Turning the Digital Crown clockwise on Airpods Max decreases the volume, but on Vision Pro it increases the immersion or volume. Messes me up every time I use the headphones.

Austin Trip 2025: Day Four

After a busy Austin Trip 2025: Day Three our last full day in Austin didn’t have quite as much planned. As always we started the day with coffee and tried out Fleet Coffee despite it being about a 20 minute walk from the hotel. Breakfast was the hotel buffet again, which was really a homerun for costs and the food selection was great compared to your usual continental breakfast.

The original plan for the day was to go to UMLAUF Sculpture Garden, but we called an audible and went to Zilker Botanical Garden instead. It was the perfect size place to fill out morning and had some really interesting sections, my favorite was definitely the Oriental gardens and its cool stone paths over the water. It also had a neat dinosaur section with some great water features.

Our final excursion was to Inner Space Cavern just north of Austin. Texas used to be a shallow ocean and so there are a ton of caves throughout the state. The Inner Space Cavern was only about thirty minutes outside of the city so after a quick stop for lunch we signed up for a tour. We were hoping to do the “Hidden Passages” tour, but due to some staffing issues they weren’t able to run the tour while we were there. Instead we were able to go on the “Adventure” tour which is a mile long guided tour through a cave on walkways. It was really great and we saw some beautiful caverns with stalagtites and stalagmites. After returning to the surface we drove back to the hotel, which concluded our venturing out with the rental car.

The kids were toast, but Jen wanted to go look for souvenirs so we walked back to SoCo. We found a really cool local store Paper Work and picked up an ornament. We stopped by Allen’s Boots to check out the amazing selection of boots. They have so many amazing designs and styles with all different shapes and sizes. It is a little out of our price range, but it was worth checking out. We visited a couple more shops before returning to the hotel room.

For our last dinner the kids requested sushi so we went to Maiko Sushi Lounge. I had a great bowl of fried rice and the rest of the family loved their sushi. After dinner we walked a few blocks for dessert at Voodoo Doughnuts and I had the “Old Dirty Bastard” - Raised ring with chocolate frosting, chocolate cream-filled cookies, and peanut butter drizzle. It was a great way to end the last evening of our trip.

Austin Trip 2025: Day Three

Following a relatively relaxed Austin Trip 2025: Day Two the third full day of our trip was the most action packed day we had planned so far. We started a little earlier at [Desnudo Coffee](desnudocoffee.com] and then woke the kids up for a quick breakfast.

The big event for the trip was an ATV tour about an hour outside of Austin with Texas Adventours. The waiver process and instructions are pretty detailed, so being the anxious rule followers we are this mean leaving extra early and double checking every thing. We arrived pretty early at the front gate and made our way up to the barn. We completed all the necessary training procedures and took a few picture before getting in the UTV. Kaleb was the driver and I was the copilot of sorts.

Our guide led us through several different trails around the Lighthouse Hill Ranch. It involved all different types of terrain and obstacles for us to navigate. I had my Insta360 camera and did a bunch of recording of both video and photos. Kaleb did a great job driving and knew how to approach each of the different technical terrain features. The tour was an hour long, but flew by. The country out there is really beautiful and we lucked out with the weather being warm, but there still being a nice breeze to keep us cool.

Lunch was up next and we drove down to Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood. The location is huge and must be packed during summer weekends, but on this Tuesday there were only a few dozen people dining. For my drink I tried a Big Red soda and it was great with a flavor like bubble gum. My meal was a giant pulled pork sandwich with beans, coleslaw and potato salad. The sandwich was phenomenal even if it was a bit messy, and the beans were the best I have ever had. We got some desserts to go and continued on our big Texas adventure.

