[{"content":"If you\u0026rsquo;ve read any of this blog you\u0026rsquo;ll know where I stand on this. I think it\u0026rsquo;s impossible to live a fulfulling life without some form of work.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve certainly taken this to the extreme, where I could experience a lot more life with doing very little work, but we create prisons for ourselves to cope with reality.\nKnowing that I\u0026rsquo;d rather troubleshoot Azure DevOps Pipelines CI failures at 2am instead of going out and drinking makes it obvious who I am.\nI find that this opinion has a pretty fine divide. Not too many exist in the middle of work-life balance.","section":"opinions","summary":"If you\u0026rsquo;ve read any of this blog you\u0026rsquo;ll know where I stand on this. I think it\u0026rsquo;s impossible to live a fulfulling life without some form of work.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve certainly taken this to the extreme, where I could experience a lot more life with doing very little work, but we create prisons for ourselves to cope with reality.\nKnowing that I\u0026rsquo;d rather troubleshoot Azure DevOps Pipelines CI failures at 2am instead of going out and drinking makes it obvious who I am.","title":"Work-life balance","url":"/opinions/work-life-balance/"},{"content":"Anything related to politics and religion is a landmine, but I think I can handle this gracefully.\nI was raised Christian, going to church regularly until middle school when the family got too busy. I attended Sunday school as a child and played trumpet in the choir for a couple years.\nI took courses in Western and Eastern philosophy in college, which has informed some of my perspective.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve recently been influenced by ideas of Gnosticism, in part due to Prof. Jiang on YouTube.\nOur religions have oddly specific similarities to each other, whether it be myths of a great flood, designs of temples, or reverence of astrological cycles. If these civilizations did not have direct contact with each other, this suggests a subconscious connection along the lines of what Jung proposed.\nA rational, scientific person would say that there is no direct evidence of God\u0026rsquo;s existence. A more skeptical person would ask how religion has so much power even in our secular current day.\nThis leads to a rabbit hole of how the religious elite performed rituals to get closer to God and how these practices were gatekept from the people, resulting in the fake feeling religions we have today.\nAs long as we don\u0026rsquo;t know what human consciousness is, this will remain unanswerable.","section":"opinions","summary":"Anything related to politics and religion is a landmine, but I think I can handle this gracefully.\nI was raised Christian, going to church regularly until middle school when the family got too busy. I attended Sunday school as a child and played trumpet in the choir for a couple years.\nI took courses in Western and Eastern philosophy in college, which has informed some of my perspective.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve recently been influenced by ideas of Gnosticism, in part due to Prof. Jiang on YouTube.","title":"God","url":"/opinions/god/"},{"content":"I don\u0026rsquo;t think we\u0026rsquo;re in an AI bubble. People always point to the dot-com bubble as an example. Though I wasn\u0026rsquo;t conscious at this point of my life, my understanding is that speculation was wild for trivial things (pets.com etc.).\nWhile there is wild speculation on the order of hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars, there is something useful here. Unfortunately, this utility is best leveraged by large companies looking to generate more slop (code, media, etc.)","section":"opinions","summary":"I don\u0026rsquo;t think we\u0026rsquo;re in an AI bubble. People always point to the dot-com bubble as an example. Though I wasn\u0026rsquo;t conscious at this point of my life, my understanding is that speculation was wild for trivial things (pets.com etc.).\nWhile there is wild speculation on the order of hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars, there is something useful here. Unfortunately, this utility is best leveraged by large companies looking to generate more slop (code, media, etc.)","title":"It's not a bubble","url":"/opinions/its-not-a-bubble/"},{"content":"I don\u0026rsquo;t think this one should be as divisive as it seems.\nThe concept of money and currency is a social construct. History shows we\u0026rsquo;ve used livestock, shells, barley, and other instruments before moving to more familiar silver/gold coinage and paper money.\nI don\u0026rsquo;t see digital cryptocurrencies as any different.\nI think about my balances in my bank and retirement accounts. None of it feels real until you actually withdraw or spend something.\nClearly, people find value in things like Bitcoin and Ethereum, and that\u0026rsquo;s the only reason needed for them to be valuable.\nI believe proof-of-work (PoW) is a reasonable reward system, especially with renewables continuing to proliferate. Perhaps if that energy used for the hashing algorithm was was used for something else, like Folding@Home, maybe PoW would have better PR.\nI think proof-of-stake (PoS) is more problematic. While both systems are vulnerable to majority attacks, PoS only requires someone to buy more of the coin, while proof-of-work requires someone to purchase, configure, and run a massive server farm. The reasoning in my head says PoS only requires capital, while PoW requires capital and labor, which requires better execution and therefore is better in my mind. I hate the idea of just putting money into something and having it just print money for no reason (looking at you, landlords).","section":"opinions","summary":"I don\u0026rsquo;t think this one should be as divisive as it seems.\nThe concept of money and currency is a social construct. History shows we\u0026rsquo;ve used livestock, shells, barley, and other instruments before moving to more familiar silver/gold coinage and paper money.\nI don\u0026rsquo;t see digital cryptocurrencies as any different.\nI think about my balances in my bank and retirement accounts. None of it feels real until you actually withdraw or spend something.","title":"Cryptocurrency","url":"/opinions/cryptocurrency/"},{"content":"Given that fluid simulation is typically resource intensive, I always had dreams of building my own cluster/supercomputer. After being exposed to more IT-related work in my role with Ansys, I found an excuse to spend too much money on computer hardware.\nHardware Expand for more info\nwindows My primary desktop workstation for productivity and gaming, dual boots Debian 12 and Windows 10\nCPU: AMD Ryzen 5800X3D 8c/16t Mobo: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 Memory: 4x 16 GB DDR4-3200 GPU: AMD XFX 7900XTX 24 GB Boot drive: 2 TB NVMe SSD Case: Lian Li O11 Air Mini ATX chassis pve Rack-mounted dual-socket system spec\u0026rsquo;d as much as my wallet allows, runs Proxmox VE\nCPU: 2x AMD EPYC 7K62 48c/48c Mobo: ASRock Rack ROME2D16-2T Memory: 16x 64 GB ECC DDR4-3200 Boot drive: Mirrored WD SN850X 2 TB Storage: 5x 14 TB WD HDDs Case: Supermicro CSE-826 2U chassis minis Low-powered mini PCs currently used in a Proxmox cluster for most home server applications\n3x Beelink EQ12 CPU: Intel N100 4c/4t Memory: 16 GB DDR5-4800 Boot drive: 500GB NVMe SSD nighthawk A secondary Proxmox machine that I really should find a use for\nAMD EPYC 7532 32c/64t AsRock Rack EPYC-D8 Memory: 8x 32 GB ECC DDR4-3200 Boot drive: 2 TB NVMe SSD Lian Li O11 Air Mini ATX chassis Applications Blog: Hugo AI stack: Open WebUI + Ollama Media server stack: Jellyfin + *arr apps Audiobook server: Audiobookshelf File server: NFS/SMB shares Git repo: Gitea, GitLab Password vault: Vaultwarden Collaborative Markdown editor: CodiMD What\u0026rsquo;s the point? Traditionally, homelabs have been despised by spouses, roommates, and parents. They\u0026rsquo;re usually loud, expensive, and take up a lot of space.\nThis was the case before Intel NUCs and the mini PC form factor became mainstream and cost-effective.\nThe same way a woodworker has a shop, the musician a studio, and the writer a study, a computer nerd has a homelab. It is simply a tool for working on projects.\nJust how a wood sculpture could require drills, routers, and chisels, a given application could require a specific type of computer or operating system.\nThe Beelink Mini PCs run on Intel N100 processors, which are praised for performance per watt and the QuickSync media transcoding abilities offered by the integrated GPU. This makes them great candidates for streaming video using something like Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby.\nMy homelab allows me to stream audiobooks, TV shows, and movies without subscription fees, ads, or user tracking while getting me familir with technologies like virtualization, containerization, networking, and hardware.","section":"projects","summary":"Given that fluid simulation is typically resource intensive, I always had dreams of building my own cluster/supercomputer. After being exposed to more IT-related work in my role with Ansys, I found an excuse to spend too much money on computer hardware.\nHardware Expand for more info\nwindows My primary desktop workstation for productivity and gaming, dual boots Debian 12 and Windows 10\nCPU: AMD Ryzen 5800X3D 8c/16t Mobo: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 Memory: 4x 16 GB DDR4-3200 GPU: AMD XFX 7900XTX 24 GB Boot drive: 2 TB NVMe SSD Case: Lian Li O11 Air Mini ATX chassis pve Rack-mounted dual-socket system spec\u0026rsquo;d as much as my wallet allows, runs Proxmox VE","title":"Homelab","url":"/projects/homelab/"},{"content":"Impression I listened to this on audiobook, and Dan\u0026rsquo;s reading was honestly compelling. His journalism degree and news anchor voice are on full display, complete with fun and obscure vocabulary choices.\nI remember putting it on for my drive from Worcester back home and just soaking it in. I was locked in basically the full 2.5 hrs.\nI come away more curious about meditation and the benefits focused practice can bring.\nI haven\u0026rsquo;t actively practiced it yet because I have the notion that I live a meditative life. Especially now in the world of smartphones, I make concerted efforts to pay attention to my internal and external perception and phenonemna. Admittedly, my patience would benefit from deliberate practice, doing breathwork for 15 to 30 minutes.