Substack on Og Maciel's Journal

Binge-Watching The Other Bennet Sister

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Binge-Watching The Other Bennet Sister

How a show about the most overlooked Bennet sister became my feel-good obsession of the week

I think it was this past Thursday evening, during the time I had been trying to establish as a new family game night tradition, but that recently fell by the wayside, that my oldest daughter asked me to call my oldest sister to see if we could use her BritBox account. She had watched the first episode of The Other Bennet Sister, a freebie from one of the many streaming services out there, and she liked it so much that she wanted to watch the remaining nine episodes of the series.

Uncle Bau

Mon, 07 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Uncle Bau

On my Uncle Bau, and the bonds that survive even when the visits don’t.

By Raphael Toledo - Own work, Public Domain

Right before I turned 10, most likely around the age of 8, still living in the old country, my family took a trip to the shore so we could visit our relatives, which is something we tried to do maybe every two years or so. It was an opportunity to see my cousins, uncles and aunts, and grandparents, and it was mostly a great time for me. That specific trip was a bit more memorable than the previous ones, maybe not only because I had been much younger the previous times to remember much, but because it was the first time I had ever seen and played a video game.

Lend Me Your Ears

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Lend Me Your Ears

A long-overdue update on the whole household, prompted by a friend’s

A friend from work sent me a long message yesterday on Slack to give me an update about all things. Even though we’ve known each other for maybe two years now, there are still things about his life that I don’t quite know well enough. That is not to say that I don’t care, or that he doesn’t trust me with personal things — it’s just a normal part of having friends who are also our teammates. In this specific case, this person used to report to me, so I guess the whole manager-versus-associate relationship may have also played a role. He’s also very quiet and keeps his personal life to himself, but has slowly shared some things with me and our teammates.

Where’s My Saddle?

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Where’s My Saddle?

A conversation about AI, engineering axioms, and why “throw more people at it” was always a myth

Photo by Roger van de Kimmenade on Unsplash

Today I had a really great chat with a coworker and friend I’ll call John, just to protect his identity. John and I met, I want to say, more than seven years ago — I believe the first time we actually talked was when he was interviewing for a position on one of my teams. I was very impressed by his work ethic, his intelligence, and the fact that he seemed like one of those serious, analytical people. He struck me as a software engineer who wasn’t just good at what he did, but genuinely steeped in the technology — someone who could talk your ear off about why certain programming languages were better than others, or different coding paradigms, or why one code structure beat another.

Shield Fatigue, Part Two

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Shield Fatigue, Part Two

Not Empathy Fatigue

Photo by Anna Saveleva on Unsplash

The other day, I wrote a note about coming up with a term to describe some of what I’ve been feeling at work. That term was Shield Fatigue. In that note, I promised I’d come back with more — especially since I was still digesting the fact that I’d finally found a word, a label, that helped explain something a lot of people I’ve talked to could sense but couldn’t quite put their finger on.

The Oinking Incident

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Oinking Incident

A summer memory involving a Mazda, a cop, and a sound no one saw coming

Photo by Szymonek Pograniczny on Unsplash

It was the late ‘90s and longtime readers of “Life in Rough Draft” might remember me mentioning, a while back, that one particular friend from my teenage years was a heavy influence on one of the characters in my novel I.C.Q. I’ve never used his real name in that note, and I’m not going to start now — so from here on, I’ll call him by that character’s name: Barret.

Not Yet

Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Not Yet

On sleep schedules, my sister’s terrifying morning energy, and the house I’m not ready for

Photo by Belov Sergey on Unsplash

My oldest sister and her family are visiting from New Jersey this week, and this morning she showed up alone, bright and early, for a cup of coffee. She and my wife were on their way to spend the day organizing my wife’s classroom before the new school year starts. I say “bright” not necessarily because it was already bright outside, but because I have yet to meet anyone who wakes up as full of energy and as perky as she does. I know this because she calls me almost every morning as she commutes to work, and I get to hear her greeting her teammates when she arrives. I joke with my wife that my sister’s coworkers must either love her for the energy she brings that early in the morning, or absolutely hate her. :)

Swedish Meatballs

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Swedish Meatballs

A weekend in Charlotte, and the question I still can’t answer.

Qamaria Yemeni cafe

My oldest daughter needed a new bed and mattress for her room, and since we all needed a few things for the house—including a replacement for our slightly overused couch—we decided to make the yearly pilgrimage to Ikea for a good dose of Swedish meatballs (which have gotten pricier since our last visit) and some decoration ideas. The fact that my wife wanted to see a few things at UNC Charlotte sealed the plan: we’d spend the weekend and make a family trip out of it.

Eighty Letters

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Eighty Letters

On firstborns, hard-earned lessons, and watching your kid walk your own road

Photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash

There’s a saying I only became aware of when our first child was born: that the firstborn of any family is highly likely to resemble one or both of their parents. Most often the saying is meant to be about physical appearance—how they share similar traits and features with their parents—but the version I’m most familiar with is that “every firstborn daughter resembles her father,” also in temperament and behavior.

Living in Notes

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Living in Notes

Why most of my writing lately has skipped your inbox

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

If you’ve noticed fewer emails from me lately, there’s a reason: I’ve been living in Notes.

For the last little while, most of what I’ve written has landed there instead of here in your inbox. And I’ll be honest about why. Notes feel liberating in a way a full post doesn’t. I can catch whatever happens to be crossing my mind — a memory, a small mishap, a song I’d forgotten I loved — and just put it down, without turning it into an event. No subject line, no “new post” fanfare, no feeling that I’m knocking on your door yet again.

More Than Words

Sat, 04 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

More Than Words

My own declaration of independence didn’t come on a Fourth of July — it came on an ordinary November afternoon

Hanging out with friends of different nationalities (circa 1993)

Now that school is finally over and summer has officially started, my family and I took our yearly trip—almost a tradition by now—of spending the first day of summer at the beach, usually somewhere in North Carolina. Mostly because it’s a short drive from home, and it spares us hours stuck in traffic just to reach a place that’s bound to be crowded anyway.

