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

Latest

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
23
Dec
I Didn’t Break Git. Git Broke My Brain.

I Didn’t Break Git. Git Broke My Brain.

A small failure that exposed a bigger assumption about tools, context, and how easily mental models can drift.
2 min read
23
Dec
Standing Up This Site

Standing Up This Site

Notes on choosing boring tools on purpose, standing up this site, and creating a place that prioritizes clarity over cleverness.
2 min read
23
Dec
Another Corner of the Internet

Another Corner of the Internet

A quiet reflection on why this site exists, what it’s for, and what kind of writing I intend to do here.
3 min read