Matt’s Memo - December 2023

Hello there! It’s been a busy month with lots to cover. I’ll dive right in.

Progress

Hobby stuff

I started the book I had planned, Wheel of Time book 7 and was able to fit in some Starfield. I didn’t end up fitting in much of these, mostly impacted by rental property sale prep (more on that later).

It was a good month for running. I added in more trail runs. By and large the snow has been holding off and the weather has been mild through November.

This was probably my most consistent running-month of the year, certainly it’s been my highest mileage. I credit some group run opportunities as having contributed to this. My origins with running have solidly based on a mix of social interaction as well as exercise. It’s been nice to have one of my runs be with some other runners.

On this point, I’ve been investigating local running clubs, considering joining one of them. There are actually quite a few more than I realized in town. I’ve narrowed it down to a couple of front runners (ha) and will try to decide this upcoming month.

Family & Friends stuff

I started the month bringing the kids to Home Depot for their "kids project", which is apparently a monthly activity. Each kid gets a project kit, which they take to one of several workspaces which have tools, paint, and whatever other materials are shareable (and not in the kit). It was a hit, and we got back for another the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Henry joined me for a Gopher game, it’s the first one he’s made it through to the end (we saw a winner!). His highlight? Taking a bicycle rickshaw from our parking ramp to the game 😀

Jess sings in a phenomenal local choir (~60 members) and this month she had her concerts. This season had a great selection of music, and Jess was featured in a trio during one of the songs. They livestreamed the concert, so you can check out the whole thing (or just Jess’ trio at 1:29:01).

The kids and I got out to the lake for a weekend as well, it was the first time since school started back up and I appreciated the chance to unplug a bit while we were out there. Emelia also had a friend come out for the better part of the Saturday.

I had a great conversation with a friend last month. We caught up (generally) then we chatted about a wide range of topics (many of them generally related to work, work expectations, and career). The evening has stuck with me for a variety of reasons, but notably, I left with a sense of gratitude to have friends like that to connect with. I hope he felt similarly.

Last month I’d mentioned our plans to sell one of our rental properties. Since then, we accepted an offer! This has been a lot of work for both me and for Jess, with several issues that came up during inspection. We’re on track to be able to get contractors through and final inspections complete in time for a December closing. I’ll be happy to have this matter settled by the end of the year.

Work stuff

Lots of progress at work this month. I’ve continued to do a lot around custom applications of Generative AI. Much of the focus is on the Copilot Stack and building a “Custom Copilot”, as well as the use of Semantic Kernel. So far, I’ve delivered this live to over a thousand people.

Each time I continue to refine the message, and fine tune for the audience. I have a recorded version which I’d hoped to include here, but it hasn’t been posted to the HLS blog yet, so I’ll look to include it with next month’s update.

I also made good progress with my core customers. I have a good rhythm built and have built a good momentum on several projects.

Plans

Here are some priorities:

Explore some additional local trails for running.
Make a decision for which local running club I want to join.
Release the Matt GPT Mini course.
Close on the sale of our rental property.
Get some rest & recovery after closing.
Get ahead of the game for the second half of the fiscal year at work.
Get together with family for the holidays.
Watch the Gopher bowl game with a local group (I’m not traveling for this one).

Post Summary

Odds and ends

I’ve been a listener of the LeVar Burton Reads podcast for a handful of years. If you’re not already checking this out—you should. He does a phenomenal job of reading a short story in each episode. There’s some sound production work, but mostly just LeVar reading. It’s great, but you don’t have to take my word for it.

I’d mentioned last month that I was going to be organizing my prompt library. A friend shared xAI Prompt IDE with me. While I’m not part of the early access program, so I can’t weigh in on what I think, I still wanted to share it here.