my two Reddit accounts.

Reading Log - June 2, 2023 (#31)

A little light this week, but some changes to the Reddit API look to be coming, AI might not be the job killer many seem to think it is and more.

May Check-In

May was a bit of a frustrating month, but I can’t fully point my finger at why exactly. I ended up tweaking a muscle early in the month that limited my physical activities, but not much else really jumps out at me as to why the month felt off.

Reading Log - May 26, 2023 (#30)

Wow, 30 issues now of my reading log in its current format! This week I read about Instagram joining the fediverse, Google’s AMP disaster, the importance of core functionality working without JavaScript, and more.

10 Years of Playing Hockey

It was 10 years ago when I ended up starting to play ice hockey. I had tried playing baseball again but ended up hurting my shoulder so I opted for trying something new.

Ian W. Toll's Pacific War Trilogy

Over the course of the last month, I’ve been reading a three book series written by Ian W. Toll on the history of World War II in the Pacific. I’m currently on the second book and I can’t recommend it enough.

Reading Log - May 19, 2023 (#29)

I’ve finally started going through all my RSS feeds, so there’s a lot to this week’s log. The topics are all over the place from the IRS doing what it should have done from the beginning, to a boneheaded decision to add some new top level domains, to the US Supreme Court saving Section 230.

Reading Log - May 12, 2023 (#28)

This week I look at a new game that helps illuminate what the content moderators of sites like Twitter, Facebook and Reddit have to deal with. I’ve also read about writing better CSS, Bookshop.org’s rise, return to office shenanigans and more.

Reading Log - May 5, 2023 (#27)

Between a weekend trip and my site update, this has been 3 weeks in the making. This log we look at the passing of a folk legend, Microsoft reverting to its old ways, Microsoft facing a hurdle in its Activision acquisition, some chatty parrots, and more.

Calming Down After Hockey

I enjoy playing hockey and will often play as much as 3 nights a week. Being an adult, I’m stuck with the late ice times so the kiddos can be home and in bed. This means that I’m often not starting games until 10:00 to 10:30pm some nights. This means that I’m not home until midnight some nights. Add in the rush of adrenaline from playing and it’s not a fun combo. I’ve started to settle into a good habit though.

April Check-In

April wasn’t a bad month. I was productive and was able to finish the month with a well deserved long weekend vacation.

Some Site & Design Updates

Over the course of the last month or so, I’ve been tweaking the design of my site. You might have noticed the changes to the look and the feel.

Libby and Libraries

As a kid, I loved it when my parents took me to the library. I read often and loved checking out books to read. As an adult it’s no different.

Reading Log - April 14, 2023 (#26)

This week a lot of details were announced about .NET 8 and C# 12. Also included is NPR leaving Twitter, Uber screwing drivers, and the power of libraries.

Reading Log - April 7, 2023 (#25)

NASA makes a big announcement about Artemis II, rumors about Apple’s USB-C iPhone, Twitter being Twitter, and more.

March Check-In

March wasn't a particularly bad month, had a wedding a whiskey dinner.

Handling an Unruly Podcast Queue

Right now, I am currently subscribed to 170 podcasts. And while I don't necessarily listen to every episode of every podcast I subscribe to, it does lead to my podcast queue to become rather unruly.

Digging Into Blazor - First Impressions

I've been hearing a lot of good things about Blazor for a while now and as a .NET developer I figured it was time for me to see what the fuss was about.

February Check-In

Two months in and the year has been going relatively well. Bummed the Eagles couldn't pull off a Super Bowl win, but no complaints otherwise.

Separating Reading Logs

I just moved my reading logs into their own page and unfortunately I'm dealing with a few side effects caused by it.

Reading Log - February 17, 2023 (#19)

CSS is finally getting a killer feature, Elon is being Elon & the Supreme Court hears an important Internet case.

Luck

I forget what I was reading, but there was a line in it about luck that stuck with me.

January Check-In

It seems like a new year just started and already we're one month in...

Reading Log - February 3, 2023 (#17)

This week we look at the next version of TypeScript, the new version of EntityFramework, a big acquisition at Netlify and more.

Reading Log - January 27, 2023 (#16)

A lot of CSS related posts this week. Also, Astro v2.0 was released this week. I've been toying with building something in it, and it looks like it's added a bunch of good stuff. And one of my favorite games as a kid has been re-launched on the Xbox and the Switch!

Reading Log - January 13, 2023 (#14)

A little light this week. Identity thieves targeted a credit reporting agency, a look at the podcasting market, and more.

Books I Read in 2022

While I didn't quite hit my 2022 goal of 30 books, I did manage to read 20 books.

2022 Retrospective

Well, 2022 is now over and done with, and I don't feel like much has changed.

December Check-In

December was a quiet month, but I feel like I spent the better part of it dealing with colds.