What I've Been Up To

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What I’ve Been Up To

52th Birthday Edition

Photo by Liana Mikah on Unsplash

The title for this post was shamelessly “borrowed” from Neal Stephenson’s, though my subtitle is at least 14 years younger than his :)

For the first couple of months of 2026, I felt like I had a solid plan for how I wanted to manage my personal time, with a heavy bias toward the gym, toward writing more often—even when it wasn’t one of my THREE in-flight scripts or a Substack post—toward learning Latin, and toward studying and practicing chess. On top of that were the things that still mean a lot to me: reading, a weekly date night with my wife, and time set aside to play games with my daughters. Scrabble is still the family favorite, though we’ve added a few new ones to the rotation.

Reorganization Fatigue

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Reorganization Fatigue

A few thoughts on change that never seems to settle

Photo by Orgalux on Unsplash

I can’t believe it is June already, and if you’ve spent any real time in software engineering, you probably know the word that tends to surface around this time of year: reorganization. It’s the season when entire groups—sometimes entire organizations—get put through the wringer, shuffling people and teams around in a complete reorganization, as it were, of how they organize themselves, all in order to address some gap that was identified somewhere, by someone, at some point.

Defeatism at Work

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Defeatism at Work

AI, anxiety, and the quiet erosion of trust in engineering culture

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Earlier today I had a meaningful conversation with a close friend from a previous job, and as we shared some of the challenges we’ve both been experiencing professionally, he introduced me to a term that immediately resonated with me. It perfectly captured not only the atmosphere I’ve been observing since the beginning of 2026, but also a feeling I’ve struggled to articulate in myself: defeatism.

Ollama Drama

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ollama Drama

Where Engineers Herd LLMs and Wrangle Prompts

Ollama Drama Workshop

So, let me tell you about this thing called Ollama Drama and why it exists.

Last spring, I ran an internal workshop at work because I had been noticing the same thing over and over again: a lot of people were curious about LLMs, a lot of people had opinions about AI, a lot of people had maybe played with ChatGPT once or twice, but not that many people had actually sat down and gotten their hands dirty with the tooling in a way that felt practical, safe, and not too scary.

The Characters Are Still Knocking

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Characters Are Still Knocking

Why some stories refuse to let go, even when life leaves little room for them

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Yesterday was a balmy 68-degree day in North Carolina.

In the morning, after coming back from the gym, taking a quick shower, and sneaking a peek at Slack to gauge how the day was going at work, I got back in the car to take my daughter to school so she could take the final exam for one of her classes. Then I sat there in the parking lot, waiting for her, with a lot of time on my hands.

Learning to Swim in a Very Large Pool

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Learning to Swim in a Very Large Pool

These were the early days of learning how teams operate at scale, how influence is built through action rather than position, and how leadership often shows up before the title ever does.

Photo by Brandon Byars on Unsplash

Over the weekend, my dad came over for breakfast with my mom. They had just returned from a three-week tour of the southeast of the United States in their RV, and we hadn’t really seen each other since they left. This Saturday, they came over for breakfast, and as we sat around the kitchen table while my kids were still asleep, we started talking about how the trip went and about all the other things that had happened since they were gone. One thing led to another, and I mentioned to my dad that I had to go to Southpoint Mall to replace my glasses. One of the lenses had somehow gotten scratched, and I was hoping that the warranty was still valid—it wasn’t.

The Week the Mill Ran Ahead of Its Keepers

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Week the Mill Ran Ahead of Its Keepers

When the machine moved faster than the people around it

Illustration generated using AI image tools, prompted and directed by the author.

The week began with movement that led nowhere.

The belts turned.

The gears engaged.

Yet nothing new would hold.

Not in the dramatic way the tower liked to describe in meetings, but in the quieter way machinery sometimes resists—belts turning without carrying anything forward, gears waiting for instructions that never arrived. The conveyors that fed the Night Lantern Circuit refused to accept new patterns, leaving both the working mill and the frozen winter frame standing still.

How a Biochemist Ended Up Writing Engineering Parables

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

How a Biochemist Ended Up Writing Engineering Parables

The unexpected path that led to the Mill series

Photo by Marcin Kolodziejczak on Unsplash

Anyone who knows me personally or has worked with me knows that I don’t have a background in computer science, and the fact that I’ve been working in software engineering for close to two decades might surprise anyone hearing this for the first time. That’s because I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry back in the late 90s.

The Week the Lanterns Turned Green

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Week the Lanterns Turned Green

Progress, pressure, and the quiet sound of the estate shifting

Illustration generated using AI image tools, prompted and directed by the author.

The week began with a gate.

Not a physical one, but an old checkpoint buried deep in the mill’s machinery—one that no other neighboring mill required, yet one that had once been implemented at this mill to halt carts for reasons few remembered.

Looking Back at the Boy Who Was Angry

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Looking Back at the Boy Who Was Angry

What a teenage argument with God taught me about acceptance and persistence

My young mother with me and my two sisters.

Acceptance arrived quietly, long after I stopped looking for it.

A few days ago, a friend and I were chatting — the kind of casual conversation that starts light and slowly drifts into something deeper.

He joked that his family was doing well, but that he was the one falling apart. The humor was still there, but beneath it sat something heavier: years of medical tests, uncertainty, and the quiet suspicion that this might simply be how life was going to be now.

The Week the Mill Began Watching Itself

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Week the Mill Began Watching Itself

When the Mill Learned to Watch Itself

Illustration generated using AI image tools, prompted and directed by the author.

The inflection point arrived sooner than anyone expected.

The tower had spoken of automation as an expectation. The mill, quietly and without ceremony, chose to treat it as an opportunity.

The plan was no longer ink on a map. It was motion.

The mill would no longer rely solely on lantern-bearing craftspeople walking its floors by hand to detect issues or anomalies. It would learn, if possible, to inspect itself.

The Winter When the Mill Would Not Ship

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Winter When the Mill Would Not Ship

A quiet accounting of effort, debt, and the cost of deferred work

Illustration generated using AI image tools, prompted and directed by the author.

