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![Eldridge and me.](/images/ShPz4mwvGD-300.jpeg)
Eldridge
Mourning the loss of my best friend.
![The Pit Viper logo in six different color schemes.](/images/9J2P1iAwPt-300.jpeg)
Theming Design Systems
A look at Pit Viper's theme system.
![The Aparicios with Santa Claus](/images/L4kytMnCY--300.jpeg)
2023
A look back at 2023.
![An illustration of the headless horseman, atop his horse, with no head, natch.](/images/iQqu6Ulk1p-300.jpeg)
Using Wordpress as a headless CMS for Eleventy
How I avoided having to re-learn PHP and love Eleventy.
![A single, tiny baby foot sticking out of some blankets in an incubator.](/images/PMJXfCPJTm-300.jpeg)
10 years of Extra Life
Keeping Olivia's memory alive through charity.
![A hand going into the pain box from Dune, overlaid with CSS in the font Impact.](/images/wbQb_nIrSl-300.jpeg)
Why we're bad at CSS
And how we can improve with a practical example.
![Geno laying on the couch](/images/R9Ykkyr1RQ-300.jpeg)
Our Dear Geno
Heartbroken.
![A collection of gaming systems.](/images/lpjUkFKsK7-300.jpeg)
Fun with Retro Handhelds
An incomplete guide to playing your favorite childhood games on the go.
![Drake meme with Drake saying no to 'Get design system work on the roadmap' and yes to 'Let the roadmap inform the design system work'](/images/trtZ4rvezS-300.jpeg)
Design System Diary (Part 1)
Chronicling the start of a new design system.
![A view inside the United Center. The stadium is packed and the game is about to tip off.](/images/snPQWrYwMZ-300.jpeg)
Imagine
When the life of a basketball fan transcends sports.
![Mike with Ryan, Owen and Emily in festive Christmas attire.](/images/fZ0E7tTbBr-300.jpeg)
2022
A look back at 2022.
![A bunch of awesome design systems folks standing in front of a flaming fountain in New Orleans.](/images/ZS1UxAs0DE-300.jpeg)
Design System Advice
5 tips for working on design systems.
![Atoms and Molecules from Brad Frost's Atomic Design](/images/1DIAPJ-7-J-300.jpeg)
Reframing Design Systems
Thoughts on removing product decisions from your system.
![A sample design system website with a nested navigation.](/images/EuUS00d1HU-300.jpeg)
Nested navigation in Eleventy
Building a no-JS navigation menu with the details element.
![Baby Owen at two days old, eyes closed, mouth in a subtle grin, holding his mom and dad's fingers](/images/dHGDk1YdH1-300.jpeg)
Owen
Reflections on being a new dad, again.
![An older couple sitting among piles of stuff in a hoarder house](/images/JuA_Ep3TYh-300.jpeg)
Refactoring MikeAparicio.com
Escaping a hoarder house of technical debt.
![Sifu](/images/Iggjz8bwpY-300.jpeg)
Tips for beating Sifu
Lessons learned while earning Sifu's platinum trophy.
![Ryan holding hands with Santa Claus, Covid-style](/images/rTZWU8VoZ--300.jpeg)
2021
A look back at 2021.
![You can now wear Crocs in NBA 2k for the low price of five dollars.](/images/lobQUi6yBn-300.jpeg)
Games as a Service are Ruining Gaming
I'm exhausted by the daily grind of video game chores.
![A selection of movie posters from my Movie a Year challenge list on Letterboxd.](/images/qlnbOUY6O4-300.jpeg)
My Movie a Year Challenge
I watched one movie from each year since 1975.
![Angry Germans from the Simpsons with caption, 'actually, it is all of our website'](/images/8Bsv8Rzt5J-300.jpeg)
It's Your Website
No one cares about your stack.
![A search for 'butt' using Algolia](/images/KTauOvUIzV-300.jpeg)
Adding Algolia search to an Eleventy site with Netlify
After months of struggles I finally found a relatively easy solution.
![Owen Wilson and Tom Hiddleston in Loki](/images/mwrqlFvDcb-300.jpeg)
Variants
Thoughts on traveling the sacred timeline.
![Extreme Makeover Homepage Edition](/images/l-Ud3Jrqlb-300.jpeg)
Extreme Makeover Homepage Edition
I am the Ty Pennington of Lighthouse scores.
