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Rob Ballou

@robballou.com
257 followers 115 following 2.5K posts

Finn the cattle dog's human, mountain biker, backpacker, and software engineer.

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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 02/09/2026
A photo of clouds moving out from the front range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, and light beams through the clouds to a bike path
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 30/08/2026
Heart Lake in Colorado with a brief glimpse through the fog on a rainy morning
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 28/08/2026
Well, 311 did fix the pavement! Still not great conditions but maybe still in progress. I kind of hope they can get the land owner to do something too
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 28/08/2026
Not the best, but nice night for viewing (though more difficult to see details with old eyes these days lol)
A partial lunar eclipse: the lower 3/4 of the moon is a redish hue from the earth passing between the sun and moon.
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 21/08/2026
This photo from 2 years ago is like a good idea of what is happening. But now there is no light pole, just bolts/broken concrete. The two benches are still there, but among weeds and trash. There are commonly a bunch of veo’s here, also not helping.
Street view from 2024 without as much of the weeds, an intact light pole, still making it difficult for folks to get byA recent view. Light pole is gone, a veo scooter thing lays on the ground blocking the benches and part of the sidewalk
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 11/08/2026
The company that makes this product makes how much money exactly?
A screenshot of the Nest web UI, with unreadable labels in white text on light grey background.
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 30/07/2026
Corporations always willing to use public infrastructure #bikeden (reposted with alt text)
Veo scooters using the entire on street bike parking provided by Denver city
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 12/07/2026
Some blue skies from today’s hike
A view of the Rocky Mountain, with Mt Blue Sky visibleA view of the Rocky Mountains from 13,500ftWalking back down the ridge, distant lakes and mountains
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 05/07/2026
America, f yeah edition. Crews working with n cleaning up truckloads of debris from parks and streets. But what is left is countless debris that can’t be picked up.
The parks baseball field is coated in a layer of cardboard and plastic detritus. A sign for not allowing dogs off leash is present (which is the primary offense the city enforces)200m of red plastic waste is practically glued to the sidewalks. Crews have collected bags of trash and drinking containers A young man uses a push broom to try to clean up debris next to the park. Across the street, which is no longer Denver city is lined with trash
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 26/06/2026
Finn, happy to stand in the shade, after his human drops off their ballet. Confining a tradition of ballot drop off by foot (and paw)
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 21/06/2026
Hiking is a bit more tame these days, but still happy to spend time with this dude in the mountains
Finn, an Australian cattle dog mix, who is now 11 yo, takes in the sights from an overlook in the Colorado front range. In the distance , smaller mountains and blue skiesHiking back to the trailhead stopped for a break at a nice meadows with view of the wooded mountains
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 13/06/2026
There should be more snow 😳
Mt. Blue Sky and Rosalie Peak (I think) almost without any snow in early June.
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 06/06/2026
Today was a real warm one
Photo of riding a surly midnight special on some single track in the front range of Colorado. It is a very open blue sky
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 06/06/2026
Tall clouds at sunset with blue sky breaking through
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 26/05/2026
The cows are rebelling against their pasture at a local park 🤪
A black cow grazes from grasses on the near side of a wooden fence. A few more cows graze on the “correct” side of the fence
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 07/05/2026
What is job hunting like now?
Screenshot from a website for an "AI interviewer" that says:

Ezra helps you go beyond the resume, skip the noise, and find the signal.

Screenshot includes bullet points about how the tool does not hallucinate and cannot be derailed
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 06/05/2026
Finn engaging AWD, ready for action during our May snow day
Finn, an Australian cattle dog mix, takes a breather while running around in wet spring snow among drooping tree branches
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 30/04/2026
The vibe when you are on LI looking at jobs. The red highlighted box is the collapsed information that actually relates to the job. Now do this for ~12 jobs a week. #isthisuserexperience
A screen shot of a view of LinkedIn job page, where only a very small portion (shown in red) relates to details about the actual job. Everything else in the right portion of the screen is ads/upsells.
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 24/04/2026
I went for a bike ride
The view from midway up Lookout Mountain in Colorado. Below Hwy 6 winds through Clear Creek Canyon
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 24/04/2026
Doesn't seem like much, but this is pretty good progress. Rust + Redis + React/TS/Vite. The game engine portion exists in Rust, but has to be hooked up to work with the API approach (was built as CLI-first).
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 22/04/2026
Texas also now requires Baphomet to be displayed in classrooms:
Statue of Baphomet, a humanoid figure with a goat’s head and angel’s wings, sitting on a throne with two children. The statue is used when people try to pass religious regulations on public spaces against the US constitution
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 16/04/2026
I went outside
A panoramic view looking out west from a hill near Lyons, Colorado. The near slopes have some pine trees broken with brown grass lands. Further towards the horizon is some hilly peaks with more pine forests. The sky is partially cloudy which provides a bit of broken up light on the landscape A wild turkey wonders past the trail: in a pine tree forest with rocky/grass understory a turkey wonders by. It has a red head/beard, dark feathers that blend into a lighter tan tail feather section
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 11/04/2026
Finn after he figured out the crew was safe aboard
Finn, an Australian cattle dog mix, sleeps on his bed peacefully
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 09/04/2026
Finn reports success!
Finn releases a stress yawn from excitement of “finally” getting his mandates second walkies
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 09/04/2026
Finn says he is ready for walkies and his human’s excuse of “digesting” is not valid for a delay
Finn, an Australian cattle dog mix, pouts on his bed, waiting whole minutes while his human’s excuse digests food, delaying walkies
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 09/04/2026
Not a bad around the start of the Colorado trail
An orange mountain bike leans against a pine tree in Colorado. The mountain bike trail is visible with forest (and if you squint) mountains Another picture of mountain bike and trail. Along side the trail are some bushes with white flowers but no leaves (unidentified plant for me). In the distance is a rocky mountain peak
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 07/04/2026
Photo of Clear Creek Canyon from a new section of the Plains to Peaks multi use path. The creek flows through rocks between on bike path on the left and a highway on the right. The bike path crosses two long metal bridges
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 03/04/2026
First job posting this morning be like
Screenshot that shows "-25% employee growth in 12 months"
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 27/03/2026
Wb Darth. I bring a picture of Finn as a gift
A cattle dog mix lays down alert to whether his human is up to anything. He is a little more white around the muzzle as he is now 11yo
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 26/03/2026
Denver right now
A hazy view of downtown Denver. The buildings are barely visible from a couple miles away
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 26/03/2026
If Colorado insists on mountain biking weather, I guess I’ll keep mountain biking
A Rebel Rascal leans next to a dry brown single track trail in Colorado. It is sooo dry
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 26/03/2026
Clouds at sunset: clouds ranging from dark blue/gray to bright orange and yellow
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 19/03/2026
Finn doesn’t care abeingin the hammock but likes time outside baking
Finn, an Australian cattle dog, gets neck scratches on a warm March day. He is “smiling” happily
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 12/03/2026
One perk of unemployment and an unseasonably dry/warm winter: I went for a bike ride and saw some big dogs
Buffalo grazing at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. In the back are snow mountain peaks of the front rangeA dusty dirt service road and a lone tree in a filtered photo made to look a bit more “warm”
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 06/03/2026
A snowy Denver landscape. It hasn’t snowed since at least January
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 02/03/2026
This is such a weird choice of UI for this when it could be easily solved by programming and non-red-yelling-text to explain what should be entered:
Screenshot from a web application:

