Awkward Engineer - Blog

AwkEng Personal Project and Clocks for Father's Day

AwkEng Personal Project and Clocks for Father's Day

Hi all, Brief update on some personal projects and a note that Voltmeter Clocks are available for Father's day!   Pen & Paper - For a long tim...

The AwkEng and the Receipt Printer v2 (and the AI Gets Tired)

The AwkEng and the Receipt Printer v2 (and the AI Gets Tired)

Hi all, Revisiting an old project today, but this time with AI. Short story: AI is an absolutely wild accelerator. I've also noticed the AI gets ti...

The AwkEng's Favorite Photos of Q1

The AwkEng's Favorite Photos of Q1

Hi all, Having maintained the trend for a few quarters now, I'm still an advocate, in the age of AI slop, for editing and curating. Here are my fav...

The AwkEng is Micro-Lazy, Macro-Ambitious (Plus More Stickers!)

The AwkEng is Micro-Lazy, Macro-Ambitious (Plus More Stickers!)

Hi all, Today's post will be the second post about stickers in two weeks, but it's a fun follow up to last week's, so bear with me. Periodically, I...

The AwkEng on Happiness, Stickers, and Notebooks.

The AwkEng on Happiness, Stickers, and Notebooks.

Hi all, Today's post is about stickers and notebooks. That's because many years ago, I read the Happiness Project. While I don't remember much of t...

The AwkEng and the Shipping Mindset

Hi all, Probably one of my longer blog posts to date, as this is really a book chapter. This one is about broad principles and mindset I apply whil...

The AwkEng's Thoughts On Amazon Go Shutting Down

Hi all, Amazon just announced that it is shutting down Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go, citing a failure to create a "truly distinctive customer experie...

The AwkEng On Feedback (Also, I Tell My Wife I Love Her Every Day.)

Hi all, On Feedback (Also, I Tell My Wife I Love Her Every Day) Giving feedback is a foundational skill for leaders. People aren't mind readers, so...

The AwkEng Wants Buttons Back

The AwkEng Wants Buttons Back

Hi all, Today's post is about buttons. Glorious, clicky, tactile buttons.  And one man's mission to fix a grievous design error. (Sidebar, if you k...

The AwkEng Knows the Engineers are Natural Born Problem Solvers

Hi all, Today's post is about motivating engineers and keeping them engaged and productive. The key is tapping into their natural inclination to so...

The AwkEng Writes a Book About Making Things

Hi all, I'm starting to write a book about making things (a dramatically different concept than having finished writing a book) and in particular, ...

The AwkEng Experiments with AI Assisted Meal Planning

When my routine changed and I needed to get serious about meal planning, I turned to AI. Discover how I use Cursor AI to plan weekly dinners, organize recipes, and generate shopping lists. Includes real meal plan examples and an open-source GitHub repo you can use for your own planning.