\nDan is incredibly candid in sharing his problems, ranging from drug addiction to panic attacks. It reminded me that success often has a price.\nNotes Dan Harris - ABC news journalist\nWorld News Nightline Good Morning America Discovering spirituality during mid-career struggles\nEckhart Tolle Deepak Chopra Mark Epstein Buddhism Meditation The price of security is insecurity","section":"books","summary":"Impression I listened to this on audiobook, and Dan\u0026rsquo;s reading was honestly compelling. His journalism degree and news anchor voice are on full display, complete with fun and obscure vocabulary choices.\nI remember putting it on for my drive from Worcester back home and just soaking it in. I was locked in basically the full 2.5 hrs.\nI come away more curious about meditation and the benefits focused practice can bring.","title":"10% Happier","url":"/books/10-percent-happier/"},{"content":"I came across this book when first learning about zettlekasten, personal knowledge management, and Obsidian.\n\u0026hellip; the professor is not there for the student and the student not for the professor. Both are only there for the truth. And truth is always a public matter.\nInspired by Getting Things Done, another popular book about productivity in knowledge work.\nIt basically gives a quick biography of Niklas Luhmann, a 20th century German sociologist that developed the zettlekasten method. Ahrens gives his thoughts on how to instill \u0026ldquo;smart notes\u0026rdquo; as a habit, and how to apply them to the reader\u0026rsquo;s field of work.\nI suppose I wasn\u0026rsquo;t a huge fan of this book because its saying something that we already know — we don\u0026rsquo;t review our old notes enough and allow ourselves to be bored and daydream about our ideas. We don\u0026rsquo;t write essays about the things we obsess about, things that we\u0026rsquo;d be happy to share our thoughts with people about.\nThis feeling is reflected in a post I wrote about publishing content online.","section":"books","summary":"I came across this book when first learning about zettlekasten, personal knowledge management, and Obsidian.\n\u0026hellip; the professor is not there for the student and the student not for the professor. Both are only there for the truth. And truth is always a public matter.\nInspired by Getting Things Done, another popular book about productivity in knowledge work.\nIt basically gives a quick biography of Niklas Luhmann, a 20th century German sociologist that developed the zettlekasten method. Ahrens gives his thoughts on how to instill \u0026ldquo;smart notes\u0026rdquo; as a habit, and how to apply them to the reader\u0026rsquo;s field of work.","title":"How to Take Smart Notes","url":"/books/how-to-take-smart-notes/"},{"content":"This is basically an index of mental models that covers business:\nmarketing and sales finance and accounting product development It\u0026rsquo;s intended to be something that you leave on your desk, pick up, and just browse for what you\u0026rsquo;re interested in. I read two or three sections of this before giving up, but I enjoyed Kaufman\u0026rsquo;s writing style and ability to describe his mental models.","section":"books","summary":"This is basically an index of mental models that covers business:\nmarketing and sales finance and accounting product development It\u0026rsquo;s intended to be something that you leave on your desk, pick up, and just browse for what you\u0026rsquo;re interested in. I read two or three sections of this before giving up, but I enjoyed Kaufman\u0026rsquo;s writing style and ability to describe his mental models.","title":"The Personal MBA","url":"/books/the-personal-mba/"},{"content":"Perhaps my favorite book. I listened to this three or four times on my dad\u0026rsquo;s Audible account before picking up a paperback.\nThis book had everything a curious undergraduate engoineering student could ask for; cool planes, geopolitcal intrigue, toxic masculinity, the whole nine yards.\nLockheed Martin\u0026rsquo;s Advanced Projects division Clarence \u0026ldquo;Kelly\u0026rdquo; Johnson + Ben Rich U-2 spy plane SR-71 Blackbird F-117 Nighthawk The CIA, Air Force, and Navy The Golden Age of engineering ","section":"books","summary":"Perhaps my favorite book. I listened to this three or four times on my dad\u0026rsquo;s Audible account before picking up a paperback.\nThis book had everything a curious undergraduate engoineering student could ask for; cool planes, geopolitcal intrigue, toxic masculinity, the whole nine yards.\nLockheed Martin\u0026rsquo;s Advanced Projects division Clarence \u0026ldquo;Kelly\u0026rdquo; Johnson + Ben Rich U-2 spy plane SR-71 Blackbird F-117 Nighthawk The CIA, Air Force, and Navy The Golden Age of engineering ","title":"Skunk Works","url":"/books/skunk-works/"},{"content":"I believe I bought this book at Powell\u0026rsquo;s Books in Portland, Oregon while on a post-graduation west coast road trip with my guys.\nAt this point in my life, I didn\u0026rsquo;t have much sense for running a business. I was familiar with managing college group projects, which has some loose connection to working in the real world. I suppose would be the first \u0026ldquo;Personal MBA\u0026rdquo;-type book I\u0026rsquo;ve read.\nI was unusually hooked by this book as well. I had a particular intererst in how to maintain the balance between fast-paced R\u0026amp;D shops and hulking corporate dinosaurs. This topic has been covered at length in Skunk Works.\nVannevar Bush and DARPA Pan-Am airlines Statins and the pharma industry Edwin Land and Polaroid ","section":"books","summary":"I believe I bought this book at Powell\u0026rsquo;s Books in Portland, Oregon while on a post-graduation west coast road trip with my guys.\nAt this point in my life, I didn\u0026rsquo;t have much sense for running a business. I was familiar with managing college group projects, which has some loose connection to working in the real world. I suppose would be the first \u0026ldquo;Personal MBA\u0026rdquo;-type book I\u0026rsquo;ve read.\nI was unusually hooked by this book as well. I had a particular intererst in how to maintain the balance between fast-paced R\u0026amp;D shops and hulking corporate dinosaurs. This topic has been covered at length in Skunk Works.","title":"Loonshots","url":"/books/loonshots/"},{"content":"Man, I feel bad for not wanting to finish this book in one go. As an engineer you want to appreciate and support this kind of media, but man it can be quite dry.\nPure plot progression can work, but the journal entries feel nearly identical once you get a year into his journey or so.\nMaybe I need to watch the movie to inspire me. Love me some Matt Damon.","section":"books","summary":"Man, I feel bad for not wanting to finish this book in one go. As an engineer you want to appreciate and support this kind of media, but man it can be quite dry.\nPure plot progression can work, but the journal entries feel nearly identical once you get a year into his journey or so.\nMaybe I need to watch the movie to inspire me. Love me some Matt Damon.","title":"The Martian","url":"/books/the-martian/"},{"content":"High frequnecy trading\u0026rsquo;s effect on traders, stock exchanges.\nBuilding a straight fiber line from Chicago to New Jersey\nBrad Katsuyama\nGoldman Sachs\nInvestor\u0026rsquo;s Exchange (IEX)","section":"books","summary":"High frequnecy trading\u0026rsquo;s effect on traders, stock exchanges.\nBuilding a straight fiber line from Chicago to New Jersey\nBrad Katsuyama\nGoldman Sachs\nInvestor\u0026rsquo;s Exchange (IEX)","title":"Flash Boys","url":"/books/flash-boys/"},{"content":"This summer marks the first time I really feel on my own.\nI start my graduate program at WPI in the fall, however I secured an apartment lease in Worcester that started June 1st. Truly living on my own has reminded me of the minutia that most people must consider.\nRemembering to lock my doors and bring my keys; learning city trash policies; starting the Massachussetts residency process; taking it easy after hurting my back; it\u0026rsquo;s a level of individual responsibility that I haven\u0026rsquo;t taken on since my semester in Iceland. Even then, I was fresh out of undergrad, feeling like a college kid, and still living on my parents\u0026rsquo; dime.\nNow I\u0026rsquo;m the sole guarantor on my rental contract, getting all my groceries, and paying all my bills.\nAs someone who typically beats the drum of personal responsibility, it\u0026rsquo;s slightly embarrassing that it took this long, but I am learning to put my pride behind me and practice what I preach.\nWearing my proactive optimist hat, I decided to visit Higgins Laboratory to see if anyone was present for the summer. While Statia (our dept. office administrator) wasn\u0026rsquo;t, Mahdi was up in the lab. He had to finish his section of a paper that his team is presenting by the end of the week, a survey of machine learning methods in computational fluid dynamics. I managed to distract him from this high priority task to ask about courses, qualifying exams, and life in Worcester in general. He provided reassurance about the academics, and that if I\u0026rsquo;m proactive enough to show up in June, that I shouldn\u0026rsquo;t worry.\nMahdi is great. I look forward to studying with him.\nI have been rather anxious about starting school again Reflecting deeper, I have self-imposed an unreasonable amount of pressure on myself. I have an impression that I have to go above and beyond because the school is paying my tuition and giving me a stipend. While I\u0026rsquo;ve demonstrated myself at work and taken on projects in my spare time, I haven\u0026rsquo;t experienced the rigor of something like graduate fluids courses since Iceland. Adding to my full-time remote job, I will also be working as a teaching assistant. While having confidence that I am capable of helping out undergrads, it is another responsibility on my plate.\nWhen I sit back and try removing my overthinking from the picture and focus on my lived experience, I\u0026rsquo;ve only had positive indicators. Everyone working with my adviser is friendly has given a solid endorsement. My personal experience with him has reinforced these sentiments.