Weeknotes 11 - 2026 🔗
The best thing that happened this week I haven't shared this yet, but I'm creating an iPhone app as a side project, and this week I've been making som [...]
Mijndert Stuij
Posts
Weeknotes 8 - 2026 🔗
The best thing that happened this week This week it was carnaval in the southern part of The Netherlands. As I'm originally coming from somewhere wher [...]
Weeknotes 7 - 2026 🔗
A day late and a dollar short I suppose, but just now I remembered I got back to writing week notes. The best thing that happened this week Wednesday [...]
Weeknotes 6 - 2026 🔗
The weeknotes are back after a long hiatus. I've been contemplating whether to continue (or rather restart) writing them because it didn't feel right [...]
Just run 🔗
As someone in IT, someone who spends a lot of time thinking about systems and optimizations and data, it's easy to fall into this trap of constantly l [...]
2025 GOTY 🔗
2025 has been the year of handheld gaming for me. I haven't touched my Xbox Series X for a full year now and I can't say I miss it. The portability an [...]
Less, more 🔗
Less Overthinking Scrolling Sitting Negativity Postponing Perfectionism Context switching Consuming More Movement Early mornings Deep work Iteration P [...]
Log out 🔗
For a lot of different reasons, I love the internet. I love it because it connects me to people I wouldn't otherwise get to know, because it gives me [...]
2025 so far 🔗
It's almost October, which means we're three quarters into 2025 already. Time dilation is real when you're getting older and a year becomes an increas [...]
Some running top tips 🔗
Another blog post? The second one in two days. My mind has been occupied with running lately, so much so that it got me thinking about all the things [...]
A static website on OpenBSD 🔗
Back in 2021 I was dipping my toes into the world of OpenBSD. A few days ago I got the itch to try OpenBSD again, mostly because I'm kind of fed up wi [...]
I love shaving yaks 🔗
There are apparently two definitions of yak shaving: Any apparently useless activity which, by allowing one to overcome intermediate difficulties, all [...]
Pro tips for remote working 🔗
For the past two years I've been working remotely most of the time. I sometimes go the office in Amsterdam, but I vastly prefer working from home. Bei [...]
Smartphone resentment 🔗
I am (was?) definitely addicted to my phone; I would check it every 15 minutes in hopes of seeing new content or notifications. I would aimlessly scro [...]
Forever games 🔗
Today I want to talk about my forever games. I don't mean games that never end, like Minecraft, but rather games that I keep coming back to and play i [...]
Garmin Forerunner 570 🔗
Two years ago I got myself my first Garmin watch, the Forerunner 255S. I bought it at a heavy discount when the 265 was released. I didn't want to spe [...]
My phone number is poisoned 🔗
Oh, my phone number. It's been with me through half a dozen phone companies, countless devices, and many different life stages. I've had this exact sa [...]
I got promoted 🔗
Over the past 17 years I've been working in IT, I've had the opportunity to work in many different roles and companies. I started out as a systems adm [...]
Silence as a tactic 🔗
Even when you're just working a 9-to-5, you will find yourself in a negotiation sometimes. Not with a vendor, a client or a customer, but rather one w [...]
I need to reset my inboxes 🔗
In the Getting Things Done (GTD) productivity system there's this concept of an inbox. People often think of their inbox as just their email, but in G [...]
Practice optimism with a single question 🔗
People that know me well will tell you that I'm not the most optimistic person in the world. I tend to see the negatives in things rather than the pos [...]
Oops, I bought it 🔗
Remember me waffling about computer monitors? That was just six weeks ago. I have a confession to make: I bought it (yes this was shared in week notes [...]
The algorithm isn't always to blame 🔗
Everyone is a victim of The Algorithm in one way or another. I'm still on Instagram (yes, I know) and I quite often fall into the trap of looking at R [...]
The best laptop ever 🔗
A laptop for just €950 is bound to be crappy, have some issues, and not last very long. Or so you’d think. I bought my M1 MacBook Air — just the base [...]
Blog questions challenge 🔗
1. Why did you start blogging in the first place? My blog has taken on many forms over the years, but the main theme was always sharing technical cont [...]
I'll read it 🔗
I think with the ever growing power of mega corporations on the internet, writing a personal blog is a good way to keep the internet weird. It doesn't [...]
Display waffling 🔗
I think almost any nerd remembers their first computer monitor. Mine was a tiny CRT one that could only display a few lines of amber text. It was hook [...]
Goals for 2025 🔗
2024 has not been the best year for me and my family. My wife got diagnosed with a chronic illness called MS, which has turned our life upside down in [...]
2024 GOTY 🔗
My gaming habits can be summed up in a single word: erratic. I have a Nintendo Switch and an Xbox Series X just sitting there, collecting dust most of [...]
Default apps 2024 🔗
Here's a fun new thing in the blogosphere: sharing your default apps. I saw a few people I follow do it and borrowed the format, as one does. A ton mo [...]
Config-driven Terraform 🔗
Some time ago I wrote about config-driven import which became available in Terraform 1.5. Import blocks are a way to import existing resources into th [...]
On running with a watch 🔗
Anyone that knows me well can attest to me being a dreadful sports person in almost every category; except for one: running. I've been running for a v [...]
Obsidian doesn't click for me 🔗
The idea of a personal wiki has always appealed to me. I tried a few times to incorporate one into my "workflow" if I even have one. I tried all sorts [...]
Saving time using Terraform import blocks 🔗
Anyone who uses Terraform must be familiar with the import command; it allows you to gather existing resources and put them into your statefile. This [...]
Reusable Terraform modules using Dynamic blocks 🔗
In the realm of Amazon Web Services there's this thing called a Landing Zone, a set of infrastructure as code modules built to deploy new environments [...]
Responsive images on a static Hugo website 🔗
For years and years I've been using Jekyll as my static site generator of choice, mostly because I like their templating engine and I'm a fan of Ruby [...]
Stop doing DevOps teams if you want to scale 🔗
If you're serious about scaling your company you should stop doing DevOps teams. I realise this is probably a controversial opinion and one I'm most l [...]
Scaling a Mastodon community to 27k people 🔗
Tomorrow marks the first full month of my move to toot.community, a Mastodon instance initially set up by my friend Jorijn. My move to Mastodon wasn't [...]
A minimalist take on Vim 🔗
I've been a Vim user for as long as I can remember, but in the last few years VS Code kind of took over as the defacto choice for us DevOps engineers. [...]
40 questions 🔗
The end of the year or your own birthday are both for reflection on the days and months that came before. We try to look back on all the things that w [...]
Avoid using internal load balancers 🔗
One of the most well-known patterns in infrastructure is having an internal load balancer in front of backend services like application servers. When [...]
AirPods Max 🔗
To be clear right off the bat: I don't do well in busy offices. I get distracted easily, I don't like it when people can see what I'm doing, I don't l [...]
OpenBSD 🔗
I've been an avid user of various Linux distributions for 22+ years now and I will forever love everything about it and what it brought me. I have my [...]
Information processing 🔗
Ever since this COVID-19 thing hit I've been working from home non-stop. That's almost a full year of working remotely and being fully in charge of my [...]
My Tmux setup 🔗
Tmux is a terminal multiplexer. It lets you switch between several programs through windows and panes, detach your session and reattach to it on a dif [...]
On minimalism 🔗
Places like Reddit and Twitter are filled with people who practice their version of minimalism. The most prevalent method is to just have less of ever [...]