https://dijonkitchen.org/ Bliki of Jonathan Chen's thoughts. en Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/raw/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/raw/ Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 I’m still learning to focus on the good and connecting with people before solving problems. There’s a certain flow you get when you’re focused on a great conversation with and old friend. AI may know https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/assert/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/assert/ Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Sometimes you need some breathing room from anxiety. By taking that space, you can improve your responsiveness and perhaps still defy authority and surprisingly be proven in the right. Keep the connec https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/meld/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/meld/ Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 The mind is so interesting. There are all these layers in your day to day and night. You can go from feeling fear of disappointment to reminiscing with old friends that you are going to leave soon. Th https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/wonder/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/wonder/ Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 As the world shifts back to working closer together, I wonder if it’s a good thing long-term. Sometimes we reminisce about old times. Loneliness is not a disease; we shouldn’t treat the symptoms of th https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/how-this-bliki-works/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/how-this-bliki-works/ Sun, 10 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 A short tour of the conventions used in this vault. https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/memory/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/memory/ Thu, 07 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Less can be more if it focuses on memorability. Even failed experiments can give you peace. This kind of adaptive thinking allows you to both reminisce and plan for ownership of the future. https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/lemonade/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/lemonade/ Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Fighting against the randomness of entropy is hard. Maybe one way is to schedule important things at awkward cadences. While not truly random, they can be forcing functions to redirect your attention. https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/control/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/control/ Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 We’d all love control and a mutual web of trust with others in our life and communities. Even if there was conflict, we’d have people to confide in and mediate. The reality is we’re all likely average https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/intention/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/intention/ Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Moving and doing with intention is important. Otherwise, you’d never take a vacation. That flexibility helps you and your relationships grow too. Exploring how to hand-make cavatelli pasta with your k https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/distance/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/distance/ Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 It’s kind of an innate human trait, the search for productivity and efficiency through leverage. It’s allowed our species to grow and expand. There is a cost though. Leverage certainly does provide mo https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/cleanse/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/cleanse/ Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 They say cleanliness is next to godliness. Maybe in more ways than one. Spring gives fresh hope to the world with new things that can grow. To make room, we clean out the house, and maybe even our bod https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/resilience/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/resilience/ Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Life throws you many roller coasters. From the pure joy of kids laughing to the depression escalated from small disagreements. There probably is no meaning to life, but life gives us meaning. We have https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/supplements/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/supplements/ Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Supplementing life and body with games, reading, and nutritional supplements. Researching and exploring intermittent fasting (again), protein powder, undenatured type II collagen, creatine, fish oil, https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/todo-diy/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/todo-diy/ Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 In an age where AI agents can do so much for you, there is still room to do things yourself. The agent-principal problem still exists. Perhaps even more from a safety perspective. From home repair, to https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/structure/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/structure/ Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 There is something very satisfying about great architecture. It has a strong foundation, with high tolerances, and yet can allow extensions only limited by your creativity. Law is a piece of this for https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/crafting/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/crafting/ Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000 As things are abstracted from us, we need to manage more. Whether it’s AI agents for our children, placing safe guardrails so they can safely explore and possibly surprise you. This control must be no https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/fun-and-games/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/fun-and-games/ Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Having an adventure time cooking and making matcha for family. Learned you can’t really trust much that you see. Need to learn about craftsmanship and good primary sources. Just like career advice is https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/balance/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/balance/ Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Writing for my ideal customer: myself. Been maintaining mental and physical fitness with explorations of research-backed supplements like creatine, protein, caffeine, and L-theanine. The latter two la https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/the-selfish-meme-of-productivity/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/the-selfish-meme-of-productivity/ Tue, 04 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Listen to the episode listening to sapiens and the history of humankind thinking about if productivity is 0:15 really a curse it's perhaps our greatest strength and differentiator between us and 0:22 https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/governance/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/governance/ Sat, 21 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Parental leadership at scale https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/death/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/death/ Sat, 14 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Survive or thrive https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/the-price-of-productivity/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/the-price-of-productivity/ Fri, 06 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Technology's extraction of value https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/regimen/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/regimen/ Tue, 11 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000 Ideal regimen: [ ] 2.0 hours personal, fun, hard, creative work/writing [ ] 0.5 hours meditation/breating/stretching/exercise [ ] 2.0 hours deep focus work [ ] 1.5 hours lunch/walk/siesta nap [ ] 2.0 https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/learning/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/learning/ Fri, 27 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000 