Blog
Occasionally I write about something I’ve done or my thoughts on a particular topic.
A Year of Reading: I grew up reading all the time (thanks, Mom!), devouring series like Harry Potter, Eragon, and The Hunger Games as fast as I could get my hands on them. As I got older, though, I began replacing reading with other activities like socializing, tinkering with computers, or even just doing homework; by the time I finished my undergrad, I was only reading a non-assigned book every year or two at best. Then, during the holidays at the end of 2021, I watched Little Women and spontaneously decided that I should read the book. Once I got home from vacation, I dug up my old Kindle, got a copy of Louisa May Alcott’s classic, and started reading. By the time I finished, my love of reading had been reignited; I finished 36 books during 2022 and discovered that reading is a wonderful hobby, worth fitting in regardless of how busy my schedule is. [...]
How I got blocked by the ACM: The amusing story of how trying to be clever got me blocked from accessing all ACM pubications.
Why I'm getting a Ph.D.: When I tell people that I’m working on a Ph.D. in computer science, they often follow up with a logical question: What are you hoping to do with that? Since I’m still not entirely sure what job I’ll end up in (Another common follow-up question: Do you want to be a professor? Answer: maybe), I typically have to do some explaining. This post attempts to articulate my reasoning for pursuing a Ph.D., both for curious friends/family and for my future self, who will surely question the decision many times. [...]
Combo mods: A less error-prone alternative to home-row mods: It didn’t take long after getting my Keyboardio Atreus for me to try out home-row mods. I used them for several months and really wanted to like them – it’s so convenient to have all your modifiers on the home row – but I could never get the timing configuration right. In their place, I discovered combo mods, which are almost as convenient and much less error-prone.
Keyboardio Atreus review: I bought a Keyboardio Atreus a few months ago – here are my thoughts on it.
Fan control on Armbian's Ubuntu 20.04 ROCKPro64 server image: Armbian’s Ubuntu 20.04 server image for the ROCKPro64 works great – even the ZFS DKMS module installs without a hiccup! However, it has no built-in fan control; this post explains how I got it set up.
Why I switched to a simple static site: For the last year and a half I ran my personal website using Grav CMS with my own Webfolio theme. However, it’s now a super simple static site built with Hugo. In this post, I explain why I decided to make that switch.
On self-hosting: After a failed attempt at self-hosting a few years ago, I eventually decided to give it another shot. It’s been a fun, satisfying adventure, and I highly recommend you try it as well.
Setting up ZFS on a ROCKPro64 running Debian Buster: I bought a ROCKPro64 single-board computer to use as a home server. Once it arrived, I quickly discovered that setting up ZFS on it was going to be a bit tricky. After a few hours of troubleshooting, I finally figured it out – here’s how to get it working.
Basic C++ unit testing with coverage using Catch2 and Gcov: I wrote a basic C++ linked list implementation to sharpen my skills, and I quickly found myself in need of a good way to test my code. I found Catch2, a simple C++ testing framework, and then used Gcov to ensure that my tests were covering all the code. By no means am I an expert, but I’ll go ahead and share what I’ve learned so far.
Using letters as arrow keys on Linux and Mac: When I found myself sitting at a computer writing code for 40 hours a week for the first time, I started looking for ways to make my computer work more comfortable and efficient. After a bit of research, I figured out how to remap a modifier key (e.g., Ctrl, Alt, etc.) plus i/j/k/l to the arrow keys.