iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 04/07/2026

Today's a good day to watch the first episode of this banger, if I do say so myself.

Plastic case of the Blu-Ray release of the first season of The Newsroom

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 07/05/2026

How it started/how it’s going:

A black and white kitten sits in the palm of my hand

The same cat from the other photo, who very much no longer fits in the palm of my hand, lounging on a pile of clean laundry

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 17/04/2026

I’ve started buying my music again. It’s great to listen to on a device that was made for that purpose!

The author’s fourth-generation iPod with a color screen

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 09/04/2026

That’s so real and I’m happy for you. This is a 20-year-old device. I installed a new battery and replaced the spinning hard drive with an SSD. Not running Apple software, playing FLAC

A fourth-generation iPod (from 2004 or 2005) shown with headphones. On the screen is the Rockbox custom firmware now playing screen while the device plays a track from Taylor Swift’s 2025 studio album in FLAC format. The author is at a loss as to what is so bad about this

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 27/02/2026

Oh hey look, right on schedule

CNBC headline: “OpenAI closes $110 billion funding round with backing from Amazon, Nvidia, Softbank” published 27 February 2026

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 17/01/2026

Had the engine block heater replaced on the generator at work this week. Not being one to blindly trust anything, I came in to run a building load test to make sure the thing will actually start on a cold day. Exciting stuff!

Operator panel of a GE automatic transfer switch controller, showing the status of a system load test. The screen indicates the switch will next perform a coordinated move from source 2 (the generator) to source 1 (utility grid) in 29 minutes and 43 seconds.

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 13/01/2026

Apropos of nothing, I picked this bad boy out of my hockey skate bag tonight. The whistle needs some fresh tape on the end - it hasn't seen action in over ten years. The Acme Thunderer lives up to its name.

The author showing off his Acme Thunderer referee whistle on his left hand. The whistle has finger loops rather than a lanyard because hockey referees need very quick access to the whistle. It also has white hockey tape wrapped around the end for dental protection.

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 26/12/2025

This is not a book I ever thought I would find. Where’s the one about atproto?

A book titled “Mastodon for Dummies” by Chris Minnick and Michael McCallister on a shelf

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 26/11/2025

I have a new toy. It’s definitely not useful for my job - I would need a much bigger one to overcome the loss in ~300 meters of rigid transmission line - but I should probably fine-tune the Diamond NR770 antenna I’ve had on three different vehicles now.

A NanoVNA (vector network analyzer) lying flat on a desk displaying measurement graphs

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 16/11/2025

OH NO THE AUTOPEN GOT HIM TOO

Screenshot of a headline from The Guardian: “Questions arise over strikingly similar signatures by Trump on recent pardons”

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 16/11/2025

Okay, I definitely married the right person.

Screen capture of an iMessage conversation.

Grey bubble: “I hope you get upvoted or whatever the fuck blue sky does hahahaha”

Blue bubble: “I hope you know I’m going to screenshot that and use it for all the fictional internet points”

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 15/11/2025

The best thing about having a healthier relationship with social media, whether there’s an algorithm or not, is the fact you can just load your feed and be like that gif of Donald Glover running into a burning room with a stack of pizzas and going WHAT THE FFFFFFFFFFF

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 07/11/2025

This is not a good place to be once the lightning gets here… so I should probably GTFO

The author’s pickup truck parked at the base of a 241m (~790 ft) radio/TV transmitter tower under an overcast sky with approaching thunderstorms

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 04/11/2025

People in Kentucky are calling the Secretary of State’s office demanding to know why polls are closed today. Spoiler alert: it’s because there are no elections in Kentucky today. Remind me again why civics education isn’t a priority in this country?

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 12/10/2025

This “AI”-generated ad I saw on YouTube is a grave insult to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. How hard is it to just use the actual design of the state flag? Maybe I just live in the COMMONVEALL OF KENTUCKY (at least that was spelled correctly) where the motto is “UNITED WEAND, WEUÆN” now.

