July's highlight was being able to attend, and present, at RailsConf 2025 in Philadelphia with almost my entire department. Otherwise, it has been a whirlwind of activity, both at work and with the house construction.

RailsConf 2025

Power Home Remodeling, where I work, was a sponsor for the event, which came with a speaking slot. And that ended up falling on me to present.

I was certainly nervous, but I feel it came out really well, and I'm happy with how it turned out.

You can view it in its entirety on YouTube. If you're not a computer programmer, though, you will likely get bored after the first 10 minutes or so. The first part, is a company overview and history of the application I work on at Power.

My RailsConf 2025 presentation

What my view looked like at my presentation.

Barter & Shake Phoenix

This group has a few bars in Phoenix and Gilbert, AZ which I've visited a few times and had an amazing experience every time I go.

Platform 18 has you feeling like you are on a train, traveling wherever they have it themed at the time. Video screens for the train windows show scenes of traveling through the countryside of Louisiana in the plantation days, or the cityscapes of New York in the 1920s.

Undertow is a tiki bar where you feel like you're in the hull of a ship in another time flowing down a river with volcanoes in the background, and you get attacked by natives shooting arrows at you alongside the river you are floating down. Sometimes, a thunderstorm will make the lights flicker.

Both the above take reservations, and you're not likely to get in without them.

Grey Hen RX is their walk-up bar (no reservations) that's currently themed to make you feel like you're in a China town. This is where my wife and I visited last week and had an expectedly enjoyable diversion from our exhausting house construction hunt.

Emperor's Tea (bourbon drink with Asian spices), and a non-alcoholic mango beverage.

You can see from the photos that the place just oozes atmosphere.

Wonton Soup. Not a real soup, but an alcoholic drink with the flavor notes of wonton soup. Served in a bowl, accompanied by green-tea-white-chocolate truffles sprinkled with 5-spice.

We haven't had a single drink there which hasn't been short of spectacular. In taste, as well as, experience.

House Construction Update

Exterior is getting wrapped for stucco

There's not a lot different on the outside. Most of the work recently has been on the inside with wiring, vent and lighting placement.

Recessed lighting, fans, vents

The most exciting accomplishment for the month, however, is that we found the slabs for our countertops. This is a relief since I think we've been looking for slabs for over a year and, up to now, haven't found anything that's been our countertops until these.

One of our countertop slabs with some material samples for the inside of our house.

Movies

  • Captain America: Brave New World was one (out of a few) Marvel films, I could have skipped completely.
  • F1 was fantastic. Great film to watch on the largest screen you can see it on.
  • Pig (2021) with Nicolas Cage was pretty good. I'd heard it described kind of like John Wick, but where conflict is resolved without violence. And that's somewhat accurate.
  • Smile 2 (2024) really amped up things from the first film. Really fun even though you know there is absolutely no hope for the main character.
Mr. Terrific in Superman (2025)
  • Superman (2025) is fine. I like that we're kind of thrown into a world and don't have to see another origin story, but I think I'd rather have seen a whole film about Mr. Terrific. Overall, it was fine.
  • The Last Witch Hunter (2015) is a film I've wanted to see for a while, and finally did. I found out I wasn't missing much.
  • The Fantastic Four: First Steps was the best Fantastic Four movie I've seen, but that's not saying much. Growing up, Fantastic Four was my favorite comic, so the characters hold a special place in my heart. This felt very much like a comic book. Maybe too much. But I'm happy with it.