25 (some)things.

I hate resolutions. I hate when people say they hate resolutions. But, here I am, hating resolutions. I also hate that I gained over 40lbs during 2020. All this hatred has to be redirected… I didn’t start a resolution on the 1st, because if I miss one day, my OCD punishes me fiercely. So I often start a few days … Read more

The Family Dashboard

NOTE: This was originally published in Linux Journal, back in 2017. I noticed this morning that my script is still running every day, and I have over 1,100 Bing photos saved locally! I’ve written a little about PHP before, because I think it’s a great utility language for writing quick things you need to do. Plus, it allows you to … Read more

The Done Manifesto

I only recently discovered this tiny bit of brilliance, even though it was written over a decade ago. It’s by Bre Pettis and Kio Stark, and released under Creative Commons, so I’m pretty sure I can post it here without being shady. (I don’t know where to link to originally, because Bre Pettis’ blog from 2009 is no longer live) … Read more

I Am Racist

I don’t want to be. I don’t try to be. My mom didn’t purposefully raise me to be. But I am. White Privilege. I’m racist because I’m white and I live in a country where that affords me privileges black folks don’t get. Just because I’m white. I don’t want to put white privilege in quotes, because that implies its … Read more

We Can’t Do This Alone

(NOTE: This is being written during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically during the “Stay at Home” directive in Michigan.) This week, the CDC announced that it is recommended to wear cloth masks while out in public. A friend of mine kindly made and delivered really cool masks for Donna and me to wear when we go out for walks. You’d think … Read more

Isolation Funk

I work from home every day. This new COVID-19 stuff shouldn’t be all that different for me. But boy howdy is it ever. Part of it is because I’m in strict quarantine. I’m not going to the store, I’m not meeting anyone at the door, and I’m not even going through drive-thru anything. I’m staying in the house, and going … Read more

This is Not Normal Telecommuting

Those of us who are work-from-home-introverts can be found online joking about how we’ve been preparing for this Coronavirus thing for our entire lives. And yes, I suspect the transition to working from home will be easier on introverts, and will be almost no change for existing telecommuters. That said, working from home this past week was not normal. Even … Read more

PoE, PoE+, and Passive PoE

If you’re befuddled by every Poe other than Edgar Allen, after this short blog post, you’ll be confused… nevermore. I’ve been installing a lot of POE devices recently, and the different methods for providing power over Ethernet cables can be very confusing. There are a few standards in place, and then there’s a method that isn’t a standard, but is … Read more