\nWhile this isn\u0026rsquo;t at the top of my concerns causing me stress, it is a concern that causes me stress. I am doing my best to make a conscious effort to lower my stress, however doing so becomes a test of my patience. Despite being away from home, I\u0026rsquo;m still relatively isolated; my body is starting to break down on me; I\u0026rsquo;m not seeing enough progress at work to feel good about myself; I\u0026rsquo;m not motivated enough to delve into a deeper personal project.\nI know that I need to be kinder to myself and relax.\nI\u0026rsquo;m going to be studying at WPI for five years, I need to get myself into a suitable condition to do so.\nI give myself excuses why I should feel sorry for myself and wallow, but that does me absolutely no good. I should be okay with not being 100% and give focus to getting myself as close to 100% as I can.\nI find myself getting into funks much more often now I have a feeling it’s because I’m dealing with mounting career responsibilities in parallel with personal issues, including my health and my relationships.\nI am not incapable of doing work during these times, but it severely limits how deep I can allow myself to go. I can always allow myself to grind myself to the bone, but I have been doing this for the past 3-4 years. I am trying to tell myself it’s okay to not grind myself to the bone, but I’m starting a PhD program in two months. My impression is that I will have to apply myself moreso than I have while at work, which I see as an existential threat; I will have to drive to campus; I will have to sit in lecture; I will have to sit to study. All of these are terrible for my back.\nI don’t know if I’m supposed to be taking things more easily than I should be. I don’t know if I should be away from my family and hometown right now. I find myself not knowing things, when I typically am so sure of myself.\nIt’s during these times that I turn inward to media, usually anime.\nI try to play video games first, but I pull up my Steam library and flounder with listlessness and indecision. Perhaps I boot up Cyberpunk 2077 for 15 minutes, wonder what the fuck I’m doing, then Alt–F4.\nTo justify my behavior, I’d suggest that anime is more efficient in world building and character development compared to singleplayer video games, which feels like I’m robbing myself of enjoyment. I’m not allowing myself to waste a bit of time and immerse myself into a world. This is where Breath of the Wild was very different. It was such a compelling and beautiful world that I couldn’t ignore it, I had to experience what it had to offer. It’s been a very long time since I’ve felt that from a video game.\nCyberpunk feels too dry. Minecraft is too much of a sandbox. Rust is too competitive and cutthroat.\nIt feels like I’m not allowing myself to be happy.\nIt’s clear to me that I’m missing something when I get in these moods, but I find difficult determining what that something is.\nIt’s very rich, coming from a person who often sings Brand New’s The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot:\nIf it makes you less sad, I will die by your hand\nHope you find out what you want, already know what I am\nI have always considered myself as more self-aware than others. Maybe this self-awareness wavers in the moment of whatever mischief I get myself into, but I ultimately know what I’m doing at any given time when I reflect upon it.\nI worry that I take this self-awareness too seriously, that I am watching myself with an incredibly vigilant eye, but I know that I require this attention, that I’m capable of causing real damage to myself and others.\nI suppose this is why I’ve always preferred being absorbed in my work. When I assess myself as objectively as I can, I am trouble. I am selfish. I give into my base desires. I am a hypocrite when it benefits me.\nAs long as I consume myself with righteous goals, whether in industry or academia, I can distract myself from my reality.","section":"updates","summary":"This summer marks the first time I really feel on my own.\nI start my graduate program at WPI in the fall, however I secured an apartment lease in Worcester that started June 1st. Truly living on my own has reminded me of the minutia that most people must consider.\nRemembering to lock my doors and bring my keys; learning city trash policies; starting the Massachussetts residency process; taking it easy after hurting my back; it\u0026rsquo;s a level of individual responsibility that I haven\u0026rsquo;t taken on since my semester in Iceland. Even then, I was fresh out of undergrad, feeling like a college kid, and still living on my parents\u0026rsquo; dime.","title":"Summer","url":"/updates/summer/"},{"content":"This morning I was warmly greeted by an email confirming my fully-funded admission to WPI\u0026rsquo;s graduate mechanical engineering program.\nThis opportunity first presented itself to me in late October while browsing CFD Online\u0026rsquo;s job board. I was a frequent lurker of the forums during my internship at DEKA R\u0026amp;D, when I was most in the weeds with OpenFOAM. Several years later I only find myself checking it periodically, but it was just my luck that a funded CFD research position had opened up on the east coast.\nI had recently left the testing team for Ansys\u0026rsquo;s Fluent CFD package after realizing that I was advancing my platform/DevOps engineering skillset, rather than my analysis skillset. I also found that my lack of graduate education limited the areas my managers were comfortable letting me work in.\nEven at DEKA I felt this limitation: I was brought onto a testing team with the understanding that I\u0026rsquo;d want to transfer to a more design-oriented team. After 6-7 months, I expressed my desire to work with the controls engineering team, tuning a Kalman filter used in a device subsystem. I was in close contact with the controls engineer and informed him of my desire as well. About a month later, I hear that my classmate from UNH is hired for the position. Naturally, this didn\u0026rsquo;t sit well with me. Again, about a month later, I\u0026rsquo;m cold called on LinkedIn by an Ansys recruiter, and then that whole thing happens.\nI had been accepted into the University of Washington while at DEKA, Dartmouth College while at Ansys, and now Worcester Polytechnic Institute. I am very certain that I would benefit from graduate education, as I have tighter focus and more context regarding the industry.\nThe opportunity is intended to result in a doctoral degree, which will take at least four years, but I am fine with this.\nThere is a lot I don\u0026rsquo;t know about, not just limiting myself to mechanical engineering or CFD, but also software, electrical, and computer engineering, statistics, pure mathematics, and much more. I have been maxing out my technology skills without advancing my theoretical skills.\nI have a pretty sweet opportunity with remote work and this studentship, and I hope I am able to handle the workload with grace.","section":"updates","summary":"This morning I was warmly greeted by an email confirming my fully-funded admission to WPI\u0026rsquo;s graduate mechanical engineering program.\nThis opportunity first presented itself to me in late October while browsing CFD Online\u0026rsquo;s job board. I was a frequent lurker of the forums during my internship at DEKA R\u0026amp;D, when I was most in the weeds with OpenFOAM. Several years later I only find myself checking it periodically, but it was just my luck that a funded CFD research position had opened up on the east coast.","title":"WPI Graduate Admission","url":"/updates/wpi/"},{"content":"This post outlines how to deploy a Hugo blog using GitHub and CloudFlare Pages. This is because I prefer managing my domains on CloudFlare, and they make it really easy to set up a free worker to run a static website.\nConfigure Hugo locally Install Hugo Hugo is \u0026ldquo;The world\u0026rsquo;s fastest framework for building websites\u0026rdquo;. It\u0026rsquo;s a simple static site generator, which is perfect for a personal blog or portfolio, something I think most professionals would benefit from having.\nThis is what I\u0026rsquo;ve found easy. If you prefer Astro, NextJS, Gatsby, etc., go for it, many steps will be very similar.\nmacOS brew install hugo Ubuntu/Debian derivatives Since apt lags behind most other package managers, grab the .deb directly from Github:\n# replace \u0026lt;version\u0026gt; wget https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/download/v0.\u0026lt;version\u0026gt;.0/hugo_0.\u0026lt;version\u0026gt;.0_linux-amd64.deb sudo apt install -y hugo_0.\u0026lt;version\u0026gt;.0_linux-amd64.deb Windows Just use WSL and follow above.\nCreate a Hugo site Create a repos directory:\nmkdir ~/repos \u0026amp;\u0026amp; cd repos Now create your first Hugo site:\nhugo new site mySite A new directory, ~/repos/mySite should be present and populated with Hugo files.\nNext, create a theme:\nhugo new theme myTheme The themes/ directory should contain myTheme now.\nFinally, append theme = 'myTheme' to hugo.toml:\necho \u0026#34;theme = \u0026#39;myTheme\u0026#39;\u0026#34; \u0026gt;\u0026gt; hugo.toml The web server now can be started with hugo serve, and is accessible at localhost:1313.\nWe have a working site!\nAt this point, it would be smart to start a Git repository to store our known working revision:\n# in ~/repos/mySite git init . git add . git commit -m \u0026#34;first commit\u0026#34; We don\u0026rsquo;t have a Git remote yet, so no need to push. We will be addressing that now.\nPreparing Hugo for the cloud Revision control I assume that if you\u0026rsquo;ve made it this far, that you probably have a GitHub account. Create a new repo called mySite and set it as the Git remote, then push to the main branch:\n# replace \u0026lt;username\u0026gt; git remote add origin https://github.com/\u0026lt;username\u0026gt;/mySite.git git push -u origin main Web hosting Many of you won\u0026rsquo;t have a Cloudflare account. Create an account. This may be useful for you going forward. Cloudflare offers free static website hosting though Pages\nOnce signed into dash.cloudflare.com, scroll down the sidebar and select Compute (Workers) -\u0026gt; Workers \u0026amp; Pages.\nSelect Create, choose the Pages tab, then import your repository. Link your GitHub account then choose mySite.\nSet the web framework to Hugo and continue.