January 2026 on Jim Diroff II

365 Days of Code - Day 011

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 00:00:01 -0500

The new site is ready to go live. I moved over a bunch of blog posts, added an automatic summary for markdown files, and cleaned up some CSS. Today is much more administration than code, but I’m counting it all. And, now that I’ve finally finished working on my new site, I can move forward with my other code projects. Doing the daily write-ups will be much easier.

As a reminder, all commits can be found on the Github repo (opens in a new tab) for this site.

365 Days of Code - Day 010

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Mobile hamburgers… mmm

365 Days of Code - Day 009

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:01 -0500

git-lfs, CSS, and more

365 Days of Code - Day 008

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:01 -0500

What The FOUC: Building a Smarter Loading Screen

365 Days of Code - Day 007

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Getting started with Hugo

365 Days of Code - Day 006

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Migrating to Caddy, Docker configuration, and testing Github Actions workflow

365 Days of Code - Day 005

Sun, 25 Jan 2026 00:00:01 -0500

More administration work today. I needed a new webserver, as my old AWS server was deleted because I accidentally left it as a spot instance. I started a new DigitalOcean server to give their service a fair shot. This lead me to setting up a private instance of Gitea (opens in a new tab) on my local server to start a repo for server configurations that I do not want to post on the public internet (Github). That further led me down a rabbit hole where I found out my development server could not see any Tailscale (opens in a new tab) machines due to a DNS issue. Once again, none of this is technically code, so I need to find something else to work on. I’m already a few days out from the last time I worked on my Laravel tutorial, and associated sites, so I need to get cranking on that. First, I need to get my new Personal Relationship Manager repo up to date.

365 Days of Code - Day 004

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:01 -0500

I installed a new MariaDB (opens in a new tab) container in my local server, to support local databases. Primarily, I wanted to install Monica (opens in a new tab) in a container, and required a database to set up Monica. I ran into some headaches when I could not log in as the root user into my new database container. Turns out, I had previously installed MariaDB, and had a persistent store with data already in it. I had to delete the persistent store and start fresh. Once that was done, the issue was easily resolved and I spun up the new Monica instance.

365 Days of Code - Day 003

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Day 3 was a little less productive for coding. I mostly did administrative work to start the day. Working with docker, working with shells, updating PCs, synchronizing files, etc. I wanted to add another project to my Laravel (opens in a new tab) tutorial. I have been wanting a personal management system for a long time. The only one I know of that exists is called Monica (opens in a new tab). It was ok, and did what I needed it to do on a basic level. However, I was not a fan of the interface. The developers were also not working on the application full-time, while trying to migrate the entire system over to a new version called Chandler. They have put in a tremendous effort, but I think I can make one on my own.

365 Days of Code - Day 002

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:01 -0500

The second day of coding went fairly productive. I worked on the Laravel From Scratch 2026 (opens in a new tab) series, a new vimrc file (opens in a new tab), a prototype website for a client, and vibe coded a PHP time tracker (opens in a new tab).

The Laracasts (opens in a new tab) tutorial on Laravel lead me through setting up basic views and routes. I’ve done the tutorial before, but it was on a previous version of Laravel and over a year ago. The other issue with doing tutorials is not translating that knowledge directly into a more complex project. This directly lead me into two additional projects, vimrc and a client website.

365 Days of Code - Day 001

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 00:00:01 -0500

The goal of this challenge is pretty obvious; code every day for a year. I didn’t necessarily want to start on the first of the year, as I didn’t want the gimmick of a New Year’s Resolution and I wanted this challenge to stick. I’ve always enjoyed coding and programming, but I’ve never stuck with it in long enough stretches to become truly good. Challenging myself to code everyday for a year should hopefully help me get into the habit.