The final stop was at the Hamilton Pool Preserve. The small nature preserve has limited availability and we had to reserve a spot a few weeks in advance. We booked the afternoon time slot which goes from 2pm to 5:30pm. I was a little nervous at first when the park ranger mentioned how there were Cottonmouth snakes around and to be snake aware. The trail to the pool was pretty short and we saw a baby armadillo digging through the leaves along the path. The pool itself was amazing and the water was crystal clear and had a bunch of big catfish swimming in it. They have some of the pool roped off because of rocks falling in, but you can go out to a very deep spot. We hung out there for a couple hours and enjoyed the nice weather. Before hopping in the car we ate our desserts from Salt Lick and drove back to the hotel.

While we were resting in the hotel thunderstorms rolled in and we thought we would be stuck in for the night, but right around sunset the rain stopped. I asked my wife if she wanted to go check out the bats again and we quickly made our way outside. The bats had started flying out before we got there, but we were still able to watch them for about twenty minutes before it was too dark to see them. The river was so still and the reflection of the skyline looked amazing from the bridge. Now we needed to find some dinner before calling it a day. Initially we hoped to go to the mexican restaurant at the edge of the river, but it was closed due to a maintenance issue. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we ventured up to 6th street for Velvet Taco. They have some really unique flavors of tacos and they were so good. I went with the Spicy tikka chicken taco - crisp tenders, spicy tikka sauce, buttered cilantro basmati rice, raita crema, Thai basil, flour tortilla. It was delicious and was the perfect way to end our busiest day.

Austin Trip 2025: Day Two

After exploring the city during Austin Trip 2025: Day One, we decided to venture a bit further from the center. Jen and I crossed the bridge to grab a coffee at Desnudo Coffee. The coffee is served from a cozy camping trailer right next to the bridge, so we didn’t have to travel far. Back at the hotel, we woke up the kids and had a delicious breakfast together before hitting the road. Our next stop was the Austin Nature & Science Center. It’s a small place designed for younger kids, but it had some cool animals and beautiful grounds, including a pond filled with lily pads.

Next up was a quick lunch at Modern Market. I had a yummy banh mi sandwich, which was a lighter lunch compared to our burger bar adventure the previous day. Once we were all fueled up, we headed to Barton Springs Pool. One of the parking lots was under construction, so it took a while to find a spot, but we were lucky enough to get one close to the entrance. Inside the park, I was amazed by the size of the pool. It’s about 1000 feet long and up to 150 feet wide! Due to construction, we had to walk around the pool to change into our swimsuits, but we eventually made our way onto the hillside under the trees. The water is always around 70 degrees because it’s a spring-fed pool. We spent the afternoon swimming and relaxing under the big trees. We also had a few fun moments watching a family of ducks with about eight ducklings swimming around and wandering on the sidewalk next to the pool.

A few hours later, we headed back to the hotel, changed, and then strolled to the SoCo shopping district. The day before, we had already had burgers and Mexican food, so we were trying to decide what to have for dinner. As we climbed the hill, the enticing aroma of pizza filled the air, and I knew exactly what we were in for. Home Slice Pizza was buzzing with activity, and we had heard great things about it. We ordered a few slices and enjoyed them on the patio. After dinner, we explored the area a bit more before indulging in some delicious dessert at Jeni’s Ice Cream. Jennifer and I had tried it in Chicago a few years back, and it was even better than I remembered. They offer such unique flavors that are simply mouthwatering.

Austin Trip 2025: Day One

Ten years after my first visit to Austin for ApacheCon, we decided to return for a school vacation trip. We flew out of Boston early Saturday afternoon, with a quick layover in Atlanta. We landed in Austin around 9pm and checked into the Embassy Suites hotel on Congress Street.

On Sunday morning, we woke up and enjoyed the hotel’s free breakfast buffet before heading out to explore downtown Austin. Our first stop was Houndstooth Coffee, and it was delicious! We continued up Congress Street and checked out the grounds of the state capitol. There are several different areas and monuments to visit. Next, we went to an outdoor park at the northern end of a greenway with lots of cool walkways and an interesting river running through it. We meandered back towards the hotel and stopped at the Museum of the Weird. It was a small museum, but it had some strange and interesting items on display, like shrunken heads, wax sculptures, and even the Iceman!

