https://jon.bo/ Recent content on up & to the right Hugo -- gohugo.io en jon.bo Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/a-month-of-paper-and-tea/ Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/a-month-of-paper-and-tea/ A month ago, eagerly test running my new smoker, I overestimated my abilities, underestimated the darkness, and earned myself some nice food poisoning. As a result, the coffee ritual I have been so faithfully running for three or four years came to an abrupt end. Coffee aggravates the intestines and is a big no-no while trying to get them back to normal, much to my dismay. Since I was still firmly addicted to coffee and experiencing withdrawal it prompted me to switch to black and green tea for the (albeit lower) caffeine content. https://jon.bo/posts/built-in-shenzhen/ Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/built-in-shenzhen/ This is a follow-up post to Landing in Shanghai. Thanks to Savannah for draft edits. While in Shanghai, I was told a few times Shenzhen is a planned city: car-centric, not walkable at all, completely unlike Shanghai’s dense interconnected streets. I was picturing, and somewhat bracing for an industrial city; pedestrian-unfriendly and unappealing. Shanghai was cold, so I was also expecting cold in Shenzhen as well, forgetting about the difference 2. https://jon.bo/posts/landing-in-shanghai/ Sun, 25 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/landing-in-shanghai/ It all started with a poster: My friend Weiwei invited me to Mahjong Hackhouse, “a space where genuine conversations, ambitious dreams, and shared curiosities can compound into enduring relationships”, with a stated goal of letting attendees “walk away knowing each other, trusting each other”. I couldn’t resist. Damn my mid-December house move with pneumonia, I was going to China. Plus CJ was going too. Weiwei and I with our spiffy hoodies. https://jon.bo/posts/how-i-want-to-be/ Sun, 28 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/how-i-want-to-be/ Mt Sanitas with four inches of fresh snow. Lots of slipping and sliding but my problems seemed smaller after I came back down. a friend recently prompted me with some good questions along the lines of what am I looking for? how do I want to be? my journal entry soon felt like something shareable. what do I want? It’s a good question. Overdue for a think on this. https://jon.bo/posts/elon-photons-vs-sol-photons/ Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/elon-photons-vs-sol-photons/ 'after getting through his morning routine of exercising his demons, it was time for Corporal Spacecake to do a little house keeping', seen at First Friday in Boulder CO Maintaining a good relationship with my phone is hard. We just didn’t evolve with a pane of glass mesmerizing us with aesthetic stimuli one second and then triggering our nervous system the way a tiger jumping out from behind a tree would. https://jon.bo/posts/29-birthday-thoughts/ Sat, 08 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/29-birthday-thoughts/ Made it up Sanitas ~50 times over the course of the year A few years ago, I wrote a similar post for my 24th birthday (funny enough, 4 days late last time too). It was a nice prompt so I’m trying something similar this year. some learnings & reflections How I feel is a product of many small decisions throughout my day, like what time did I go to bed? https://jon.bo/posts/capy-the-whatsapp-bot/ Wed, 23 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/capy-the-whatsapp-bot/ context: a few friends and I are circling around the idea of “Local Community Tech Stacks”: interoperable, somewhat vibe-coded, ideally self-hostable apps to help our communities run. While still fairly nascent, we agreed to start publishing our adventures in this space to record and share our insights for each other and the broader world. Savannah runs something called food exchange here in Boulder. Every week, each person creates a number of jars of the same dish to then swap with everyone else for their jar of a different dish. https://jon.bo/posts/over-the-handlebars/ Wed, 09 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/over-the-handlebars/ On Friday July 4 I took a tumble over my handlebars. I’m stable and alright now; it could’ve been much worse. But here’s the full story for your pleasure (or displeasure). Medication station My friend Andrew (check out his Soundcloud) and I had summited Flagstaff Mtn via Chapman Dr. We took the back road to avoid cars because cars are how you get injured. We made great time on the way up, chilled up there sufficiently, and were ready to rejoin the rest of the group for a Fourth party. https://jon.bo/posts/brainard-cabin/ Mon, 12 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/brainard-cabin/ location: Roosevelt National Forest, CO at Colorado Mountain Club’s Brainard Cabin length of stay: 2 nights party: Gary, Lauren, Ken, and myself weather: "Highs in the 40s and mostly clear with clouds at sun set. Steady barometer." If ever there was a cabin to describe as analog, this would be it. From the first signage as you approach the door to the closing remarks on the check-out report you sign your name on, this place speaks to you through 97 years of iteratively-defined social practices passed down through pen, sharpie, and patina. https://jon.bo/posts/nano-texture/ Sun, 11 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/nano-texture/ 2024 Nano Texture Macbook Pro on the left; 2021 Glossy Macbook Pro on the right TLDR: the Nano Texture performs wonderfully anywhere where light used to be a factor and used to force me to shade my screen or avoid the place entirely. I’m less concerned with where I sit indoors. Coffee shops / offices with skylights or intense lighting are much more comfortable Coding and working outside is now feasible: browsing the internet, writing in Obsidian; all delightful The screen needs more effort to keep clean than a normal screen and comes with a special wipe that needs to be used instead of microfiber Black text on white background (light mode) is