February 2026 Update

by Bobby Smith - Written on March 16, 2026

Happy half way through March everyone!

I hope the first two months of the year have gone well and the third is following them up. This month has been solid one. Lots of posts and work done. Check it out.

Website Thoughts and Updates

The website has had a bit of pre-spring cleaning.

Header and Projects Page Cleanup

This month I did a bit of cleanup on the site and redid the header. The header was starting to get very full with all of the different interests this website is trying to showcase. So to clean this up I truncated some of it and moved others into better designated spaces. Mainly putting most of it into the Projects page. Check out more at the blog post here: Header and Projects Page Cleanup

The Header After Cleanup

The header after cleanup

Blog Posts of the Month

This month followed up last month with being a very good streak of posts on various topics. We got 1 Python-Playground, 1 Website Update, 1 All Around Update, and 2 Write-n-Refactor Archives.

Blog Posts From February

Current Projects

Small Combat

Small Combat is taking its time, but steadily increasing in complexity. The main aspect that has been developed for this week are the recreated modular unit select menu. This is a recreation after I tested if Claude would be up for creating a menu for this purpose. It did a really good job aesthetically, but the code I was not happy with. So I went in and recreated it. AI was not fully removed from the workflow. I did use Claude to fill out sections that were tedious or test ideas.

Lastly I added a few changes to the GameController and UI. The GameController was updated to handle data that comes form the new ModularSelectMenu. The UI has a turn and player display added. That is about it for this month.

Small Combat

Small Combat, screenshot taken in February 2026

Python-Playground: "Knights Vs Orcs V2"

The second Python-Playground was released this month with it being an extension of the first. I added some additional detail, such as dexterity/Initiative, and increased the simulated complexity to allow for multiple units to be generated and fight. You can read more in its blogpost: Python-Playground: "Knights Vs Orcs V2". Please take a look at it and try it yourself.

What I've Been Reading

This month I've finished "The Worlds I See" by Dr. Fei-Fei Li. It was a very good look at her life and how she found her passion for AI. She talks about her and her family's struggles and what she views as a possibility for where AI may take us. I really enjoyed the later part of the book where she discusses the jarring effect of AI changing from something that was mainly Academic in nature to being thrust into the commercial space.

The Worlds I See by Dr. Fei-Fei Li

The Worlds I See by Dr. Fei-Fei Li

Over the past year I've been slowly working my way through the entirety of Star Wars content in chronological order to when Disney purchased them. Starting with the first book and leading me to here, "Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back" by Donald F. Glut. This is the novelization of the 2nd Star Wars film and released, like the first novelization, month(s) before the actual movie came out. Its been a good read so far. Its interesting to see the differences in this adaptation vs the actual release film. One example is Yoda's description as a blue-skinned alien with long blond hair. I've got about 2/3 the way through it and am on track to finish it in March. I'll let you know what I think about it when I'm done.

Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back by Donald F. Glut

Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back by Donald F. Glut

What I've Been Playing

This month has been a slightly smaller one for games, but its been a lot of common names from previous months. I did play a few more, that I did not record my time in. Mainly, Kindom Come: Devliverance, Counter Strike: Source, and Unreal Tournament 2004.

The hour total was 11.75 hours in total.

  • Battlefield 6 - 5.3 hours - Completed after 9 Hours
  • Fallout - 2.9 Hours
  • Final Fantasy X - 2.3 hours
  • ARC Raiders - 1.25 hours

Life

World Ag Expo

Every year I join my father, grandfather, uncle and sometimes cousin for a guys trip to the World Ag Expo in Tulare, California. Its always fun to see what they come up with, are selling, and where the trends are going for that market.

Crop-duster

Tractor, taken February 10, 2026

Crop-duster

Every so often we have a crop-duster move into the area to handle our field. This year was one of those years. I thankfully was home and ran out to take some pictures. He even did a flyby afterwards for one more shot.

Crop-duster

Crop-duster, taken February 27, 2026

Jarrarium going through its Heat up Sequence

Quite a few years ago I started a jarrarium on my desk from dirt I scraped out of our pond. Its fully self sustaining and contained. Its fun to see it go through its cycles throughout the year. Lots of small critters and plants have flourished inside this jar. Here is a picture of it going through its yearly algae bloom as it starts heating up.

Jarrarium Algae Bloom

Jarrarium Algae Bloom, taken in February 2026

Looking Ahead to March

It's already half way through March and it hasn't been as productive a month as I would like. It's been a bit of a rough one, but I am starting to focus on Small Combat and really push to get it playable. I am still hoping to get an RSS feed up and running, but that one might have to wait until next month.

Thank you for reading and see you next time!