Another Blog? Really?

Categories: jekyll, update, writing process


Another blog. On the internet. In 2026.

Bold move, I know.

There are already thousands (millions?) of engineers writing about code, architecture, and (most recently) AI. So why add another voice to the noise?

Because I think we’re missing the point.

1. Not Another “Look What I Built in 5 Minutes” Post

If you’ve been anywhere near tech content lately, you’ve seen it:

I vibe-coded this app in 20 minutes with AI.

Or

Look at this startup I built over a weekend.

Cool. Honestly, the tooling is incredible, but most of that content stops at the novelty.

What I’m interested in is something deeper:

What happens when AI is in the hands of an experienced engineer?

Not just someone prompting their way to a demo, but someone who understands systems, tradeoffs, debugging, performance, and long-term maintainability.

Someone who knows what should be built, not just what can be built.

That’s where things actually get interesting.

That’s what this blog is about.

2. Why Jekyll (Again)

Yes, I’m using Jekyll again.

Not because it’s trendy (it’s not), but because it’s comfortable. I work in Ruby every day, and there’s something nice about a tool that gets out of your way and lets you write.

#!/bin/bash
bundle exec jekyll serve

That’s it. No platform lock-in. No algorithm deciding if this post is worth showing to people.

Just files, version control, and a system I fully understand.

And importantly, it gives me flexibility.

Since I can completely control the layout, styles, and have been writing using markdown for years. I can quickly and easily generate code blocks with syntax highlighting (using Rogue) and also easily add callouts like this:

Note This is an informational note.

Pro Tip Share helpful advice here.

Warning Call out a potential issue.

Danger Use for critical alerts.

This isn’t just a place for code snippets or quick takes. It’s a space where I can:

3. Bringing the Past Forward

I’ve written a lot over the years—scattered across notes, repos, half-finished drafts, and probably a few places I’ve forgotten about.

Part of this reboot is pulling all of that forward.

Not as-is, but refined. Updated. Recontextualized.

Think of this as a living archive, not just a stream of new posts.

4. A Real Writing Cadence (Finally)

I’m not going to promise “one post a week” or anything rigid like that.

But I am committing to writing consistently.

Not just when something is shiny or new, but when something is worth thinking through.

Not noise. Signal. (I promise to limit these clichés)

5. What You Can Expect

This blog will focus on:

Sometimes that might include code:

def print_hi(name)
puts "Hi, #{name}"
end

print_hi('Tom')
#=> prints 'Hi, Tom' to STDOUT.

But more often, it’ll be about why the code matters, and what changes when the tools evolve.

Final Thought

The barrier to building has dropped dramatically.

That’s a good thing.

But the gap between building something and building something that lasts?

That gap might actually be getting wider.

Anyone can build faster now.

Fewer people are thinking deeper.

That’s the gap I want to explore.

If you’ve made it this far—thanks for reading.

Let’s see where this goes and build things that last.