The trouble began during a quiet season.

The estate was celebrating. Fires were low, halls were sparsely staffed, and most of the craftspeople had finally stepped away from the mill to rest. It was understood—unspoken, but widely accepted—that nothing truly urgent would be asked of the machinery during those days. The mill had earned its pause.

The Mandate and the Mill

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Mandate and the Mill

(A parable, or so I’m told)

Illustration generated using AI image tools, prompted and directed by the author.

In a large mill at the edge of a sprawling estate, a group of craftspeople worked tirelessly to refine a machine they had spent years building. The mill was not flashy, but it was essential to the estate’s economic health and well-being. It produced reliable goods, shipped on a predictable cadence, and—most importantly—could be trusted not to fail when demand surged.

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: What You Can Be Paid For

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: What You Can Be Paid For

What it means when your paycheck no longer reflects what you’re building

Illustration generated using AI image tools, prompted and directed by the author.

“I need you to give me a date for your last day.”

There was nothing subtle about it. I had already told my manager—clearly and more than once—that I didn’t have anything else lined up yet, and that I was still looking for something that aligned with my values and the kind of work I wanted to do next. That didn’t seem to matter. The pressure continued anyway.

Hire Like a Founder

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Hire Like a Founder

Applying the founder’s mentality to recruit self-aware, creative people who act like owners of the mission.

Illustration generated using AI image tools, prompted and directed by the author.

What I actually listen for in interviews (and why I rarely start with technical questions)

Below the paywall, I share the kinds of questions I’ve collected over years of interviewing—questions that help me understand how someone thinks, reflects, creates, struggles, and grows. These aren’t trick questions or gotchas. They’re conversation starters I use to explore character, curiosity, and what I think of as a founder’s mentality.

Built To Last

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Built To Last

On learning by building, lowering the bar to entry, and the quiet legacy of useful work

Built To Last

From the very beginning, when I first got my first computer—around the age of 11 or 12—I felt inclined toward building things that were helpful and useful to others. Like many of my friends who eventually went into the computer industry and became software engineers, it all started with games. The thrill of writing your own game—something other people could use and that you could show off to your friends—was incredibly exciting to me.

The Day I Didn't Quit

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Day I Didn’t Quit

On Ego, Alignment, and the Power of Pausing Before You Leap

The Day I Didn’t Quit

After working for 2.5 years as a consultant at a governmental agency in New York as a software engineer, I took advantage of the fact that my position was eliminated after a silly argument with my then-manager and started looking for something new. My wife and I were expecting our second daughter, and the thought of continuing with the same schedule and routine I’d had for the last 2.5 years felt unbearable—something I simply wasn’t willing to do anymore.

Not a Pitch

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Not a Pitch

The Best Teams Form Around Truth, Not Persuasion

Not a Pitch

It was February 2019 when I was offered the opportunity to become Director of Quality Engineering for the organization where I worked—a role I had spent nearly eight years working toward. It should have felt triumphant. Instead, it felt complicated.

At the time, Quality Engineering was a pillar of its own, separate from Software Engineering, which had its own pillars, directors, senior directors, and vice presidents. The Quality Engineering organization stood alone, and I was one of four or five directors. Above us was a Senior Director—soon to become a Vice President—overseeing a team of roughly 1,300–1,400 software quality engineers.

Questions for a Happier 2026

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Questions for a Happier 2026

Not resolutions, but reflections on what actually mattered

Questions for a Happier 2026

This is my final post of 2025.

I want to start by saying thank you. Truly.Life in Rough Draft exists because you read, reply, reflect, and occasionally tell me that something here landed at the right moment. That quiet exchange—writer to reader—is what keeps this space alive.

If these essays have resonated with you this year, the simplest way to support this work is also the easiest: share a post with a friend, tap the ❤️, or restack it with a few words of your own. Those small gestures help these pieces find the people who might need them—and they let me know what’s connecting.

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: What the World Needs, and What We Miss

Sat, 27 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: What the World Needs, and What We Miss

An Ikigai reflection on people, systems, and wasted potential

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: Where I Feel Needed

I’ve been circling four Ikigai questions lately: what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. The framework has four overlapping parts, and I’m writing through them one at a time, in the order they’re actually showing up for me.

Nineteen Years Ago, I Shipped a Reminder

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Nineteen Years Ago, I Shipped a Reminder

How BillReminder, Glade, and a stubborn love of simplification shaped my early years in open source.

BillReminder screens

I recently wrote about some of the reasons why I do what I do, especially when it comes to the professional path I’ve taken. It started long before software, back when I wanted to be a scientist—working in genetic recombination and gene therapy, trying to help people overcome genetic conditions as early as possible, ideally before they ever had to live with the consequences of them.

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: What I'm Good At

Sun, 21 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: What I’m Good At

Lessons from feedback, fire drills, and the quiet work of helping people find clarity

What I’m Good At

I’m officially done with work for the year.

This past Friday wrapped things up cleanly—no loose ends, no unfinished tasks—and I now have two full weeks ahead of me. Some of that time comes from the usual year-end shutdown, some from time off I’d accumulated. All of it feels intentionally quiet.

The Gift You Don't Open Right Away

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Gift You Don’t Open Right Away

Finding the truth inside hard feedback

I’ve noticed a slight increase in the number of people reaching out to me for “one last call” before the end of the year. It wouldn’t quite qualify as a surge, but it’s definitely a shift—not just in volume, but in who is reaching out and why.

My calendar is usually full of the expected things: project meetings, team conversations, or discussions with people interested in using the work we’re building. That’s normal. But lately, more people have been asking to talk about something else entirely.

The Role I Wanted—and the One I Left

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Role I Wanted—and the One I Left

This is a cartoonized rendering of a real photograph. All names and identifying details on the shirts have been removed to respect the privacy of the individuals involved.

It was July 16th, 2019. In the photo above, I’m standing with the quality engineering managers who reported to me at the time. Together, we represented what I believed—earnestly—to be the future of quality engineering at the company.