Learning how to learn Deliberate focus building mental models (chunky trunk of principles) to grow leaves of creativity. Mastery learning frees up limited working memory of four chunks for other thoug https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/leverage/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/leverage/ Fri, 14 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000 Leverage exaggerates both the ups and the downs. Risky in investments because some larger than expected downside can result in you losing everything or not being able to easily recover. Loss percentag https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/blockchain/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/blockchain/ Wed, 28 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000 Watching and learning since 2011. Each wave opened up the possibilities while trading off some of the initial principles for practical transition. More incentive to support blockchain and profit with https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/risk/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/risk/ Wed, 30 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000 Risks are large, long-term losses. Avoid catastrophes and you can be optimistic about your decision making and make high-potential choices even if they are low probability. This minimizes regret and c https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/descendants/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/descendants/ Tue, 25 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000 m-shape people collaborative pretotyping creativity https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/architecture/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/architecture/ Sun, 26 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000 Architecture scaling and lifecycle Validate ideas first with mocks and ads to gauge interest and gather data Refine idea with first few hardcore fans to iterate on Exploration: Initial simple, lovab https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/life/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/life/ Fri, 29 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000 Life aspirations thinking about a child, but can really be applied to anyone. Born with supportive family of people and pets. Have fun active, self-unschooling with mastery learning of foundational pr https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/freedom/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/freedom/ Sun, 24 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000 long-term creative freedom vs status; game theory compounds itself 24/7 equity is your accountability and consistent brand/integrity band together with those on the same journey; good character natura https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/diversity/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/diversity/ Sun, 24 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000 From supermarkets to artists and musicians, there are so many things good and bad; so many different styles and admirers. They may have no choice but to do what makes sense to them. Maybe others are a https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/design/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/design/ Mon, 11 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000 Design things to be simple, but no simpler. Simple is easy to understand and then only expand when necessary. Sometimes that's with a generalized abstraction that can easily be used; other times, it's https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/habits/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/habits/ Sat, 09 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000 "Each Day do Something -- Foolish, Creative and Generous." - Benjamin Graham https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/exploration/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/exploration/ Sat, 09 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000 Seek to standardize on benchmarks to make decisions easier if they are meaningful quantitative measures. Decide on a handful of quality candidates Move on after a few "strike outs", but forg https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/programming-language/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/programming-language/ Tue, 07 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000 Difficulty -> Ease Low-level languages -> high-level languages Less people -> More people Less conducive to early stage company -> more High impact for all downstream value vs less, but mo https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/vision/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/vision/ Sun, 15 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000 Don't optimize for things that don't matter. Intermediate milestones/goals may be too limiting (but can also be rewarding). Cutting straight to the bottom line may streamline all those other actions f https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/information/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/information/ Thu, 23 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000 Information and disinformation (aka fake news, pseudoscience, etc.) is rampant online. Although search engines and reputable sites help, there's just too much out there for people to filter. There are https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/time/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/time/ Thu, 26 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000 Value-time (kind of like space-time) Ideally, everyone is saving a bit of other people's time with some product/service and the better they are at it, the more profitable they can get. Thus, the impor https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/communication/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/communication/ Fri, 08 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000 Goals: Team succeed at goals knowledge transfer flow thinking and work hi fidelity Spectrum of sync to async communication Onus on people to exercise proper etiquette vs. strict enforcement of a pro https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/biology/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/biology/ Mon, 30 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000 People think we're so different than other animals, but we all have the same motivations to survive, extend our genes, and persuade others of our beliefs. Humans can control their environment, but tha https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/experience/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/experience/ Sat, 14 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000 Great, sustainable experiences To improve humanity's experience, we need developers that can make things that save their time/energy. Thus need to improve developer experience. Not all about programmi https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/process/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/process/ Fri, 23 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000 Businesses want to be able to have budgets and plans with a process. They also want to be agile such that they can adapt to a quickly changing world. Ideally, they are focused on working on the most i https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/solutioning/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/solutioning/ Wed, 12 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000 Establish trust by questioning to get real data Understand high-level pain points and differentiators Document domain-driven architecture and models Write failing tests for functions Pseudoc https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/economic-ethics/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/economic-ethics/ Sat, 15 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000 Capitalism: lie/cheat/steal vs value add Short term Unsustainability vs long term durability Hard to find fungible asset better than currency and not trample freedom so must align incentives Culture o https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/rebase/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/rebase/ Fri, 31 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000 Code Symbiosis Programmers write a lot of code. Many programmers usually write even more code. Inevitably, people