Asymptomatic

There must be intelligent life down here

Projects Progress
August 07, 2025
TeamBeat projects Sn Ableton AI

I have a few technical projects that I’m working on, but they are moving very slowly. Little’s Law has taken effect, where working on multiple things at once makes everything progress at a glacial pace. Let’s talk about the things I’m doing and maybe write out some progress. I might also cover some other topics, like how I’m using current AI techniques to get better at leveraging technology.

One project is called Team Beat. It’s software that organizes a retrospective into phases: a discovery phase where people can submit cards to a board, a voting phase where participants vote on the most important cards, and a discussion phase to talk about those cards. The software takes all the notes from the retrospective and puts them into a markdown document that you can save. The tool works well, and a couple of teams at work are using it. However, there are issues with it. The real-time board submissions are powered by WebSockets written in Go, which connects to the database storing all this information. One problem is that although Go performs well, configuration exists in the front end that really should be part of the back end. This disconnection of config makes it hard to filter down to specific user details in some situations. For example, every action on a board is broadcast on a single channel delivered to all users, requiring them all to fetch new information from the API instead of receiving simple updates.

Rethinking My Morning Routine
May 21, 2025
morning exercise

I’ve been thinking again about my morning routine and ways to improve upon my currently relaxed weekday schedule.

Right now, my mornings consist of coming downstairs, making breakfast, and scrolling through email and social media with my coffee and bagel. Literature suggests this digital-first approach isn’t ideal, and I’m beginning to agree. However, I still need a dedicated time slot for these activities, as processing them too late in the day reduces their usefulness.

Mondropop
May 17, 2025
coding iphone code mondropop app ios

I’ve been creating a new game for the iPhone that I am calling Mondropop. The idea of the game is, like many other games, you have blocks in a grid that are all different colors. When you touch any of the groups of blocks of the same color, that group is removed from the board and all the pieces above those blocks fall into the open spaces.

You get points for clearing blocks using a specific formula where the larger the group, the more points you get. Towards the end of the game, if you clear a column, the columns will slide together to close the gap, allowing blocks on either side of the empty space to connect. At the end, you get a score to see how well you did.

The Art of Obvious Clues
December 04, 2024

I’ve been thinking about game mastering lately, particularly about how we present clues and plot hooks to our players. A friend recently mentioned they were working on adding clues to guide their players toward a specific storyline, and it got me reflecting on the whole concept of “leading” players through our games.

Here’s the thing: I’m incredibly fortunate to have players who actively listen for and follow my plot hooks, even when they’re not particularly well-crafted. But should we really need to “bait” players into having fun? The whole process of deliberately planting multiple clues, creating diversionary scenery to hide them in, and hoping players pick up on the right threads seems unnecessarily complicated.

Books in 2024
November 23, 2024
books reading library

The year isn’t over, but I’ve been reflecting on books that I’ve read this year. I recently started in book two of the Hyllis Family series, Teleporter, after having finished the inaugural book, “Telekinetic”. It’s an odd little book with an interesting premise, about a family with subtle/small psychic talents in the midst of a post-apocalyptic return-to-pre-industry Earth setting. I enjoyed it and I’m anxious to see where the story that focuses on the main character’s sister goes.

I pulled together a list of books that I remember (whether vaguely or not) read this year, including some books that I’ve re-read, like Seveneves and The Three-Body Problem. There were a few in this list that I re-read because the kids were interested in something new and I was wondering if they’d be interested. There are also a handful of books in this list that I know I read but I have no memory of beyond the book flap. Pretty weird.