Archives

I’ve written 362 posts. You can find them in the categories: Books, Bread, Lemur, and Longform.

May 2022

They say I should continue to hold because my call is very important to …
uptime.is is a really nice SLA calculator. I always need a really nice SLA …

April 2022

My six-year-old, in disgust: “Ugh, like, why don’t we have flying cars yet. …
As a parent, there’s nothing more fulfilling than when your son turns to …

March 2022

Me: “Who do you think would win, a black bear or a human?” 6-year-old: …
Ben’s 83rd Postulate: Most text processing problems will inevitably …
McSweeneys is asking the hard hitting logistical questions about Disney …
Thought: I need to get a yoga mat. 30 minutes later… Well, the mats from …

February 2022

“The U.N. Security Council is meeting on Friday at 3 p.m. to vote on a …
I love libraries like mock-fs. I think it’s almost always better to …

January 2022

If you had asked my teenage self what areas of Philosophy would be …
The transition to ECMAScript Modules feels like it’s going to mirror the …
⭐ 1Password 8
Wordle 201 2/6 🟩⬛🟩⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Taco Bell announced a subscription service for tacos. I’ve said for …

December 2021

Lucky first try on Wordle. Yep, this is going to be a thing. Wordle 193 3/6 …
Now Reddit’s doing the thing where they do a hard push for the app. I don’t …
“NFTs are an occasion for commerce masquerading as art, just as so many …
V for Wikipedia remains one of my absolutely essential iOS apps. It’s been …
For those doing Advent of Code in TypeScript, uvu is a really nice tiny …
I showed my 6-year-old Jurassic Park. He seemed mostly bored by it. …

November 2021

Contrary to popular belief, covering anything with chocolate does not make …
Me: “The Lincoln Cathedral is really, really old. It was made in…” …
It is with a heavy heart that I recognize the end of Pumpkin Spice Latte …
Hands down, this MacBook Pro is the best computer I’ve ever owned. …

October 2021

My son’s been asking about getting a bunch of Sharpies, so I took him to …
It’s legitimately shocking how broken Shortcuts is in iOS 15. There’s been …
After about a decade of using OmniFocus, I’m giving Things a shot. I’m …

September 2021

The only thing that’s making the multiple hours I’ve sat at this car …
Ben’s Survivor Rule #42: Throwing the challenge is never worth the risk.
Sometimes, McSweenys nails the current milieu.

August 2021

“The Canada Elections Act entitles you to three consecutive hours off from …
Screw B-Trees, the most unfair interview questions are anything that …
⭐ The Highlights
Paving the cow paths. 🐮
Tonight’s pizzas. Plain cheese for the kiddo. Plant-based sausage, garlic …
Read: Staff Engineer: This is the best description of Staff+ roles I’ve …
⭐ Get Your Life Together With This Fridge Thing
Bird show at Mont-Tremblant.
Glass needs more cat pictures.
Free business idea: Insurance for your kids visiting your in-laws. Oh, did …
There’s evidence that the strongest core value my son is going to …
I’m on vacation this week and so I baked the first loves in a long time. I …
Things you never think you’ll hear as a parent: “We’re still working on the …

July 2021

While getting my second shot, I discovered that the brand name for the …
Finally caved and bought a Moonlander keyboard for my RSI. Delivery in a …
Today my son asked me to get him a toy Titanic. “Complete with an iceberg …

June 2021

Apple’s testing tools have improved a lot, and I’m looking forward to XCode …
“Daddy. Why have we never celebrated Shark Week?”
I booked a bike fitting for Monday for my new bike. In the description it …
I’m in a beta for a popular app. It’s shocking how much of the feedback …
Vim support in XCode is the best thing to come out of WWDC this year.
Kid or Dog: “Toby! Stop eating the furniture!”
Seeing XCode Cloud at WWDC really makes me think I should have better tests …
⭐ Bring Back Captain Planet
As companies get big they get slower and harder to turn. I love this …
“On Wednesday, CNBC reported that Trump’s blog has shut down less than a …