considerably more readable than white text on black background (dark mode) Overall a massive step forward for outdoor computing Big thanks to Julie Kruger for the comparison photos and CJ for draft feedback. https://jon.bo/posts/the-future/ Tue, 06 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/the-future/ In light of all the interesting times going on around us, I was exploring some possible future scenarios. I don’t know how things will go. There are as many wonderful outcomes possible as there are awful ones. But scrolling back from these futures back to the present day, I seem to land on three distinct actions I can take today. These hopefully nudge the space-time around me in slightly more opportune and fortunate futures. https://jon.bo/posts/underwater/ Fri, 28 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/underwater/ artists rendition by openai apologies for not having better photos. My phone was packed away for most of the shore activities and they don’t let you bring underwater cameras while practicing so you don’t drown. Probably a wise choice. Scuba always seemed like something I’d get around to doing someday. Living in Colorado or New York City I had little reason to do so; the warm, fun ocean is so far away. https://jon.bo/posts/daylight-computer-1/ Sat, 15 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/daylight-computer-1/ on the Amtrak from Denver to Sacramento When I get to write or read on a screen that’s reflecting the sun back at me instead of needing to be shielded from it, I get a dose of this feeling that this is what all computing could feel like. I want so much more of this in my life. This is a piece of hardware that makes me want to go outside instead of keeping me trapped inside. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-26/ Thu, 28 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-26/ note: if images aren’t showing up for you in Brave, try Safari or Chrome :) 3 day backpacking adventure in Indian Peaks Wilderness Projects are like plants, they live and they multiply and they can die without the required care. Choosing what to focus my time and attention on is the biggest challenge; getting it right causes cascading positive results but getting it wrong leaves me frustrated and feeling out of alignment. https://jon.bo/posts/top-5/ Sun, 28 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/top-5/ Top things by category. Thanks Jordan for the inspo. More to come Snacks Gochujang Kettle Brand Chips Jubes, specifically the Lychee flavor Cheetos: Cheddar Jalapeño Talenti Pacific Coast Pistachio Doritos: Spicy Sweet Chili bonus: a Snacks Tier list slideshow I made for a powerpoint party Hikes O-Circut in Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile Top of Yosemite Falls Mariposas Monarcas Santuario el Rosario* Boulder Skyline Traverse Trail South Arapahoe Peak via Arapahoe Pass Trail *first portion of this was on horseback https://jon.bo/posts/build-with-friends/ Sun, 12 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/build-with-friends/ when you need to bring big tools in a little car I want to build wilder and more beautiful things with my friends. I’ve been trying to live this philosophy for a while. What does that actually mean though? to build = to continuously be learning with and from those around me, be challenged, and to push myself to discover new places and possibilities. To participate in the process of ideating, designing, prototyping, experimenting with, and doing deep engineering, solo and together. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-25/ Fri, 22 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-25/ Hello world. It’s been a busy few months. I got sick about six weeks ago and it finally let up about a week ago; I was coughing an annoying cough and the doctors didn’t know what it is. In typical Jon fashion I was starting a new contract job and went full steam ahead while my body should’ve been recovering, and that’s probably what made it last weeks and weeks. It’s been so long since I’d actually been sick, I’d forgotten how to get better. https://jon.bo/posts/new-tab/ Thu, 04 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/new-tab/ A few months ago my friend Eli was sharing his screen and opened a new tab on his browser. Instead of the usual inspirational quote or clock extension, commonly-visited tabs, or my personal pet peeve - recent breaking news articles and photos from disaster zones - his new tab was a map of his internet and most important documents: I was enthralled: it was the most useful thing I’ve ever seen on a new tab page, completely personalized to his needs and his perspective on the internet. https://jon.bo/posts/universe-of-sense/ Sat, 18 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/universe-of-sense/ Midjourney By the time I got my first computer, connecting to the world wide web was a quiet affair. No longer was it screeching boops and beeps; a process I watched but had only later come to understand as computers talking to each other on the lines we humans built to talk to each other. Now, a simple switch toggled on, and I was in. And how much there was to explore. https://jon.bo/posts/on-journaling/ Tue, 17 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/on-journaling/ Fourth of July Trailhead, Nederland, CO I recently hosted (my first ever) writing workshop on journaling at Burning Man. These are my notes in blog post form - thanks Alex for the idea! The workshop and this post are a spiritual successor to a post from a few years ago. Thanks to Savannah, Nancy, Kristen, and Dave for showing up to my workshop on that beautiful, dusty, windy day. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-24/ Thu, 14 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-24/ In the playa, looking west at the city. Hello world. I’m writing this on the heels of a week out in the desert at Burning Man: fully offline and thoroughly dusty. In the days since Savannah and I have returned to Boulder, we’ve been unpacking, cleaning, and de-muddifying all our stuff. Simultaneously I’ve been sorting through my thoughts and experiences, processing everything that I did and saw out there - and there’s a lot! https://jon.bo/posts/22-moments-2022/ Sat, 03 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/22-moments-2022/ A bit late, but better late than never. A collection of journal excerpts and photos from a wonderful year. I concluded my nomad journey and settled into a new city. Made new friends, fell in love, and built awesome things with incredible friends. Read thoroughly or skim casually; I’m just grateful you’re here and I’m grateful to everyone who made this a beautiful year of discovery and adventure. If there’s one thing I’ve learned this year, it’s the power of establishing rituals and how seemingly-insignificant actions can compound and blossom over time. https://jon.bo/posts/a-proposal/ Fri, 12 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/a-proposal/ The last time we played this game, I was astonished at how fun and generative it was. I believe the reasons for that came down to: just enough constraints. we had to split things into content, and metadata. and get it published on a markdown 11ty site. the rest was up to each of us. so we took it in different directions; wherever felt most alive to each of us https://jon.bo/posts/friends-in-nature-2/ Thu, 02 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/friends-in-nature-2/ 6 weeks near Silver Strand Beach, Coronado, CA thanks to Savannah for inspo and reflections Some time ago I wrote about my intentions to live with friends in nature to satisfy my desire for community, access to outdoors, and convenience. I wrote it from my childhood bedroom during quarantine amidst the California summer fires. Partly as a result of that post and some luck, my experiment ran its course (aug - nov 2022 in San Diego - thanks Vicki and Parth! https://jon.bo/posts/patch-23/ Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-23/ 📍 writing indoors from Boulder, CO Chautauqua Park, Boulder, CO We’ve officially entered winter. There’s snow piling up outside, I’m drinking hot chocolate again, and going outdoors is a bit like going into outer space. Though living in New York did expose me to snow, it was urban snow, where the subway never needs to defrost and the heat island effect takes care of much of the rest. It’s different here. https://jon.bo/now/ Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/now/ settled into a year-long lease in Boulder, Colorado thinking about collaboration, therapy, and journaling. Occasionally all at once falling in love with an amazing woman developing experimental social tech primitives with Relational thinking about moving this blog to blot building notes.site for publishing Apple Notes to the open web previous • What’s a now page? https://jon.bo/posts/meaningful-life/ Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/meaningful-life/ Boulder Valley Ranch, CO written in response to Savannah’s wonderful prompt I’d like to start by trying on “makes” in that prompt instead of “is”. A meaningful life is dynamic, a state to exist in; it is not “achieved” or “found” to be held on to, nor can it be compared or measured – it is practiced and nurtured and welcomed. Day after day, year after year, decade after decade. https://jon.bo/posts/stranded/ Tue, 29 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/stranded/ A post from the archives, capturing the moment I realized I was ready for a more stable & calm existence, prompting me to start making my way up north to Boulder, CO where I reside now. We are still in negotiation with the insurance company. Lightly edited in the time since. the entire town, as seen from a popular climbing spot Cerro Castillo is a small town sitting on Route 7 in Chile. https://jon.bo/posts/trip-in-the-trees/ Tue, 20 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/trip-in-the-trees/ Sanitas Valley, Boulder, CO It’s been 19 months since I last took mushrooms on a hike with a friend in San Diego, CA. Apart from an acid trip, I haven’t returned to that space in the time since. Now that I’m settled in Boulder I feel I’m in a place where I can explore them again safely and comfortably. In a recent Lex Friedman interview, John Vervake proposes an addition to the age-old “set and setting”: he adds “sacred”. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-22/ Thu, 01 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-22/ 📍 writing from Boulder, CO Marfa, TX So I don’t know. Where are we now. My mind has been blown. The world has a greater capacity to surprise me than I have the capacity to predict its surprises. That much has been true for a while but just seems to become more and more true as time goes on. Mere days after writing about how nice it’s been settling into my nest and taking my daily walks, I set off on a 2,500 mile adventure through San Diego, Austin, and Marfa, TX. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-21/ Mon, 01 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-21/ 📍 writing from Boulder, CO Dakota Ridge Trail, Sanitas Valley, Boulder, CO In the mornings I like to get outside as soon as possible, to walk the 17 minutes to the second-nearest cafe for a coffee and a croissant. Some mornings I take the long way home and sit on the bench a while. I’ve been biking more, relishing in the freedom of mobility provided by my own two feet (and sometimes a battery). https://jon.bo/posts/offline-spaces/ Sat, 30 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/offline-spaces/ the Cloud. it's located in boulder, co Parts of my self are stored in the cloud, some in my squishy meat computer, and the rest are on my friends’ squishy meat computers. Friends who might be anyhwere on the planet and servers under my feet. Written journals, stored photos, parts of life I can download again; rewind in time. I can be reached, I’m safe. This connection requires much to go right: cell towers and undersea cables, international standards, batteries, satellites, signal, and information translation. https://jon.bo/posts/future-of-building/ Wed, 20 