Founder Log #10 – In the Arena, Still Swinging

- 3 minutes read - 524 words

🧠 Weekly Overview

This was a difficult week. My wife was ill, so I had to run the house, manage the kids, and somehow still show up at 5:30 every morning to push Menuvivo forward. I was sleep-deprived, constantly interrupted, and mentally fried most of the time.

And yet — I didn’t abandon the work. I showed up.

Progress on visual features: zero. But the pipeline — the critical heart of Menuvivo — is now taking shape. This is the second or third week focused on it, and it’s been much harder than expected. I thought I’d knock it out quickly, but the reality is more complex.

The deeper truth? May was brutal. And I didn’t quit. I kept my commitment to this product and to myself. And now, on the other side of that grind, I know one thing for sure:

If I can build through this, I can build through anything.

🗓️ Daily Execution Summary

Monday – May 26

  • Built dev-mode reload API for instant preview of new YAML recipes
  • Interrupted by family — drove daughter to school after she missed bus
  • Reflected on frustration and stayed calm. Taught, didn’t explode.
  • TODO: fix reload bug caused by classloader strategy

Tuesday – May 27

  • Fixed reloading bug in dev mode (switched from classloader to filesystem)
  • Started brainstorming normalization of ingredients/tags/tools
  • Realized I need rules and unification to avoid explosion of variants

Wednesday – May 28

  • First full no-progress day in a while due to family stress and work overload
  • Emotionally drained, completely out of energy
  • Chose rest over guilt. Promised to show up again tomorrow.

Thursday – May 29

  • Got back into code
  • Reworked ingestion pipeline structure
  • Started implementing normalization logic for ingredients/tags/tools
  • Felt like a small win with long-term value

Friday – May 30

  • Fought distractions all morning — couldn’t focus with constant parenting interruptions
  • Debugged broken tests from Quarkus refactor, fixed some build issues
  • Reflected on schedule and mental load
  • Considering shifting wake time to 4:30 for more uninterrupted hours

Saturday – May 31

  • Lots of manual testing and improvements in the pipeline structure

Sunday – June 1

  • Family-first Sunday. Not much coding, just some bugfix.
  • Spent some time reflecting and reviewing the week
  • Realized I’m still in the fight, still progressing

🏆 Wins of the Week

  • Didn’t skip a single day — showed up every morning
  • Fixed dev-mode YAML reload issues
  • Pipeline structure is more solid, normalization logic is forming

✍️ Lessons & Reflections

  • Discipline isn’t about big bursts — it’s about staying in motion
  • I vastly underestimated the complexity of building a reliable recipe ingestion pipeline
  • Visual progress is nice, but this infrastructure is critical — and worth the time
  • Interruptions destroy deep work. I need to fiercely protect focus time
  • If I want this to move faster, I may need to wake at 4:30 AM — and sleep at 8:30 - 9:00 PM

🎯 Plan for the next week

  • Finalize ingredients, tags, and tools normalization logic
  • Add step to remove intellectual property from recipe text
  • Add translation logic for multi-language recipes
  • Add recipe image generation (via prompt)
  • Add image resizing pipeline for different device sizes
  • Ingest 20+ recipes