Hello! 👋 I am Max and I write. I also do other stuff like make websites and experiment with tools and tend a digital garden. This website consolidates posts from across my various blogs and outlets.
I write about everything I'm obsessed with: Seasons, zines, learning, knowledge, AI, documentation, Animal Crossing, Monster Hunter, travel and places, the creative process, Lego, whatever I'm currently reading, and my life. I also take photos and make zines sometimes.
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43 posts across 7 blogs.
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TL;DR: Generative AI amplifies expertise, it doesn't substitute it. AI does not make you an expert As AI becomes more available I want to address the subtle but crucial misconception that AI allows anyone to do anything. Reality (as usual) is more nuanced. AI can significantly lower friction, speed…
There's a growing tendency to think about generative AI at work as "just another tool," something employees can learn the same way they learn new software, then fold into their workflows easily. That framing makes sense on the surface, especially if you don't know anything about how genAI works. Mo…
Let's talk about starting a seasonal blog right before your favorite season, and then suddenly it's spring, which is the second worst season of the year (for me). I want to upkeep and write about my experiences of the seasons but I'm currently locked inside in the flow of A/C avoiding the outside w…
Hello and welcome to the newsletter on Buttondown! early sunset lamp March felt like a big chaotic mess trying to process everything and also keep up with everyday life, but we managed and we survived! Here are some highlights from my month. Walking & eating snacks I went on a lot of weekend walks,…
March 2026. Walking around Wetlands
March 2026. Take a seat
March 2026. Winter tree on a warm day
Skeleton army (actually these were just for sale) This amazing map These amazing things Fuck yes FUCK YES Here are more things. I finished the day inspired to begin my own small build and figure out the next steps for the train set I want to build, and have been planning for a few years. I got star…
Spring has arrived, which means that people are out all the time and my weekend walks aren't as isolated like a spooky atmospheric music video in the gloom of a winter mid-morning... but they are still nice. I love taking weekend walks in the transition from winter to spring because you get to watc…
A few weeks ago I signed up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) subscription where a local farm delivers vegetables and herbs (and some other items sometimes) to my door once a week and then I scramble to use all of it before more arrives. I've done those home chef ones before where they se…
We are experiencing the microseason within the transition between winter and spring that the I-95 Corridor gets to experience together. (I think other parts of the country and world get more violent mood swings than ours, though.) One week / a few days in a row, it's 87°F/30.5°C and sweaty and you'…
What I’m up to lately. See more Now pages March 14, 2026 I’m pretty excited about how this site is shaping out.
Site Modification History 2026 3/14: Added a timeline style option for myself, adapted paper layout code into graph paper which you can see on zines.md.
It's 74°F/23.3°C today, muggy, a little gross. The kind of weather where you can smell everyone's sweat as soon as you walk outside, even if there aren't any people around. I took my walk anyway because my goal is to do that daily in March. Sometimes where you go is decided by the outside condition…
Dear Winter, I love you. Have I expressed it enough? I love, love, love, love you. I know you get a lot of hate. People don't like the darkness coming early, dislike the cold, and get sad. They pine for spring before winter even ends. They can't wait for summer! Not me, though. When summer is here,…
I've been doing seasonal reflection and journaling for several years now. I'm still trying to figure out what it really means and what it amounts to, other than learning more about how weather works, how the climate changes, and observing how that seems to impact the people around me. Other than fi…
Digital garden and knowledge library
here on my seasonal blog I just have a few things to say about love. for many people today is about spending lots of money on candlelight dinners and taking long walks on the beach, but for many of us it's simply about respecting and appreciating the love that we have built in our lives. with or wi…
Usually I craft 3-5 impersonal messages for holiday cards, and then send them with a personal note for each person. This year, I tried to give each of my recipients a sense of my holiday/winter joy. Here are some highlights: Every year I keep an eye out for skeleton nutcrackers and this year I foun…
This is a "behind the zine" post, more or less. The last few zines I've made were created digitally because I gave up on my printer... but I realized I can still use it as a scanner, at least. So instead of what I'd been doing using stock images and free things, this season's zine will start with a…
January 2026. Boats on the Potomac River, Maryland on the other side.
January 2026. Sunset, landing in Washington, DC.
January 2026. Landing in Rochester, NY, in the snow. I like how the trees look scribbled onto the snow.
I uploaded some designs I made a long time ago. Monster Hunter things amongst horror things. Some of them are face paint. I guess I should categorize them, oops. I will do this tomorrow. My mom added me to her Nintendo family; after 41 years I am finally part of the family omg. Started thinking abo…
I've been playing basically daily since the update. I'm enjoying a lot of it. Here are some random snapshots from the last few days. I GOT THE CAT OMG These are my two favorite hotel rooms so far (simple and kiddie rooms). Frankly, my life is dull now that I've thought of the castle bedroom. Bluebe…
November 2025. A long fall walk
When people would ask questions about what element I was, I would always get stuck between stone earth and the water flowing around it.
I got it I'm a star
November 2025. Sunrise in Deltaville, VA
August 2025. Sunset
August 2025. Thomas, WV
I participated in the Christmas event and as a result I talked to Cecilia. I've been ignoring her since she moved in in 2023. Whatever. I wanted to be festive! Here is me giving gifts to all my buddies on the island. And here I am standing next to all of light decorated trees on the island. Some pi…
I am a tree. This is where I want to be!!! My Christmas wish! See the tree in action! It's a cat!
Happy Christmas time, I decorated the safe areas of the island. Tom specifically had me set up this whole town square and sitting area situation just for seasonal decor and then I mysteriously disappeared from the island for several years. It's not done yet but I did this on lunch break today and I…
Rocks are situated around land and objects so when I hit them I don't have to think about where I'm positioned There are only 17 full grown trees across the island so every day you shake them something comes out of each. Every other tree is stunted from growth by a cherry buried behind it, or would…
Today on my island I did some things. Improved my front yard and added a sculpture garden Took photos of villagers hanging out as I came across them Dobie hanging out outside his beach home eating a sandwich Bluebear taking in the fall evening air all the way on the opposite side of the island from…
Today I did all my chores and things and started reorganizing a bit for the update and before I logged off I decided to go fishing. I forgot how meditative this game is if you just walk around and enjoy it rather than constantly focusing on chores and island improvements.
All of this is random/chaos, so find purpose from within and allow it to change throughout life.
Documentation is like technology in how you bring it into use.
Many people think they need to learn everything about accessibility before they can start adopting flows for accessibility in their work.