\nCustom domains (optional) If you\u0026rsquo;d like to remove .pages.dev from your website URL\nchoose and register a domain you like under Domain Registration in the left sidebar. They\u0026rsquo;re cheap, on the order of $10/year, so don\u0026rsquo;t have so much anxiety choosing the right one.\nAt the dashboard homepage, find Compute (Workers) and click Workers \u0026amp; Pages. Click Create.\nChoose the Pages tab and connect your GitHub repo. Leave everything default and let it build and deploy.\nCongratulations! You\u0026rsquo;ve just deployed a web application to the cloud with continuous integration!\nNow you can point your custom domain to this Page, which will give it HTTPS and an SSL certificate.","section":"posts","summary":"This post outlines how to deploy a Hugo blog using GitHub and CloudFlare Pages. This is because I prefer managing my domains on CloudFlare, and they make it really easy to set up a free worker to run a static website.\nConfigure Hugo locally Install Hugo Hugo is \u0026ldquo;The world\u0026rsquo;s fastest framework for building websites\u0026rdquo;. It\u0026rsquo;s a simple static site generator, which is perfect for a personal blog or portfolio, something I think most professionals would benefit from having.","title":"How to Deploy a Blog","url":"/posts/how-to-deploy-a-blog/"},{"content":"Man, am I bad at making these updates. Ideally I would have written or typed something up immediately after 6 days in Austin, but that\u0026rsquo;s how bad my discipline can be.\nI suppose I\u0026rsquo;ll just go order of events:\nDay before the flight Matt and I register for a Founders Running Club 5k at 8:00 am on Luma We proceed to get 2 hours of sleep in Austin and debate not going Spirits were raised the moment we arrive 5k is run and the club chops it up at Afuga We proceed to set up TopGolf, hiking, climbing, and pickleball with new friends within an hour, all the while discusssing startups, real estate, the market, technology, healthcare, sheeeeesh Just about everyone we met and every activity we did was very fun, had hardly any unhappy moments I have been neglecting myself these past 2 years. I have been shielding myself from living in the real world.\nSometimes I wonder if my experience in Iceland had set myself up for self-isolation in the Northeast.\nHonestly, I know I did. I told myself after Iceland that I was tired of moving home base, and that I wanted live in the same property for more than a year. I seem to have fulfilled that desire.\nNow that I finally left home and tried to meet new people, I find that there are people that I can share ideas and work with. This is something that I thought I could do where I grew up, but things felt very different down there. It was warmer both climatically and socially.\nI met people who had real drive \u0026ndash; working multiple jobs, managing multiple properties, launching multiple startups \u0026ndash; which is something that I haven\u0026rsquo;t found back home.\nI had such a great time that I am certainly returning, and for a longer stay. I never was able to get into the rhythm of working, save for some moments at epoch.\nI want to feel how daily life is in Austin, as well as Cedar Point, Pflugerville, Manor, etc. It seems even more car dependent than the Northeast, which is a shame, but I\u0026rsquo;m curious how the rapid transit works.\nWhat I\u0026rsquo;m upset about is that I was so active and adult while in Austin. I was doing all the housework from cooking to cleaning, we did a lot of physical activity, we attend real events where I felt like I learned t hings, all great stuff.\nThe only time I really feel like that here is when I go to Baker Library, which I often need Gaby to encourage me to do.\nThe one habit that I return while I\u0026rsquo;m settled here is the gym, which is very good.","section":"updates","summary":"Man, am I bad at making these updates. Ideally I would have written or typed something up immediately after 6 days in Austin, but that\u0026rsquo;s how bad my discipline can be.\nI suppose I\u0026rsquo;ll just go order of events:\nDay before the flight Matt and I register for a Founders Running Club 5k at 8:00 am on Luma We proceed to get 2 hours of sleep in Austin and debate not going Spirits were raised the moment we arrive 5k is run and the club chops it up at Afuga We proceed to set up TopGolf, hiking, climbing, and pickleball with new friends within an hour, all the while discusssing startups, real estate, the market, technology, healthcare, sheeeeesh Just about everyone we met and every activity we did was very fun, had hardly any unhappy moments I have been neglecting myself these past 2 years. I have been shielding myself from living in the real world.","title":"Post Austin Blues","url":"/updates/post-austin-blues/"},{"content":"Today bowrango was able to explain his project to a relative layman, which I consider to be a milestone achievement.\nI wish the Northeast had 24/7 cafes; there isn\u0026rsquo;t a chill place to discuss ideas with low judgement.\nI intend to explain my idea to Moiz in the coming days.","section":"updates","summary":"Today bowrango was able to explain his project to a relative layman, which I consider to be a milestone achievement.\nI wish the Northeast had 24/7 cafes; there isn\u0026rsquo;t a chill place to discuss ideas with low judgement.\nI intend to explain my idea to Moiz in the coming days.","title":"Epoch","url":"/updates/epoch/"},{"content":"Riding the Boston Express as I type this. I don\u0026rsquo;t intend for this to be intelligible necessarily, just trying to word-vomit what\u0026rsquo;s on my mind.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s about time I decided to do something for leisure. I imagined myself as someone who\u0026rsquo;d have the self-awareness to attend to my personal needs beyond professional development.\nWhile I\u0026rsquo;m there, I would like to reconsider my relationship to the northeast US. When I stop and think, I feel tied to this area. The world started feeling crazy due to covid, and I sought out stability. I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t say my time at DEKA and in Manchester wasn\u0026rsquo;t a problem, but starting at Ansys was the beginning of the end for me. Despite not being a great fit at DEKA, I felt like part of a team with shared responsibility and buy-in from test technicians to project managers. This was not the case at Ansys.\nI think it\u0026rsquo;s a problem that I don\u0026rsquo;t have collaborative efforts outside of work. I don\u0026rsquo;t know how to manage burnout for extended (\u0026gt; 1 year) projects. I am used to working on something for six months to one year then moving on.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve thought this as a kind of commitment issue when I relate it to my other experiences. I tell myself that I need to find the community that fosters starting projects and being held accountable by sharing my progress, but I do not actively sesek it out. I\u0026rsquo;m not a poster, I\u0026rsquo;m still rather shy about presenting myself publicly.\nEveryone wishes they can snap a finger and correct the flaws they see in themselves, but we all know that more attention, care, and thought should be put into it. My brother carries around that book of questions, which I think could be effective if one is discplined enough to check it periodically, and the proper amount of time is devoted to thinking deeply and intentionally.\nI would imagine 15-30 minutes of meditation at the beginning and end of each day would do me wonders, but my brain get upset that I\u0026rsquo;m not doing something more immediate. My brain doesn\u0026rsquo;t realize that I\u0026rsquo;m attending to myself for the slow burn.","section":"updates","summary":"Riding the Boston Express as I type this. I don\u0026rsquo;t intend for this to be intelligible necessarily, just trying to word-vomit what\u0026rsquo;s on my mind.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s about time I decided to do something for leisure. I imagined myself as someone who\u0026rsquo;d have the self-awareness to attend to my personal needs beyond professional development.\nWhile I\u0026rsquo;m there, I would like to reconsider my relationship to the northeast US. When I stop and think, I feel tied to this area. The world started feeling crazy due to covid, and I sought out stability. I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t say my time at DEKA and in Manchester wasn\u0026rsquo;t a problem, but starting at Ansys was the beginning of the end for me. Despite not being a great fit at DEKA, I felt like part of a team with shared responsibility and buy-in from test technicians to project managers. This was not the case at Ansys.","title":"Austin Trip","url":"/updates/austin-trip/"},{"content":"As implied by the terminating digit on this post, I would like to make this a thing, posting things that I remember as interesting and have the energy to post here.\nLifestyle / Vibes Joe Scott One of the topics I routinely talk about with the people close to me is society\u0026rsquo;s lack of agency or drive to learn new things to better their careers and lives.\nI am someone who likes to work on these sort of things, actively improving my existing skills or learning new ones. I make attempts to invite other people into my world of learning new things, but this is rarely something people want to get into.\nThe video below takes the opposite position of my own; as a young person growing up with the internet and a broken world, what is the point of learning anything? It is a sobering, yet valid argument that I found engaging.\nOlder Brother I came across this guy on the way up to Gunstock Mountain Resort for some nice night skiing. I think this was recommended to me because I\u0026rsquo;ve been listening to nostalgic CoD gameplay commentaries where mid- to late-20-somethings complain about how shitty their life and the world is.\nI watched this one first: then this one afterwards: Something I\u0026rsquo;ve been yearning for in my world is mentorship. For the terminally online, the internet has basically destroyed traditional mentorship; our emotional selection and confirmation biases draws us to communities or ideologies that we agree and identify with, and sometimes we can lose sight of what the real world is like. We have disdain for internet celebrities like Mr. Beast or Andrew Tate or whatever, but if we sought out the creator circles in our local communities, you\u0026rsquo;d probably find they\u0026rsquo;re chill normal people.