Matt's Notes

The Stack Belongs to One Man

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

SpaceX has acquired xAI. Rockets, satellites, and frontier AI models now share a single corporate parent.

This isn’t just another tech acquisition. It’s the completion of a stack.

What the Stack Looks Like

Consider what Musk now controls:

Launch capacity. SpaceX is the dominant commercial launch provider. If you want something in orbit, you probably go through them.
Global connectivity. Starlink provides satellite internet to millions, with coverage in places traditional infrastructure doesn’t reach.
Frontier AI. xAI was already moving fast. Now it has captive infrastructure.

Each layer feeds the others. Satellites generate data. Data trains models. Models run on compute. Compute needs power and connectivity. Rockets put up more satellites.

Cozy Wiff

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 09:50:00 -0500

This is the first post in my new photoblog series. I’m excited to share my favorite photos and the stories behind them.

Here’s my cat Waffles, enjoying being tucked under a blanket whilst a snowstorm rages outside.

Redesigning My Personal Site with Claude Code

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is the first entry in claude.log, a series documenting my experiments using Claude Code to build interesting apps, websites, and utilities.

The Setup

I’ve been meaning to redesign my personal site for a while. The old one worked, but it felt stale. Instead of spending a weekend bikeshedding over static site generators and CSS frameworks, I decided to pair with Claude Code and see what we could build in a single session.

RadarrApp - My First UWP Application

Thu, 28 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I recently decided to build my first Universal Windows Platform (UWP) application. The result is RadarrApp, a Windows Store application that provides desktop access to my Radarr media library without needing a web browser.

Data Binding

One of the first fundamental XAML questions I had to address was choosing between { Binding } and { x:Bind }. I discovered that the latter option compiles type information at build time and binds to code-behind, offering advantages over the older binding methodology.

Finding and Replacing Text in a Word Document Using python-docx

Sun, 15 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I recently needed to automate dividend slip generation through a Python solution. The project required reading shareholder data from CSV, locating a Word template, substituting placeholder text with specific details, and saving customized documents without altering the original.

The Challenge

I needed to accomplish five key tasks:

Extract amounts, dates, and addresses from a CSV file
Verify that output files didn’t already exist
Load a Word document template
Replace placeholder “trigger words” with actual data
Save generated documents separately from the template

Solution Approach

Rather than relying on built-in find-and-replace functionality, I leveraged python-docx to iterate through document paragraphs and apply Python’s string replacement methods to swap placeholder values for actual data.

Participating in ReactRiot 2017

Thu, 07 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Our team recently participated in ReactRiot 2017, a 48-hour online hackathon centered on building applications with React. We developed MGMT, a time-tracking tool designed for freelancers, emphasizing clean design with a simple navigation journey.

Technical Stack

The project incorporated a variety of tools and libraries:

React-Router for navigation
Redux and Redux-Thunk for state management
Reselect for memoized selectors
SweetAlert for notifications
IcoMoon and Feather for icons
Photoshop for design work
GitHub for version control
Browserstack for cross-browser testing

Development Experience

My teammate Toby and I were deepening our Redux knowledge during development. Despite encountering challenges with state management integration, we persevered and completed the project. Sleep was minimal during the competition, sustained primarily by energy drinks.

Create a Webform Handler in Drupal 8

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This tutorial explains how to develop a custom webform handler for Drupal 8’s Webform module. The guide demonstrates the process of creating a handler to transmit form submissions to third-party services.

Module Structure

Start by establishing this directory hierarchy:

modules/
 custom/
 my_custom_form_handler/
 src/
 Plugin/
 WebformHandler/

Basic Handler Template

The handler file (ExampleFormHandler.php) requires these use statements and class definition:

<?php
namespace Drupal\my_custom_form_handler\Plugin\WebformHandler;

use Drupal\Core\Session\AccountInterface;
use Drupal\Core\Serialization\Yaml;
use Drupal\Core\Form\FormStateInterface;
use Drupal\webform\Plugin\WebformHandlerBase;
use Drupal\webform\WebformSubmissionInterface;

use GuzzleHttp\Client;
use GuzzleHttp\Exception\RequestException;

/**
 * @WebformHandler(
 * id = "example_form_handler",
 * label = @Translation("Example form handler"),
 * category = @Translation("Examples"),
 * description = @Translation("An example form handler"),
 * )
 */
class ExampleFormHandler extends WebformHandlerBase {
 public function submitForm(
 array &$form,
 FormStateInterface $form_state,
 WebformSubmissionInterface $webform_submission
 ) {
 // Implementation here
 }
}