Frame capture from an apparently “AI”-generated YouTube advertisement with an older white bearded person standing on a stage in front of what is intended to be the flag of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, except there is a large white letter K on the flag’s blue background; the word “commonwealth” is misspelled as “COMMONVEALL”; and the state’s motto of “United We Stand, Divided We Fall” is written as “UNITED WEAND, WEUAEN”

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 06/09/2025

I still appreciate how Bluesky just embodies the spirit of the #OpenWeb philosophy!

What’s the open web?

Like the open web, like the reason you know and understand why the phrase “wherever you get your podcasts” exists?

And if you don’t, it’s because that even in the age of Spotify and YouTube, RSS (an entirely open and free to use internet standard BUILT ON ANOTHER COMPLETELY FREE AND OPEN INTERNET STANDARD RIDING ON YET ANOTHER SERIES OF ABSOLUTELY UNENCUMBERED AND METICULOUSLY PUBLICLY DOCUMENTED INTERNET STANDARDS) is still a load-bearing component of how podcasts are distributed… and that horse left the barn long before anyone could get a monopoly lock on the industry.

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 01/08/2025

Violet has deemed this an acceptable place to sleep. The softer surface surrounding the tray might be more comfortable, but this fluffy girl is living her dream I guess. Caturday came early! #catsky

A long haired black and white cat sleeps inside a circular wooden tray

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 11/07/2025

Jacks down for a close-to-home weekend getaway! Teddy is clearly looking forward to a break from our other dog and both our cats.

An orange Papillon-Chihuahua-Pomeranian mixed breed dog sunbathes in front of a travel trailer

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 03/07/2025

Rear view cameras are required equipment for North American passenger vehicles, but oddly not for larger things like RVs where they’re even more useful. I don’t know how I’ve owned this travel trailer for THREE WHOLE YEARS before finally buying a camera system for it.

Rear view camera mounted on the aft wall of a Forest River travel trailer

Monitor showing the image from the rear view camera mounted to the inside of the tow vehicle’s windscreen

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 02/07/2025

Came home from work and one of the neighborhood cats was lounging in the shade under one of the trees. I came back with a hearty meal!

A neighborhood cat enjoying some food and water in the shade

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 23/06/2025

This is the perfect vacation companion, particularly if you want to unplug. I recognize the irony of posting this photo to the internet.

A white 4th generation color iPod from 2004 using the Rockbox custom firmware to play music lying on a table with the headphone cable visible. Also on the table: baseball cap

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 21/06/2025

Hans and I are making the most of a hot day by chilling in the shade after vacuuming out the truck.

A grey Shih Tzu/Yorkie mixed breed dog relaxing in the shade on a concrete driveway. A DeWalt wet/dry vacuum cleaner, an automotive jump start pack, a tabletop HD Radio receiver, and a silver pickup truck are visible in the background.

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 10/03/2025

Meanwhile, the email application distributed with iOS could fit on a small stack of floppy disks.

Screen capture of the built-in iOS email application’s size, which is 6.5 megabytes.

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 10/03/2025

For comparison, not even Outlook or Proton weigh in as heavy as the Gmail app, and Outlook even has calendar functionality.

Screen capture of the size of the Microsoft Outlook iOS app, which is 320.2 megabytes

Screen capture showing the size of the Proton Mail iOS app, which is 174 megabytes

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 10/03/2025

Once it’s installed, the app is a little smaller, which tells me there isn’t a whole lot of stuff in the download that’s differentiated between devices, for instance.

Screen capture of the iOS storage analysis of the Gmail app, showing the app size as 559.2 megabytes

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 10/03/2025

When Gmail launched 21 years ago, each user was given a whole gigabyte of mailbox storage, which was bonkers in that era. What kind of stuff is in the Gmail app for iOS today that makes the app package over 60% of that original storage limit? Email isn’t complicated.

