Reed & Write is the digital home of Reed Erik Barber—stories, reflections, and everyday experiences. Check back often for updates.
There’s something about Santa Barbara that resets you the second you roll into town. The Pacific on one side, the mountains on the other, and that soft golden light that makes everything look like a postcard. We kept it simple. Morning coffee on State Street, Finished back to school shopping, then a slow walk down to the waterfront. Ended the day at Finney’s Crafthouse . The pier was busy but…
Left the doctor’s office feeling lighter than I have in a long time. After years on blood pressure meds and beta blockers, the numbers finally looked good enough. Today my doctor said the words I’d been hoping for: we can stop them. No more daily pills. No more wondering about side effects. Just… normal. I’m genuinely happy. Grateful, giddy. A little surprised, honestly. Feels like a quiet win…
Running…
VO2 max measures how effectively your body uses oxygen during intense exercise. It’s expressed in milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute (ml/kg/min) and is one of the strongest predictors of long-term health and longevity—often ranking ahead of traditional risk factors like blood pressure or cholesterol.  Values decline with age (roughly 5–10% per decade in active people,…
There's something special about seeing Yosemite for the first time. Photos don't really prepare you for the scale of the granite cliffs, the waterfalls, or just how peaceful the valley feels. Our first trip definitely won't be our last. We were already talking about coming back before we even left, and a return visit this fall is officially on the calendar. We can't wait to see Yosemite dressed in…
Anyone who’s ventured into the self-hosted email rabbit hole knows it’s traditionally been more of a character-building exercise than a pleasant weekend project. SMTP, DKIM, SPF, DMARC, reverse DNS… it’s enough to make even seasoned sysadmins question their life choices. My last serious attempt was with Mail-in-a-Box. It worked, but the overall experience and user interface were pretty minimal.…
Every website wants your actual email address. Some use it responsibly. Others treat it like an all-you-can-spam buffet. Enter Addy.io This alias forwarding service lets you create unlimited unique email aliases that forward messages to your real inbox(s). Instead of handing out your actual email address, you generate a different alias for every website, newsletter, or online account. If one of…
It’s all about chasing sunrises now!
According to the internut, I should've replaced it at least three firmware updates ago. The battery has "degraded" to about two weeks per charge, which Garmin users apparently consider catastrophic. Meanwhile, people with smartwatches are looking for their charger before lunch. I keep thinking about upgrading to a Fenix 8, but every time I see the $1,100 price tag, my Fenix 5+ suddenly seems to…
Wired Magazine