I drew Barry a long time ago, and the book is finally out in paperback and on Kindle. The bigger dreams are a second book, an interactive version, and maybe someday an animated one. All of those need the same thing first: a Barry who looks like Barry every single time.

So this week my Homol Works Grok Bot and I started a character library. The approach is reference-guided generation: every new image is conditioned on my own book pages, one outfit at a time, and nothing gets kept until I approve it. My original Barry workspace stays read-only — the library copies from it, never changes it.

What happened​

• Read through the Barry workspace and wrote a character bible from the actual pages: proportions, the hoodie, the red-and-green cap, the line quality and the palette
• Made an approved turnaround and expression sheet in Barry's hoodie to use as the master references
• Drew six approved outfits from the book — firefighter, hero, knight, pirate, overalls and bedtime — each checked against its own book pages
• Introduced a brand-new outfit, Astronaut Barry, and a first scene: the moon landing Barry imagines while playing with a cardboard rocket in the backyard sandbox
• Tried a quick trained-model (LoRA) test early on; it drifted off model (blush cheeks, puffy hoodies, orange caps), so reference-guided generation won for now

The rules that keep him Barry​

Most of the work was me saying "close, but that's not Barry." Those notes turned into rules in the bible:

• No eyebrows when he's calm or happy — brows appear only for strong expressions
• No whites in his eyes, even when he's excited — solid dark dots only
• No teeth or tongue when his mouth is open — just a simple dark shape
• The more slender proportions from the turnaround, not the chunkier figures in some of my sketches
• Outfit details matter: the pirate's anchor patch goes on his sleeve, no hair under the bandana, and his face comes from my favorite drawing in the book (the driftwood page); the knight shows a little neck and carries a front-facing crest shield

Astronaut Barry​

Astronaut Barry is the first truly new piece. No ball cap — just spiky hair inside a hard-shell helmet that is very much not a fishbowl.

For the moon-landing scene I couldn't decide between a more "evolved" look and something closer to the book. I liked the inked moon, Earth and ship from the book-style version and Barry's face from the evolved one, so the final scene is literally both: the book-style background with the exact head and face from the first version blended in.

Mixing an inked background with Barry's own face feels like a recipe I'll keep using. Next up: more of the Astronaut Barry story, and maybe a Halloween costume.

The first version of the Barry page showed a lot of the book. My family's feedback was simple: it gave away too much. So this week the page became a teaser — enough to show who Barry is and how the book feels, without reading the story to you before you buy it.

What happened​

• Rebuilt /barry as a whimsical splash page with handwritten, playful type and story scenes
• Swapped full story pages for two text-free teaser crops, and dropped the page and spread images that spoiled the story
• Lightened the copy and set the age range to 2–6 (and anyone who treasures imagination) on the page and the launch post
• Put paperback and Kindle side by side as the two calls to action — both live on the same Amazon page
• Added web-optimized artwork (covers, spreads and outfit crops) so the page loads quickly

Meet Barry · Get Barry on Amazon

A couple of weeks ago I started leaning hard on Grok Bot. This week a couple of those bots started carrying real weight in my ThreeWill work week — not by doing the work for me, but by keeping the busywork moving so I can spend my time on the parts that need me.

The pattern is the same for every bot: it drafts, I approve, and only then does anything get posted, filed or merged.

Willy, the roadmap bot​

Willy maintains the codebase for ThreeWill's Operational Dashboard.

• Keeps the roadmap and backlog in sync with what the team decides, including a roadmap PDF with a requirement ID on every row and a "what changed" section, and waits for my review before anything goes to SharePoint
• Opens docs-only pull requests through a cloud agent so the repo's roadmap and backlog match what we published, with app code and store-frozen paths off limits; I review and merge
• Posts roadmap updates to the team, clearly labeled as Willy, only after I approve the wording
• Even trades notes with a teammate's own Grok Bot, which was a fun first

Rudy, the operations bot​

Rudy handles the operational side of my week.

