Chris Monteith

Software engineer and data wrangler | Founder of Refinary Logic | Building DispenseKit | Posting about code, ops, and life in the SMB world

[Chris Monteith @montch]

Back in the saddle for an awesome 2026!🎉

Ok, maybe I didn't really leave the saddle that much, but I still managed to kick back a bit. A few BBQs and family gatherings, as it should be.

It was also the first NYE in a long time where I felt like my trajectory for the next year had been locked in already. I'd spent quite a bit of time thinking and planning during those final 2 months.

A major reason for this was DispenseKit's strong end to 2025. Highlights below!👇

[Chris Monteith @montch]

Considering "origin" is the default name for a git repo's remote clone, this is fantastic branding. Instant mindshare for devs.

[siggy bilstein @sbilstein]

You can blame me for Cursor Origin being named Origin 😎

[Chris Monteith @montch]

And the big moves continue to happen. Though this was telegraphed months ago with the original options deal, it still feels historic.

The past seven days really have been huge on so many fronts. Major shifts across tech, culture, and geopolitics all at once. It's been wild!

[SpaceX @SpaceX]

SpaceX has exercised the option to acquire @cursor_ai in an all-stock transaction with the goal of building the world’s most useful AI models.

For the past few months, SpaceXAI has been jointly training a model with Cursor, which will be released in Cursor and Grok Build soon.

We look forward to working closely with the Cursor team to advance our frontier AI capabilities

[Chris Monteith @montch]

I recently met up with an old uni friend for the first time in 13 years. A fellow CS grad. It felt like no time had passed at all.

In fact, we finished a 2 hour lunch of talking shop and tech, only to realise we hadn't discussed the major news items from those 13 years. Crazy!😂

[Chris Monteith @montch]

@usgraphics Loved the colourful design of these drives as a kid. Strong Silicon Graphics vibes.👌

It's strange that one could feel excitement over a disk drive, but that's the magic of physical media. There's just something cool about being able to hold a bucket of bits in your hand.

[Chris Monteith @montch]

I'm starting to suspect that overuse of variables is a big pitfall when using Ansible. i.e. templating to the point where invariant data gets removed from its context in the playbook.

This can result in playbooks that are tough to read, which also means tough to maintain.

[Chris Monteith @montch]

Documenting here for myself and other casual explorers of git's vast CLI:

Want a list of your tags AND the first line of each tag's message (so you know what's what)?

git tag -n

Want the same output for a specific tag?

git tag -n <tagname>

Both make wrangling tags easier.👌

[Chris Monteith @montch]

But even with that much prep, there were still a few small-scale ops surprises to sort out after going live. A couple of pharmacies that couldn't be handled by the new system as smoothly as they should.

The slightly tragic thing: these two pharmacies were the only ones who became aware of the upgrade. 😂 All the others got a nice security boost without even realising it!

But it was just one of those upgrades that go unnoticed when they work correctly. So, overall, a big success.

That's the startup game, though. You have to grit your teeth and grind through the important stuff, while juggling setbacks. Even when it isn't a shiny new object that users will notice.

[Chris Monteith @montch]

I've been busy dealing with some loose ends from a recent upgrade to our app's backend system. Still "recuperating" a little bit too: I really felt that one!😆

This will end up being an important change to DispenseKit, though. It lays the groundwork for some very cool stuff!

However, it did require a great deal of care—plenty of planning and testing. Even caught a problem in staging that would have caused big disruptions to users who were already logged in.

One of those "back to the drawing board" moments. Always fun grappling with session continuity!😬

[Chris Monteith @montch]

Ate the final slice for breakfast straight out of the fridge.😂

Ok, I think this version was the better of the two. The lighter crust somehow dances better with that heavy layer of cheese and sauce.

Might need to try Detroit style next...

[Chris Monteith @montch]

DIY Sicilian-style pizza: Round 2!

Went for significantly more hydration in the dough this time (around 80%). Couldn’t even handle it without oiled hands.

The result: more of a focaccia-like base with bigger air pockets. Definitely lighter slices with a crispier bite.👌

Seems this is “the way” for Sicilian-style slices from NYC, based on what I’ve seen online.

I kept everything else exactly the same, though. Why mess with a good thing?