May 2021

Finally hung the art my wife bought me for my birthday. Hidden cats!
I think I’ve been letting my 5-year-old watch too much YouTube. Today he …
⭐ Lou’s Rum Cake
I’m really hoping that SwiftUI is more baked this WWDC. For every app …
My son has been getting into “Who Would Win” books where they compare the …
Googling whether or not you can get Apple TV on the 3rd generation Apple TV …
“We’re creating the entire amount of commerce on the store, and we’re doing …
Finished 📚 Back in the Frame: A great read about the joys of getting back …
⭐ Some People Are Still Hurting
⭐ Start Small
My five-year-old: “I learned from YouTube that all the dinosaurs in …
I’m glad Twitter now seems to have a functioning product department that is …
I managed to get my hosted micro.blog backed by a CloudFront CDN (with some …
I’m setting up a CDN and my son is asking me to buy him a T-Rex toy. …
⭐ OmniFocus 4 Beta
⭐ Smart Home Standards “Matter”
That’s an ambitious exclamation mark. It’s like they think you’ll be …
I kind of love that Trump has a blog. I’m unlikely to spend time reading …
Today’s nugget of knowledge from my 5-year-old: “Holes in a car, not so …
Tried Lightlife’s Facon. Surprisingly crispy and delicious. I kind of …
“They just want to build cool shit all day,” the employee said. “They …
People just aren’t well equipped to understand the complexities of ad …

April 2021

I’m really sad to see Basecamp go in this direction. I admire a lot of …
I bought an AirTag to put in my backpack, but I’ve lost my backpack …
Potato, garlic, onion. Trying 62% hydration over a 8 hour room temp rise. …
⭐ Flushy the Toilet
Seems nuts that you can engrave a cow onto an AirTag but not a bike.
My son has become obsessed with preaching to the world the good news about …
What was VW thinking with its “Voltswagen” prank?: Can we all just agree …
My son is going to grow up thinking that the one inalienable rule of life …

March 2021

The Roccbox is hot. Might as well roast some marshmallows. 🔥
First pizzas of the spring. Amazingly I still kind of remember what I’m …
Ecobee is yet another company that has rebranded into an incredibly boring …
Is there a service to match up a single boot for those who have lost a …
I can’t believe it took me this long to realize that Readwise.io has an …
I never realized how often I use the mac proxy icons until Big Sur. I …

February 2021

⭐ Goodbye, Nest
This is how I feel today.
I bought enough school supplies on Amazon in the last few days that it’s …
Ok fine… I’ll install it so I can read this article… and the …
Apple should be ashamed of this experience. AMP is garbage but at least it …
It turns out that my son legit believes that boxers punch boxes. …
Spoke to a super nice contact tracer. This is definitely one of these jobs …
With the theory that the rumoured Mac renaissance is due to the departure …
This really resonates with how I think about Lemur: My product is my garden
I figured I should cut my son’s hair before he goes back to school. Now …
I love Carrot Weather so much.

January 2021

My five-year-old and I spent the whole day making an Among Us cake. Nailed …
The Besties has hands down the best podcast theme song. (Great video game …
God I miss Survivor
Lemur also fits well into Reid Hoffman’s famous quote: “If you are …
Happy New Year Everyone! In honour of starting a fresh year right, Lemur, …

December 2020

2021 will be the year where all the React devs discover that server …
My son is attempting to tell me how Santa became Santa and there is a …
“Congress enacted 28 pieces of legislation this year.” That is bananas. Is …
Overheard from the 5-year-old: “Oh Batman… you’re so beautiful.”
Right before he falls asleep, my 5-year-old likes to process his thoughts …
Turns out googling for a library to do app tutorials in swift is …
Feels like all this love for Among Us is going to make some new Survivor …

