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Author: Owls

Torghast, Tower of the Damned

Torghast, the Tower of the Damned, is a rouge-like (ish) set of dungeons in WoW: Shadowlands. I finished the "hard mode" last night and got my Maw horse, so I wanted to write up some of my thoughts on the feature. If you read "rogue-like" and think angband or Caves of Qud: congrats, you're old … Continue reading Torghast, Tower of the Damned →

Owls games January 12, 2021January 12, 2021 12 Minutes

FEW Spirits’ Cold-Cut Bourbon

I had somehow missed the release of FEW's cold-cut bourbon in 2019. Fortunately, somebody notified me about it last month. I don't usually go for FEW's whiskeys -- or those from the other Chicago distilleries -- for one simple reason: Chicago & Evanston only re-started granting distillery licenses in 2008 and 2011, respectively. They're new … Continue reading FEW Spirits’ Cold-Cut Bourbon →

Owls food October 22, 2020October 22, 2020 2 Minutes

First Thoughts on Baldur’s Gate 3

I started Baldur's Gate 3 on Tuesday afternoon. This morning, I "completed" the first chapter, which is the end of the story in early access. So here are my thoughts on it so far! Firstly: the timing of the release was great. My Eberron campaign came to an abrupt end last Friday when we accidentally … Continue reading First Thoughts on Baldur’s Gate 3 →

Owls games October 10, 2020 6 Minutes

Geek Grind Coffee’s Goblin Gulp

In one of my DnD campaigns, our mascot is a goblin we adopted early on. He's a big fan of coffee, so on a lark, I google image searched "goblin coffee" for something funny to put in a scheduling email. I was surprised to find officially-licensed Pathfinder coffee offered by Geek Grind Coffee. I immediately … Continue reading Geek Grind Coffee’s Goblin Gulp →

Owls food September 27, 2020 1 Minute

Bootstrap vs. Tailwind

People occasionally get into slap-fights over the tried-and-true Bootstrap vs. newer CSS frameworks like Tailwind. I've worked with both -- and each one has a place in the toolkit. Maybe not your individual toolkit, depending on what your job requires, but at $UNIVERSITY there was a place for both. https://twitter.com/ianlandsman/status/1309476045960228871 SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY... Do I … Continue reading Bootstrap vs. Tailwind →

Owls dev September 26, 2020 5 Minutes

Quarantine Omakase at Kyōten

Chicago omakase restaurant Kyōten is doing private dining right now, so you get the whole place to yourself. Having considerable events to catch up on celebrating, we decided to go for it, being the safest dining-out option you can find. When you do omakase, you can usually talk to the chef. I've always felt bad … Continue reading Quarantine Omakase at Kyōten →

Owls food August 13, 2020August 13, 2020 3 Minutes

The UI Trap in Microsoft Teams

I have moved orgs and no longer live in Microsoft's Slack competitor, Teams. So before I forget the frustration, I wanted to write up the severe, crippling flaw in Teams' UI. Here's a screenshot. Note the leftmost sidebar: a "chat" tab, and then a separate "teams" tab: Ignore the un-compacted chat layout. After a few … Continue reading The UI Trap in Microsoft Teams →

Owls dev July 22, 2020 1 Minute

On the Language of Job Posts

One of the articles in this week's Diversify Tech newsletter was interesting: Not Applicable: What Your Job Post is Really Saying. The whole post is great, and you should read it. Here's what really struck me: I recently had the opportunity to participate in the recruiting process for early- and mid-career developers at my company. … Continue reading On the Language of Job Posts →

Owls dev July 17, 2020 1 Minute

Adding stubs to your Laravel project

The project that I am currently working on is primarily not using Eloquent -- instead, I'm using a JSON:API item class from a package, spiced up with some additional code I've mixed in. I'm making lots of these models, so I did a quick source-dive into the framework to figure out how the make:something commands … Continue reading Adding stubs to your Laravel project →

Owls dev April 21, 2020 1 Minute

Starting a new Laravel app

I've started working on a new Laravel app. That isn't uncommon, but it is a good opportunity for some blogging! I wanted to do more restaurant reviews -- but the world has other ideas -- so here's some thoughts on how I'm setting the new app up instead. Oracle The database is unusual for this … Continue reading Starting a new Laravel app →

Owls dev April 10, 2020April 13, 2020 8 Minutes

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