Library Card Tips and Tricks

Having multiple library cards is great when it comes to reading; it gives you a much richer selection of resources and more chances for any given work to be available.

California residents

California libraries often offer cards to an California resident; this may include online registration for a temporary card (normally 1-3 months) which can be converted to a regular card if you visit the branches.

Finding libraries in California

This spreadsheet from 2024 lists libraries and their associated networks to help find library cards. Create a copy of this spreadsheet and use it to find local libraries. When traveling around California it can be useful to check your destinations to see if getting a card would be useful.

Custom keycaps

I like building keyboards and part of the fun has always been selecting keycaps. My latest keyboard has per-key RGB LEDs; I decided to lean into this, but I’ve never really liked how a lot of translucent caps look, so I decided to make my own. The keycap legends are mostly decorative for me, so I decided to lean into the combining the letter legend with the illumination and have a mostly-transparent cap whose upper surface is mostly the legend.

Making cookies

I’ve done fauxreos once before for a friend’s book after getting the idea from a Gourmet Makes video . I’ve been working at GitLab for a few years and we’re doing a large meeting so I figured I’d make cookies. I tried to apply what I learned from the last cookie on this one and ended up making new mistakes! The first batch (pictured in my Fauxreos recipe ) had a tendancy to dome while baking, which I think was related to the tall rim. On this batch I did a much shallower cutout, which vanished while baking. The lettering was tricky to cast and also vanished during baking. A more open typeface and taller lettering would help and any ornamentation should simply be taller than the background, even if I did like the idea of a field.