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Missives from the Here and Now and the Not Yet. A blog and newsletter from the Houn family.

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Looking for the Fig Tree
How I'm Using, Loving, and Hating AI Today
tech

How I'm Using, Loving, and Hating AI Today

For whatever reason, over the last six to nine months, an increasing number of people have been asking me my opinions about AI. What it is. What I use it for. If it's as crazy as they have heard it is. These questions have come from friends, parents of kids from school, coworkers, and folks from church. So, over the course of this post, I'll do my best to summarize a lot of those answers and thoughts. However, we have to start with one mega caveat: ⚠️Warning: The pace of advancement of AI—and
6 min read
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (It's fine)
movie review

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (It's fine)

It is. It really is. Your kids will enjoy it. My youngest son, Asher, laughed gleefully out loud several times in the theater. And, at a few key points, even I couldn't help but grin, turn, and look my kids to see their reactions to what was happening on screen. That was fun. And I guess a lot of other people agreed; the movie made almost $850 million dollars in thirty (30) days. But it's not a good movie. Really it's barely a movie. The visuals are great, the familiar beeps and boops of
5 min read
Ask Yourself This ONE Thing Before Tokenmaxxing
society

Ask Yourself This ONE Thing Before Tokenmaxxing

"Why am I doing this?" Dare Obasanjo (@carnage4life) on ThreadsThe struggle to get to the top of the AI usage leaderboard at a tokenmaxxing company.Threads One of the reasons that I think I still have a job in tech is that, despite not having a college degree, I've always had a love and fascination for technology. I remember being eight or nine years old at my grandmother's house tinkering with her electronics. That tinkering continued into the era of personal computers where I futzed and fuss
5 min read
We Are So Back
life

We Are So Back

Hi Everyone. I know it's been a minute since I was last here. There's nothing like a little technical side-project to force me to write some things down. But, a lot has been going on these last few months--and years, actually, since my last post was in {checks notes} 2023?!? via GIPHY Well. There's no day like today to break the streak. Let's get into what's been going on. Spring Break 2026 🏖️ One of the reasons I’ve finally been able to write is because I just came off of
5 min read
15 Years at Liferay: Chapter 2 - Calls on the Roof and Dogs on the Floor
liferay

15 Years at Liferay: Chapter 2 - Calls on the Roof and Dogs on the Floor

Everything about how I got the job at Liferay was unorthodox. And that strangeness continued into the first day on the job. Day 1 Saechang and I agreed to arrive at early to the job at 8am. We were told that the start time would be at 9am. We talked nervously about what we were doing and about our beat up cars that were falling apart. Mike's trusty Scion xA with 300,000+ miles and my beat up Toyota Tercel. We waited. We prayed. 9am rolled around and we waited for someone to open the gate to t
5 min read