what i’m up to right now

as of 12 oct 2026

career

Somewhat past the 1-year point without being fired somehow. Claude has sucked whatever fun was in writing code, but fortunately this does mean I have more time and more urgency to become competent at system design. It’s also a good time, to try out spec- and test-driven development to see if adding more constraints to the random word generator-cum-web crawler that everyone seems enamored with right now will make it better.

I did receive a promotion, but it seems that my increase in earnings cannot exactly outpace my horrifically expensive hobbies unless I put an end to this madness.

personal life

Things have generally been going OK. One of the things I’m hoping to do soon is getting a dumb phone to reduce my dependence on the harmful social media apps I’m overpaid to support. I think my screen time limiters are not doing enough to keep me focused at work, so I’m trying to see if getting a cheap Nokia will make me work any more efficiently.

I’ve also gotten a cat. Look at him.

car bullshit

Added to a blog post.

Also went on a little road trip to Spokane/Coeur d’Alene to get a Volvo 240 that may or may not be for a friend (uncertain at this point). What I do with my garage is a little unknown right now, I think some shuffles may be in order.

formerly pending actions

Not awful, but not great.

• Replace the suspension, tires, and fix the paint job of my Z3? Done!!!
• Small, semi-local road/backpacking trip? I went on multiple local hiking and road trips. Did end up visiting Spokane / Northern Idaho, the North Cascades, and Mount Ellinor. I love Washington!!!!
• Do some long-haul endurance biking to make up for the lack of skiing and work out other areas? I forgot to bike but I did pick up climbing thanks to a friend pestering me. I’ll get to this soon
• Get a gym routine and a gym community to keep me coming? Lmao. Unless you count climbing friend.
• Ski all months? Lmao. I didn’t wanna fly to Portillo but I guess would’ve been a better use of my time and money than what I actually spent September doing. Better luck next year.

pending actions

• Go wheeling in the Land Rover. This has actually been pending for months but unfortunately my truck has just not been in the condition to do it.
• Have a consistent weekly climbing schedule. Monday nights have already been allocated.
• Stop driving to work. Parking costs money, tolls cost money, gas costs money, being a car-dependent chud costs soul.
• Get a wardrobe that makes me “look less than I’m from the Bay”. This either means I cover myself in polyester or become a lot of dollars poorer. Hopefully the latter as the former is kinda chud.

35 missed calls

Certain recent events I will not elaborate upon further in the interest of privacy for those involved have led me on an interesting train of thought towards considering how I want to be perceived. I had always believed that as this train would not arrive at any stations related to school or work, that it was not a train worth boarding for any reason. Moreover, I did not believe I had paid requisite fares to board this train at all.

However, blocking out time to entertain this train of thought and conversing with people who have likely rode this train in the past make me worried that it may be better for me to follow this train to its terminus station. However, as there are multiple possible lines and the conductor is being a bitch and refuses to tell me which one we’re on, I will need to use more of my surrounding context to determine which station I am to arrive at.

In CTA terms, it seems plausible that this train of thought could be headed to Skokie, or maybe Evanston. It is somewhat unlikely that I would be headed to O’Hare or Cicero, although many seem to suggest this is the case.

None of this makes sense and it isn’t meant to.

music rotation

I got some Beyerdynamic headphones and a DAC to make myself have a superiority complex over other people when listening to the compressed slop on Spotify. However, it does make me realize that some songs are produced better than others. Here are some Chinese-language songs that are at least decently mixed, in my opinion.