A screen capture of the iOS App Store update screen showing the download size of a Gmail app update is 613.9 megabytes

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 06/03/2025

Today, I’m rocking this little dude instead of my Apple Watch. I bought this a few years ago because I thought it was cool that a watch can receive precise time broadcasts from WWV, a public service radio station run by the United States government.

The author wearing a very non-smart Casio watch

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 02/03/2025

I’ve now been to three NHL outdoor games, and I have to say that Ohio Stadium has so far been the best venue for playing outside. I honestly don’t think there was a bad seat in the house! The league did a great job of essentially turning this into an Ohio State home football game.

It’s upside down because my seat was on the opposite side, but this is The Ohio State University athletic band performing their legendary “script Ohio” formation on the ice surface for the 2025 NHL Stadium Series at Ohio Stadium

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 16/02/2025

Python will run on anything these days, I suppose

Casio FX-9750 graphing calculator running Python on display in a retail store

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 20/01/2025

Hey y’all, my life must be pretty boring

iPhone notification prompting the author to journal about an “afternoon outing to Jimmy John’s”

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 19/01/2025

I really should just pay a professional to prepare my tax return instead of being subjected to this shady BS year after year.

Screenshot of an email from TurboTax with the subject line “Pending review: Verify your account” but it’s just a marketing email and not an actual transactional message

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 01/01/2025

My New Year’s Eve tradition: getting drunk and making fun of QVC trying to sell technology with friends

A television set showing QVC selling an HP inkjet printer for $39

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 26/12/2024

Teddy is unwinding from a busy Christmas by watching the preview show for the junior hockey tournament with me.

Pomeranian/Chihuahua mix dog snoozing in the foreground with a TV tuned to TSN (the Canadian version of ESPN) in the background

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 16/12/2024

I haven’t seen this much rain in a while… definitely not complaining, however. At least it isn’t snow!

Perspective photo from the driver seat of a motor vehicle showing the steering wheel, instrument panel, and a gated entrance driveway outside the vehicle. The ground, roads, sidewalks, and vehicle windscreen are all wet due to rainy weather.

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 14/12/2024

Of course, I talked myself into going to Gold Star. I never even opened the menu, by the way.

Front cover of a menu at Gold Star Chili and a small bowl with a package of oyster crackers

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 10/12/2024

Last day in DC. It’s been an adventure!

The Lincoln Memorial seen through trees against an overcast sky

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 25/11/2024

I saw this abomination in the store today and I don’t know what to think about it. “Switch” in this context almost always means the layer 2 type, but this appears to operate at layer 1. Talk about nightmare fuel for network engineers…

Packaging for an RCA-branded “2-port network switch”. The term “switch” is generally accepted to mean packet switching at layer 2 of the OSI model, but this device has buttons on the side that physically connect the third port on the side not shown in the photo to one of two ports visible in the photo. The physical switching of media makes this device a layer 1 switch.

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 23/11/2024

Lucy and Violet staked out their guard posts on the ottoman and now I feel like I’m witness to some strange tower defense game. #Caturday

Two tuxedo cats, one short haired and one long haired, lying in kitty loaves on an ottoman facing different directions

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 21/11/2024

While I was draining the RV water lines tonight, I noticed some damage on the rear exterior wall. Not sure where it came from, but this will be annoying to repair.

Crack in the fiberglass exterior of a travel trailer caused by some sort of impact

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 14/11/2024

Spending my day in the TOC getting a new pair of VM hosts set up. Say what you will about cloud technology, but being able to actually touch your infrastructure is something special.

LCD monitor on a cart behind a datacenter cabinet showing the first screen of the Proxmox VE installer

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Drew Kirkman @drewkirkman.com · 18/10/2024

It’s only fair that I pay the cat tax in my first post. This is Violet. She likes to sprawl out on the floor and relax on her back for hours, then wonders why I walk up to take a picture of her.

Long haired tuxedo cat lying on the floor on her back

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