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai

Photo by Acy Ian Malimban on Unsplash

The end of the year is quickly approaching, and this is the season when people managers get busy completing performance reviews for the engineers who report to them. Some organizations do this once a year; here, we do it every quarter. As I’ve been having these conversations—talking with my team about what excites them about the year ahead, what their goals might be, and what their aspirations look like—the word Ikigai has surfaced more than once.

Confessions of a Teenage Emblem Thief

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Confessions of a Teenage Emblem Thief

“The Big Score” by Og Maciel

I was fourteen when I first heard about people who “harvested” car emblems for the thrill of it. Nobody in my small coastal town had even imagined such a thing—which, in my mind, meant I had the advantage of being the first to try. Over the next four or five months, I taught a handful of trusted friends the quiet finesse required to pry an emblem loose without leaving a scratch. I became something of a connoisseur, only going after the really special ones—novelty emblems, rare designs, or the irresistible shield-shaped badge on the Ford Del Rey Ghia. I could never have too many of those.

November 2025 Reading Wrap-Up

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

November 2025 Reading Wrap-Up

Photo by Andreea Avramescu on Unsplash

Another month in the books—though it’s funny to say that, because for most of November I felt like I should have read more. I tried to read more. But the first two weeks dragged, and reading felt like a slog. I’ve written elsewhere about why this month was unusually tough, so I won’t rehash all that here. The short version: work was heavy, stress was high, and my mind was everywhere except on the page.

A Reader's Take on The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A Reader’s Take on The Subtle Art Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

It’s been a while since I’ve written any kind of book review, and mostly it’s because I often feel that when I try, I don’t have the right framework to offer a solid commentary on what I liked, what I didn’t, and why I would—or wouldn’t—recommend a book. When I talk about books that mattered to me or touched me in some way, I usually end up describing them through how they made me feel. I don’t always know how to break things down in a more “literary” way—structure, motifs, themes, and all that—so I tend to refrain from reviewing books at all.

What We Carry

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

What We Carry

Photo by Tino Rischawy on Unsplash

I ran my fingers across the table’s surface, gathering a thick crust of ash that crumbled and slipped off once I reached the edge. I wiped the residue on my trousers, adding one more stain to an eclectic collection that already included blood— not mine —snot, rust, and worse. Hard to believe the fires had been burning for nine straight months with no respite in sight—judging by the cloudless sky and the air’s almost nonexistent humidity.

Who Wrote This? (Spoiler: Apparently Me.)

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Who Wrote This? (Spoiler: Apparently Me.)

Photo by Ali Bakhtiari on Unsplash

I’m not a pack rat. At least, not in the way people usually mean it. But the first memory I have of being interested in collecting anything goes back to when I was around eight or nine, and I first learned about stamp collecting—philately. I was fascinated by the idea that these tiny pieces of paper had traveled through towns, across states, over oceans. They were carried by people, planes, and ships, and each one arrived with a little bit of another place attached to it. Through stamps, I felt like I could glimpse other cultures and countries in a way books hadn’t yet offered me.

The Day in 1997 When the World Went Quiet

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Day in 1997 When the World Went Quiet

Actual correspondence from 1997

Yesterday, when I wrote about the time I used to go fishing with a friend in that very polluted lake in New Jersey as a way to have something to do and hang out after long hours of studying and waiting for my friends to be done with work, it reminded me of another similar story that happened to me. I know the exact date because, while going through some of my old notes and writings from before I was even married, I found a letter I wrote to someone telling this story.

Fishing, 90s Style: Banana Boats and Questionable Lakes

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Fishing, 90s Style: Banana Boats and Questionable Lakes

Photo by Jed Owen on Unsplash

There was a time in the 90s when my favorite hobby—other than playing video games—was fishing. I actually owned several tackle boxes, a multitude of lures and hooks, and all the paraphernalia you’d expect: nets, rods, you name it. I had it.

Back then, most of my friends were working part-time jobs—delivery boys, stockroom helpers—anything to make some cash for gas or to keep up with the car payments for the “fancy” cars they thought they could afford. Meanwhile, I was busy with school, studying hard, and trying to keep my grades up because I thought I wanted to pursue an MD/PhD program. By the time I was done studying and my friends were done working, it was already past 10 or 11 at night.

Confessions of a Horror Lover Who's Scared of Horror

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Confessions of a Horror Lover Who’s Afraid of Horror

Photo by m wrona on Unsplash

Okay, I have a confession to make. Maybe it’s a confession and a fact. I’ll start with the fact first: I probably own around a hundred or more books that fall into the category of horror or weird fiction.

That’s mostly because, years ago, a good friend of mine was transitioning from married life to single life and moving to a smaller place. He needed to downsize, and very reluctantly decided to part with some of his books. He sent me a message with a long list of titles and asked if I might be interested in buying a few to help him out.

Crunching the Numbers of a Slow Reading Month

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Crunching the Numbers of a “Slow” Reading Month

]Photo by Aaron Lefler on Unsplash

I got curious. The other day I mentioned that I haven’t really been reading a lot lately, and I tried to pin it on being too busy and too exhausted by the end of the day. Yes, there’s some truth to that — I havebeen very busy — but I still wanted to figure out whether this was an unusual reading year for me or not.

Murder Hornet: Chapter Seven

Sun, 16 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Murder Hornet: Chapter Seven

Photo byTatiana Tochilova on Unsplash

💡 This story is part of my ongoing series,Murder Hornet, a novel-in-progress unfolding one imperfect chapter at a time.

Chapter VII

I’d known Derrick all my life, best friends since I could remember. Come to think of it, there’s no single memory of my childhood without him in it. Derrick and Allen; Allen and Derrick, we were always together, inseparable friends.

Sorting Through a Hard Week

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Sorting Through a Hard Week

Photo by Chris Liverani on Unsplash

This Saturday, I’m accompanying my wife to a workshop she’s helping put together here in Hillsborough, North Carolina. The event is at the public library, and while she’ll be busy for a few hours, I decided to carve out some quiet time for myself—find a corner, gather my thoughts, and get some reading done. I’m nearly finished with one of the books I’ve been slowly working through over the last few days, but my mind has also been very preoccupied with work. That shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s been reading my posts lately.

