Automation on Og Maciel's Journal

From LAMP Stacks to Large Language Models

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

According to the whois command, I’ve owned the domain ogmaciel.com since January 21, 2001, and I believe it was the very first domain I ever bought. Since then, I’ve purchased multiple domains for all sorts of ideas and projects, but this one I’ve kept — and renewed faithfully — since day one.

Over the years, I’ve self-hosted (cutting my teeth on Linux by building and maintaining LAMP stacks) and used paid hosting services to run my personal blog. I used WordPress back when it was the coolest blogging platform out there, and I’ve hand-crafted HTML sites — and everything in between. I wrote prolifically about anything and everything for many years, and I’ve lost more posts than I care to admit as I switched platforms (and occasionally forgot to back things up).

Writing a Book: Check!

Thu, 23 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Growing up my dad used to tell me that there are three important milestones on a man’s life (though I feel that the same could be said about any gender):

Plant a tree
Have a child
Write a book

Through my life, I have planted quite a few trees, including a lemon and papaya tree I used to treat as my imaginary friends :)

I have also had the highest honor to be the father to three amazing girls!

Software Quality Engineering: Tales From The Trenches

Tue, 14 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

First of all, I have to say that I absolutely love being a Quality Engineer, something that I have been doing for a living for the last 11 years of my life! During these 11 years, I have had the pleasure (yes, pleasure!) of being tossed around, torn to pieces and thrown at a lot of scary and difficult situations in the world of software testing!

Armed only with a strong desire to learn and excel at my profession, I have seen, heard and gone through a multitude of experiences, challenges, and opportunities. Have I ever been scared shitless or doubted my decision to become a Quality Engineer? Heck yeah! Have I ever felt like the dumbest person in the companies I have worked on? The answer to that question is a resounding “yes!” Have I ever cried? You can bet your bottom dollar I have!