\nIt is refreshing to hear confidently sane people posting content about how they got to where they are.\nProductive Pete Along a similar vein, this channel appeared in the recommended videos of Older Brother: This video has described my life philosophy better than anything I could have explained myself. Certainly will be checking out more of his stuff in the future.\nTechnical Stuff Core Dumped I first stumbled upon this channel say 3-4 months ago, and I was struck by how clear and concise the animations and explanations were in explaining tough concepts. The video below is a general Q\u0026amp;A session, but he goes into his production workflow, which features an AI voice generated by ElevenLabs and animations made with PowerPoint transitions: I was particularly interested in this video because this channel blew up fast, really fast. It amazes me that someone could be incredibly competent at something and not share it, but the moment they share something, they basically blow up.\nI still believe in content meritocracy, where the best stuff will get attention, even if it\u0026rsquo;s not as much as it deserves.\nBlog Design For the one soul paying attention this (myself), you may have noticed that there have been some styling changes in the recent past.\nI decided to swap out raw custom CSS for TailwindCSS and DaisyUI, and making fun little widgets is much easier now.","section":"updates","summary":"As implied by the terminating digit on this post, I would like to make this a thing, posting things that I remember as interesting and have the energy to post here.\nLifestyle / Vibes Joe Scott One of the topics I routinely talk about with the people close to me is society\u0026rsquo;s lack of agency or drive to learn new things to better their careers and lives.\nI am someone who likes to work on these sort of things, actively improving my existing skills or learning new ones. I make attempts to invite other people into my world of learning new things, but this is rarely something people want to get into.","title":"Things I Found Interesting 1","url":"/updates/things-i-found-interesting-1/"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;ve had a really tough past couple of days. Thankfully things have gotten better today with the gym and some gentle tinkering.","section":"updates","summary":"I\u0026rsquo;ve had a really tough past couple of days. Thankfully things have gotten better today with the gym and some gentle tinkering.","title":"2024 12 23","url":"/updates/2024-12-23/"},{"content":"Watch here if you prefer video: Something I realized too late in life is that Microsoft Word sucks. It does the bare minimum of being dead simple and accessible, but when writing longer papers with many equations, figures, and references, I found Word clunky.\nI had used $\\LaTeX$ for my resume starting my sophomore year, but since I relied heavily on templates, I never used it for anything else.\nUpon moving to Iceland, I met a fellow engineering student named Johannes, who was a huge $\\LaTeX$ nut. The university had an Overleaf account, which he wrote homework and paper templates for, and he even recreated the university logo using TikZ. I spent a good amount of time with him, and picked up his habit.\nWhile Overleaf is a fine solution, I prefer storing my documents locally and this doesn\u0026rsquo;t take too long to set up.\nDependencies VSCode / VSCodium Tex Live LaTeX Workshop extension macOS If you don\u0026rsquo;t already have the Homebrew package manager installed, start with this:\n/bin/bash -c \u0026#34;$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)\u0026#34; Now install TeX Live, a popular TeX distribution:\nbrew install texlive If you haven\u0026rsquo;t installed VSCode already, click the link and install it.\nNext, click the Extensions icon in the sidebar and search LaTeX Workshop. Click Install, and now you should be able to click the green run icon to generate PDFs from .tex files.","section":"posts","summary":"Watch here if you prefer video: Something I realized too late in life is that Microsoft Word sucks. It does the bare minimum of being dead simple and accessible, but when writing longer papers with many equations, figures, and references, I found Word clunky.\nI had used $\\LaTeX$ for my resume starting my sophomore year, but since I relied heavily on templates, I never used it for anything else.","title":"Easy LaTeX Documents in VSCode","url":"/posts/easy-latex-documents-in-vscode/"},{"content":"Today, my first pet of 15 years, a border collie named Lucky, was put down.\nIt is the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and my heart hurts.\nLucky had been getting old for some time now, but he experienced a rapid decline starting around fall last year. He started losing weight, and his hind legs began to lose strength. Because of this he’d stand around all day, since laying down and getting up was so difficult.\nLast night I had to do that job for him.\nMore notable was his mental state. For the past two months or so, all he could do was stare out into space. My parents would leave the house to go downtown for a few hours, and Lucky would just stand on the lawn, staring up the driveway until they got back. Other times, he’d be inside and start whining while in the corner of the room, seemingly being out of it.\nGetting in and out of the house became difficult in October or so. He would normally use the dog flap on the storm door, but now he’d refuse and whine until the storm door was opened. Later that month, he’d refuse to go up and down the small lip between the door and the floor of the house, and we’d have to support his legs as he stepped in.\nWhile the conversation about Lucky’s age and his time had started late this summer, and we recently agreed to put him down after Thanksgiving, I am still struggling.\nWhat’s most difficult about Lucky is the suddenness of it all. It wasn’t that long ago that he’d be rolling around in the grass, that he’d catch a frisbee, that he’d play fight with Dewey.\nThere’s always been a part of me that related with Lucky. When he was a puppy, he’d exhaust his social energy and retreat behind the couch. He would eventually break out of his shell more and learn tricks and play games, but he was always a bit strange. He didn’t dote on people and seek attention the same way many dogs do.\nThis is not my first encounter with death in the family. My grandparents on both sides of the family have passed, and I feel guilt that losing Lucky felt more impactful emotionally than did losing my grandparents.\nI think one of those reasons is that my grandparents on my dad\u0026rsquo;s side were in their 90s and had accepted their fates. My grandpa had pretty bad dementia, and after he passed, my grandma eventually wanted to join him.\nWith Lucky, he would still wag his tail. He would still perk up his ears when I say \u0026ldquo;frisbee\u0026rdquo;. He can\u0026rsquo;t speak his thoughts to us, which makes it harder for me to let go.\nI tend not to remember my dreams often, but recently I\u0026rsquo;ve been able to recall several dreams were Lucky is with us, as he always was.\nI suppose truly good things truly never last.","section":"posts","summary":"Today, my first pet of 15 years, a border collie named Lucky, was put down.\nIt is the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and my heart hurts.\nLucky had been getting old for some time now, but he experienced a rapid decline starting around fall last year. He started losing weight, and his hind legs began to lose strength. Because of this he’d stand around all day, since laying down and getting up was so difficult.","title":"Loss","url":"/posts/loss/"},{"content":"I initially started this project to become familiar with the PyFoam Python library, which provides some quality-of-life utilities for OpenFOAM.\nLater, I presented this project to the Ansys Fluent testing team during my interview.\nView GitHub Pages deployment here","section":"projects","summary":"I initially started this project to become familiar with the PyFoam Python library, which provides some quality-of-life utilities for OpenFOAM.\nLater, I presented this project to the Ansys Fluent testing team during my interview.\nView GitHub Pages deployment here","title":"dragOverSphere-PyFoam","url":"/projects/drag-over-sphere-pyfoam/"},{"content":"TL;DR People are ultimately gonna want this, plus it helps organize my thoughts. This will lack a lot of context, so please read further if you jump to conclusions.\nSpend less than you earn - it\u0026rsquo;s easier to reduce your spending than to increase your income Build an emergency fund Max out contributions to tax-advantaged investment accounts Spend money on things that can earn you money ","section":"posts","summary":"My experience in dealing with money","title":"Mastering Money","url":"/posts/money/"},{"content":"A curated compilation of quality media content.\nBooks This is a list of books/audiobooks that enriched my life in my later adulthood. Sadly I don\u0026rsquo;t remember many of the books I enjoyed as a kid.\nBiography Benjamin Franklin: An American Life | Walter Isaacson Leonardo Da Vinci | Walter Isaacson Kelly | Clarence \u0026ldquo;Kelly\u0026rdquo; Johnson \u0026ldquo;Self-help\u0026rdquo; Atomic Habits | James Clear How to Win Friends and Influence People | Dale Carnegie How to Take Smart Notes | Sonke Ahrens The Art of Learning | Josh Waitzkin Engineering Skunk Works | Ben Rich The Innovators | Walter Isaacson The Phoenix Project / The DevOps Handbook | Gene Kim Memoir The Last Lecture | Randy Pausch Surely You\u0026rsquo;re Joking, Mr. Feynman! | Richard P. Feynman History Sapiens | Yuval Noah Harari Homo Deus | Yuval Noah Harari 21 Lessons for the 21st Century | Yuval Noah Harari Sci-fi Foundation | Isaac Asimov The End of Eternity | Isaac Asimov Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? | Philip K. Dick YouTube Still working on how this should be organized. There probably should be tiers of accessibility based on your prior knowledge of each section.\nI\u0026rsquo;m thinking I\u0026rsquo;ll use headers, progressing in level of accessibility. Maybe 5 or so.