the current state of things
cwaI have time now this evening to write, I've wanted to do so for a while, yet my fingers get to the keyboard and remain motionless. Unsure of what to say, or even what to think. I have so many thoughts swirling through my mind all at once, I have the usual problem of trying to nail one down. I think I'll start with headings, and let things flow from there.
Beta Stuff
Let's get this out of the way. I don't want to obsess over this because that is something I would tend to do. I don't want to sell anything, but I do want people to know about things I'm working on...that's kind of the point with making things, whether the medium is leather or code or words. Share what you make, a mantra I need to begin repeating to myself every day. I have so many awesome things sitting out there, using them daily myself but allowing my nerves, imposter syndrome, to influence how much I talk about things I'm making.
I digress.
If you take a look at my site, on my [workbench](https://aaronaiken.me/tools/) page, you'll see a massive list of projects that I have up and running. Most are private to me only, in dogfood status. Others are in TestFlight, but still private. Two, Cloudbase and Still Dark, are in open beta for anyone to try. Cloudbase I am limiting to 25 beta seats for now (grab one here). Still Dark, have at it.
My current promote focus is to fill the beta seats for Cloudbase so that I can begin getting some solid feedback in from people other than my crazy brain. While that is in that mode, I'm working on another app and will have it in public TestFlight shortly, hopefully next week sometime. I don't have a page for it yet on my site, but it is called Kitchen Table and it is meant for tracking bigger decisions that you (and maybe your partner) have decided on. I made it because my wife and I are great at talking about what we want to do next (in/around our house, with finances, life goals, etc) and then immediately get distracted by the next shiny thing. Kitchen Table will be a shared spot to record what we have decided.
Oh, also, Endpaper, while not technically open for beta testing yet, I am super pumped with the redesigned homepage (which mirrors an optional look to the app once you are inside). Beta will open, I promise, 2027 for sure. Endpaper is the first app I made and has been the one I am laboring over the most before I get it out to people. Not a good habit, but it is very near and dear to my heart, more so than anything else I have made. So, all of that to say, take a look at the homepage, enjoy it, and if this type of writing/thinking/publishing app feels like you, add your name to the beta list.
Family
Family is fantastic! Lindsay and I are in a good rhythm of doing life together now married again (for the second time). I still have to pinch myself each morning. We've been married since December 23, 2025, which feels like yesterday but also feels like 20 years ago. Life certainly has a way of just getting up and going no matter what is happening within our relationships.
Over the Summer, in August, we threw a big party to celebrate our remarriage, Lindsay and I turning 40 this year, and Mozzie turning 13. Big year. Lots of amazing milestones, and we continue to remain close in the day to day of living life. We are still homeschooling Mozzie and he is doing fantastic! 7th grade just might be his best year yet, we can tell that things are really clicking into place for him. He's enjoying flag football during the week and weekends, and air pistol as well.
Lindsay and I are still talking and praying about how exactly to best get our story out there and have not landed or been handed any clarity. We likely need a weekend away somewhere quiet to just sit with it, talk through various ways, and so on...the obvious answers are a blog, a podcast, a YouTube channel, and maybe that's where we'll land, but for now we are in a posture of waiting to see where we may be led.
Day job
My day job continues to go well. I've taken on an additional contract, so have a grand total of two that I support. Both are pretty large DOT clients and consume absolutely all of my business hours. They are going really well though, I continue to implement improvements to processes, continue to have success in projects large and small, and continue to feel immensely blessed to have been with the same company now for 13 years.
AI
Ah, the wonderful world of AI. I've been using AI in my professional work since 2021, certainly ahead of the curve compared to my colleagues, our industry, and even wider cultural acceptance of the technology. I have been using it personally since around that time as well, first with ChatGPT, then Gemini, and have fully landed on Claude as my daily driver. My company provides an enterprise license for that end of things and I have been very happy with Max on my personal account. I have a toolbox filled with AI tools now, all meant for various things which they all uniquely excel at. I've also been building them into various tools of my own via APIs - I see nothing but positive outcomes with this technology.
And that's the point I want to make here. Any technology can be used for bad, that goes without saying, but I think the positive will always outweigh the negative. The Internet is used to accomplish and allow for so much good around the world...but it also has its fair share of the bad and ugly. I'd rather have the Internet than not, and I'd rather have artificial intelligence than not. Like anything else, it is a tool to be utilized. Use it to make your life easier where you can, use it to create, use it to brainstorm, use it to do, and I say don't let the naysayers scare you from all that can be accomplished. Most importantly, have fun!
Debt update
I'll close here. Part of my story is a marriage in shambles, divorce, and $110,000 of debt, mostly consumer, some school, some business, but lots of emotional spending. Then remarriage and a bit of a phoenix story where God has pulled me up and out of the ashes and I am slowly rebuilding that which was previously destroyed. Starting in November of 2024 I had that $110,000 figure staring me in the face. Now, I've reduced it by more than half and am down to $51,383. Still a ways to go, still a depressing figure to see, but one I know will be gone sooner than later. My target is still March of next year and I'm sticking to that goal. Time will tell. You can watch my progress on the Splinched page of my site, I try to update that each month but make no promises :-)
So there we have it. A longer post than I wanted but it has been too long since I wrote last. As always, I hope to do this more often but let's set our expectations at that not being the case.
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a fantastic day!
~ Aaron
Originally published on aaronaiken.me.