November 2020

Seems like I’m going to have to delay the release of Lemur to figure out …
Finished my vacation project. Replaced a broken a JoyCon case and a …
CANImmunize is a surprisingly great app for tracking vaccination records …
Put up a new website for Lemur. Getting closer to release…
Five seconds in the door and my son says to my wife: “Daddy was not wearing …
Birthday pizzas for my new 5-year-old. Pepperoni. Potato/Shallot. …
There’s nothing like the rush you get from taking a hard problem and …
I don’t understand how there isn’t a waiting list for a …
Making progress on the widget for Lemur. Font is way too small, but it’s …
I’m reasonably impressed with SwiftUI so far. It puts pressure on good data …
I really love OmniFocus, but my one continuous paper cut is better note …
Someone needs to write a version of Crucial Conversations for discussions …
It always feels like Tim Cook is talking to shareholders and not consumers.
Jenny LeClue is an excellent mystery game on sale right now for the Switch.
That should be enough coffee to start the weekend. ☕️
“I’m looking forward to a vaccine for COVID because then I can have a …
Having an emotional reaction to the NYT election meter being back.

October 2020

I love that the final remaining bipartisan issue might be a mutual loathing …
Reason my child is angry at me: I won’t buy a camper van.
I was considering reading “A Lot of People are Saying”, a book about the …
My 4-year-old: “What do you mean you fix computers for work? That’s easy, …
That feeling when you see that the COVID online appointment system is …
⭐ Lemur Dev Diary: Filtering Continued
Celebrating Thanksgiving with a white mushroom pie. 🍕 🦃
⭐ Lemur Dev Diary: Filtering
⭐ Lemur Development Diary
Any bike trainer suggestions from the folks in 🚴‍♂️? Looking for something …
This milk products flowchart is insane. It’s so easy to forget how …
Andy Matuschak’s open notes are an incredible look inside an active …
⭐ COVID via Aerosols
I’m curious as to what the betting markets look like right about …
⭐ Quickly Create Email Rules
I’ve been underestimating the value of journaling for work. There’s a space …

September 2020

It clarifies the timeline of this thing when the sign at the park isn’t …
I’m having trouble sleeping. I bet it’s because this new UI is terrible. …
Having trouble reconciling my memory of the underdog Apple, whose only …
⭐ From Kindle to Bear

August 2020

Reason my 4-year-old is furious with me: I won’t buy him a huge live-in …
This post on Apple vs. XBox Game Pass is fantastic. Gruber has been …
Acorn is an incredible image editor for the cost. My version of Photoshop …

July 2020

Sometimes McSweenys just nails it: An Open Letter to the T&T …
⭐ The NYT Article About the Election Delay Tweet Could Be About My 4-year-old
Pesto, Mozzarella, Romano in the Roccbox. Starting to see some progress …
When I imagined being a parent, I never expected that one day my search …
How has no one rebooted Captain Planet yet?
Was woken up in the night by the kiddo while I was in the middle of a dream …
Finished a whole 20kg bag of flour. Never thought it would happen, but much …
A reminder to all those trying something new: give yourself permission to …
For all the complaints about Apple’s current software quality, Keynote on …

June 2020

Guilherme Rambo wrote the definitive guide to CloudKit. If only Apple’s own …
I’m really impressed by the look and feel of this WWDC. If they did this …
I was wrong! Actual Developer Kit Mac Mini Hardware for the ARM transition.
I wish newspapers like the NYTimes or the Globe and Mail would let you pay …
Lots of people are talking about what Apple is going to do with ARM test …
Yeah, Apple is on the wrong side of this fight with Hey. Requiring this …
My son has been falling asleep with help from the sounds of Dark Noise. For …
They’re renaming Aunt Jemima and Uncle Bens. I honestly can’t …
This is a really good post from Andrew Canion on replicating some of the …
The thing about my philosophy degree that has stuck the longest is the …
I’m a sucker for any behind-the-scenes-of-business-during-a-crisis story, …
Whoa. The Amazon iOS app now lets you purchase Kindle books. I guess the …
Can’t say enough good things about The Original Bug Shirt. The feeling when …
My mother-in-law bought me a nice basil plant to support my pizza habit. …
“Mr. Trump said he planned for a police and law enforcement presence to …