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/future-of-building/ For the past 18 months I’ve been building as part of a squad we call buzzard. I first wrote a reflection on the experience six months ago. Another half year has uncovered new practices, questions, and potential directions of exploration. One shape of this collaboration is a live, recorded zoom call with one person driving and everyone else participating in various ways. Sometimes that’s mocking up a component in Figma, looking through documentation of a library, pasting a code snippet, scribing notes, or offering feedback and questions. https://jon.bo/posts/nyc-again/ Fri, 01 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/nyc-again/ An experimental post. Might feel similar to patch notes but want to play with the form. Probably post through blot first for a publish loop. I visited about a month ago and wasn’t planning on being back so soon. A few weeks prior my friend Cody and I got to scheming and came up with the shape of something to demo in-person for a discord we’re in; called DEF. It would also be NFT NYC week which means people descending from all over to attend talks, parties, and events; from the ridiculous to the banal. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-20/ Wed, 01 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-20/ Dakota Ridge Trail, Sanitas Valley, Boulder, CO 📍 writing from Boulder, CO Almost two months since arriving to Boulder: a newfound stillness, structure to my day, a consistent place to sleep. A few months ago a friend and I caught up. He lovingly advised I slow down in life, for my own good and health. I think I finally have. I’ve started meeting friends. Meetups, uber drivers, parties, film festivals. https://jon.bo/posts/making-friends-online/ Mon, 02 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/making-friends-online/ There are almost eight billion of us on this planet, ten thousand likely very similar to yourself. The Internet is a typical person’s best hope for finding and connecting with them. Mount Sanitas Summit west, Boulder, CO I enjoy life in large part thanks to friends I made on the internet. These friendships have led to jobs, romantic adventures, stays in dreamy oceanside villas, global hackathons, and countless transformative and wonderful experiences. https://jon.bo/posts/two-weeks/ Thu, 21 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/two-weeks/ Fourteen days since I packed my rented Jeep Grand Cherokee full of my earthly possessions (and some new ones from Amazon), said my goodbyes to family, and set off east towards Denver. Naturally I decided to make the 18 hour drive in one go. I would look a little worse 24 hours later I fear I am approaching the conclusion of the age where I still have both the desire and the energy to pull something like this off without dying, so I’m taking full advantage of it. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-19/ Sun, 03 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-19/ Garner Pass in Torres del Paine 📍 writing from Roseville, CA It’s been a wild few months. I was just starting to recover from a 100 kilometer trek through Patagonia 1 when a friend and I found ourselves crawling out of a totaled Ford Explorer2 in rural Chile, stranded in a town too small to need a gas station or an ATM. Not that we had any use for gasoline at that point; we were just happy to be alive. https://jon.bo/posts/internet-studio-gardens/ Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/internet-studio-gardens/ Leander, TX from my hammock post 11 / 100 - an exploration into the sort of internet spaces I’d like to be a part of. Inspired by recent directions of research in relational.fyi and conversations with friends. Most of the current internet is a dopamine-hooked fully-immersive casino with information access putting our collective brains into frenzied loops. Entire memeplexes propagate through networks before individuals have time to chew on and reflect on ideas and exchange their own reactions with smaller, personal circles. https://jon.bo/posts/high-rise/ Wed, 12 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/high-rise/ view from the pool deck I’ve spent a decent amount of time in cities (New York, San Diego, Mexico City) but for the most part it’s been at ground level or in sub-five floor walkups. Some of my friends live in nice luxury towers along rivers and my visits there would give me a peek into the day to day of such places but spending extended periods gives a different perspective compared to coming over for dinner once in a while. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-18/ Sun, 09 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-18/ Tulum, Mexico posting from: Mexico City, Mexico. In this edition, driving back and forth a lot thoughts on resort culture and foreign money update on exquisite land got a new thing brewing currently reading year in review post… soon next steps Hello friends and hello 2022. I hope you celebrated well and are entering this year with at least a decent night’s rest. Since the last patch notes I’ve reached record levels of frustration with airplane seats, car tires, toll booths, insurance policies, and the travel industry at large. https://jon.bo/posts/can-blogging-be-simple/ Sun, 26 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/can-blogging-be-simple/ as much as I love my blog, suggesting others start their own like I did is too tall a technical ask. The hosted options come with their own pitfalls. Is there a better way? What might it look like? How do we get there? Over the past few years I’ve advised many friends to start blogging – or to put it more directly, to start putting their wonderful thoughts and ideas online for others to find. https://jon.bo/posts/squad/ Tue, 07 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/squad/ post #5. I’ve spent the past half-year building with wonderful people I re/met on the internet. Our squad consists of a site, private Discord server, and a multisig wallet. With them we’ve developed a practice of building in the open and are in the midst of hosting our first experience – exquisite.land. what’s in a squad? A squad is a collective identity in which I can participate to create something more intricate, comprehensive, and wonderful than with just myself. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-17/ Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-17/ at the Marisposa Monarch Butterfly Preserve posting from: Valle de Bravo, Mexico life updates Hello friends. Five months and ten cities since my last patch notes, almost everything in my life has been significantly re-arranged once again. I’ve left my role at Ressemble and become enmeshed in several new projects and communities – more details on these below. I’ve gotten a bit better about sitting down and writing in the mornings, and some of this writing has even made it onto the internet. https://jon.bo/posts/hazards/ Fri, 26 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/hazards/ Soumaya Museum in Mexico City Post three of my 100-post challenge. An attempt at putting my driving experiences into writing. As the set of driving experiences in a different country is massive and intimidating to write about, it helped to narrow it down to a singular element: hazard indicators. Also adding some of my own doodles to the post. One interesting element of driving in Mexico is the use of hazards indicators while driving. https://jon.bo/posts/writing-practice/ Thu, 18 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/writing-practice/ This is post #2 of my 100-post challenge. This one is for friends interested in writing practices and musings on how they might relate to publishing online and doing regular reflections. Portland, OR Over the past half-decade I’ve had an evolving and contentious relationship with writing, note-taking, newsletters, and publishing. It’s spanned a range of apps and workflows (Apple Notes, Evernote, OneNote, Notion, Roam Research, Obsidian) and cycled through a range of habit trackers, goals, and check-in systems; all of which have come and gone. https://jon.bo/posts/help-build/ Wed, 17 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/help-build/ The following are efforts I hope to contribute to over the following decades. If you’re researching, building, or excited about any of these – let’s chat! 1. combining journaling + therapy Therapy needs to be more scalable. While it can achieve amazing things, its current form generally requires money and is subject to severe 1:1 time constraints. Talk therapy is also limited to the verbal communication channel. Journaling is an excellent form of self-therapy; and happens to be completely free & accessible to anyone. https://jon.bo/posts/25/ Wed, 10 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/25/ Socorro, NM It’s my birthday again. My second as a nomad and my first in a relationship. Some reflections on life, inspired by this past year of adventuring across the continent. Some are new learnings; others are re-discovering consistencies in life. Grateful to everyone in my life who made the past year a beautiful one and looking forward to the next one. Also very excited about no more young driver’s fee on my rentals. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-16/ Fri, 25 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-16/ These are my semi-regular Patch Notes – updates on my life and things I’m learning and exploring. Subscribe here. In this release: 31 days in Huatulco, Oaxaca cities are chapters 28 nights later driving around where to next? cities vs beaches photos and assorted memories meta on a hike in Tepoztlán Hello friends. Glad to be writing and thanks for reading. The past few months have been a lot - I’ve found some new edges to my map. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v12/ Mon, 08 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v12/ These are my semi-regular Patch Notes – updates on my life and things I’m learning and exploring. Subscribe here. In this release: next steps, 2021 update my fractured online identity road tripping through the southwest Canyonlands National Park, UT After three thousand miles of driving and a dozen sleeping arrangements I just want to plant a garden and lie in a hammock with a book. It’s been amazing but I’m ready to settle down somewhere for a bit. https://jon.bo/posts/year-in-review-2020/ Fri, 08 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/year-in-review-2020/ Dry Creek, Roseville, CA. My secluded hammock spot. My year didn’t go to plan, but then again – nobody’s did. Terrible things happened, beautiful things happened. I’m very happy with where I am and grateful for those who made it possible. I’ve done my best to make time & place the central thread, but in a parallel universe I wrote this post around words & people and it makes just as much sense. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v11/ Mon, 14 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v11/ These are my semi-regular Patch Notes – a braindump of things I’m leaning, building, or thinking about. Subscribe here. In this release: I drove to Austin, TX Where is home? three habits for happiness Interhackt is wrapping up jborichevskiy.com is now jon.bo It’s been a while since my last post and longer still since my last patch notes. It’s been a fascinating few weeks but full of time for writing it was not. https://jon.bo/posts/24/ Sun, 08 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/24/ This world is far more beautiful and interconnected than my 16 or 20 year old self could have ever imagined. Here are a few things I’ve noticed over the years. I trust they will hold through the decades. Love 1. It all begins with and depends on and ends with love. 2. Self-love makes it possible to love others. It should always take priority. 3. Safety and acceptance are the most beautiful things one can give and be lucky enough to experience. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v10/ Thu, 15 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v10/ These are my semi-regular Patch Notes – a braindump of things I’m leaning, building, or thinking about. Subscribe here. In this release: We’re settled into San Diego and are loving it How can we get this for 10x cheaper? On planes and noise pollution Patch Notes: six months in Other miscellaneous updates Sunset Cliffs, Point Loma, CA We’re settled into San Diego and are loving it The past four weeks have been nothing short of bliss. https://jon.bo/workstations/ Wed, 14 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/workstations/ My workstations have always been significant to me: they’re where I spend the majority of my waking hours. While they haven’t been too ergonomic or styled, I have gotten better at building and maintaining a healthy physical and mental environment around the workstations. Perhaps someday I’ll have a nice looking one again. Late high school thru college (~2010~2014) I had a dark Apple keyboard long before Apple had one. First serious build. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v9/ Tue, 08 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v9/ This is an installment of my semi-regular Patch Notes – a braindump of things I’m leaning, building, or thinking about. Subscribe here. In this release: I’m moving to San Diego! housing & lease agreements spreadsheets are hard and software is trash I re-installed MacOS and it was an ordeal Various other updates: cozyroom, this site, twitter Steps on a path ‎⁨Tahoe National Forest⁩, ⁨Truckee⁩, ⁨CA. Smoke's not been good. I’m moving to San Diego! https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v8/ Mon, 17 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v8/ These are my weekly Patch Notes – a log of the mental model updates I’m making and a braindump of things I’m leaning, building, or thinking about. Subscribe on Substack here. In this release: Patch notes, blog posts, digital gardens, and life Commuting, travel, and carbon costs Hammocks, hikes, and sunsets I want to live in nature… Mount Judah Loop Trail near Truckee, CA Patch notes, blog posts, digital gardens, and life I was hoping to have this post published… checks calendar … three weeks ago. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v7/ Wed, 08 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v7/ These are my weekly Patch Notes – a log of the mental model updates I’m making and a braindump of things I’m leaning, building, or thinking about. Subscribe on Substack here. In this release: Cozyroom launched! I really don’t like this social isolation An update on [[post:friends-in-nature]] The relationship between weekends and side projects I’ve been writing and reading more outside Cozyroom launched! As a reminder, Cozyroom is one of the projects I’ve been helping with: it’s an experimental p2p spatial audio interface for making group interactions more friendly and comfortable on the internet. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v6/ Mon, 15 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v6/ These are my weekly Patch Notes – a log of the mental model updates I’m making and a braindump of things I’m leaning, building, or thinking about. Subscribe on Substack here. In this release: The important stuff gets written down eventually The friends in nature thing is becoming a reality… maybe? I got an iPad Pro and it is magical Why is programming so frustrating? Other Updates Watchmen & Chernobyl https://jon.bo/my-dream-working-environment/ Sun, 07 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/my-dream-working-environment/ What does my ideal working environment look and feel like? I want to acknowledge what an absolute privilege it is to be able to build things digitally and get paid money through the internet for it. I hope with time this becomes the default working and learning environment for anyone who prefers it and am interested in making that a likelier reality. Must-haves Stable electricity Protection from the elements Access to a clean bathroom https://jon.bo/posts/friends-in-nature/ Sun, 07 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/friends-in-nature/ I am looking to co-live with a small (4-6) group of people outside of busy city life. These people should be intellectually curious, learning or building something that excites them, and generally leading their lives in a manner congruent with a more equitable, empathetic, and inclusive future. I see this as the first step in a longer-term plan described further below. If you are in any way interested in joining me – do reach out! https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v5/ Mon, 18 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v5/ These are my weekly Patch Notes – a log of the mental model updates I’m making and a braindump of things I’m leaning, building, or thinking about. Subscribe on Substack here. In this release: This update lives in Roam Research Cozyroom is moving forward I want you to join Twitter I’ve been watching live DJ sets and they are wonderful A great remote coding pair is a super-IDE Personal email threads are kinda magical https://jon.bo/plan/ Wed, 13 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/plan/ Cozyroom.xyz Helping Azlen build cozyroom.xyz, an experimental spatial audio environment to make online interactions feel more natural. Open questions: How do we increase the feeling of presence in online applications? Can we enable more realtime self-expression in mediums other than video? How might we build friendly and accessible third places on the internet? Next steps: user interviews/research, learning Vue.js, and a proper launch. An Open Plan Collaborating with David to make it easier for anyone to discover and encourage creative & intellectual pursuits across the internet. https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v4/ Sat, 09 May 2020 16:45:41 -0700 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v4/ These are my weekly Patch Notes – a log of the mental model updates I’m making and a braindump of things I’m leaning, building, or thinking about. Subscribe on Substack here. In this release: Fascinating work in the knowledge sharing space