\nTechnology Asianometry Louis Rossmann Computing Gamers Nexus Level1Techs / Level1Linux Programming Serious Core Dumped Low Level Learning No Boilerplate Memes Fireship ThePrimeagen / ThePrimeTime Homelab apalrd\u0026rsquo;s adventures Christian Lempa Hardware Haven Jeff Geerling Lawrence Systems NetworkChuck Raid Owl Techno Tim ServeTheHome Wolfgang\u0026rsquo;s Channel Lifestyle David Zhang optimum Unhinged Linux Mental Outlaw Luke Smith Sports Secret Base MLB Baseball Doesn\u0026rsquo;t Exist Foolish Baseball Jomboy Media Made The Cut NBA AFunkyDiabetic Daniel Li dylandoesbasketball Michael MacKelvie The Ringer Bill Simmons Ryen Russillo Sporting Logically Thinking Basketball / More Thinking Basketball whatslaps / whatshorts Urbanism Alan Fisher (Armchair Urbanist) CityNerd Not Just Bikes Geopolitics (???) Half as Interesting hoser PolyMatter RealLifeLore Wendover Productions \u0026ldquo;Conspiracy\u0026rdquo; YouTube FLESH SIMULATOR Johnny Harris Wendigoon Pop culture / Internet drama CoffeeZilla Internet Anarchist SomeOrdinaryGamers GunTube Administrative Results Brass Facts Forgotten Weapons Garand Thumb Hop Science Applied Science Just Have a Think Real Engineering Technology Connections Undecided with Matt Ferrell Philosophy Academic(-ish) Eternalised Sprituality (???) Alan Watts tapes Terence McKenna tapes \u0026ldquo;GrindTube\u0026rdquo; Productive Peter ","section":"posts","summary":"A curated compilation of quality media content","title":"Quality Content","url":"/posts/quality-content/"},{"content":"This update is being used to test a video shortcode:\nThanks to this link\nI am also testing Mermaid.js diagrams:\nsequenceDiagram participant Alice participant Bob Alice-\u003e\u003eJohn: Hello John, how are you? loop Healthcheck John-\u003e\u003eJohn: Fight against hypochondria end Note right of John: Rational thoughts prevail! John--\u003e\u003eAlice: Great! John-\u003e\u003eBob: How about you? Bob--\u003e\u003eJohn: Jolly good! Also inline syntax highlighting?\ndef add (x1, x2): return x1 + x2 ","section":"updates","summary":"This update is being used to test a video shortcode:\nThanks to this link","title":"2024 07 05","url":"/updates/2024-07-05/"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;ve always had issues with publishing personal content online. I don\u0026rsquo;t know if the oversharing campaign that was run during the advent of social media is just too ingrained into my mind, or if I just have anxiety about it.\nI am someone with a lot of things to share, in topics ranging from computing, to music, sports, personal finance, current events, photo/videography, gaming, and normal life stuff, but for some reason it doesn\u0026rsquo;t feel right to me to produce content the way that many do.\nThe first thing I think about are the vlogs. One thing about me, I find selfies to be super cringe \u0026ndash; outstretching your arm, framing the photo, putting on a cheap smile that doesn\u0026rsquo;t look nearly as good as you hope \u0026ndash; I just find it really weird.\nNow, imagine replacing your phone with a mirrorless camera. Now, imagine you\u0026rsquo;re in public, outstreching your arm holding a mirrorless camera, then talking to it. I get super self-conscious about things like that, which is why it\u0026rsquo;s hard for me to do the vlog thing.\nI am significantly more comfortable with spoken-word content; tutorials, explanations, delivering facts. However, the moment impactful opinions are involved, I shy away once again. Even with talking head videos, I get self-conscious about; your word choice, how you look into the camera, are you staring too much? Do you look natural?\nI\u0026rsquo;m not yet at the point where I\u0026rsquo;ve stopped caring about things. I have a full-time job and I\u0026rsquo;d like to continue my career with as few hiccups as possible, and being a content creator induces hiccup risk. As someone who perhaps identifies too much with work, I just wonder how people can afford to start creating quality content while working a job.\nPartly due to my overthinking, I think about how creating content would affect my life once I\u0026rsquo;ve actually seen success; in the case of YouTube videos, I\u0026rsquo;d have to deal with the comments section, potential beef with other creators, and possibly, beef with other groups.\nI\u0026rsquo;m just a rather private person.\nHowever, I notice that there are some people who just love all aspects of this lifestyle; the drama, the attention, the stress.\nUltimately it feels like an ego thing.\nIt feels like people want to be seen. On this earth of 9+ billion people, individuals yearn for a way to stand out, to appear more important than others. I don\u0026rsquo;t even need to consider the whole world; even focusing on America, with a population of 330 million, the desire to stand out remains. As (in general) the most developed country in the world, it isn\u0026rsquo;t enough to merely enjoy the conveniences technology has brought us, we must find a way to differentiate ourselves, to develop a brand for ourselves.\nMy approach is more academic; to publish, there should be a novel contribution to the field. Of course, the real world isn\u0026rsquo;t like this. There is value in following the same procedure, executing the same steps as another available resource due to differing perspectives.\nThe term brand just evokes thoughts of corporate business within me; strategic marketing, crafting something in such a soulless, calculated manner that essentially removes all authenticity.\nWhen it comes down to it, I really need to just grow the fuck up and start putting more stuff out there, which is what I\u0026rsquo;m trying to do here, but I do believe there\u0026rsquo;s a reason I have reservations about diving into this fully.","section":"posts","summary":"I\u0026rsquo;ve always had issues with publishing personal content online. I don\u0026rsquo;t know if the oversharing campaign that was run during the advent of social media is just too ingrained into my mind, or if I just have anxiety about it.","title":"Content Creation Is Hard","url":"/posts/content-creation-is-hard/"},{"content":"Earlier today, my brother was asking me for a laptop recommendation. This is a relatively normal interaction, however upon recommending the 2021 14\u0026quot; MacBook Pro again, for perhaps the sixth time since its release, it made me reflect upon the laptop landscape.\nTo qualify my statements below, please read My Computer History.\nDespite new offerings and yearly refreshes by Apple, I can confidently say that, in Q3 2024, the 14\u0026quot; M1 Pro MacBook Pro is the best value laptop on the market.\nIn \u0026lt;current year\u0026gt;, if you live in the US of A and are under the age of 40, you likely use an iPhone. I would imagine most people would want to take advantagse of Apple\u0026rsquo;s walled garden, which includes:\niMessage FaceTime AirDrop Apple Pay iCloud Photos and more. To many, this certainly will be an incentive to lean towards a MacBook.\nThe introduction of the M-series chips is what really sells me on MacBooks.\nThese chips offer equivalent performance to some desktop platforms with the power draw of a tablet. This addresses two of my biggest issues with Windows laptops: battery life, and overheating.\nWhen you close your laptop lid, you expect your laptop to sleep, right? I can\u0026rsquo;t count how many times I\u0026rsquo;ve packed my laptop \u0026ndash; fully charged \u0026ndash; into my bag for class, only to find it at 50% just from the walk. I\u0026rsquo;ve felt heat radiating from my laptop sleeve into my back, just from the laptop, doing nothing? Relevant Linus Tech Tips video\nI\u0026rsquo;ve certainly felt laptop chassis warm enough to fry an egg.\nDisregarding sleep state shenanigans, I would expect previous laptops to get me through class with conservative usage, and I mean conservative; no browsing reddit or online shopping, no YouTube, just my notes app and paying attention to the lecture. To this day, I habitually carry a laptop charger in my bag, expecting that I\u0026rsquo;d run out of juice while on the go (USB-C charging has made this much less painful in current_year).\nHaving used my MacBook Pro as a daily driver since late 2022, I can confidently say that I\u0026rsquo;ve experienced neither of these issues. Granted, I don\u0026rsquo;t (can\u0026rsquo;t) use intensive programs like SolidWorks, Ansys, etc., but I\u0026rsquo;ll run DaVinci Resolve, Blender, and Ollama. The chassis get\u0026rsquo;s noticeably warm during heavy use, but not worryingly so. The standby battery life is wonderful as well. I\u0026rsquo;ve never been surprised after checking battery life after extended idle periods.\nWhile Apple\u0026rsquo;s silicon is really good, it is not the sole reason why I like this laptop.\nNext I have to talk about the display.\n3024x1964, 120 Hz. Gets really dim and really bright. No color banding, the whole panel lookds uniform. It is glossy, but gets bright enough to combat this. No, I don\u0026rsquo;t notice the notch. All in all, this is likely the best laptop display I\u0026rsquo;ve used.\nBoth the keyboard and the trackpad are spacious and nice to use. From my understanding, MacBook trackpads have been superior since at least 2015. It does use the \u0026ldquo;Force Touch\u0026rdquo; haptic feedback system, which I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t blame anyone for not liking, but I honestly don\u0026rsquo;t care enough. Sure, I would prefer if the trackpad \u0026ldquo;click\u0026rdquo; had actual travel, but the size, smoothness, and accuracy more than make up for the lack of travel.","section":"posts","summary":"Earlier today, my brother was asking me for a laptop recommendation. This is a relatively normal interaction, however upon recommending the 2021 14\u0026quot; MacBook Pro again, for perhaps the sixth time since its release, it made me reflect upon the laptop landscape.