zacharyc

One of my goals this year is to give back more through writing and knowledge. It is laughable that I haven’t published my 2025 blog post yet, but there has been a lot going on, and I’m not quite there yet. A post will come. In the meantime, I’m preparing to take a road trip to California, and part of that is preparing my van to drive across the country. When I got ready for the journey, I found the van had a water leak around the fan area. The work around this was done six years ago, and the fact that it has held up this long is beyond impressive. Still, this work needs to be fixed before I head out. ...

My Local Coffee Shop got an Onyx advent calendar for $200. Each day, it comes with enough coffee to brew about two cups (it is not designed for espresso). It’s an exciting idea, but after looking around, I could not find a Coffee Calendar for Hanukkah. In typical Zack fashion, I decided that meant it was time for me to make one. To make this happen, I’m trying to gauge interest. My goal is to make between 10 and 20 calendars this year. They will be essential, as I don’t have time to make them overly elaborate. Hanukkah starts December 25th (yes, on Xmas this year), so I have limited time to get this to people. ...

I don’t know how I became obsessed with paper and notes. I remember having an excellent Electrical Engineering teacher who talked about a lab notebook as a resource for all your learning that you could refer to in the future. At the time, I wouldn’t say I liked several rules about notebooks: all pages had to be numbered, and you had to use a pen because you didn’t want anything to get erased or removed. ...

I’ve been trying something new recently. I get up in the morning, do my morning routine, and try to get to the Newport Public Library to write in my journal and get started on my thoughts for the day. It could be more productive than having my office at work, but it helps me think more than just at home. While hanging out at the library, I often sit by the technology section. I can turn around, pick up a book, leaf through some technology I don’t know well, and learn something. It’s a fun concept. ...

After a break from doing the trip, I decided to do the Grace delivery this year from Newport to Miami. We started on Saturday, November 2nd, and arrived in Coconut Grove late on November 8th. While I’ve had one voyage that wasn’t super eventful until the VERY end, most of my voyages have had at least some sort of challenge and adventure. You never know what you will hit off the coast of the eastern seaboard. ...