Maybe the Model Isn't the Interesting Part Anymore

I've been playing with an autonomous AI experiment called Lee.

The original question was pretty simple:

Can I make a local LLM do something interesting on its own?

I Think I’ve Been Training for Leeway for 20+ Years

Apparently this is what 20 years of messing around on the Internet looks like.

I didn’t realize I had a pattern.

For years, I’ve been making weird little things on the Internet. Not businesses. Not startups. Not products. Sometimes not even particularly useful.

Just: What if I made this?

And then actually making it.

Most of them drifted into the sediment layer of old projects — forgotten, archived, or buried under newer experiments.

Until I started talking to an AI about Leeway.

And suddenly all those old projects looked less like random detours and more like early training runs. A long, accidental apprenticeship in building tiny worlds.

This is the (abbreviated) archaeology.

A Year of AI Experiments, Failures, and Surprises

What I've learned using AI over the last year or so.

AI is powerful, but it’s not magic. It’s a tool that rewards clarity, structure, and iteration. Over the last year I’ve used it for coding, cooking, writing, and even building autonomous agents — and the pattern is always the same: the more intentional the workflow, the better the results. AI saves time, but only after you invest time. And that’s the real lesson.

The Ping-Pong Architecture: How I Built AI for Busy Humans

The Ping‑Pong Workflow Behind AI for Busy Humans

Building a website used to feel like a solitary construction project. You’d open a blank CMS, stare at the cursor, and hope the “About” page didn’t read like a tax form. But with my latest project, AI for Busy Humans, the process felt less like construction and more like a fast-paced game of ping-pong.

Not just me and an AI — but a three-way volley between Gemini, Copilot, and the part of my brain that still remembers how Hugo templates work. (OK, that last bit is slightly untrue: Copilot actually suggested using Hugo and walked me through the setup, including the first batch of pages that would later be refined.)

What do YOU think of AI?

Exploring the digital frontier, one prompt at a time

If you’ve been following this blog, you already know I’ve had my share of AI adventures—mostly good, a few chaotic, all interesting. I started out pretty skeptical back in the early ChatGPT days, but somewhere between code generation, design help, blog proofreading, and producing videos for The Pancake Delivery Frog, AI won me over as a genuine time-saver.

It’s helped in the kitchen, in the Google Play Store, and even in building my "personal fitness tracker" web page (which reminds me: I should probably go walk today). And yes, it’s powered some sillier projects too—looking at you, Joe's Land Fishing.

But that’s my AI journey. What about yours? Any AInecdotes you’d like to share with me (and the 1.5 people who read this blog regularly)? Any concerns over "AI's Big Red Button Not Working"? What's one thing AI has helped you with that surprised you? Drop them in the comments!

Gemini AI is Definitely Smart

I'm building a disc-ingestion script for ripping all my DVDs and Blu-rays to my computer so that we can watch all our videos without having to go find the disc, load it into the XBox, find the XBox remote, try to remember which button is "pause" when we need to get a drink or dispose of a drink we got earlier (i.e., visit one of the throne rooms in the house), etc. I've been using Copilot and Gemini for refining the system (which also pokes Gemini API for some intelligent determination of disc to movie/TV listings). 

Confessions of a Prompt Punk: How I Became an AIgoholic

I think I may be turning into an AIgoholic, an AIgnostic Prompt Punk. What’s a Prompt Punk? It doesn’t mean I’m always on time—though maybe AI could help with that. A Prompt Punk is the new AI‑Geek: not your ordinary geek of old, but a prompt pundit who has transcended Google guruship and achieved prompt proficiency—a true prompt‑ficionado. My geekhood is evolving. Let’s explore.

Initially, I wasn't overly fond of AI — but, to be honest, I didn't really have much opinion on it one way or the other. Now, if you asked me if I had an onion on it, well, probably not that, either, but I do love onions! Cooked, raw, in stuff, on stuff, as battered & fried rings, as a Bloomin' Onion or Texas Tonion, on its own... yeah, I like onions pretty much any way you want to offer them to me. I've even just taken a raw onion, sliced it, and eaten the slices. I like onions. Anyway, back to AI...