\nTo qualify my statements below, please read My Computer History.","title":"Laptop Guide Q3 2024 (and other things)","url":"/posts/laptop-guide-q3-2024/"},{"content":" circa 2003-2005 Grandparents My earliest computer memory was my grandparents' Windows 98 desktop, playing a World War 1 combat flight simulator game called Master of the Skies: The Red Ace. circa 2005-2008 Family PC I would use my family's Windows XP Compaq desktop to stare at Porygon on Bulbapedia, and attempt to play Toon Town with Pranav, a lost connection from my early childhood. circa 2010-2012 Mom\u0026#39;s iMac I'm now blanking on details until middle school, when I spent irresponsible amounts of time on CoolMathGames, miniclip.com, and other Flash game sites on my mom's iMac. Despite this time, I always felt like macOS was just *weird* compared to Windows. circa 2013 My Own Computer I got my first personal laptop during high school, an Asus Zenbook UX302LA, featuring an Intel i5-4200U, 8GB RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and Windows 8 (ew). It really couldn't do anything beyond basic tasks. Even flash games were a bit too much for it. I mainly used this device for writing papers, browsing the web, and rooting Android phones like the Moto G and OnePlus's X and 3. circa 2014-2015 Power User Now a sophomore, and having been exposed to r/PCMR and DIY computer communities, I decided to build my first desktop, powered by an AMD FX-6300 and a Radeon R9 280. I have fond memories of finally putting everything together, hooking it up to our basement TV, and getting Battlefield 4 running on it. I would then play hundreds to thousands of hours of CS:GO, exposing myself to skin trading and betting on professional matches, as well as the vices associated with them. 2017 College Going into college for mechanical engineering, I wanted a 2-in-1 form factor with power, and the Microsoft Surface Pro 5 had just come out, (allegedly) fitting the bill. I was vaguely aware that the Windows 2-in-1 sector was a bit of a mixed bag (understatement), but I had thought that Microsoft would have figured it out by their fifth iteration. Unfortunately I was incorrect, and the Surface Pro 5 ended up with poor battery life, performance that bordered on *barely* acceptable for SolidWorks and other intensive programs, and a half-baked tablet mode. 2019 College #2 In search of a 2-in-1 with a better tablet experience, I got fooled twice by MSFT and tried the Surface Go, equipped with a measly Intel Pentium Gold. All this guy could really handle was light web applications. The form factor was really nice, but its performance made it a non-starter for writing and computing. 2020 College #3 In my senior year, I then picked up a Asus ROG Strix G14 GA401. This might be the first laptop that I truly enjoyed using. The UI was snappy whether on battery or plugged in, it handled intensive CAD and engineering simulation programs well, and it retained a portable form-factor. Late 2022 Apple Silicon I was curious about the M1 Macbooks when they first came out, but I prefer not to beta-test first-generation products for corporations that should offer complete experiences out of the box, so I naturally waited for the second round of M-series to come out. With only a 15-20% performance increase with the M2, I pulled the trigger on an base model 14\u0026quot; MacBook Pro off eBay. Gets a 10/10 rating, absolutely no real complaints in 2 years of usage. early 2023 Homelab By this time, I had been working at Ansys for a couple months and I got more interested in higher-end server hardware, later leading me to scavenge eBay parts to build rack-mounted servers. Windows Early Days I grew up a Windows boy.\nMy earliest computer memory was my grandparents\u0026rsquo; Windows 98 desktop, playing a World War 1 combat flight simulator game that is on the r/tipofmyjoystick\u0026hellip;\nInvestigation\nAfter 15 minutes of digging, the game was Master of the Skies: The Red Ace!!!\nLooking at game footage, it\u0026rsquo;s honestly quite impressive for a release year of 2000; large maps, dogfighting, bombing runs\u0026hellip; games were much simpler back then\u0026hellip;\nThe next set of memories would be with our family\u0026rsquo;s Windows XP Compaq desktop, which I\u0026rsquo;d use to browse the online Pokédex to stare at Porygon, and attempting to play Toon Town with Pranav, a lost connection from my early childhood.\nI\u0026rsquo;m now blanking on details until middle school, when I spent irresponsible amounts of time on CoolMathGames, miniclip.com, and other Flash game sites on my mom\u0026rsquo;s iMac. Despite this time, I always felt like macOS was just weird compared to Windows.\nGetting Curious Now in high school, I got my first personal laptop, an Asus Zenbook UX302LA, which came with an Intel i5-4200U, 8GB RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and Windows 8 (ew). It really couldn\u0026rsquo;t do anything beyond basic tasks. Even flash games were a bit too much for it. I mainly used this device for writing papers, browsing the web, and rooting Android phones like the Moto G and OnePlus\u0026rsquo;s X and 3.\nMan, the days of browsing XDA Forums\u0026hellip; I still remember when LineageOS came out, succeeding the very popular CyanogenMod. I \u0026lsquo;member when phone companies used to cater to the enthusiast power-user commmunity, do you \u0026lsquo;member? I \u0026lsquo;member bricking my OnePlus X at midnight during the school week, and frantically running commands through adb in attempts to revive it. It took till 2 am that one time, but I did have a functional phone by the end of the hack session.\nPower User Now a sophomore, and having been exposed to r/PCMR and DIY computer communities, I decided to build my first desktop, powered by an AMD FX-6300 and a Radeon R9 280. I have fond memories of finally putting everything together, hooking it up to our basement TV, and getting Battlefield 4 running on it. I would then play hundreds to thousands of hours of CS:GO, exposing myself to skin trading and betting on professional matches, as well as the vices associated with those.\nI would continue to upgrade and iterate on my PC like the Ship of Theseus, up until \u0026lt;current year\u0026gt;.\nGoing into college for mechanical engineering, I wanted a 2-in-1 form factor with power, and the Microsoft Surface Pro 5 had just come out, fitting the bill. I was vaguely aware that the Windows 2-in-1 sector was a bit of a mixed bag (understatement), but I had thought that Microsoft would have figured it out by their fifth iteration. Unfortunately I was incorrect, and the Surface Pro 5 ended up with poor battery life, performance that bordered on barely acceptable for SolidWorks and other intensive programs, and a half-baked tablet mode.\nIn search of a 2-in-1 with a better tablet experience, I got fooled twice by MSFT and tried the Surface Go, equipped with a measly Intel Pentium Gold. All this guy could really handle was light web applications. The form factor was really nice, but its performance made it a non-starter.\nIn my senior year, I then picked up a Asus ROG Strix G14 GA401. This might be the first laptop that I truly enjoyed using. The UI was snappy whether on battery or plugged in, it handled intensive CAD and engineering simulation programs well, and it retained a portable form-factor.\nCurrently my girlfriend\u0026rsquo;s brother is using this for zoomer games.\nThis marks the end of my Windows laptop devotion. Through using it for several applications, including gaming, media creation (videos), streaming, and others, I became very familiar with working on Windows.\nI will be forced to continue using Windows on my gaming desktop, as several online games require Windows to be installed on baremetal, rather than on a virtual machine, but as long as corporate America operates on Windows, maintaining exposure will be a value-add.\nmacOS I then returned home from Iceland, started working full time, and found myself with all these spare funds. Apple had already released their M1 chips and everyone was singing its praises, so I was curious how next iteration, the M2 would perform. Upon its release, and learning that some aspects of the M1 laptop are in fact better than the M2, I started browsing eBay for refurbished M1 Pro MacBook Pros. I am currently writing this post with that very laptop, having experienced zero functional issues with it.\nI do specify \u0026ldquo;functional\u0026rdquo; issues, because, perhaps due to indoctrination into the Windows Hive Mind, I have a few qualms with macOS:\nMultitasking and window management On native Windows, you use Win + \u0026lt;arrow key\u0026gt; to split the screen into up to 4 tiles. \u0026ldquo;Split View\u0026rdquo; was introduced in macOS Monterey, and splits the screen into two (and only two) resizable windows. This done by clicking and holding the Maximize button of the application window:\nThis also puts you in the maximized window mode, restricting access to the desktop and other apps unless you switch from the split view to your normal desktop window.\nMeanwhile on Windows, you can access the desktop while two or three programs are tiled. This isn\u0026rsquo;t even mentioning PowerToys, which enables further desktop environment customization.\nThe goddamn Finder!!!! It sucks so much!!! The Windows File Explorer is much more feature rich, including an address bar at the top that allows navigation to any directory:\nOn Mac, cmd + shift + g must be used to trigger a popup that allows absolute path navigation: In general, File Explorer ≫ Finder.\nProgram compatibility Even ignoring the CPU architecture differences that generally separate Windows (amd64) and macOS (arm64), there has always been a gap in support for programs.\nOften, certain apps would be catered for Mac, while others for Windows. This is apparent in engineering software, where Windows and Linux enjoy more usage.","section":"posts","summary":"A colored, tangent-filled history of my history with computers","title":"My Computer History","url":"/posts/my-computer-history/"},{"content":"Finally, the Boston Celtics are NBA champions once again. Please allow me a couple moments, both as a Boston sports fan from birth and an avid Celtics fan since 2017-2018, as well as an enjoyer of team basketball.\nTalking my shit now that we’ve won The core of this team receives so much undue criticism. Something I find quite unique about this iteration of the team is their collective maturity and lack of ego, despite each player’s individual level of talent.\nOnce the award presentation started, my dad found two things to be striking: just about every player on stagse had one of their children in their arms, and each of the team’s largest voices gave thanks to their most high.\nI couldn’t help but think that this is truly a group of good men; a dedicated group that has the right priorities and understands what success truly is.\nOf course, much of the flame war tactics were introduced by those tired of Boston’s success across all major sports throughout the 21st century, but putting that bias aside, it is hard to believe anyone dislikes these guys.