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The new apartment is coming together. I look forward to a time when boxes are no longer a major part of our day-to-day lives. Between those we unpack and the near-daily arrivals bearing needed household items, I’ve become adept at breaking them down and getting them out of the apartment. Come to think of it, the super is probably looking forward this being over as well.

I usually relegate the AI references to the links section, but I thought this piece in The Times was worthy of note: The A.I. Disruption We’ve Been Waiting for Has Arrived via FlowingData.

“It might fail a company’s quality test, but it would meet every deadline. That is what makes A.I. coding such a shock to the system.”

Indeed, quantity over quality. This is the world we are living in today. Perhaps it has always been that way, but these large language models can turn stuff out at a volume that was previously unimaginable. I do hope we can, collectively, figure out how to use these things so that they are a net positive.

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This is an offshoot not only of the jukebox project, but some little things I’ve been automating at work as of late. Nothing here is groundbreaking, but it wasn’t obvious to me when I started using copilot. During my first attempts, I just added copilot my normal process of knocking something together: Jump in and start experimenting with things, write some comments and notes and gradually build up a working thing piece by piece. Copilot was helpful, but kept running ahead of me, doing things I didn’t ask it to do, which was annoying.

I really started to see more benefits once I started working in a slightly different, and possibly more obvious, way. In brief:

  • Start by writein brief requirements
  • Use Copilot instructions files
  • Use new chats from time to time
  • Try different models

Keep reading for the longer version…

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Photo of a massive pile of dirty snow stored (and blocking) a street near a park. There is a street sign for "Court St." in the photo.
Snow removal elsewhere is snow acquisition in Red Hook. Photo credit: Angela Lin

This week, we moved house or apartment, as the case may be. It’s been a little hectic to say the least. For instance, I think I’ve spent the better part of three working days packing, and almost immediately unpacking the kitchen. It’s also exercising muscles I’ve been neglecting at the gym making, which is making me feel creaky.

The move out was uneventful thanks to an amazing NYC moving crew. They whisked everything away in short order despite having to move the truck twice to let others pass due to the lingering snow. Dismantling the bed frame required some consultation and discussion. Even if we had the instructions, they were probably in Italian.

Moving in was even faster. There was a space in front of the building and a service elevator to get everything upstairs. Shortly after the movers departed, cupcakes in hand, leaving us among many boxes, we went to the local for a couple pints. That was the goal I was working towards for a couple days. Since the new place is only a 5 minute walk from the old, it’s the same local I’ve known for the last 16 years. Some things change, others remain the same.

While we’ll be settling in for a bit, the new place is already starting to feel like home. We’re getting used to different noises and idiosyncrasies like which cabinets don’t close quite the same way as the others. I even managed to find dig out the various electronics and cables needed to set up for the Friday night Jamulus session.

Finally, what move wouldn’t be complete without at least one trip to Ikea? On ours, we encountered the absolutely massive snow pile in Red Hook pictured here. The streets around the ball fields are closed and filled with 15 foot high piles of grey snow.

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Once again, very late on posting this one. There’s been a lot occupying my normal, weekend writing time lately. I plan to get back on schedule (and maybe talk a bit about what’s been occupying all that time) this weekend.

Stay tuned…

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