Substack
96 posts tagged “Substack”.
2025
- The Quiet Side of Management
The Quiet Side of Management
- Murder Hornet: Chapter Six
Murder Hornet: Chapter Six
- Locked Out of the Kitchen: A Software Engineer’s Tale
Locked Out of the Kitchen: A Software Engineer’s Tale
- My Origin Story: The Job That Broke Me
My Origin Story: The Job That Broke Me
- The Day I Was Rescued by Firefighters
The Day I Was Rescued by Firefighters
- A Writer’s Best Friend: A Proper Keyboard
A Writer’s Best Friend: A Proper Keyboard
- NaNoWriMo, We Meet Again
NaNoWriMo, We Meet Again
- I Asked AI to Analyze My Reading Habits. My Wallet Almost Didn’t Survive.
I Asked AI to Analyze My Reading
- Murder Hornet: Chapter Five
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.
- No Is a Complete Sentence
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
- October Reading Wrap-Up: A Month of Chaos, Comics & Quiet Pages
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.
- The Student in Me Never Left
This morning I started work late because I had to run a couple of errands.
- Crawl, Walk, Run—Rest
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.
- Why Christmas Music Gets Me Every Time
I know it may sound weird to start talking about Christmas when Halloween hasn’t even come up yet.
- My Origin Story: Baptism by Fire
When I walked into Synaptic Pharmaceuticals for my first official software developer job interview, I had never written a line of professional code.
- Murder Hornet: Chapter Four
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.
- Week in Review — Week 43 of 2025
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.
- A Book, a Backyard War, and a Lifetime of Friendship
Reading has always been part of my family for as long as I can remember.
- Planning My Escape (Sort of)
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
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
- The Great Couch Debate (and Why My Office Survived)
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.
- My Origin Story: From Syringes to Software
Sometimes the path finds you long before you recognize you’re walking it - my journey from biochemistry to software engineering
- Murder Hornet: Chapter Three
Chapter Three of Murder Hornet - continuing the story of Thomas Conrad and his family in Chapel Hill, featuring dinner conversations about Linux appliances and soccer dreams
- Week in Review - Week 42 of 2025
A week in review covering work chaos, team management, infrastructure challenges, and celebrating 25 years of marriage - Week 42 of 2025
- The Quiet Girl Who Changed My Life
A heartfelt reflection on 25 years of marriage - how opposites attract and the quiet girl who became the steady foundation of a beautiful family