On Assumptions and Solving Hard Problems

On Assumptions and Solving Hard Problems

A recent conversation about solving hard problems reminded me of a lightning talk I gave at an internal micro-conference in 2012 for my then-job.  The idea was to point out cases where perfectly reasonable assumptions turned out to not be so perfectly reasonable, challenging ourselves to question such assumptions, with two specific examples. The first […]

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Random SQL Review: FHS Team Map

Random SQL Review: FHS Team Map

I’ve always thought that, in the realm of “full-stack” development, SQL has the tendency to be left out. I’m hardly a DBA but I love SQL, so this is disheartening to me. As an example, a few weeks ago I was on a call with a bunch of my team. We were looking at a bit […]

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On Shuttering No Brush No Problem

On Shuttering No Brush No Problem

While I was writing about my efforts developing branding for So Puzzled Puzzle Company, I realized (not for the first time) that how I’ve been writing about my art has been a little bit weird. This blog has always been a little more development-centric but it’s still my personal blog, so when I want to […]

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Branding So Puzzled Puzzle Company

Branding So Puzzled Puzzle Company

My wife and I decided to start a new business last fall, a jigsaw puzzle company.  It was something way outside either of our respective wheelhouses but we slowly moved forward, learning along the way, and after months of planning we have our first series of puzzles available for sale. The one thing that wasn’t […]

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BlueskyApi 2.0

BlueskyApi 2.0

I mentioned over the summer that I’d thrown together a quick PHP wrapper class for interacting with the Bluesky API / AT protocol.  And by quick, I mean quick.  I wrote it one night, did a blog post on it in the early morning the next day, and called it good. Different issues with it […]

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On Drawbacks to Coding Side Projects

On Drawbacks to Coding Side Projects

I’ve always been a big fan of software developers having side projects. I think it’s important, as a dev, to diversify the types of problems you’re learning to solve. That said, I think there are plenty of good reasons not to work in code for your day job and then keep doing so on nights […]

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PHP and the Bluesky API

PHP and the Bluesky API

Much like last fall’s version of the Twitterpocalypse saw people running to Mastodon (and, seemingly, quickly running back to Twitter) as a replacement social media platform, this summer’s edition has seen a shift to Bluesky social.  As I try to keep my various sites relevant, that means learning how to have them interact programmatically with […]

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