May 2020

The difference 15 minutes makes. I pulled the one on the left early because …
More pizza progress. Kids, margarita, pesto, mushroom, and all dressed. 28 …
The fold in the SpaceX Spacesuit reminds me of the grille on the original …
“Collect a variety of sticks and line them up in order from shortest to …
My father-in-law redeemed the free year of Apple TV+ and was incredibly …
Let’s say the meat packing plants stay closed for an extended period. How …
I think the Canada Revenue Service may not be Cloud Native™ yet.
⭐ Heads Up Display with OmniFocus
My micro.blog book📚recommendation is Ken Forkish’s The Elements of Pizza. …
Made Spinach & Feta Gözleme for lunch. My son eats half of it and then …
⭐ Small, Nimble, and Quick
Pesto, mozzarella, basil. 48 hour proof. I’m getting better at getting the …
Back into the bread making spirit. 14 hour poolish. The one in the Dutch …
My son’s writing and reading has devolved since COVID, but he can now swing …
Looks nice, tastes terrible. Added 1/3 of the whole wheat flour and it’s …
First attempt with the pizza steel. Good results, decent leoparding on the …
I’m moving into pizza territory.
Might as well document the failures too. This was from a poolish made with …

April 2020

By far the best result yet. Overnight poolish.
Now we’re talking. Just plain AP flour “Saturday Loaf”.
First attempt at pure flour with kneading. Worked ok, but this is …
Half whole wheat. No knead overnight. This one stuck.
First COVID loaf. No knead, overnight.
Made my first COVID bread. It’s going to need some debugging.

March 2020

After warning my four-year-old to not touch anything while we’re outside: …

February 2020

I wish there was a way to filter Dribbble shots to actual production work. …

January 2020

“I am Dark Vader and I will attack you evil Stormtrooper with my …

December 2019

New Years is a tough concept to explain to a 4-year-old with a tenuous …
Christmas is the perfect time to make new Shortcuts. 👨‍💻🌲❄️

November 2019

Well, that seems like an abuse of your platform…

October 2019

“That little birdy is like so extra.” He’s freaking 4 and he’s already a …
TDD: Tea Driven Development. The tests should be finished running in the …
“It looks like baby mush, but it tastes really good!” — My wife …

September 2019

You could replace the goose with my child and nothing about the game would …
Can’t wait for the Apple Watch to notify me when my child is causing …
“No Daddy! You can’t build the rocket! You’re bad at building things like …
Feedbin and Fiery Feeds is a killer combo. RSS, email newsletters, Twitter, …
Goldfish are basically the pugs of fish.
How to know if your child may have watched too much Peppa Pig: Me: “We …

August 2019

It’s refreshing how good Go’s standard library is. After getting used to …
My almost-four-year-old: “Daddy! I want to watch the YouToots Video.”
Pumpkin Spice Latte in August is totally cheating. It’s still summer!

July 2019

It’s 2019. Why can’t I buy washer fluid at the pump?

June 2019

If you ever want to see in example of Radical Candour go to a playground. …
Introducing the Ben Mari Three Dimensional Folding Method™. Step 1: pick up …
Well, someone is definitely going to need to build Prettier for …
SwiftUI is a fantastic implementation of ideas from React. The mark of …

May 2019

It’s 4am and the kid isn’t sleeping. When we ask why, he says that what he …
Trying to explain to my kid why Jello doesn’t start with a G really makes …
Popcorn is totally an acceptable side dish right? If chips is …
Me: “I missed you so much!” Three-year-old: “I missed these candies.”

April 2019

YouTube Family: Like YouTube Premium but the ads are replaced with messages …
Who needs a weighted blanket when you have a cat?
A few hours into our trip to America and we’ve discovered that Kraft Mac …
Brexit is basically a troubled monolith-to-microservices transition.

March 2019

Why eat normal Bananas like a peasant when you can have Limited Edition …
Why my mother decided to get my child an electronic toy megaphone is beyond …

February 2019

My child has discovered that he can filibuster his way out of going to …
My son is trying to convince me that there’s a universal rule that we …

December 2018

Pups Take Mayor Humdinger to The Hague #pawpatrolseason20
Pups Save Taco Tuesday #pawpatrolseason20
Really surprised the Rails default is still Coffeescript.
Disappointed that the new ScanSnap 64-bit software doesn’t support my …
Thirteen years since it was released and Why’s Poignant Guide is still the …
“Look Daddy! It comes apart!” Holds up now broken thing.

