Technical Foundations and Social Rhythms

Morning routine with process refinements. SESIG discussion ranging from NIH research to data center impacts. Daily workflow development. Kitchen cleaning. Server setup challenges. MCP server enhancements. Filesystem sandbox instantiation. Photography work. Exercise. Beer:30 at Block 15. Suds with Tim. Hot tub. Outer Limits.

A day of infrastructure development, workflow refinement, and community connection

Events and activities that occurred on Friday, January 09, 2026

The SESIG conversation ranged across territory both troubling and practical. Government information integrity emerged as a theme—concerns about NIH potentially removing research papers, changes to federal websites, climate change information disappearing. The group explored the complications of food health research and the challenges of creating homogeneous control groups for human studies. Mike shared his experience using Grok AI for detailed Rome trip planning, while I discussed integrating MCP servers with Claude to enhance information access. Ken's hearing aid testing revealed that over-the-counter options with online audiologist support often outperform high-end alternatives, and his Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses offer excellent sound quality despite lag in live conversations.

The data center discussion proved particularly illuminating. Thirty-five facilities built along the Columbia River near Boardman, most using water as a heat transfer medium and discharging back to the river. Mike explained that thermal impact remains relatively small compared to river volumes. Virginia and the East Coast account for 30-40% of US data center energy consumption. Meta and Google are investing in nuclear energy for their facilities. The conversation touched on acoustic drilling systems and the possibility of using plasma lasers for geothermal access—technologies that sound like science fiction but apparently exist in development.

Infrastructure work consumed much of the day's technical energy. Fetching the HDMI KVM cable from the crawl space, making incremental progress on ldmrp03 setup, mostly wrestling with wiring issues. The parts I need arrive tomorrow. Adding POST functionality to the Internal MCP server opened access to both my personal wiki and the house wiki—Claude can now write to these knowledge bases directly. Instantiating the filesystem sandbox MCP created new possibilities for working with attachments, though I hit my session limit while exploring it. The Server Supply order problem required attention—credit card error on file, resolved through their website.

The workflow refinement continued throughout the day. Setting up tomorrow's planning framework, refining the daily planning and journaling process further. Each iteration reveals new efficiencies and clarifies the structure. The FedEx delivery interrupted an attempted nap—Epson order arrived with the box open and envelope crushed, though the contents survived. Pretty terrible service, but the equipment made it through.

View from my deck

Photography bridged the technical and aesthetic. Printing a 13x19 image of Joey, capturing a couple shots of the Three Sisters from the deck. These moments of visual work provide counterpoint to the systems building and infrastructure development—different modes of creation requiring different kinds of attention.

Physical preparation followed the established pattern. Three 45-second planks, fifteen bird-dogs, five stretches, fifteen curls. Phase 1 of the New Zealand training protocol, building the foundation for what comes later. The consistency matters more than the intensity at this stage.

Beer:30 at Block 15 brought the traditional Friday gathering—good to reconnect with the group after some time away. The social architecture that provides weekly rhythm alongside the technical infrastructure. Following that with wings and conversation with Tim at Suds extended the evening's social dimension. These patterns of connection balance the solitary work of systems building and workflow refinement.

The hot tub offered transition space before bed. A bit of The Outer Limits provided mental shift before sleep—the kind of speculative fiction that mirrors some of the day's SESIG discussion about technologies on the horizon.

Friday proved the value of incremental progress across domains. Technical infrastructure moves forward piece by piece. Workflows clarify through iteration. Social connections renew through showing up. Physical preparation builds through consistency. Each layer supports the others, and deep sleep came easily—the body's recognition that meaningful work had been accomplished.