Work-Life Balance on Og Maciel's Journal

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”