November 2018

Dark Reader is so much more impressive than I would have thought.

October 2018

I’m convinced my child believes that Siri and Alexa are in cahoots to …
“Some things are really obvious, but most issues are pretty complicated, …
Process for giving a pill to my cat: 1) place pill on counter, 2) sterilize …
“Before her husband vanished on a trip to China, he had sent her a phone …

September 2018

We need a escape room for toddlers. They should have to build a key with …
Just a regular breakfast-time conversation with my three-year-old about the …
When using my bank’s website, nothing makes me feel more secure than …

August 2018

I’m sorry sir, but our engineers have been in the lab nights and weekends …
Climate change is basically poorly managed tech debt.
Today a grocery store employee demoed to me the amazing new automated …
Today a grocery store employee demoed to me the amazing new automated …
I don’t agree with Trump about much, but quarterly reporting is insidious. …
The Coffee Compass: Amazing guide to help dial into better coffee.

July 2018

Me: “Do you know what they’re building?” Two-year-old: “THEY’RE BUILDING A …
Me: “Are there any cars coming?” Two-year-old: “No.” Me: “Did you look?” …
The older I get the more dedicated I feel to starting from evidence and …
I’m really feeling the Beaverton’s coverage of parenting.

June 2018

Me: “No, eat some dinner and then you can have chocolate.” Eats a solitary …
If you dress one way for long enough, at some point you’re fashionable.
I really wish JavaScript had a range operator. 😢
Week 3 of our Bird Feeder Journey. The birds have flocked to such a degree …

May 2018

I would pay good money to watch The Parenting Olympics™. Sample events: …
The Crocs slogan is “Come as you are.” They might as well have made it: …
There is much room for improvement in bagel slicer technology. I don’t want …
An excellent overview of ways to weigh and balance technical debt: A …
With every passing day it seems like there might be a sequel to Inception …

April 2018

My kid is the Donald Trump of 💩. He’s actively pooping: “I’m not pooping! I …
Submitting an app to the Play Store Console and iTunes Connect at the same …
TV Show Pitch: A boy’s stuffed animals (named Bunny and Teddy) escape …
That’s my secret, Cap. I’m always tired.
Hey! In our family we say “octopi”. Not this silly “octopusses”. 🐙
Just last weekend I was thinking it was time to start planting for the …
I’m suprised that Apple hadn’t added a system-wide dark mode to iOS yet. …
Someone needs to write a good single-purpose tool for safely doing git …
Kind of amazed that no network has done a successful procedural show about …
So far this week I’ve got two security notices that my username and …
Alexa Routines make me feel like I’m telling the computer on Star Trek to …
⭐ Subscription Publishing
This might not be a popular opinion, but I think the Reddit design team did …
I wonder if the Apple plans to make own Mac processors leak is purposeful. …

March 2018

Just a regular reminder that StillTasty exists and is amazing. Wanna know …
Paw Patrol is fundamentally libertarian. An incompetent mayor of a town …
I wish Bear had a menu bar item to rapidly switch between themes. Night is …

February 2018

Really looking forward to OmniFocus 3. It’ll avoid the current hacks …
It’s 10° out. That’s basically summer right? We’re taking …
I hope that one day, Netflix manages to convince Ricky Jay to do a special.
This dialog is terrible for security. I’m reasonably sure it’s from iCloud …
CSS Grid Garden: A game for learning CSS grid.
All this VC money pouring into Silicon Valley is supporting the greatest …
This update addresses an issue that could cause Messages conversations to …

