A quick recap of our trip to the Riviera Maya — resort days, Xcaret Park, and a full-day tour to Chichén Itzá, Valladolid, and a cenote.

Nine Days in Mexico

March 31 exposed how fragile the modern dev ecosystem is. From the Axios npm attack to the Claude code leak, here's what it means for developers and dependency trust.

March 31 Was a Wake-Up Call for the Dev Ecosystem

Cyclocross Was a Different Beast

Short notes from reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein — ambition, responsibility, and a monster more self-aware than its creator.

Frankenstein: A Few Thoughts

Practical habits and patterns that keep your token usage lean when working with AI coding agents, whether you use Claude Code or GitHub Copilot with Codex.

How to Reduce Token Consumption with Claude Code and Codex

Anthropic just released an official Telegram plugin for Claude Code. Here's how it works and why it changes how I interact with my AI agent.

Claude's New Telegram Plugin: Talking to Your AI Agent on the Go

Added Glossary section with definitions and MDN links for LCP, INP, CLS, FCP, FID, and TTFB.

How I used the Chrome DevTools MCP to trace, diagnose, and fix real performance issues on my photo gallery page — without touching Lighthouse manually.

Performance Tracing with Chrome DevTools MCP and The AI Agent

Fix typos and grammar errors throughout the post.

A practical walkthrough of using Spec Kit to apply Spec-Driven Development inside an existing Next.js project

Spec-Driven Development in Practice: A Walkthrough with Spec Kit

A look at how the industry is moving from rapid, conversational AI coding to structured, specification-first development and the tools driving that shift.

The Shift from Vibe Coding to Spec-Driven Development

How I improved Lighthouse performance on image-heavy blog posts using staged optimizations: lazy loading, WebP conversion, and LCP/CLS tuning.

Improving Lighthouse Performance with Image Optimization

Trimmed the 'Adjusting on the Fly' section to remove a verbose paragraph about next-mdx-remote vulnerabilities, cleaned up the comparison table, and added the OG/hero image.

Added coverage of the post-publish npm audit suprise — 21 HIGH severity vulnerabilities from next-mdx-remote v4 and a minimatch ReDoS — integrated into the main narrative rather than a separate postscript.

Fixed typos throughout, added the ArticleNote disclosure that the post was AI-generated, and restructured several paragraphs in the Results and What I Learned sections for clarity.

What it took to go from Next.js 9.5, 136 vulnerabilities, and an abandoned MDX plugin to a fully modern stack with zero vulnerabilities — using AI-assisted development.

Upgrading a 4-Year-Old Next.js Blog with AI

A curated exploration of the technologies I'm learning in 2026—from AI-powered development and data engineering to infrastructure, mobile development, and ethical hacking.

My 2026 Tech Radar: Tools and Skills I'm Exploring This Year

A minimalist 3-day strength program inspired by Soviet training philosophy. Maximum muscle recruitment with minimal exercise variety.

Soviet Strength Workout Plan

The biggest leaps in AI aren't coming from better models — they're coming from creative engineers who know how to build smarter software around the ones we already have.

Human Creativity Is the Real AI Breakthrough

A year of professional growth in banking ETL systems, competitive mountain biking achievements, personal engagement, and quiet internal transformation through consistency and deliberate practice.

My 2025 in Review

A reflection on The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway — on endurance, quiet strength, and finding meaning even when success slips away.

The Unbroken Spirit: Lessons from The Old Man and the Sea

Reflections on the ending of Orwell's 1984, exploring the broken spirit of Winston and Julia, and what it means for freedom, truth, and human connection

The Broken Spirit: A Reflection After Reading 1984

A full-season recap of my experience racing the 2025 Kelso MTB Series, including results, lessons, stats, and key takeaways from a summer of riding and racing.

Kelso MTB Series 2025: My Season Recap & What I Learned

A 10-day summer road trip across Ontario, Quebec, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Almost 3,000 km of beaches, trails, food, and cities.

Epic Roadtrip Across Two Provinces and Four States

Summer Hike at Mount Nemo

After a year with Java, I returned to Rails — and rediscovered how joyful and elegant it can be, thanks to gems like meta-tags.

Rediscovering the Joy of Rails with meta-tags Gem

A short reflection on the passing of my grandfather Joaquim Valverde, the feeling of saudade, and the reminder to live fully.

Avô Joaquim, One Year Later

Most of what I learned in school didn't stick — and that's okay. As an adult, I've realized it wasn't a lack of intelligence, but a lack of context and curiosity. This post reflects on how learning changes over time, sparked by revisiting a thought experiment I forgot I'd ever studied.

I Barely Remember Anything From School and That's Okay

More companies are moving from public cloud to hybrid and on-prem. Here's why—and why I'm rethinking my home lab setup because of it.

The Cloud Reset: A Smarter Way to Cloud?

With AI changing software jobs fast, is it time to diversify? A reflection on coding, careers, and learning skilled trades

Should I Learn a Skilled Trade Just in Case?

A reflection on the mental model "The Map Is Not the Territory" and why we should question simplified explanations—especially in the age of AI.

How Often Do You Trust the Map Too Much?

How I use ChatGPT to process handwritten to-do lists into structured, time-blocked markdown for Obsidian—saving time every morning.

Processing Your Handwritten To-Do List Has Never Been Easier

A personal reflection on worry, control, and the wisdom of Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount—through the lens of modern anxiety.

Can Any of You by Worrying Add a Single Hour to Your Life?

Reflecting on my first MTB races, I realized how competition pushed me to grow faster than years of casual practice ever did.

The Underrated Benefits of Competition

Tech layoffs are accelerating—and AI is often cited as the reason. Is this the new normal? A personal reflection on staying adaptable.

Are Layoffs the New Norm in the Age of AI?

A concise summary of best practices for SQL stored procedures—covering performance, maintainability, naming conventions, and security.

SQL Stored Procedure Best Practices

Render example diagrams in the post itself.

A quick guide to using Mermaid to create diagrams as code—perfect for software architecture, documentation, and team collaboration.

Diagramming as Code with Mermaid: A Better Way to Track System Design

Learn how to build a clean and modular ETL pipeline in Python using object-oriented programming principles—great for beginners and side projects.

Building a Basic ETL Pipeline in Python with OOP

A simple Flask API example that sends messages to Discord channels using webhooks—great for alerts, bots, or automation scripts.

Using Flask API To Relay Messages to Discord Channels

Speed up your HTML workflow in IntelliJ IDEA using Emmet. Learn how to generate HTML code faster with shorthand syntax.

Generating HTML Code with Emmet in Intellij IDEA

Learn how to use Python's built-in doctest module to write tests inside your docstrings—great for simple validation and better documentation.

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