BlogDB

Analyzing Strava data with ClickHouse

Simple ClickHouse intro by analyzing GPX activity data

2024 Running Review

Late Spring on a nearby mountain trail in Centerville, Utah. In 2024 I ran a total of 2,389 miles, which is an increase of 7% over 2023. I had quite a bit more elevation gain this year at 169,078 f...

Default Apps 2024

I don’t have a dedicated /uses page; only a little table on my about page that lists the development-related essentials. Since today is the last day of 2024, I decided to jump on the “default apps”...

A bad year for open source databases

Although the definitions of Open Source are related to specific software characteristics (i.e., the license), the reality is much more complex. Open-source is way more related to a social contract ...

Why Tabs Are Better Than Spaces

Right, now that I actually have your attention. The more appropriate title of this post would be: Free (1) Month Gift Subscriptions to the Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter Since I picked up the Black ...

How to Clean Up Image Filenames with F2

Archiving your personal collection of family images can quickly become a mess without some sort of organizational approach. I think the first and most important aspect of any organization measures ...

130 hours

For the last few years, especially after the pandemic forced us to switch to remote work, I’ve been searching for ways to break free from a stressful, sedentary lifestyle. I’ve been trying to be mo...

Announcing TPS

Announcing TPS (Team Planning Simulator) (see, it generates TPS Reports ha!) Source and download here -> TPS And hey, as it’s client-side, how about a Live Version Team Planning Simulator Reports (...

Programming Lewis Carroll's *Memoria Technica*

Charles Dodgson (pen name Lewis Carroll) had difficulty remembering numbers, such as dates. He developed a cipher to help him remember numbers by embedding them in couplets or phrases. For example,...

Low and steady write rates can be misleading

A common mistake in system design interviews is to underestimate a low but steady write rate. Many candidates quickly dismiss a write rate of 1 request per second as insignificant, but this isn’t a...

Building a tiny load balancing service using PID Controllers 🚘

Catching up with async Rust

In December 2023, a minor miracle happened: async fn in traits shipped. As of Rust 1.39, we already had free-standing async functions: pub async fn read_hosts() -> eyre::Result> { // etc. } …and a...

I Read Approachable Open Source

Previously: “Approachable Open Source” Available for Preorder, You Deserve a Tech Bookclub I wrapped up Brian’s Approachable Open Source earlier this month and really enjoyed it. I won’t spoil much...

You Deserve a Tech Bookclub

Inspired by Ethan Marcotte’s You Deserve a Tech Union book title — which is slotted as the next bookclub read — I wanted to talk about the ad-hoc casual bookclub that I’ve been doing for the past f...

Ten Favorite Photos I Captured in 2024

I purchased a Sony a7ii in 2023, while having zero understanding of the basics of cameras and photography. I recall being particularly confused about the exposure triangle , especially how aperture...

The books I enjoyed the most in 2024

Another year went by, and another batch of books was consumed. Just like I did last year, I want to share the ones that I enjoyed the most. But what kind of metric is that? Truth be told, it is not...

CodePen 2.0

Earlier this week I was listening to an episode of the Changelog & Friends podcast which had Chris Coyier and Dave Rupert from their podcast ShopTalk Show. During the conversation, CodePen “two poi...

Announcing a new chess bot - A0lite-js

I’m excited to share a project I’ve been working on - a TypeScript port of the a0lite chess engine. The original a0lite was created as a minimalist neural network chess engine, designed to be simpl...

Getting Clean From The Bean

Triumphs and travails while finding the ideal cup of home brewed coffee - up until its drastic downfall. Featuring almost exploding coffee machines and crows.

What's new for Berliners in 2025

Update: the 2026 version is live Every year, on the first of January, all sorts of things change in Germany as new laws come into force. Mostly, life gets more expensive, but there are some nice su...