20 field guides
All topics
Pick a pursuit. Find your bearings, catch up on what changed, or settle into a Field Note.
01
Systems / Infrastructure
Home Lab
Build the quiet, recoverable backbone for local AI, storage, networking, and the services worth owning.02
Listening / Signal Chain
Audio
Build around listening situations and musical priorities—not prestige, price, or component churn.03
Agents / Applied Practice
AI
Learn through useful work: bounded authority, visible failures, repeatable evaluations, and a real quality bar.04
Family / Presence
Being a Dad
Practical ideas for showing up well without turning family life into an optimization project.05
Strength / Mobility
Fitness
Train for strength, movement, and energy that remain useful outside the workout.06
Automation / Reliability
Smart Home
Automate the house where it removes friction—and keep the manual path intact.07
Fire / Food
Grilling
Better food through repeatable heat control, sound technique, and less ceremonial fuss.08
Water / Practice
Fishing
Learn the water, the fish, and the equipment without letting gear replace time outside.09
Brewing / Taste
Coffee & Espresso
Control the variables that matter, then stop fiddling long enough to drink the coffee.10
Workshop / Craft
Woodworking
Build useful things accurately, safely, and with enough patience to enjoy the result.11
Modeling / Making
3D Printing
Treat the printer as the output device; the durable capability is designing the part.12
Workshop / Joining
Metal Fabrication
Build fabrication capability deliberately before accumulating large, expensive tools.13
Devices / Practical Tech
Tech & Consumer Electronics
Find the products and projects that add real capability after the novelty wears off.14
Skill / Practice
Cubing
Recover speed and pattern fluency without turning a satisfying puzzle into homework.15
Safety / Marksmanship
Guns
Center safety, maintenance, lawful use, and repeatable skill—not internet mythology.16
Flight / Mapping
Drones
Use the aircraft as a data-collection tool with a clear mission, legal boundary, and deliverable.17
Carry / Utility
EDC
Carry fewer, better things selected by the jobs they repeatedly perform.18
Movement / Roads
Cycling
Make riding easier to choose, safer to repeat, and more interesting over time.19
Fit / Materials
Boots
Judge boots by fit, use, construction, repairability, and long-term comfort—not the break-in story.20
Money / Systems