The kids were starting to grumble about food, so we headed back to Congress street and grabbed some burgers at Burger Bar. The burgers were great and gave us the energy boost we needed for the next part of our adventure. Jennifer had found a book store she wanted to check out in the West End of the city, so we went to the riverfront and followed the trails along the water. It was a long and hot walk, but we finally made it to Book People - the biggest bookstore in Texas! It was nice and cool inside with all sorts of cool sections to explore. Across the street was a shop that makes rolled ice cream, Frozen Rolls Creamery. We had never tried rolled ice cream before, and it was so much fun to watch them make it. It was getting late in the afternoon and we were all beat, so we walked back to the hotel through the pedestrian bridge. The weather was sunny all day, and we managed to cover a lot of downtown Austin.

After resting in the hotel for a couple of hours, we decided it was the perfect night to watch the bats emerge from under the Congress street bridge. We ordered burritos from Free Birds World Burritos, picked them up, and then sat in the park next to the bridge to wait for the emergence. We arrived about an hour before sunset, and the park quickly filled up with people. A few minutes after sunset, the bats started flying out from under the bridge over the park. They kept flying for at least another half an hour before it was too dark to see them easily. We did go up onto the bridge and looked down, which made it a bit easier to see them. It was still a bit early, so we wandered downtown in search of some sweets and found Yummi Joy for some candy.

Decided to go back and document my Wordle misses. Thankfully I message my mother-in-law with my results so it was easy to track down some of these,.

Finished White Lotus Season 2. It was another great season although it always makes me anxious watching all the bad behavior.

Finally got around to playing Journey. Installed it on Vision Pro connected a controller and set my environment to White Sands. The game was fantastic and is such a work of art.

Image Playground First Impressions

Last week, I updated my MacBook Pro to macOS Sequoia 15.2, which introduced the new Image Playground app. I immediately began creating images of people from my extensive photo library of over 100,000 images. The intuitive interface guides you through the process of crafting an image.

In the initial step, you select a person from the “People” section of your photo library. However, the list isn’t sorted, which can be a bit challenging to find a specific individual. Once you’ve chosen a person, you’ll be presented with various options. I found that the initial image generated for the selected person is quite satisfactory until you explore the other suggestions. At that point, none of the options seem quite right. After selecting one that resonates with you, you can start building the final image by adding prompts.

By this stage, you’ve seen numerous variations of the person, and none of them appear quite right. However, eventually, you’ll find something you’re happy with. After completing the image and hitting “Done,” it’s added to the main window of the app.

It’s only at this point that you realize how strikingly similar the new images are to the people. It must be some form of human brain image recognition that enhances the image’s recognition when placed alongside dissimilar images. The more you revisit the image, the more it resembles the person.

Overall, it was a delightful evening spent creating images of various individuals. While I’m not sure it’ll become a regular activity, I could see myself occasionally revisiting the app to observe the improvements in the models.

Guess what? Portsmouth has a new Chik-fil-a, but it’s super busy, so I opted for Dave’s Hot Chicken instead. Can you believe how many people were there? Maybe they were craving chicken just like me!

Circulating Pump Replacement

I noticed dripping water near the furnace in basement and looked up to see a rusting component with water dripping. We called plumbers for help but nobody responded, but after a call with my father in-law it sounded like we could replace it ourselves. So yesterday we found one at our local Lowe’s and Kaleb and I installed it. The hardest part was getting the old one out of there because the bolts were so rusted.

Just finished up two new seasons on Apple TV+, Slow Horses and Bad Monkey. Slow Horses is still great although I felt it was missing something from previous seasons. Bad Monkey was a fun ride and I loved all of the characters, well except for Eve of course.

Second softball game of the season for me and the team’s first win. HR, 2B, 1B, 2BB, 4 runs scored. Final score 22-10 in 6 innings.