I mocked up what the browser might look like in the spirit of Xanadu Reading: How to Take Smart Notes Why is everything so broken? I’m running blog club this month https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v3/ Sun, 26 Apr 2020 15:08:23 -0700 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v3/ These are my weekly Patch Notes – a log of the mental model updates I’m making and a braindump of things I’m leaning, building, or thinking about. Subscribe on Substack here. In this release: Shared social cognition and the effect of distance on it Importing my goals and values into Readwise Something magical happened on Twitter this week Blog Club: The Curse of Xanadu I finally understand what ’the world is changing faster’ refers to https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v2/ Sat, 18 Apr 2020 12:41:14 -0700 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v2/ These are my weekly Patch Notes – a log of the mental model updates I’m making and a braindump of things I’m leaning, building, or thinking about. Subscribe on Substack here. In this version: I did a hackathon! Hyperlinks, and making them better Thoughts on Bitcoin and Gwern’s ‘Bitcoin is Worse is Better’ Futures and options have apparently existed for much longer than I thought What is the difference between honor, shame, and guilt? https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v1/ Wed, 08 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-v1/ These are my weekly Patch Notes – a log of the mental model updates I’m making and a braindump of things I’m leaning, building, or thinking about. Subscribe on Substack here. In this version: An exploration into virtual online parties and how we might make them happen My journey in extracting Twitter’s bookmarks Software is hard, and some reassuring quotes Cool remote tools I’ve been using Westworld thoughts Awakening from the Meaning Crisis https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-ep-0/ Sun, 29 Mar 2020 22:20:23 -0700 https://jon.bo/posts/patch-notes-ep-0/ Hello! You’re receiving this because you are subscribed to major updates/new posts on my site, jborichevskiy.com. That will remain the case. I’m also starting a newsletter! I’m sending out the first one here, but subsequent newsletters will be delivered through Substack at jborichevskiy.substack.com and will be free forever. Go subscribe there if you want more of these. I’ll probably move off of Substack eventually but it seems to be simplest solution right now. https://jon.bo/posts/corona/ Wed, 18 Mar 2020 20:03:36 -0400 https://jon.bo/posts/corona/ A mere three weeks ago I triumphantly published a post on my home-baked productivity system describing how I’d successfully taken control of distractions in my life to get shit done. I was invincible. On top of the world. Roughly around the same time I started paying serious attention to updates about the virus. As the situation has escalated, so too has my obsession with following and thinking about it. A couple things: https://jon.bo/posts/concentration-compromise/ Sat, 22 Feb 2020 15:42:47 -0500 https://jon.bo/posts/concentration-compromise/ Ever since getting onto the internet I’ve had a massive problem remaining productive and focused on the task at hand. This post describes the system I’m developing to help me cope with this sea of distractions, and I hope it might help you as well. Years of fighting myself with various productivity techniques, internet configurations, and browser extensions has led me to finally accept two opposing elements of my psychology: https://jon.bo/posts/spending-electronics/ Tue, 28 Jan 2020 23:33:33 -0500 https://jon.bo/posts/spending-electronics/ I don’t spend much on physical stuff. It’s not that I’m a minimalist - I have just as much needless crap lying around as the next person. It’s simply that I care far more about experiences and time rather than physical possessions. I shop for clothing two or three times a year. I have one set of bedsheets. I got by without a bedframe for a year after moving into my apartment, and the one I finally found was being given away for free on Craigslist. https://jon.bo/posts/year-in-review-2019/ Fri, 20 Dec 2019 19:18:27 -0500 https://jon.bo/posts/year-in-review-2019/ It’s been a long year. I learned a lot about the world as well as myself. Cried more than ever. Accomplished a few things and failed at many more. Some reflections and observations, and related readings. Personal / Life Be yourself. Because that’s the coolest version of you there is. Dancing is cathartic. Use the music as the metronome and rhythm and move your body as if you’re creating the music. https://jon.bo/posts/digital-tools/ Thu, 28 Nov 2019 02:09:25 -0500 https://jon.bo/posts/digital-tools/ My digital life in a nutshell: I discover relevant content I don’t have time to consume, I find time and become overwhelmed with my scattered backlog, I wish the content were in a different format, and then I’m unable to find something again once I’ve consumed it. Not retaining enough is a valid problem but we’ll tackle that one later. There’s a lot of generalization in my summary but the core issue is an extraordinarily high level of friction in the process of finding, organizing, and sharing digital content. https://jon.bo/posts/healthy-living/ Sat, 12 Oct 2019 16:53:37 -0400 https://jon.bo/posts/healthy-living/ For me, healthy living consists of sleeping well, a clean diet, frequent exercise, journaling, meditation, and socializing. Once in a while I let stress get the better of me and this causes my life to start spiraling and sliding out of control: deadlines start getting missed, emails pile up, I lose sight of my goals and life just gets overwhelming. It’s not pretty. Like any engineer, after such times in my life I do a post-mortem of what went wrong and time and time again I’ve found one or more of these crucial habits disappeared causing others to disappear in a chain reaction. https://jon.bo/posts/next-steps-2019/ Sun, 08 Sep 2019 10:26:33 -0700 https://jon.bo/posts/next-steps-2019/ People have been asking me