Puzzles, Fun, and Games

Funemployment, and Next Steps

Jul 9, 2024 - 2100 Words -

Back in 2018, I was fortunate enough to join a company called Expel. It had a great culture, friendly management with a real desire to do what’s right for customers and employees, and a product that seemed to fill a real need – and to fill it well. Being remote friendly even in 2018, we were ready when the pandemic hit, and it seemed like we made it out the other side unscathed.

Using an Adafruit NeoTrellis Keypad with MQTT

Apr 26, 2021 - 2200 Words -

I’ve been building a light-up keypad for home automation devices (and Zoom sessions). Last time, I gave an overview of the project. This entry will detail the hardware itself, completing a basic remote-only setup, while the next post adds more advanced features and connects it to a server. You can browse the entire series from the link in the header, or by clicking here. Hardware I spent some time trying to find just the right hardware for this toy.

Building a remote-control home automation keypad

Apr 25, 2021 - 1100 Words -

I use Zoom. A lot. Obviously, a whole lot more since we all started working from home. It’s not a big deal – I’ve gotten pretty used to it, and it’s a good system. So much better than the PictureTel VTCs I occasionally used in the early 90’s. What’s annoying, though, is when someone asks a question and I’m on mute. Suddenly, there’s a scramble to figure out which monitor the mouse pointer is on…jiggle…jiggle…JIGGLE!

Codenames Board Generator

Mar 11, 2021 - 1500 Words -

Codenames is a word game where players try to collect all of their team’s cards from a board, by having their Spymaster give one-word hints which describe one or more cards on the table. Which cards belong to which team is determined by a random draw of pre-printed game maps, showing which positions belong to Red, which to Blue, and which is the Assassin card (the black card – revealing this ends the game for both teams).

1Password - Full Trip from Unlock to Encryption

Nov 12, 2018 - 1900 Words -

It occurred to me sometime after I’d finished my talk that I should have a single post that pulls all the elements together. So here’s a complete walkthrough from Master Password all the way to decrypted Vault Item. If you’ve missed the first parts of the series, here’s a good starting point. General Process First, let’s review the overall sequence of events. It’s a little complicated at the beginning, depending on which client we’re using.