Gol Gappay (Weeknotes #25-04)

Here’s what happened during the week of January 20–26, 2025.

Gol Gappay is just one of the delicious things we tried at Food Street.

Comings and Goings

The week started with a holiday (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day) here and it’s always nice to have a short work week. I “celebrated” by taking it easy and watching the inauguration on television.

🥶 It's REALLY cold here this week! Holy crap! Several days in a row of sub-zero (Fahrenheit!) temps. That's in the neighborhood of 30 degrees below freezing!

🚽 I had a toilet blocked and despite trying everything I could, I finally relented and called a plumber. Ten minutes and $150 later, it was fixed.

Web and Tech

My now page automation has been broken for at least a week, as calls to api.omg.lol from AWS are being blocked. Adam fixed it briefly, but it’s broken again. The Trakt integration has always been brittle anyway and as Robb pointed out, an automated page is more about data than about me sharing anything meaningful. So I think maybe I’ll go back to manually journaling my now page for a while.

I learned how to make the SSL certificate for my CDN auto-renew, so I don't have to manually update it every 3 months. What a relief!

I learned how to host a static website using S3 and CloudFront. This is an important first step toward being able to host a static site generated using Eleventy, which I'm in the process of learning how to use. My intention is to publish my dad's QSL card collection this way. (But more about that later.)

I created a new Mastodon account on Social.lol using my @w8mhb username, for my ham radio related content.

Eats

Ate at Food Street a new Pakistani fast casual place here in Columbus. What a treat! I learned about it from the folks over at Axios Columbus, who have also provided a convenient checklist: Eating Around the World Without Leaving Columbus. One down, a whole bunch to go.

Good News

{me-pe:emoji=🌞" %} We made it through the 10 darkest weeks of the year! The days are getting longer and spring is on the way! (source)

What I Read

“The Race to Lead the Quantum Future: How the Next Computing Revolution Will Transform the Global Economy and Upend National Security” by Charina Chou, James Manyika, and Hartmut Neven (Foreign Affairs)

“Stress Test: Can a Troubled Order Survive a Disruptive Leader?” by Margaret MacMillan (Foreign Affairs)

“Inside Meta’s dehumanizing new speech policies for trans people” by Casey Newton (Platformer)

“Trump’s Real Goal for His Second Term? Chaos.” by Howard W French (Foreign Policy)

“What to Expect When You're Expecting Fascism” by Dave Troy (America 2.0)

“Is the U.S. a patsy? The premise of ‘America First’ is bizarre.” by Fareed Zakaria (The Washington Post)

What I Watched

Finished watching True Detective: Night Country (season 4). This was a show that’s all about the journey. But I suppose most good mysteries are that way.

See you in another week.