Trying to Read While Life Happens

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Trying to Read While Life Happens

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

Yesterday, after the long day I had, my wife, one of my daughters, and I went to a jazz concert at UNC, something my daughter needed to attend for one of her classes. It was scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., with the UNC Jazz Band performing alongside special guest Alex Graham. Turns out the North Carolina Symphony was also in town performing in the larger, more modern adjacent theater, which meant it took us extra time to get there. Finding parking was especially hard, but thanks to the kindness of one attendant protecting the neighborhood lots from concert-goers, we managed to find a spot only a few minutes’ walk from the Moeser Auditorium.

Finding My Feet Again

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Finding My Feet Again

Photo by Japheth Mast on Unsplash

Dear reader and friends,

It’s been a chaotic last three days at work, the kind where I can barely find time to breathe or do anything personal beyond being with my family. Work has consumed every single minute, and I’ve faced challenges that pushed me to the brink more than once. I’d be lying if I said the easier route — throwing in the towel — didn’t cross my mind. The comfort of giving up can be surprisingly tempting. There were moments when I had to talk myself off the ledge, reminding myself not to stop caring, not to disconnect, not to shut down.

When the Armor Slips

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

When the Armor Slips

Photo by Nik Shuliahin 💛💙 on Unsplash

Yesterday, I wrote about how my day began with the very difficult task of letting someone go. Even though that meeting lasted only fifteen minutes, it took a lot out of me. Little did I know, that was just the beginning of what turned into a chaotic day filled with multitasking, back-to-back calls (both scheduled and ad hoc), and trying to balance competing priorities and distractions from morning to night.

The Quiet Side of Management

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Quiet Side of Management

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

April 22nd, 2016.

This was the first time in my career, as a manager of software engineers, that I had to let someone go. Not that I hadn’t dealt with performance issues before—there had been engineers and associates who struggled, and a few who ultimately decided to leave rather than continue on a performance improvement plan—but this was the first time I actually had to make the call to terminate someone’s employment.

Murder Hornet: Chapter Six

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Murder Hornet: Chapter Six

Photo byTatiana Tochilova on Unsplash

💡 This story is part of my ongoing series,Murder Hornet, a novel-in-progress unfolding one imperfect chapter at a time.

Chapter VI

“So, it was already close to the very end of the second half–”

“How many halves are there again?”

I gave her a look of disbelief. “Are you kidding me you don’t know how many halves there are in a game?”

Locked Out of the Kitchen: A Software Engineer's Tale

Sun, 09 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Locked Out of the Kitchen: A Software Engineer’s Saturday

Photo by Taylor Grote on Unsplash

It’s a Saturday afternoon in early November, and instead of daydreaming about the holidays or planning what I’ll do during our annual office shutdown—a much-appreciated week off right before the end of the year—I find myself working. Babysitting, really. I’m watching over our build system for one of the projects we’re trying to wrap up in the next few days.

My Origin Story: The Job That Broke Me

Sat, 08 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

My Origin Story: The Job That Broke Me

Photo by Rudi Endresen on Unsplash

You can now read My Origin Story in order — from the very beginning — on its dedicated page:

👉 Read the full series here

There are moments in life when you don’t notice the ground shifting beneath you until it finally cracks. Leaving Synaptic wasn’t a dramatic exit. Nobody threw a chair. There were no fireworks, no screaming matches, no dramatic firings. It was quieter than that. Heavier than that. It was a slow unraveling.

The Day I Was Rescued by Firefighters

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Day I Was “Rescued” by Firefighters While Learning to Code

Photo by Nik on Unsplash

I guess I must be going through a nostalgic spree or something, because yesterday, as I wrote about keyboards and my experience with Linux — and even the project I’ve been working on, trying to write a few words every night — is also part of a memory from my childhood. And today, I find myself thinking of the day when I had to be, quote-unquote, rescued by the firemen after being stuck in a hotel room once.

A Writer's Best Friend: A Proper Keyboard

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A Writer’s Best Friend? A Proper Keyboard

I’m a bona fide computer geek and have been one for quite some time. I guess the fact that I started using Linux back when just getting the X Window Server up and running (for those who don’t know, that’s what lets you have a graphical interface instead of a blinking command line) was considered unnecessary—but still required what felt like a PhD to configure—instead of simply using Windows “like everyone else,” might have been a dead giveaway.

NaNoWriMo, We Meet Again

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

NaNoWriMo, We Meet Again

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

It is November, and one of the traditions this time of year is to take part in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), where people are encouraged to attempt writing a novel—or roughly 30,000 words—during the month. The idea is simple: if you write a little bit (or a lot) every day for 30 days, and you average around 1,000 words a day, you’ll end the month with a solid draft of a novel.

I Asked AI to Analyze My Reading Habits. My Wallet Almost Didn’t Survive.

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I Asked AI to Analyze My Reading Habits. My Wallet Almost Didn’t Survive.

Okay, I confess—I was bored, somewhere between watching an episode of Such Brave Girls and reading, so I opened ChatGPT and asked:

Based on the titles below representing the last digital books I purchased from Amazon, what could be inferred about my reading style and preferences?

Skinbreaker #1
Alchemised
Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age

Murder Hornet: Chapter Five

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Tatiana Tochilova on Unsplash

If you’re new here, this is part of my ongoing experiment where I’m publishing raw, completely unedited chapters of a novel I’ve been writing (and rewriting… deleting… swearing at… and rewriting again) for the past couple of years.

If you’d like to catch up first:

This week, I’m sharing Chapter 5. As always, your feedback keeps this little experiment alive—so if you’re still enjoying the story, please let me know.

