Hello friends!

Welcome to 2021. The universe hasn’t seemed to have stopped giving us more stories and excitement in the new year so far.

I’ve been a bit obsessed with my new nerd toy: the Emisar D4v2 flashlight, and I’ve posted some help for others curious and new to its UI (yes, a UI for a flashlight).

I’ve also had some time during the break to share my thoughts on Facebook’s News Feed and feelings of imposter syndrome.

Enjoy!

News Feed

For the tech-savvy and folks just generally well versed in how social media works, how the News Feed works seems obvious. But maybe it’s not? My strategy on how I manage being manipulated by my own social media usage.

iPhone Upgrade Program vs Buying, Trade In

I’ve been a fan of the iPhone Upgrade Program, but I hadn’t crunched the numbers to see how much I was paying for the luxury of doing so. Here’s an analysis and breakdown of how much it costs compared to buying an iPhone with cash.

Supposing My Words Are Whiskey

A little book by Haruki Murakami about his travels to Ireland and Scotland to taste whiskey. There isn’t an English version of this book (yet?). A couple small notes on my Chinese Edition of the book.

Emisar D4v2: Setup, Configuration, and Usage

The D4v2’s a flashlight with a single button, but it’s got a UI diagram you need to decipher to figure out how to use. It’s also got configuration options. Pure nerdiness. This is how I’ve set mine up and how I’m using it.

Confidence development

How can you stop feeling like an imposter even though you know you’ve accomplished things in your life? It took me a while to feel comfortable being called a programmer. Some ways of helping develop your own confidence in the skills you have or are building up.

Emisar D4v2: How to turn off the flashlight

If you’re a programmer, you know how hard it was to quit vi. So if you got your hands on a D4v2, you’re getting deja vu trying to turn off your flashlight.

How to use Tamanoi Sushinoko to make sushi rice

When making sushi rice at home: sure, you can go all Jiro and try to make it with rice vinegar, etc., but you can make your life a whole lot easier with some Tamanoi Sushinoko powder. Just sprinkle some on hot cooked rice and you’ll have a sushi party ready in no time.

As always, please reach out to me anytime to say hi. I love hearing from you all!

Ivan