zacharyc

I recently saw Project Hail Mary for the first time and am now listening to the audiobook. This has gotten me thinking a lot about the work we do. In this book, they are doing work to save the planet. What would be called a “moonshot” or an audacious goal that is incredibly hard. In the case of the book, it is saving humanity on Earth. In my main career, I’m a software engineer. I write code. In my 20+ years of programming professionally, almost nothing that I’ve written is still in use. Maybe some code in Bloomberg’s ADSK, or Factset’s client, might still be around, but nothing significant. All the shots I’ve really taken aren’t around. They were great projects, but fell short of having the impact: ...

Coffee I don’t have notes on shops, but I did buy a couple of bags of Knicks in Five from Enjoy because I went to Villanova, have lived close to Manhattan and generally love Enjoy as a roaster. It was a relatively cheap way for me to support the team without going to the parade. It is just a reboxing of the newest Five Points and is actually quite amazing. In addition, my local shop, Simple Merchant has had an interesting rotating coffee from People Possession and I have to be honest, I was not a fan. I’m really glad the SMC has a bunch of different things for me to try. The coffee is the Yellow which really tastes like lemon cleaning products. Some say if you like IPAs, you might like this coffee. I did not. ...

While working on the boat in West Palm Beach, Florida, I have had to take many Uber trips to get where I’m going, both for work and for personal adventures. Having done some work in the ride-share industry at Flywheel, I’m fascinated by the process. One of the things that I’ve been thinking about a lot is the science of how they pick the numbers to display at the end of the ride as suggested tip amounts. Here is a mock tip screen: ...

Still in Florida waiting on the boat to be ready to sail. She’s not there yet, but she is getting there. Coffee I made a conscious effort to try more coffee spots this week, to have a better review. Pumphouse Coffee West Palm Beach, FL Rating: 3/5 They are based in West Palm Beach. They have a roaster and outside bar in downtown West Palm. The Bar is where I was able to try them as it is pretty darn close the marina and I like to avoid traveling in this heat unless I have to. Honestly, if you like a darker roast, this place wasn’t bad. The bar has limited options, and despite the heat, nobody here seems to do iced pourovers. Still solid option if you want to uplevel starbucks in the downtown area. ...

This week finds me still in Florida and despite my vast hatred of this heat, I’m actually enjoying my stay for the most part. I’ve had some time to really spend on my computer because there isn’t much else for me to be doing. Yes, there are some boat tasks, but I’m not really a mechanic or boat worker. I’m just here for the sailing. So while the boat is getting fixed and I can learn some things, I’m not super useful. ...