No Is a Complete Sentence

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Park Troopers on Unsplash

Google Calendar says I spend an average of 20 hours a week in meetings. Add to that the fact that I have to block my own lunch just to prevent people from scheduling over it, and suddenly 25 hours of a 40-hour week are already spoken for. Then there are the ad-hoc calls that pop up out of nowhere and don’t even show up on the calendar. So I’m pretty convinced I actually spend close to 30 hours a week on Zoom/Meet/Teams/whatever-video-conferencing-platform-is-ruining-my-neck-that-day.

October Reading Wrap-Up: A Month of Chaos, Comics & Quiet Pages

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Thalia Ruiz on Unsplash

This month of October has been… a very busy one at work, and as a result, I didn’t spend nearly as much time reading as I usually do. Between all the additional stress and prep work required to handle some unexpected complications, I also managed to do a fair amount of writing, so something had to give.

When I wrapped up September, I said I wanted to read some scary books, maybe lean more into sci-fi and less into non-fiction, mostly because I felt like I needed a break from the real world. And if that was true in September, oh boy was it even more true in October.

The Student in Me Never Left

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Library in the morning hours

This morning I started work late because I had to run a couple of errands. First, I was supposed to pick up my dad and take him to the mechanic so he could get his car, but it turns out the place only opened later and I couldn’t wait for it. So it was on to the second task of the day: taking my 18-year-old daughter to her school for an in-person exam.

Crawl, Walk, Run—Rest

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday was a day of quiet time and reflection for me—a forced slowdown after my body decided it had had enough of my constant multitasking and ignored warnings. This entire year has been a relentless stretch of challenges and tight deadlines. Every time someone said it would be impossible to complete a project by a certain date, my response was always the same: hold my beer. Yes, the chaos was self-inflicted. I own that. But what can I say—I have an almost reckless amount of belief in what can be achieved when a group of capable, autonomous engineers who trust each other come together around a shared purpose.

Why Christmas Music Gets Me Every Time

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I know it may sound weird to start talking about Christmas when Halloween hasn’t even come up yet. But last night, while my oldest daughter was making dinner, she put on a Christmas station on Pandora—and just like that, I was transported straight into my first Christmas memory.

I must have been maybe five or six. And when I say I “remember” it, I’m not 100% sure if it’s a real memory or something I pieced together from old photos—but it feels real. Someone dressed as Santa Claus came to our house. To this day I don’t know if it was my dad, a friend of his, or someone my parents hired—but “Santa” showed up. And to my absolute shock, I got a G.I. Joe dressed in full camouflage, plus a yellow helicopter and a Jeep with some kind of weapon mounted in the back. This was the early 80s, so getting war-themed toys was totally normal. That’s the first Christmas I can truly recall.

My Origin Story: Baptism by Fire

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Hannah Gibbs on Unsplash

When I walked into Synaptic Pharmaceuticals for my first official software developer job interview, I had never written a line of professional code. I had no GitHub profile (it didn’t even exist yet), no computer science degree, and just a vague idea of what a design pattern was.

But I had something far more dangerous: momentum and an unlimited supply of hubris.

A few weeks earlier, I had built a working software system from scratch in a pharmaceutical lab despite having zero formal training. If I could do that, what couldn’t I do?

Murder Hornet: Chapter Four

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Tatiana Tochilova on Unsplash

If you’d like to catch up first:

This week, I’m sharing Chapter 4. As always, your feedback keeps this little experiment alive—so if you’re still enjoying the story (or even if you’re just here for the chaos), drop a comment. Should I keep going? Post more frequently? Stop immediately for the sake of literature as a whole? You tell me.

Week in Review — Week 43 of 2025

Sat, 25 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Growth + Co. on Unsplash

Another week in the books, and this one was a reminder that life is a balancing act between chaos and comfort—between AWS meltdowns and Japanese takeout, between one-on-one meetings and long overdue naps. Somehow I made it through with my sanity mostly intact, a few small wins along the way, and plenty of caffeine to prevent a total system crash. Here’s how the week unfolded, one day at a time.

A Book, a Backyard War, and a Lifetime of Friendship

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Anna Samoylova on Unsplash

Reading has always been part of my family for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are of my parents buying books from those traveling salespeople who used to go door to door selling encyclopedias—Brittanica, Barsa, Larousse, you name it. We always had a room dedicated to books, where we kept the dictionaries, classic literature, and those giant encyclopedia volumes that made you feel smarter just by being in the same room with them.

Planning My Escape (Sort of)

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by 🇻🇪 Jose G. Ortega Castro 🇲🇽 on Unsplash

Today I stumbled across an article claiming that the magic number you need to save for a “comfortable” retirement is $1.5 million. I only skimmed the article, but I’m pretty sure it was written for people living in the U.S. who plan to retire around 67. And by “comfortable,” I’m guessing they mean having a roof that doesn’t leak, food that isn’t ramen, and health insurance that doesn’t send you straight into bankruptcy.

If You Want to Grow, Get on the Bull

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Dulcey Lima on Unsplash

I can’t remember exactly when I first heard the advice about taking ownership of your own career and destiny instead of leaving it up to chance. Maybe it came from a book, maybe a talk—I can’t remember. But I do know the exact day when it finally hit me.

It was around 2008, during a really hard phase at work. Back then, I blamed all my career woes on external forces—unsupportive teammates, bad leadership decisions, bad luck. None of it was ever my fault, of course. I was convinced I was doing everything right and the universe was conspiring against me.

The Great Couch Debate (and Why My Office Survived)

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Grovemade on Unsplash

Over the weekend, my wife and I were talking about how good it would be to finally replace our old, beat-up couch in the living room. I don’t even remember where we originally got it—I just know we hated it from the very first day we assembled it. It’s too small, the back cushions are too soft, and if you lean back for more than twenty minutes, you end up pressed against the hard frame and needing a chiropractor. Most of the time we double up the cushions to make it usable, which also means there’s now a silent competition in our house: whoever grabs the extra cushion gets an additional twenty minutes of comfort.

My Origin Story: From Syringes to Software

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Ousa Chea on Unsplash

“Sometimes the path finds you long before you recognize you’re walking it.”