write code that conflicts with another person's. There are a few ways to reconcile thi https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/privacy/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/privacy/ Wed, 13 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000 Secure and separate concerns in life On how to transition to a more private and secure digital presence with diversification Use password managers to make it easier to manage multiple accounts and inc https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/interfaces/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/interfaces/ Wed, 13 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000 Relationships: From Data to Architecture Many-to-many relationships have an interface between them for abstraction and separation of concerns Join tables: Many of a table to many of another table Acti https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/interviews/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/interviews/ Thu, 07 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000 Combine best company interview processes Intercom Auth0 Checkr Lx basecamp Stripe? https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/dependencies/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/dependencies/ Sun, 29 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000 Example: Adding Project Dependencies: Picking a Data Grid for React At work, we use a lot of open source software. One of the formats that people find easiest to display lot of data is through our Ins https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/work/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/work/ Sun, 08 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000 Below was a draft post that I never got to post. My first month at Lanetix! So I've just started as a software engineer at a San Francisco startup called Lanetix! It's been almost two years since I s https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/pairing/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/pairing/ Thu, 25 May 2017 00:00:00 +0000 Personal check-in: How are each of you feeling? Anything affecting this session? Get to know each other and connect. Work approach check-in: How do you like to work? How do you approach a challenge https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/productivity/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/productivity/ Thu, 18 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000 Eat and cleanup before sundown, Walk and talk after, Sleep, Wake at sunrise, Productively use daylight, Repeat. Healthy eating before late hours, Exercise with walking, Community and happiness with co https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/goals/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/goals/ Sun, 10 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000 I'm going to set positive, specific goals to get better with a set timeline. Usually, I'm pretty good about always improving, but I don't usually set a timeline to say I should get this done by this t https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/bliki/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/bliki/ Sun, 08 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000 While researching how to make a website, I looked at a lot of possibilities. There's the easy way of just using an established platform like Wordpress, Medium, or Blogger... but where's the fun in tha https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/concurrency/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/concurrency/ Sun, 01 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000 While thinking about my move into technology and learning programming, I researched programming languages a lot! One of the major reasons for this was because I looked into concurrency. Concurrency is https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/hotkeys/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/hotkeys/ Wed, 28 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000 One of the hardest things about being a developer is setting up your developer environment. Installing everything and making sure it works is tough. That's why I'm going to compeletely bypass that and https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/bias/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/bias/ Sun, 25 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Stereotype threat is the topic of this week's DBC cultural discussion. Stereotype threat is how someone's performance is affected by stereotypes that they may classify themselves under. The "thre https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/classes/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/classes/ Mon, 19 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000 An interesting thing about object-oriented programming is that everything is an object and objects inherit characteristics from their parents and pass them on to their children. By organizing a set of https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/enums/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/enums/ Sun, 11 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Enumerables! it means that you're able to count something one at a time. they're sometimes referred as ruby's most useful module (a bunch of methods packaged together)! arrays and hashes are really po https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/security/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/security/ Mon, 05 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Enable multiple ways to authenticate who you are: phone, faceprint, and a long passphrase. Use these to log into a pass manager like 1Password or the like. Use a privacy-oriented browser like Brave. U https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/data/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/data/ Sun, 04 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Arrays and hashes are some of the most interesting data types in programming! Arrays are basically an ordered list of items. These items can be anything, even another array! Arrays are usefulwhen you https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/styling/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/styling/ Mon, 28 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000 As I've been learning how to make webpages, I've been required to utilize HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), the fundamental building blocks of a website. The idea is https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/versioning/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/versioning/ Thu, 10 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000 I've been a huge fan of versioning for many years now. It all started when I was still in the business world and everyone traded documents and spreadsheets via email or at most on the network. One qua https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/personality/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/personality/ Tue, 18 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 One of the things I really like about Dev Bootcamp versus others is that they emphasize a lot about the individual and self reflection. Part of the pre-Phase 0 work is figuring out what your learning https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/me/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/me/ Sat, 18 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000 An ever-growing auto-biography. History Part 1: The Early/Gaming Years Like all great stories, it all started when I grew up playing games. I was born soon after the Nintendo was released and I loved https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/hack/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/hack/ Tue, 26 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Journey toward becoming a scientist, but more specifically a software hacker that utilizes the scientific method. Observe inefficiencies Hypothesize solutions Predict outcomes Experiment with prototy https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/me-random/ https://dijonkitchen.org/notes/me-random/ Sun, 08 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000 8 Random Things You May Not Know About Me: Two of my favorite toys as a kid were a cardboard box and an Oscar the Grouch garbage truck. I still think crushing stuff is awesome. Although I’m part o