In the end, I’m not sure I have a clear winner between the two approaches. Hey, they’re both tasty and they’re both pizza. What more can I say?😆

[Chris Monteith @montch]

We get some pretty fantastic pizza down in Melbourne, but there’s one thing that's quite hard to find here: NYC-style square pan pizza.

So after getting way too hungry watching videos of Sicilian pan pizza from the US, I decided to have a go at making one myself.

I was absolutely shocked at how well it turned out for something so simple to make. Incredible flavours, despite using just a few basic ingredients and a regular oven. No fancy pizza stone required either.

I found two things made a big difference to the flavour:
1. Giving the dough a 24h cold rise in the fridge. Definitely worth the patience.
2. Gently frying the dried oregano with the sliced garlic, rather than adding it to the sauce after the tomato goes in.

Maybe the dough could have been less dense, but I honestly don't care: it tasted incredible.😂

100% worth a repeat!👌

[Chris Monteith @montch]

Just a simple idea that I find myself returning to regularly:

Don't worry about debating solutions when you haven't properly defined the problem yet.

A clear idea of the problem has a habit of settling those debates fast — even if you’re the only person solving it.

[Chris Monteith @montch]

I can't remember the last time daylight savings switched on the same Sunday as Easter. Nice to have some extra sleep to go with all the chocolate!🐇

[Chris Monteith @montch]

Just brushing off the Ansible cobwebs.

The nature of the tool makes it a bit like the boat you no longer need to carry once you've crossed the river.

After you've built enough playbooks to manage a particular inventory of hosts, it's very easy to fall out of practice!

[Chris Monteith @montch]

First principles will take you far.

[Chris Monteith @montch]

We get some pretty fantastic pizza down in Melbourne, but there’s one thing that's quite hard to find here: NYC-style square pan pizza.

So after getting way too hungry watching videos of Sicilian pan pizza from the US, I decided to have a go at making one myself.

I was absolutely shocked at how well it turned out for something so simple to make. Incredible flavours, despite using just a few basic ingredients and a regular oven. No fancy pizza stone required either.

I found two things made a big difference to the flavour:
1. Giving the dough a 24h cold rise in the fridge. Definitely worth the patience.
2. Gently frying the dried oregano with the sliced garlic, rather than adding it to the sauce after the tomato goes in.

Maybe the dough could have been less dense, but I honestly don't care: it tasted incredible.😂

100% worth a repeat!👌

[Chris Monteith @montch]

Oof that one hits hard! Great advice.

[Cole Jaczko @colejaczko]

"Do the thing you'd be jealous of if someone did first."

It was this advice that brought me to my true purpose.

[Chris Monteith @montch]

Log in and lock in.💻

[Chris Monteith @montch]

Cafe is closed, so the emergency coffee supply has been engaged.😎

(These are pretty decent btw!)

[Chris Monteith @montch]

Was walking past the Apple Store today, so I figured I'd get a quick first impression of the new MacBook Neo.

It definitely has a premium feel to it, and doesn’t look out of place next to its more expensive siblings. The screen was surprisingly vivid.

Most important for me though: the keyboard. It’s great to type on, no doubt helped by that rigid aluminium shell. My daily driver is an M1 MBP, and I can’t say the typing experience felt like a downgrade at all.

The thing that really surprised me was the mechanical touchpad. So satisfying to use, with plenty of travel and tactile feedback on clicks. I think it will surprise a lot of laptop snobs!😁

I'm not a fan of the green model though. The colour just looks weird to my eyes, but maybe it was the store lighting. I think the blue and pink are where it's at.👌

[Chris Monteith @montch]

What a cool feature! So subtle it's almost an Easter Egg.

Small touches like this are easy to miss, but I'm convinced they still have a real effect on the experience of users who don't consciously notice them.

Taken together, they result in an interface that just feels more natural to use, even if the individual reasons are hard to pin down.

The MVP culture of startups tends to discourage flourishes like this, but I think a few well-chosen bits of over-engineering can really set a product apart.

[Apple Design @TheAppleDesign]

If you are still skeptical about Steve Lemay.. just know that he is the guy behind THIS

“What we’re trying to do is to bring some of the joy of those analog experiences to the digital world” - Lemay