I didn’t plan on becoming a software engineer. In fact, if you had met me as a teenager in Brazil—hunched over one of the many Encyclopedia Britannica volumes we had at home or scribbling chemical equations on scratch paper—I would have told you I was going to cure genetic diseases and start my own research lab in Australia. People from all over the world would fly there to be treated. All free of charge. That was the dream. Technology wasn’t even in the picture.

Murder Hornet: Chapter Three

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

If you’re new here, this is part of an ongoing experiment where I’m publishing raw, completely unedited chapters of a novel I’ve been writing (and rewriting… and doubting… and rewriting again) for the past couple of years.

If you’d like to catch up first:

Prelude + Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:

This week, I’m sharing Chapter 3. As before, I’d really like to hear what you think—should I keep posting new chapters every week? Drop a comment and let me know what’s working, what isn’t, and whether I should keep going or retire quietly into a cave somewhere with coffee and doubt.

Week in Review - Week 42 of 2025

Sat, 18 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Some weeks test your patience. Others your stamina. This week? It tested my calendar, my caffeine intake, my emotional bandwidth—and somehow still managed to remind me why I do what I do. Between last-minute presentations, sprint planning chaos, infrastructure headaches, and keeping my team sane, I also got to celebrate something far more meaningful: 25 years of marriage to the quiet girl who changed my life. Here’s how Week 42 unfolded.

The Quiet Girl Who Changed My Life

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

My wife and I couldn’t be more different from each other. She’s sweet, and I’m savory. She’s calm and easygoing, while I’m hyped up and intense. I talk a thousand miles an hour but am very much an introvert, whereas she chooses her words carefully and is a social butterfly.

I remember when I first met her. It was April 1999, and I had just agreed to go on a blind date with my friend’s sister’s best friend. I was going through a rough phase in my life—one where I’d pretty much given up on romance and decided to focus entirely on work. One of my sisters kept insisting that I should start dating again. She even set me up with someone she swore would be a good match, telling me we were both Geminis and that I’d just been “looking for the right person in the wrong places.” I wasn’t sure what to think of that at the time, but I went along with it. The date was pleasant enough—she was kind, we had a good time—but there were no sparks.

Back to the Page: Finding My Way Into the ICQ Sequel

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A couple of days ago, I wrote about getting back into the writing swing of things and adding a few paragraphs to a novel I want to write—a sequel to my book ICQ. It’s kind of funny because when I went to save what I’d written, I started looking for a place to put it and discovered that I had already put something together, probably earlier this year. It was a pleasant surprise to realize that I had already captured some ideas, but it also shows just how much is going on in my life lately that I couldn’t even remember starting it.

Why I’m Trading SMART Goals for HEART Goals

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I was having coffee in my kitchen and browsing Substack when I came across a note from Courtney Cunningham, where she declared that she was done with the so-called SMART goals.

SMART, as you probably know, is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Time-bound — a framework for structuring professional and personal goals. If you’re in a leadership position and responsible for helping others achieve their aspirations or close knowledge or behavioral gaps, chances are you’ve heard of SMART goals.

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).

All Things Open, Except My Calendar

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Today marks the first day of All Things Open 2025, a technology conference that takes place every year right here in my backyard. I remember attending the first few editions and loving the chance to meet people and friends — some I only knew from online interactions — while listening to great speakers and getting my mind blown by their enthusiasm for their craft.

After unsuccessfully submitting talk proposals for several years, I eventually decided to skip the event altogether. But this year, I decided to give it another shot — to see if it could win back my patronage. I even bought my tickets months in advance and made plans to meet some teammates and hang out outside of work.

Murder Hornet: Chapter Two

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This post continues from the previous installment, where I shared the Prelude and Chapter 1 of Murder Hornet. If you haven’t read it yet, I’d recommend starting there to get the full story so far. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts — let me know in the comments if you’d like me to keep posting more of the unpublished chapters.

Chapter II

“Hey, what’s up, Roddy?” I said nonchalantly, trying to hide the fact that he scared the crap out of me.

Week in Review — Week 41 of 2025

Sat, 11 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This week was a mix of meetings, milestones, and moments that mattered: reconnecting with my parents, rediscovering patience, and remembering that a good round of Scrabble can fix just about anything.

Monday

I made it through an RCA call where I barely had to speak a word, even though I’d spent plenty of time behind the scenes making sure last week’s issue was fully investigated and the remediation was already in motion. Some of the discussion was productive; some felt a bit nitpicky—but overall, it went well.

How a Thumb Drive Saved My Sanity

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In the early 2000s, I worked for a government agency in New York as a software engineer using Visual Basic .NET and Crystal Reports — which, in retrospect, was probably one of the less brilliant ideas of my career. I was young, overconfident in my programming skills, and let my ego and emotions take the wheel. I ended up leaving the company I’d worked for nearly four years to become a consultant.

Too Much Spanglish, Not Enough Story

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Call it a pet peeve of mine, but I see absolutely no point in writing paragraph after paragraph sprinkled with words from another language—liberally, even proudly—when it adds nothing to the story or style. A word or two here and there, especially terms of endearment, sure.

But when every paragraph has a handful of non-English words dropped in—say, five to ten per page—that’s hundreds of instances across a typical 300-page novel. It starts to feel less like creative flair and more like a recurring speed bump, pulling you out of the story every few lines just to reorient yourself. The constant code-switching becomes the story’s background noise, making you aware of the language instead of the emotion, pacing, or plot.

My Google Calendar Tried to Kill Me Today

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Today was one of those days when I barely had time to get up between meetings — to use the restroom, grab a cup of coffee, or just breathe. It was meeting after meeting after meeting, and even during the few blocks when I didn’t have anything scheduled, I still found myself hopping on calls to help someone who needed support.

I’ve been working from home since 2012, and before COVID, there was always a bit of a buffer between meetings — time that actually allowed me to get work done. As a senior manager of engineers, I do spend an enormous amount of time in meetings, but I’m usually the first to suggest canceling one if a Slack message or email would do the trick.