![Mike's attempt at a clickbaity YouTube thumbnail](/images/CP_j5-WF28-300.jpeg)
Cool CSS
Turning my CSS methodology into the last framework I'll (hopefully) ever have to build.
![Dae Su from Oldboy contemplates 15 years in confinement](/images/hmH642qp8_-300.jpeg)
2020
Well, that sucked.
![A fireteam advances at dawn.](/images/MyrYr9S5ba-300.jpeg)
Why I Love Modern Warfare (Again)
Once more into the fray.
![Extra Life 2020: November 14, 2020](/images/ubO1TYJKdc-300.jpeg)
Extra Life 2020
Our seventh year of helping sick children.
![An illustration of Mike with the phrase,](/images/3BgLmPHhDl-300.jpeg)
Goodbye, Groupon
Leaving the longest job I've ever held.
![A refreshed design of Groupon's deal page.](/images/4T_p9jqRQB-300.jpeg)
Simple Groupon
Demonstrating the power of design tokens for a hackathon.
![The residents of Quarantine island](/images/YRLX1gFKAl-300.jpeg)
Why I Love Animal Crossing
A small comfort amidst a pandemic.
![Masked up to brave the grocery store.](/images/VTagYMU30F-300.jpeg)
Quarantine Diary 1
Notes from a pandemic.
![Still from the movie, Waves.](/images/FLb-Vi6bwy-300.jpeg)
My Year of Film
My attempt to watch one film per day in 2020.
![Mike and his family with Santa Claus.](/images/9PlFHZolZb-300.jpeg)
2019
A look back at 2019.
![Extra Life 24-hour Marathon - November 2, 2019 at 8am Central Time](/images/q1FXHHTpdF-300.jpeg)
Extra Life 2019
Leveling up fundraising in year six!
![Title card from the Netflix series, Dark](/images/DmMPNo24SH-300.jpeg)
Why I Love Dark
The best show on Netflix you (probably) haven't seen.
![Butterfly man meme. React devs looking at literally every layer of a Sketch file: Is this a DIV?](/images/-dfwvO1Xf8-300.jpeg)
Don't Let Your Engineering Team Bleed Out
Thoughts on being a CSS medic.
![The lovely folks of Groupon's Design Union](/images/UYseeohJXf-300.jpeg)
What's Next?
Am I having a mid-life crisis?
![A screenshot of Slay the Spire](/images/eBCKSNrxba-300.jpeg)
Why I Love Slay the Spire
My latest video game obsession is killing my productivity.
![Characters from the game Apex Legends](/images/SA5hda81KI-300.jpeg)
Why I Hate Battle Royales
The latest trend in video games is not for me.
![My newborn son, Ryan](/images/13-JhKYNpU-300.jpeg)
Ryan
Reflections on being a new dad.
![An illustration of Jeff, Devindra and Dave, hosts of the Slashfilmcast](/images/UQXBloOoIj-300.jpeg)
500 Episodes
My favorite podcast celebrates 10+ years.
![A photo of Mike's family with Santa and Mrs. Claus](/images/NQJNjJFivw-300.jpeg)
2018
A look back at the longest year in history.
![A photo of Ronaldo and a bust of him that looks horribly disfigured](/images/NWFhcZGWra-300.jpeg)
Should Painters Sculpt?
In which I ponder that age old question.
![Several blind monks feeling up an elephant](/images/khLYNB_c5I-300.jpeg)
Driving Your Design System with Tokens
Design tokens are the key to a maintainable, cross-platform design system.
![Olivia's foot](/images/PMJXfCPJTm-300.jpeg)
Four Years
It's been awhile.
![Extra Life 24-hour Marathon - October 25 at 8 AM Central](/images/dANxGi67QY-300.jpeg)
Extra Life for Lurie Children's Hospital
I'm playing video games for 24 hours to honor my daughter, Olivia.
![Groupon's CSS framework for internal tools.](/images/ZOXwG_3NXf-300.jpeg)
CSS at Groupon
A look at our CSS frameworks at Groupon.
![Dr. Evil doing airquotes with the caption](/images/3vcsGL54Wk-300.jpeg)
Building a Dream Team
My beef with the term "full-stack developer."