Michael Jolley
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baldbeardedbuilder.com
Michael Jolley
@baldbeardedbuilder.com
Bringing smiles to the syntax — because laughter is the best error handler.

✝️ Husband. Dad x 3
Still using .ToLower() for string comparisons in .NET? You need to stop!

New YouTube video drop explaining why and what you should do instead.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNzA...
September 2, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Ever had a side project that was so fun you spent all your free time working on it?

Feeling very lucky tonight that my fun "side project" is my work project. Also, grids are coming in hot to Command Palette in Microsoft PowerToys.

Feedback? Suggestions? Let me know in my PR. Link in thread.
July 27, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Did you know that nearly every day I live stream building Command Palette for Microsoft PowerToys on Twitch? Heck, some of the UI design & features have come straight from viewers.

This week we're working on extensible filtering.
Still a WIP, but we're close.

bbb.dev/twitch
July 18, 2025 at 1:10 AM
The ability to pin apps to the top level of Command Palette?

Yes, please.

Coming soon. ™

Got other ideas for Command Palette?
Check out the repo at github.com/microsoft/po...
July 11, 2025 at 10:16 PM
✅ Microsoft PowerToys
✅ Dad Jokes
✅ Lofi beats

Looks like we're ready to build in public. Join the stream on twitch.tv/baldbeardedbuilder
July 1, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Yup. We're live on Twitch building Command Palette in Microsoft PowerToys.

Bring suggestions and coffee.

bbb.dev/twitch
June 26, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Microsoft PowerToys is open source. So, letting you watch me work on the Command Palette is totally cool. Come hang out and give me feedback about what you'd like to see it do.

bbb.dev/twitch
June 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Doing some real *vibe* coding on Twitch today and every day. bbb.dev/twitch
June 11, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Shipped off two daughters on mission's trips this week. They're headed in different directions, so we've got Jolley Ranchers all around the globe this summer.

Proud of what they'll be doing and can't wait to see them again in August.
June 4, 2025 at 7:10 PM
No more watering my raised beds by hand. Drip irrigation is installed and crushing it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzLH...
May 5, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Me and 16 making #gains. I don’t know how motivated I’m going to be this summer when she’s gone to Asia on a mission trip.
April 29, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Preparing soil might be the most important step in gardening. Funny how it might be the most important part of most things we do…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4tR...
April 12, 2025 at 3:15 PM
That's right. New BBB YouTube video drop tomorrow.

bbb.dev/youtube
April 9, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Ctrl+Alt+AI is back! And we're explaining retrieval augmented generation (RAG) in under 8 minutes.

🚀 Hold on to your seat!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUCW...
March 26, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Styling your WinUI app can get super unmaintainable. Let's talk about styling our WinUI app with XAML. We'll cover overrides, resource dictionaries, and even touch on good patterns for keeping your code manageable for future you.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ROC...
March 19, 2025 at 4:20 PM
What does healthy eating look like? For me, it includes the same salad everyday for lunch. Preferably, outside with some sunshine.

I’m one of those lucky folks that can eat the same thing everyday as long as I enjoy it.
March 18, 2025 at 6:43 PM
1.5 months of eating right, sleeping right, and working out 6 days a week = 20 lbs down.

Half way to my goal of 200lbs by 2026 and it’s only March. 💪
March 17, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Hey Michael! How's filming going at Jolley Ranch this week?

It's been better...
March 7, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Oh... I may have gone too far this time.

Ohh, yeah...

Video in thread.
February 4, 2025 at 5:47 PM
And so, it begins.

The journey of the Jolley Ranchers begins.

How does a 20+ year software engineer and his family of 5 transition from the suburbs to an off-grid homestead.

Come along for the ride and find out.
January 30, 2025 at 11:40 PM
After our first date, where we talked for hours and laughed until we cried, I knew this one was different. It's her birthday today and on Wednesday we celebrate 25 years of marriage. She deserves nothing but the best. Unfortunately, she got me. 😁
January 20, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Spent the day with the wife going to shops, eating, and visiting small towns we’ve not been to before for our 25th anniversary. Driving down Main Street in one of those towns I spot this thing. Had to turn around and get my picture taken with it… in the middle of nowhere Alabama.
January 16, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Happy Monday.

✅ Finally feeling "over" the flu.
✅ One more week of vacation
✅ Getting a ton of honey-do's done
✅ Hit 6k subscribers on YouTube

Great start to the New Year. 🎉
January 6, 2025 at 9:44 PM
When my rural Alabama and developer personalities collide, my terminal gets PowerShell aliases like "gitrdone" that grabs the current branch name, checks out main, and then deletes the other branch.

Code committed, pushed, and PR'd? gitrdone
December 23, 2024 at 9:29 PM
This is a truck in my area. You can rent it to take the family looking at Christmas lights. It's wrapped in 25,000 lights.
December 13, 2024 at 2:59 PM