The Night I Became a Man (Musically Speaking)

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I first became aware of music when I was around eleven or twelve years old. I remember a party being held at a sports arena in the small town where I lived, and at some point, they started playing an upbeat rock ’n’ roll song. Up until then, I don’t recall ever being interested in music—or even dancing or knowing any dance moves—but that night, something happened. I found myself incapable of not moving and shaking my body, which to everyone else probably looked like I was having an epileptic seizure (not that those are fun or funny). Eventually, I started observing the people around me and copying their moves, and I’m glad to say that night I became a man—musically speaking, at least.

Because Reading Counts as Self-Care

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Busy day at work, so naturally I had to “blow off some steam” and buy new books, purely for balance, of course ;)

“Alchemised” by SenLinYu
“The Cemetery of Untold Stories” by Julia Alvarez
“Flash Teams: Leading the Future of AI-Enhanced, On-Demand Work” by Melissa Valentine, Michael Bernstein (publishes tomorrow)

And as if that weren’t enough temptation, I just got notified that my library hold, “Prodigal Summer” by Barbara Kingsolver, is ready for pick up.

Introducing Murder Hornet: Prelude + Chapter One

Sun, 05 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Author’s Note: This is a work in progress that I’ve been writing sporadically over the past couple of years. I’m sharing it unedited and unfinished. The story follows Thomas Conrad, a new student in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and his encounter with a mysterious girl on a yellow Vespa.

Prelude

I knew I was going to regret what I was about to do. The certainty of it sat heavy in my chest, a weight I couldn’t shake. But knowing didn’t stop me. It never does.

Week in Review — Week 40 of 2025

Sat, 04 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This was a pretty intense week at work, but I managed to balance it out with intentional time at home with my family. I maintained my gym routine every morning and continued my reading streak, now at 2,134 days.

Monday

Monday was packed with meetings, including a scheduling mishap where two meetings with the same invite list were double-booked. “We joined one for 15 minutes, then dropped into the other while everyone else waited for us.”

Do They Need Advice — or Just a Hug?

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A few days ago, I encountered a note with a simple message: “Don’t give a lecture to someone who needs a hug.”

This simple phrase resonated deeply with me and sparked reflection on how I communicate with the people I care about most.

The Power of Listening

Often, people don’t want solutions when they’re upset; they want to be heard. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way through experiences with my daughters and in my marriage. When someone is struggling, my instinct is to jump in with advice, to fix the problem. But I’ve discovered that rushing to give advice often backfires.

Nods, Lightbulbs, and Why I Still Love Being a Builder

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Over the last month and a half, I’ve spent considerable time giving presentations at work on how AI tools can help people in their day-to-day activities. Most of these sessions focus on software engineering tasks like writing code, automated testing, setting standards, and using tools like Jira more effectively.

The Art of Presenting

Whenever I’m asked to present, I try to imagine what I’d want as an audience member. My core principle is simple: “if someone asks me to sit through a presentation, they’d better capture my attention quickly and show me what’s in it for me.”

The Books That Carried Me Through September 2025

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I had told my wife and kids that this September was going to be the month where I’d read all of Shakespeare’s Tragedies, Comedies, Histories, and Romances, starting with “The Tempest” which I’ve read a few times before. It started out slow, as I reacquainted myself with the “thous,” “wonders” and “wherefores,” but after a few pages I was back in the swing of things.

An Unexpected Detour

Instead of moving to “Hamlet” as planned, my wife suggested I read “Hamnet” by Maggie O’Farrell. She didn’t like it much, but I gave it 5 stars. The novel’s exploration of Shakespeare’s family life and the death of his son Hamnet was deeply moving.

Oops… Did I Really Say That?

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Have you ever had one of those days when you say one thing, hear yourself say that one thing, but later realize that you had been saying something completely different all along?

A Gloomy Day, A Bigger Mistake

Today, another gloomy and rainy day, and after my morning routine of exercising and showering, I was full of energy and ready to go carpe some diem, right? Well, let’s just say that things took a weird turn when I realized a deadline I had been communicating all along (this is the thing I heard myself verbally telling everyone) was off by eight days (the thing everyone else heard me say). Eight days off.

Rainy Day

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

It was 66°F this morning when I woke up, and by the time I finished breakfast with my wife and started making my way to the gym, I realized that it was going to be a cloudy, gloomy, rainy day.

Finding Beauty in Gray Skies

Now, I know that some people don’t appreciate these cloudy, gloomy days of the Fall, which I admit can get you feeling down, especially when you’re not having a good time at work, school, or whatever it is that you need to push yourself to do in the mornings.

I Should Have Known That!

Sun, 28 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Trying Something New

Yesterday, I resisted the urge to work on a desktop app and instead went shopping with my wife. While browsing, we discovered the “I Should Have Known That!” trivia game.

Childhood Memories

This discovery brought back memories of childhood when I would play board games with my sisters. We’d spend hours playing Monopoly and Canasta, creating memories that I’ve cherished for decades.

I’ve long held a desire to create a similar tradition with my own family—a regular game night where we could all disconnect from screens and connect with each other.

The "Don't Break the Chain" App?

Sat, 27 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

After writing about the “Don’t Break the Chain” technique, the software engineering side of me got thinking: is there a “Don’t Break the Chain” app similar to the “National Novel Writing Month” (NaNoWriMo) website that lets you track goals on your phone?

Exploring Existing Options

A quick ChatGPT session revealed two potential apps:

“Don’t Break the Chain” - a free iOS app with in-app purchases
Streams - a more modern app with Apple Health integration

Both looked promising for tracking daily habits and maintaining motivation through visual chains of completed days.

Don't Break the Chain

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t remember exactly when I first heard of the Don’t Break the Chain method (or technique, if that’s even what it is), but I remember that it was something people said would help me establish a habit that would stick and also keep me motivated to keep going.

The Origin Story

I asked ChatGPT–who still uses search engines these days?–to show me when it was first mentioned anywhere and it claimed that it was in an article by Brad Isaac for Lifehacker from 2007. I can tell you that I definitely did not read that article and it must’ve been in a book or maybe another article online? I don’t remember.