Blog

  • 2022 Office Update: Technical Writer Edition

    2022 Office Update: Technical Writer Edition

    It has been 2 years since I last posted a workstation/office update. If I am honest, posting regular updates about my “daily drivers” was not something I ever planned, but I am always trying to refine and improve my work tools. I find it interesting to take a look back at what has changed over…

  • 2022 Goal Setting

    2022 Goal Setting

    I’ve never been one to set new years resolutions. I’m generally aware that most resolutions made on January 1st are never taken seriously, or only taken seriously for the first 2 weeks or so until one inevitably falls back on old habits. I also am not a solopreneur, business owner, or freelancer, so compiling a…

  • Switch MySQL 8 Authentication Mode to native_password

    Switch MySQL 8 Authentication Mode to native_password

    This past weekend, I was fiddling with some “devopsy” things, and I had to figure out how to switch the default MySQL 8 authentication method from auth_socket to native_password. One of the big changes to MySQL in version 8 is the default authentication method. In older MySQL versions, when you installed the mysql-server package, it…

  • What Is the Best Local Web Development Environment for macOS?

    What Is the Best Local Web Development Environment for macOS?

    And why is it (currently) Laravel Valet? One of the main reasons I switched from Windows to Ubuntu for my development workstation back in 2006 was that I was tired of complicated setups for managing local development environments. Because Rasmus Lerdorf, the creator of PHP, spent a lot of time making Linux, Apache, and MySQL…

  • Belief

    Belief

    #ClickPublish When I was young, I believed I was allergic to mac and cheese! I won’t go into the details of why, but that belief was so strong that once at a pre-grade 8 summer camp, I refused to eat dinner one night because it was mac and cheese. To this day, I still don’t…

  • 10 Things I Hate About Ubuntu

    10 Things I Hate About Ubuntu

    I generally consider myself someone to be open to new experiences and prepared to consider both sides in any given discussion. This does sometimes mean that I may express opinions that are not popular. As Morten once reminded me so well, “The devil’s advocate advocates for the devil”, and he’s not wrong. After I posted…

  • Route 44

    Route 44

    If you live close to Cape Town, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, you’ve probably heard of the R44. It’s the road that runs from Gordons Bay, along the coast past places like Betty’s Bay, Pringle Bay, and Kleinmond, and connects back to the R43 at Arabella Country Estate. On the other side…

  • Using a MacBook As a Long-time Ubuntu User – The Week of Mac

    Using a MacBook As a Long-time Ubuntu User – The Week of Mac

    This post summarizes my (almost) week of using a Mac, as a long-time Ubuntu user. You can read why I tried this experiment here. Thursday – Day 1 The first annoyance started when I connected the MacBook up to the USB type-C hub I had purchased. While the hub did its job well (more on…

  • Using a MacBook as a Long-time Ubuntu User – Preparation

    Using a MacBook as a Long-time Ubuntu User – Preparation

    If you read my last post, after 30 years of using computers, I bought my first Apple laptop. I’ve long been opposed to using Apple products for various reasons. However, the combination of the new Apple silicon and a requirement for access to an Apple computer for my work means that I now own an…

  • Apple Silicon MacBook Air – Unboxing and Initial Thoughts

    Apple Silicon MacBook Air – Unboxing and Initial Thoughts

    If you’ve spent any time reading this blog, you will know that my personal operating system of choice is Ubuntu. I’ve used Ubuntu since 2006, first as a local development server (a physical box hooked up my local network), and then switched to using it as my daily driver in 2008. I had short stint…

  • Async Conf – An Asynchronous Online Conference

    Async Conf – An Asynchronous Online Conference

    Ever since the world of tech conferences went to shit last year, I’ve not attended any virtual ones. They don’t appeal to me at all. The main reason is that when I attend conferences, it’s to meet up with my fellow attendees, greet old friends, meet new ones, and discuss all manner of topics. Attending…

  • From Digital Ocean App Platform to Self Hosted SpinupWP Managed VPS

    From Digital Ocean App Platform to Self Hosted SpinupWP Managed VPS

    Earlier this year, I threw together a silly little joke app built on Laravel in a couple of hours. I had merely wanted to participate in the Digital Ocean App Platform Hackathon and had no further plans for the app. Another App Platform Hackathon participant liked it enough to contribute some substantial improvements, including a…