\nJayson is and has been a present and responsible father since he was 19. He says the right thing every time to the media and stays out of trouble. I’ve seen people say that people would like Tatum more if he committed a crime. People say he’s corny, but I honestly don’t get it. If Jayson Tatum is corny, then being a good person is corny. We need more Jayson Tatums in the world.\nJaylen Brown has been the subject of constant doubt. Upon being drafted he was too raw and unpolished. After his first extension he was overpaid. Again after his supermax extension (largest in history at the time for the uninformed).\n“He can’t dribble. He can’t go left”.\nMeanwhile he’s scored 20+ a game since 19-20 while playing elite on-ball defense. I swear this guy gets noticeably better every year. He goes by FCHWPO:\nFaith, Consistency, and Hard Work Pays Off This is a guy who’s backing up what he believes, and it’s honestly very inspiring to witness.\nHe’s had his moments of controversy with the “he’s too smart” thing, the Kyrie / Black Israelite thing, the James Naismith shoes thing, and maybe the left hand thing. But none of this is something to hate on for. Most ridiculous was when Stephen A quoted an “anonymous source” saying that Jaylen Brown was unmarketable. That’s just way too personal.\nHe’s also been involved in trade rumors ever since getting good; AD, Kawhi, PG, and KD (twice). The media has pushed the narrative that the Jays should be split and JB traded at least twice. Even Jason Kidd was trying to add fuel to a fire that didn’t exist, saying that Jaylen is our best player.\nThe point of this team was to be better than the other 1-5, not with our top-end talent.\nSee [[NBA media coverage is just terrible]].\nI don’t think the media is after anyone else; Jrue and Al are obviously respected by everyone, D White has been recognized, people don’t hate Kristaps, Hauser or Pritchard.\nI think it’s as simple as the Celtics are always good and our best players get hate for it.\nAnyways. It seems I’ve gotten off-track, but I provide all this context for my next thought; this felt too easy.\nExpectations This team has been so good since 17-18, and a championship always felt so close. We were always in the mix when fully healthy. And now that they finally win, in the seventh year of the Jays, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed.\nDespite their consistency in excellence, and clear improvements being made nearly every year, winning the chip required Brad Stevens to construct a super team that bulldozed its way there.\nWhen we got both Kristaps and Jrue, I only imagined the chaos if we didn’t at least make it to the NBA finals. This team was way too good to lose, and were co-betting favorites with Denver.\nDespite these reasonably high expectations, knowing how good this roster is, doubt was cast on this group throughout the season; “they shoot too many threes!!!”, “they’ll just force Jaylen to his left”, ”Tatum isn’t a top 5 player, he’s closer to Booker and Mitchell than he is to SGA”, “their bench is going to get exposed”, etc., etc., etc.\nWhile evidence does support that this team has had issues putting away close games against top competition, I’d argue that every team does! Winning at the highest level is hard!\nThen, 80-21 overall record. Highest offensive rating in history. Highest net rating since 2000.\nNow it just feels like, that was it?\nEven during the 16-3 postseason, almost all the discourse was centered on discrediting the team’s accomplishments; “Butler, Mitchell, and Haliburton got hurt smh easiest run to the Finals in NBA history”, “even Luka was hurt, Mickey Mouse ring”.\nKeep on hating Sure. Yes, players got hurt. Fine. Let’s contextualize this though.\nFirst. I’ll be annoying and preface with this; Kristaps got hurt. Arguably the 2nd-4th most talented, gifted player on the team when healthy.\nJimmy Buckets Jimmy Butler played 60 games this regular season and has averaged 58 regular season games played since getting to Miami 5 years ago. He is turning 35 this offseason, and his availability for both the regular season and postseason is questionable at best at this point in his career. He has developed a reputation for not caring about the regular season, which cannot be a net positive. Sure he’s got that dawg in him, but even Pat Riley had to publicly put Jimmy in his place. Even going back to last year’s ECF, everyone know the Heat were on a historic run, having gotten out of the play-in, upsetting the top-seeded Bucks (with limited Giannis time), and taking down a gritty Knicks team. They clearly were on a heater and (in my opinion) beat the Celtics due to outlier shooting.\nSpida Okay, Donovan Mitchell. Did anyone expect the Cavs to win? While no one expected the Heat to beat the Celtics without Jimmy, there would’ve been some doubters if Jimmy was somewhat close to healthy as he was last year. The single game the Cavs won required a +15 point differential on +22% efficiency from the 3-point line, with all starters scoring double-digits on 50% shooting or better. In summary, for the Cavs to win, they required their best guy to be available, and for the rest of the team to shoot lights out. I do like Mitchell, but I have doubts about his ability to be the number 1 guy given his size and defensive limitations.\nTyrese The Tyrese part of this makes me mad. This is the guy who was most vocal about the 65-game cutoff for end-of-season award selection due to his injuries:\n“I think it’s a stupid rule, like plenty of the guys in the league”\nThis is most likely due to contract incentives being tied to these awards, and that his supermax contract would go from $205M to $245M just with an All-NBA selection. While I support everyone to act in their financial best interest, these numbers are unfathomable to the average person, and I’d imagine that almost every player would trade $40M for a ring. If I was a star player, who’s going to get an absolute boat-load of money basically no matter what I do, I’d keep my eyes on the true goal of a competitor, a championship. While I’m not implying that Tyrese would’ve given the Pacers a puncher’s chance against the C’s, he re-injured the same hamstring that was bothering him during the regular season, which is a bit concerning going forward. I have faith that he will recover properly over the offseason, but perhaps taking more time off to let the hamstring recover and finishing the postseason on the court, rather than on the bench would’ve been more fulfilling and less disappointing.\nSo, yes, it is a fact that the Celtics faced teams without their best player. But what happened with the other teams?\nPacers Bucks: Giannis injured, Khris MIddleton old Knicks: Mitchell Robinson, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson injured Knicks 76ers: Joel Embiid hobbled, then reinjured, plus Bell’s palsy Mavericks Clippers: Kawhi hobbled, then reinjured Seems like plenty of teams benefitted from injury luck, just like every year. This is the NBA. They play 82 48-minute games, with several back-to-backs and long road trips. I hate this argument so much.\nThe Winning Fallacy Recent history has made it abundantly clear that winning an NBA championship is hard.\nReally hard.\nI believe the NBA fandom’s expectations have been clouded by the dynasties we’ve experienced recently:\nthe Bulls the Lakers the Spurs LeBron James the Warriors In the cases of the Bulls, Lakers, and LeBron, I think they were successful just because their top-end talent was so damn good. Stars set the stagse and the role players support them when they can.\nThe Spurs and Warriors are different in my eyes. I believe the Spurs embody exactly what I am preaching. They’re referred to as the “Beautiful Game Spurs” for goodness sake. Those groups truly played as a team, with exceptional ball movement on offense, and great team execution on defense.\nMeanwhile, I believe the Warriors caught lightning in a bottle. Someone finally figured out that 3 is more than 2, in fact 1.5 times more than 2, and Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were the immediate beneficiaries of this paradigm shift. They were the early adopters of modern NBA offense, and results speak for themselves.\nThe exercise above displays that we tend to view the NBA in discrete eras:\nGeorge Mikan’s Lakers (1950s) Bill Russell’s Celtics (1960s) Kareem’s Lakers (early 1980s) Bird’s Celtics (mid 1980s) Michael’s Bulls (1990s) Shaq and Kobe’s Lakers (2000s) Duncan’s Spurs (2000s) LeBron (2010s) Curry’s Warriors (mid-late 2010s) Notice that these eras are spearheaded by individual names. Time periods were defined almost solely by a single player.\nSee [[Basketball is the most narcissistic team sport]].\nNowadays, with the improvement of 3-7 guys throughout the league, I I hold the belief that the floor of talent is so high today that these star-centric eras and dynasties may be on the way out. In addition, the amount of variance introduced by high-volume three-point shooting can lead a heavy underdog to advance over a seven-game series.\nPeople thought that NIkola Jokic could be the figurehead of a Denver Nuggets era, myself included, which was a very good team by the way, however this year they ran into a team that was purpose-built to beat them in the Timberwolves, just because Victor Wembanyama decided to go off in the second-to-last game of the season, placing Denver in the same side of the playoff bracket against an ascending Ant Edwards, KAT, and Gobert.\nI provide this context, this understanding that winning it all is hard, to argue that the Celtics are by far the best positioned team in the NBA for sustained success:\nTheir top 7 remain the most talented in the league and are under contract for two more years (pending D. White extension) More often than not, players give up a good shot for a great shot Everyone in the rotation has experienced adversity and been battle-tested Ownership has committed to paying what’s necessary The Celtics have been the winningest team in the NBA during the Brad Stevens era, and there is little to suggest that they’ll slow down in the near future.\nSo, in summary, I think I felt underwhelmed because I know this team is good enough on paper to win another, two more even, and those are just ridiculous expectations when it comes to the NBA postseason.","section":"posts","summary":"Finally, the Boston Celtics are NBA champions once again. Please allow me a couple moments, both as a Boston sports fan from birth and an avid Celtics fan since 2017-2018, as well as an enjoyer of team basketball.","title":"Banner 18","url":"/posts/banner-18/"}]