Logical Disconnectby Kevin McAllister

Logical Disconnect

A place where I share my values.

I’ve long liked sharing my thoughts but want a place that is mine to hold them. I plan to mostly post quick notes or what I’m calling postcards whenever I feel like it, and likely syndicate those out to @mcl@zarus.me and mclazarus.bsky.social. The articles and backstage posts will be less frequent but I hope to keep them higher quality.

There are the following types of posts you’ll find on here:

Classes of Posts

Article
A reasonably well reasoned and structured article
Note
Almost any short blurb or long rant with little editing
Postcard
A way for me to post pictures regularly
Backstage
A build log for one of my projects

Some of my favorites

  • From POTS to TOTS

    My father’s “Programming on the Side” company and my own love of solving hard problems have me wondering about building an objective, principle-based system of troubleshooting.

  • Disconnect the Batphone

    I tell the story of a lone hero engineer who fixes the crisis at 2:37 AM and gets grilled instead of thanked, and argue that needing heroics is a sign of a sick company.

  • Joining Together

    A tribute to Michelle Young of Bristol, PA, who accepted my proposal in December 2001, with the wedding set for July 12, 2003, 134 days away.

  • Rest In Peace

    The obituary for my father, Joseph E. McAllister (1948 to 2003)

Last 4 posts

The whole stream

  • Note

    A chance to try them all

    I just read David Sparks article linked here and while he’s focused on the caution required before selling or even giving away your custom itch scratching apps. What I’ve nee struck by is that using agents to make tools has been a huge boon for me. I’ve long had ideas that I just couldn’t find the time to make into something. But now I’m typing this in a custom macOS app that works against a custom API thta builds my website using a custom static site generator and then crossposts it. These are all things I’ve wanted to do even some I spent some time on and all I’ve had rough designs for a while. And now I am able to try out my ideas so quickly that it’s always worth a prototype.

    macsparky.com

  • Note

    Trusting the process

    Over the last couple weeks I’ve been very busy sort of advocating for a big set of projects at work and got my wish. There is buy in from a bunch of people who could otherwise stand in my way.

    Then yesterday I started trying to figure out how to start these projects “the right way.” This basically fully stopped me. I had no idea how to proceed. I mean I need some roadmap stuff and some milestones, normal stuff. But I felt like there was a set of step-by-step instructions I was missing.

    Then today I realized I should continue to barrel forward toward my goal and not get overly hung up on the process. Just use it as the guardrails it’s meant to be to help keep things on track. If I’m spending hours on the paperwork it’s my attitude and the way I’m using it to hide behind that’s making it into red-tape.

    My secret weapon in the workforce is I find something I want and have reasons I want it and then go after it. This defeats almost everyone else in advance because they don’t know what they want and don’t know why they want to just live with the corporate inertia.

  • Note

    Ready Down Hut Hut Hut Hut Hut

    A collection of retro video games and accessories in a crate, including NES and Sega Genesis cartridges. The scene is indoors with a mix of black, gray, and colorful game cases.

    I sunk a lot of hours into this box and I still have dreams of one day seeing if I can resurrect these old games. I know I can get ROMs and play them on anything. But restoring the electronics would be part of the fun.

Everything, newest first

Recent Postcards

All postcards