Title text: "Search by Account Number and Impervious Area"

In red text: To begin, please enter your account number or parcel ID WITHOUT dashes and the impervious area WITHOUT a comma. If you are paying for Sidewalk and you do not have an impervious area, then please enter your account number and enter "00" as the impervious area.
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 12/02/2026
It works real well for me 🙃
A screenshot of the cios.gov site in Safari on iOS. The DNS entry does not seem to be working
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 10/02/2026
I'm glad to spend time reading a job posting for this to be stuck near the end... on a Colorado specific website.
A screenshot of a job posting on a website for Builtin Colorado, where the job specifically does not list Colorado as a viable option. The text in the post:

"We are a remote-first organization hiring specifically within 60 miles of Chicago, IL., Dallas, TX., Austin, TX., Charlotte, NC., Atlanta, GA., Phoenix, AZ., Minneapolis, MN., and Syracuse, NY to help create opportunities for connectivity and collaboration in-person as you see fit. Learn more about our hiring hubs on the Careers blog."
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 06/02/2026
As it may not be a good winter, I will keep enjoying this spring.
A view of a single track trail winding through a dry mountain ridge. In the background another dry, wooded ridge is seen, and then in very distant Mt Bluesky, a 14,000ft mountain that is clearly not very covered in snow.
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 01/02/2026
Got in a good memorial ride with friends. For Alex. For all that we have lost.
A bike leans next to a greenway trail as the sun sets. Behind some trees, a band of clouds glows orange
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 17/01/2026
Hiking with my dog Finn. We found a patch of snow in otherwise dry Colorado.Distant mountains and clouds. Mt Blue sky is visible with a bit more snow than last weekDid I hike almost 7 miles to cut out a fallen tree by hand? Was it therapeutic? Yes
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 15/01/2026
A view of the very dry Colorado mountains. Distant Mt Blue Sky is barely snow covered in January, nearby mountains are almost snow free
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 08/01/2026
In case you need a quick break: a panoramic from a hike today
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 06/01/2026
Might not be smart, but my small amount of shares says hell no. Kthxbye
Cover sheet of a booklet from Skydance offering to buy up stock of WB Discovery stocks so they can do a hostile takeover of the WB Discovery bidding process
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 06/01/2026
A blue sky above a wall of clouds above the front range mountains. A dry January without any snow in sight
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 25/12/2025
Beef bourguigon for dinner 😎
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 24/12/2025
Went for a bike ride to pay down some of the cookies I’m gonna eat this week
The view from a bike path in Golden, Colorado. South Table Mountain on the left of the image above a brewery and Lookout mountain beyond Demonstrating the homemade chocolate chip cookies in question
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 24/12/2025
Finn (and I) hope you find good sticks (and times) this holiday season.
Finn, an Australian cattle dog, chews on a stick on his morning walk. He is a mixed dark and red colored dog with a white bently mark on his head. He is holding the stick between his paws
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 25/11/2025
Went mountain biking today. I hit another struggle month in October/November and stopped riding much. Did some running but that’s not the same. Well, kept it simple and enjoyed despite feeling rusty (out of shape, but that is normal these days!)
A view from behind the handlebars of a mountain bike. Trail weaves left out of view into the trees. In the distance, tree lined peaks of mountains sit below a blue partially cloudy sky
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Rob Ballou @robballou.com · 21/11/2025
In another timeline we could all be so content as this
Finn, an Australian cattle dog, sleeps, partially covered by his blanket
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