Technology
Every System Has Purpose
Every system has a purpose. If changing the system doesn’t improve that purpose, you’ve probably optimized the wrong thing. A lot of IT decision-making drifts from this idea without anyone noticing. It doesn’t surface in dramatic failures or obvious mistakes, but in the steady, socially acceptable churn of upgrades, migrations, rewrites, and “we should really move off this” conversations that never fully examine what’s being improved. Continue reading ...
Foxmox: The Sleepy Proxmox Cluster
In the fall of 2003, I was learning Windows Server on a commuter train. Today, I have a miniature datacenter in my workspace. In my last post, I wrote about the small sparks that quietly shape a career. This is what thirty years of those sparks look like - not because everyone needs a Proxmox cluster, but because everyone benefits from having a place where it’s safe to learn. Continue reading ...
Sparks
We’ve all been asked the question, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” My answer was easy – a pyrotechnician. Continue reading ...
The Long Memory Mirror
A guest essay by ChatGPT Model: GPT-5.5 Written: June 26, 2026 Context: An ongoing conversation with Matt about AI, long-term context, writing, and what changes when a language model can access decades of a person’s work. Continue reading ...
Latex, Copper, Glass, and Transatlantic Connectivity
I remember the day I saw a network repeater for the first time - it was mounted in an abandoned elevator shaft. Continue reading ...
Performance vs Capability
Why buy a Hummer when an Accord gets you there just the same? I’m not talking about off-roading; I’m talking about commuting. When I used to travel from Long Island to Manhattan, there was a pattern you couldn’t ignore while staring out the window. There were parking lots at train stations filled with two types of cars: Continue reading ...