The Little Room

Well, you're in your little room, and you're working on something good
But if it's really good, you're gonna need a bigger room
And when you're in the bigger room, you might not know what to do
You might have to think of how you got started sitting in your little room

- "Little Room" by the White Stripes

This is a place where I'll post writing of my own. Mostly essays,short notes and my weekly retros. It's named after the White Stripes song of the same name. I heard it years ago, and I've used the name for various incarnations of my blog ever since. To me it perfectly captures the essence of what I'm doing here: good work, in my little room, that'll maybe turn into something bigger.

It's got an RSS feed if you're into that sort of thing.

Weekly Retro #2

February 1, 2026

I’m writing this weekly retro from my couch using a new setup on my phone. More on that below. I’ve got the LSU women’s basketball game on the TV and it’s snowing outside. I’ll have to shovel later.

Minneapolis and Minnesota are still under occupation by ICE and other various federal agents. There’s been an attempt to change the narrative: Bovino is out Homan is here, but nothing has really changed. At one of Homan’s first press conferences after he was brought in, he referred to the city I live and work in as a theater. As in a military theater of war.

Just this morning federal agents threw chemical irritants at people observing them at a local park, people are still being kidnapped, some of those are being held at the Whipple Federal building in horrible conditions, then released hours or days later into the woods around the building or dumped at a nearby rail station. It’s cruel, heartless, and pointless.

On a more personal level, I’ve managed to maintain a semblance of normality: getting out of bed, logging on to work from home, or even commute, but I feel empty, scooped out. At work I sit in meetings trying to care about the software my team produces for a MN-based company that has remained largely silent and aloof about all of this, other than our CEO signing a bland, empty letter along with other CEOs.

I’ve managed to keep my Peloton streak this week, and hit day 30 this week. My rides this week were a low-impact ride, a power zone ride, and a 45-minute power zone endurance ride. I filled in the additional days with meditation and stretching. Next week I’ll try to sprinkle in some strength training.

I have an appointment with a doctor this week to talk about this pain I’ve been feeling in my left pectoral muscle (see how many words I used to avoid saying chest pain). I’m also hoping we can discuss a primary care plan and set up a cadence for check-ups, screenings, etc.

I didn’t play a single board or card game this week. What will help is deciding on the list of games I want to bring to the table. I’ve got ideas, but it will help to make the list. I’m a very list-driven person. I’ll also probably need to dedicate a day or two each week to play the games. My default ways to spend free time is video gaming or reading, and that’s what I’ve largely been doing.

I don’t have any updates on the AT Protocol front either. I’ve been focused on getting this site designed, built, and published and there’s still work to be done. I’ve got the blog part worked out, as well as the home and about pages. There are a few other pages and features I want to add though.

The new setup I’m trying is a combination of Working Copy and IA Writer on my phone. Working Copy allows me to connect to the GitLab repo where the sites source code and content is stored. IA Writer allows me to write entries on my phone. I’m hoping this will allow me to write as the idea strikes me, make notes throughout the week, and update the site from anywhere. It occurs to me that I’ll probably want to add some kind of draft status for posts so I can switch from phone to desktop and vice-versa. More to-dos!

Things I enjoyed this week

Weekly Retro #1

January 27, 2026

Last week was a rough one here in Minneapolis, and you’ve been following the news at all you know how much of an understatement that is. On Friday, many businesses in Minneapolis and around the state closed in solidarity with the ICE out of MN movement. Workers were also called upon to strike. It was a positive, uplifting day. Much of that would be shattered the following day when ICE killed another observer, Alex Pretti, and members of the executive branch immediately began to spread lies about Pretti and misinformation about his killing.

As I’m writing this there have been some small victories, with Trump at least saying that Pretti’s death—and Renee Good’s before his—will be fully investigated, and Greg Bovino being sent to wreak his brand of havoc elsewhere. I’ll take the W, but also know there is much more to be done.

I did make an appointment with a doctor who I’ll be auditioning(?) to be my primary care doctor. I’ve been experiencing what I’m reluctant to call chest pain, and instead referring to as pectoral pain. It feels musculoskeletal, but it’s also freaking me the fuck out, so that will be the main focus of the visit. That appointment is not for another week, but until it feels urgent, I’m sticking to that timeline.

Somewhat related, I did three Peloton bike rides last week: one low-impact ride, one Powerzone ride, and one Powerzone endurance ride. In fact, each week in January so far has looked like that. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by my progress. The rides are harder, but not that hard. I’m also doing the 100-day streak challenge within the Peloton app, and have been mixing in some daily mediation and stretching between ride days to keep the streak going. So far I’ve managed a 25-day streak.

As far as my two gaming related goals go I haven’t done much. I have an idea of some of the games I want to play at least 10 times, but I need to take the time to put together a full list. Part of the appeal of the 10 by 10 challenge is it removes some of the decision making about what to play. On the playing games in person front, I know which community/game I’d like to get involved with, but honestly with everything else going on in the Twin Cities right now, it’s not been top of mind. There are plenty of other ways to get involved with real people in my community if you get my drift.

I also didn’t make much progress on learning more about AT Protocol beyond opening their doc site in my browser and leaving the tab open. I did see they have a starter project for cloning and learning, so that’s likely where I’ll start.

Things I enjoyed this week

2026 Goals

January 22, 2026

This year I want to be deliberate and realistic about setting and achieving goals. This post will serve as a public document of my goals, and I’ll do my best to write weekly about my progress (or not) towards them. These range in ambition and focus, and are listed in no particular order.

Find a primary care doctor

I haven’t had a primary care doctor for years. My insurance plan allows me to schedule directly with specialists as needed, and that’s what I’ve been doing. But, I’m 47-years-old and probably should have a professional partner in this aging journey. Ideally I’ll have found a doctor by the end of January and will have booked an appointment.

Less endurance rides

I am a Peloton user, in fact it’s the one exercise program I’ve been able to stick to. Ever. I am primarily a bike rider, and I mostly do Powerzone training. For the past year I have almost exclusively done endurance rides, which are longer, less intense rides. This year I want to push myself out of my comfort zone and do more intense rides to build strength in addition to endurance.

Play more card games in person

Over the years I’ve dabbled in a few trading card games, mostly playing at my kitchen table or gaming stores with a small group of friends. I’ve collected a lot of cardboard, and most of it just sits in boxes, sorted and unplayed. This year I want to play more games in person with people I don’t know. There are active communities for most of the games I’ve collected here in the Twin Cities, and my goal is to leave my house and play a few times a month. Mostly casual play, nothing too competitive.

Play more of the boardgames I own

Similarly, I own a fairly large number of board games, many of them designed for solo play or that at least have a system that allows for solo play (co-op games for example). I usually play them once or twice, then put them in the boardgame closet. I came up with this phrase “Ten Times to the Table” to sum up this goal, meaning I’d like to play a game 10 times at least. Apparently, this is already a thing in the boardgame community known as 10 x 10 challenge, which means play 10 games 10 times. I don’t know that I’ll commit to playing 10 games, but I do have a few in mind that I want to play at least 10 times.

Learn the AT protocol

The AT protocol is “is an open, decentralized network for building social applications” and powers apps like Bluesky, my social media app of choice these days. I’ve primarily been a front end engineer (and these days it’s mostly engineering management), so I’m actively interested in pursuing something well outside that realm. There’s something fascinating to me about open protocols, and particularly this one. This year I want to learn enough AT protocol to build something on top of it. I have some ideas of what that could be, but nothing concrete yet.