what I’m doing with my life, what my next steps are, where I’m going to be living, what my goals are, when I’m getting married, how many grandkids I’m going to have…. I wish I could tell them - because I sure as hell don’t know. Life’s really unpredictable. What I do have instead is a rough outline of what I hope to achieve over the next decade or so. https://jon.bo/posts/journaling/ Sat, 31 Aug 2019 13:49:01 -0700 https://jon.bo/posts/journaling/ A simple thing, on paper. Get a piece of it out and start writing. Or typing - doesn’t really matter. Anything and everything that comes to mind. It’s weird and unnatural at first - push through it. Save it, or burn it. Don’t overthink it. Wait a few days, and do it again, and again, and keep doing it. Four years into it and I’m just beginning to grasp the immensity of the benefits this simple habit has brought to my life - so I hope to share some of them with you. https://jon.bo/posts/on-moving-away/ Tue, 06 Aug 2019 16:50:37 -0400 https://jon.bo/posts/on-moving-away/ Occasionally I speak with people considering an opportunity to move away from the place they call home to somewhere entirely new - be it for work, school, temporarily or indefinitely. I remember myself making that decision and the questions I had swirling around in my head. Hopefully this assortment of words provides some insight or reassurance to someone else in a similar situation. I spent the first 19 years of my life around one major city - Sacramento. https://jon.bo/posts/up-and-to-where/ Sun, 14 Jul 2019 03:28:24 -0400 https://jon.bo/posts/up-and-to-where/ The idea for the title of my site as well as the best description of my life philosophy I’ve read so far originally came from a post of Tim Urban’s I read a long time ago. The basic premise (though he does a much more wonderful job of explaining it and you should go read it now) is that as humans we are somewhere on the spectrum of consciousness. This somewhere is likely higher than that of a beetle’s, and considerably higher than that of a plant’s. https://jon.bo/posts/hello-world/ Sat, 13 Jul 2019 13:03:39 -0400 https://jon.bo/posts/hello-world/ This is my first attempt at a blog. Somewhere to post my musings, observations, or just links to interesting things. Don’t know what it’ll become yet - guess we’ll find out together. I started journaling a few years ago and find it to be immensely helpful in sorting out my thoughts about life. Occasionally I want to share my thoughts with people and figure this might be a good way to do so. https://jon.bo/about-blog/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/about-blog/ This site is built with Hugo and uses the hello-friend theme designed by the talented panr. Hosted and deployed with Netlify. Has the Analytics service enabled with no user data collection. Mailchimp has no tracking or analytics enabled. TODO: [ ] Better permanent anchor links [x] RSS support (I KNOW) (2020-05-10) (Apparently it existed this whole time and I just should’ve read the docs…) [x] History of my Now entries (2020-03-12) https://jon.bo/archive/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/archive/ https://jon.bo/books/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/books/ Favorite books by subject. Have a recommendation for one that should be on this list? send me it! Proper Adventures Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer (recommended by Tim) Until the Sea Shall Set Them Free Robert Frump Descent into Darkness: Pearl Harbor, 1941: A Navy Diver’s Memoir Cdr. Edward C. Raymer, USN (Ret.) City of Thieves David Benioff (recommended by Robert Atlee) Shadow Divers Robert Kurson (recommended by David Heimann) Blind Descent James Tabor Worst Journey in the World Apsley Cherry-Garrard Endurance Alfred Lansing Wager, The David Grann (via Devon Zuegel) Hell’s Angels Hunter S. https://jon.bo/ideas/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/ideas/ I’d love to be a sounding board or just chat about interesting things adjacent to any of these! Inspired by Dima. Meta Tasks Ability to generate, update, and search pages like this one Subscribe to arbitrary selections of text on similar pages elsewhere, even across a restructure Make pages like this more useful to existing search engines and aggregators Everything hyperlinkable, shareable, embeddable, and quoteable across platforms Collaboration & learning A regular series where a bunch of friends and I log onto Zoom and watch a lecture, followed by a discussion about it For blog posts, there is posobin’s blog club. https://jon.bo/build/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/build/ Hi, I’m Jon! I love building tools to connect us in humane and fun ways. I enjoy working with exploratory, research-driven teams while coordinating with surrounding communities - whether through blog posts or in online/offline events. I am experienced in fullstack engineering with React/Typescript, Solidity, Python, and Elixir as well as deploying and managing AWS, Vercel, Railway, EVM based blockchains, and bespoke distributed local infrastructure as needed. I believe in sustainable, open, and inclusive approaches to engineering and am excited about tools that emphasize good user experience and healthy core values. https://jon.bo/notable/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/notable/ Interesting problems, curious projects, and fascinating people. Continuously updated. Problems Better access to information and dissemination of knowledge Andy Matuschak’s Notes are an incredible exploration of evergreen writing and networked knowledge. Roam Research is like Workflowy, but with graph support. Makes structured thought easier. This is very cool. Readwise sends you a daily email with highlights from everywhere so you can think about them more often. Memex is a private full-text browser history search tool with support for annotations, collections, and highlights. https://jon.bo/resume/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://jon.bo/resume/ Experience Founding Engineer at Vigilant soskmeoksjdflkajdflakjsdflkj Projects Skills