January 2018

Unread is a fantastic RSS reader for iOS. It’s changed ownership, but …
For more Thomas the Tank Engine insanity, this New Yorker article is a …
In this episode of Thomas the Tank Engine, Thomas wants to carry some …
I find nothing more frustrating than a SaaS product that makes you dig to …
I’m definitely looking forward to these OmniFocus changes. Especially …
All elected officials should have to undergo a mandatory course and …
📚 Does anyone have any recommendations for a Goodreads alternative? I miss …
At this point I think Children’s Advil should probably come in a …
It really seems like installing a small security update for High Sierra …
My Micro Monday suggestion is @stewartstarbuck. I make this audible squee …
Rockin’ the ‘stache.
Took the boy to the Toronto Boat Show today. After sitting in the …
Having a kid is being blessed every day with a hotel wake up service where …
I started tracking my sleep with AutoSleep and discovered I’m only sleeping …
When there’s no tests or documentation and the system requirements …
YouTube: What the vegan creator of Peaceful Cuisine eats in a day. This is …
I’d love to know the background of why Chip and Pin is so fantastically …
It’s pretty easy for “providing a valuable product for users” to turn into …
Canada could really use a pay-per-minute dry sauna startup right about now. …
I love this collection from 512Pixels of OS X wallpapers from every release …
How do all these kids shows only have a single female character. And, of …
🎙 Sometimes it’s nice to listen to a relaxing podcast. I’m really enjoying …
Excited to see that micro.blog is a supporter of Emoji Driven Development. …
Having a dream about my inability to sleep.
⭐ Ramp Up and Interruptions
Yesterday, we used the Instant Pot to make eggs for breakfast, hot dogs for …
Given that it was Google that discovered Meltdown and Spectre, and hardware …
I just noticed that the sleep sack I’ve been putting my kid in for a year …
I really like this Manager’s FAQ by Henry Ward. It is overly simplistic in …
It’s fascinating that Amazon has such a inconsistent visual style. They …
I’m really enjoying only being able to edit CSS on hosted micro.blog …
The magic of the Instant Pot isn’t that it’s faster. It’s that all the …
No, I don’t think you understand Daddy. I requested ice cream for …

December 2017

Still waiting for Jerry O’Connell’s big comeback.
It’s really important to read the privacy policies of these new email …
Dokku is a great solution to hosting a bunch of low-traffic internal or …
Never mind that Yarn is faster, leveraging the power of emoji makes it feel …
I really don’t like it when someone casually says that something is a …
Sorry kids, Santa has a strict “no presents until the first coffee has been …
Perfect holiday snowfall.
⭐ Framework Feel and Mark Gurman’s Combined iOS/Mac User Experience
Pillow firmness and material should be an option at most hotels. It makes a …
The way my 2017 CR-V is handing driver assist in winter conditions is …
BundlePhobia is an incredibly good site for finding the cost of adding an …
For all their talk about Lean, it’s pretty clear that the service people at …
Nothing makes me feel older than the speed at which my kid bounces back …
I appreciate the horror of the Trump Administration banning words. But if …
I really wish Node had an ORM as robust and battle-tested as SQLAlchemy or …
Micro.blog has suddenly become a dangerous place for spoilers given the …
It seems to me like limiting net neutrality rules is going to backfire on …
The Harry’s Face Wash is surprisingly amazing. Exfoliating, not horrific …
Opening the emoji panel made Airpods stop working, so everything with …
As a proud Canadian, I firmly believe that winter tires should be tax …
We’ve had an Echo for three days and my two-year-old already talks to her …
Scaling Slack’s Job Queue: Excellent write-up on migrating a gigantic job …
One of the best things about React is that good React comes from designing …
Adventures in parenting: can I put encyclopedic knowledge of Paw Patrol on …
I’m not normally against hybrid apps (all things in moderation) but the …
I really wish Create React App had better support for importing and sharing …

November 2017

Apple software quality at work.
Pill pockets are a miracle of modern science.
I’m increasingly impressed at Facebook’s initial move of defining GraphQL …
I really wish the good calendar apps for iOS supported Google Calendar room …
Also helps that I’ve basically stopped buying furniture from anyone other …
The IKEA VR app is mind blowing. First example of generally useful VR I’ve …