2025-08-05

I once again decided to get my M4/3 camera out when I saw some interesting light & cloud patterns this evening. Instead of darktable, I experimented with using a 3rd party tool overlay in Apple Photos to process the file, which should be non-destructive. 📸

Weekly Notes 2025.30

2025-08-03 2 min read

I promise I’m not a food blogger, nor am I aspiring to be one, but I like to take photos of tasty food when I’m out, and I was out to eat with coworkers a few times this week, and so… this week’s update is going to include some food photos. 😂
Monday was overall a pretty normal day, not much to report.
Tuesday through Friday I had a coworker from Sunnyvale in town, for some internal meetings on tool consolidation and workflows. This meant a) a lot of our time was taken up in meetings, and b) you guessed it, some food!
Tuesday evening a local coworker and I took our Sunnyvale counterpart out to eat at The 208 House, one of my local favorites. After a long series of discussions during the day, it was great to relax and talk shop without as much pressure to settle on anything specific.

Weekly Notes 2025.29

2025-07-27 2 min read

Overall, the past week has been pretty standard, without much to write about.
During the week I largely worked on catching up after being remote for the previous week while visiting family.
I don’t use LLMs much, but a few times during the work week I experimented with various ways to use them, primarily around data summarization. One example: I had a PDF of a presentation that I wanted to summarize in an email, and instead of manually authoring the entire email myself, I opted to see how well an LLM do at converting it into a semi-formal email. And I must say, I was surprised. The phrasing didn’t feel like how I would word things at times (unsurprisingly), so I did a lot of tweaking prior to actually sending the email, but it did help breeze past the monotonous part of the work. Whether that’s good or bad I have yet to decide…
During my off-hours (evenings/weekend) I mostly worked on my family genealogy. I had received a large chunk of information from my great-uncle while in Ohio that I did not have incorporated into my database, so I spent probably 8-12 hours poring over the data and corroborating everything with records online when possible.
- For those interested - I use Family Search for most of my initial research, and Gramps as my software/database.
Speaking of which - if you’ve never worked on family history before - the amount of records that have been digitized that you can now access for free online is staggering.
The weekend of course also included yardwork, housework, and Divine Service on Saturday (all as normal).
And with that, we’re to the end of my week!

Weekly Notes 2025.28

2025-07-20 2 min read

This week we had a coworker from Fargo visiting our office, so Monday saw an earlier morning than normal in the office, anticipating their arrival.
For lunch we catered a meal to the office and had a lunch & learn to give the team an opportunity to learn more about a project that the visiting coworker has been involved with.
Monday evening was filled with preparations for travel, as I planned to visit family Tuesday - Sunday.
Tuesday morning I met coworkers for breakfast, then headed the office for a morning of meetings. By around 1p I was done, and then it was last minute packing, and off to Ohio!
I worked remotely from Ohio Wednesday - Friday, taking time over lunch to visit with family, and enjoying time together in the evenings.
Thursday evening we invited my paternal great-uncle over for dinner (brisket - yum!), and afterwards some reminiscing on family history, followed by a few games of Pepper (a Euchre variant popular where I grew up).
Friday evening our family went to Two Bandits for dinner & drinks (see pictures below), and afterwards my sister and I went for an extended walk (I thought it was going to be a little over a mile… pretty sure it was over two).

Weekly Notes 2025.27

2025-07-13 1 min read

This week’s update will be a little shorter than normal, as nothing overly eventful occurred.
I was in-office for the entirety of this week, mostly focusing on meetings and my standard workload.
Tuesday evening a group of coworkers and I went out for dinner and drinks to La Fiesta, one of our local favorites.
Wednesday evening I went out to another local restaurant, The 208 House, with a different group of coworkers who visiting our office from out of town.
Friday evening, after work, I got distracted for a while watching the Sorted Food channel on YouTube. I ran across their videos a few weeks ago, and find the team enjoyable to watch, and occasionally I learn a thing or two as well!
Saturday was a bit rainy, and so I spent most of my time indoors, split between some light gaming, working on family photos, and then Divine Service in the evening.
Sunday saw better weather return, and so my morning was spent outside working on yard work, followed by house work after lunch, a little more gaming, and continued photo restoration efforts.

Weekly Notes 2025.26

2025-07-06 2 min read

With a shortened week this week (thanks to Independence Day on Friday), my normal work week was both shortened, but simultaneously filled with a few extra meetings as everything was compacted into 4 days.
Monday through Thursday saw roughly my normal schedule of in-office work, without a lot to report.
Friday, being July 4th, meant time off, which I spent largely relaxing and working around the house.
I also picked up a new game, Northgard, on Friday, which I would continue to play occasionally throughout the weekend. I was looking for a different RTS that I hadn’t played before, and Northgard fit the bill nicely. It’s a different take on a strategy game than I’ve played before, and it’s a little hard to describe verbally… I’d strongly recommend taking a look at gameplay videos if interested to get a better understanding of how it works.
Saturday morning was once again consumed by yardwork… there hasn’t been a lot of rain in this area, but just enough to keep both grass and shrubs growing.
Saturday afternoon I continued working on scanning and restoring old family photos, and then went to Divine Service in the evening, followed by shopping for the upcoming week’s groceries.
Sunday then was left as my final day of rest prior to the start of the next work week. I slept in a little (which for me still means up before 8), and worked on housework, along with some additional gaming (Northgard) and continued photo work.
And with that, this week’s post is concluded, and it’s time to finish preparing for the week ahead!

Weekly Notes 2025.25

2025-06-29 2 min read

Monday of this week I opted to work remotely, mostly due to remote meetings, and a single in-person meeting at our manufacturing facility, which is closer to my house. It was a nice break, instead of traveling to the office.
Tuesday, after an early dentist appointment, it was off to the office, for a day largely filled with meetings. That was the story Wednesday through Friday as well, and my evenings were mostly spent either reading interesting articles online, or watching YouTube videos.
Saturday morning, before it got too hot, I spent time outside trimming shrubs, and catching up on some mowing that (if I’m being honest) probably needed done a few days ago, but… this is when I had time 🤷‍♂️
Saturday afternoon I worked on some odds and ends around the house, and then attended Divine Service in the evening.
Sunday morning I slept in, since I’d be to church the night before, and then spent time reading, exercising, and enjoying my coffee in the morning (not necessarily in that order!).
In the afternoon I decided I felt like playing a game, and ended up playing some Age of Empires II, which I haven’t played in years. It was a fun trip down memory lane. In the later afternoon/evening I called my family to check in, since it had been a few days since I called.
And now, after I post this, it’s off to finish preparations for the week ahead!

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