• Daily timesheets: every weekday morning Rudy drafts yesterday's time from my calendar, Cursor sessions, chats and work items, and builds a tentative plan for today; I adjust, and Rudy posts it after I OK it
• Retention scoring: we replaced a hand-run AI prompt with a transparent, documented formula for how likely each Managed Services client is to stay, and set up a monthly grooming routine that recommends changes, waits for my OK, writes them back, and updates a "clients at retention risk" scorecard measure
• A running to-do board with check-ins during the day, so nothing slips between meetings

Why it works​

None of this is magic. It's small, repeatable routines with a human gate at the end. The bots are great at gathering evidence and drafting; I'm still the one who decides.

homol.work used to read a little like a résumé with some side projects attached. This week I flipped it around: the site now opens with curiosity and the things I make, and the day-job credentials have their own page for anyone who wants them.

The guiding line is the one on the home page now: I'm staying curious and hopefully creating more than I consume. With AI, we're only limited by our curiosity and creativity.

What happened​

• Renamed Builds to Creations across the nav, footer and copy, and reframed the home page around curiosity and creating
• Replaced the old "Things I've Made" list with three big heroes on the home page — Barry, Backseat Games, and a wide Memento Mori hero
• Moved certifications and Microsoft Learn progress to their own /credentials page so the home page can stay focused on making
• Credited Grok Bot alongside Cursor and Copilot, since a lot of this site (and this post) is now planned and drafted with my Grok Bot assistants
• Added the new Homol Works Facebook and X links to the header and footer, plus ThreeWill Feud and repo avatars on the open-source cards in Creations

I like making things a lot more than I like promoting them. So this week I gave the promoting part to a Grok Bot. My Homol Works bot now helps market Barry, Backseat Games, Memento Mori and the open-source tools — and Homol Works finally has social accounts of its own.

The one rule: nothing gets posted without my OK.

What happened​

• Set up Homol Works on X, a Facebook Page and Instagram, all with the same bio: Staying curious and hopefully creating more than I consume. With AI, we're only limited by curiosity and creativity.
• The first posts went out on all three: the Backseat Games 1.5 Halloween launch
• Every Monday morning the bot drops a weekly content batch in chat — four or five ready-to-post ideas with captions, hashtags, and what screenshot or clip to pair with each — and I keep, cut or rewrite them
• This week's picks are scheduled: a Barry collage on Wednesday and a Memento Mori "one week at a time" post on Thursday, with a Happy Halloween from Barry and a Thanksgiving road-trip blitz coming up
• The same bot now curates this weekly blog, too: it combs through my commits, Cursor chats and bot activity, recommends stories, and drafts the post after I say keep or drop

The TikTok aside​

I also made a Homol Works TikTok. On my very first login, it told me I was banned. No posts, no followers, no crimes — just banned. The appeal is in. Until then, the dad jokes stay on the other three.

SHIP LOG: Memento Mori · Store 1.1.0 · headed to the App Store

Memento Mori has had no ads since launch. Version 1.1 is the first step toward it paying for itself: a few small, non-personalized banner ads, and a one-time $3.99 Remove Ads purchase for anyone who'd rather not see them. This morning I saw a real ad running in the app on TestFlight, so 1.1 is headed to the App Store for review now.

What's in 1.1​

• Banner ads on This Week, Memoir and Stats — Calendar and Dreams never show ads
• A one-time Remove Ads in-app purchase for $3.99, plus Restore Purchases under Settings → Ads
• Ads are non-personalized, and everything else still stays on your phone
• A little goal-UI polish along the way

How it came together​

• RevenueCat handles the purchase and entitlement, on top of StoreKit; I set up the IAP in App Store Connect, the RevenueCat product and offering, and baked the RevenueCat iOS key into TestFlight builds
• AdMob serves the banners; the app was approved in AdMob this morning and the first live banner ad unit is wired in through a TestFlight environment variable
• AdMob needs to verify the developer website, so I published app-ads.txt right here on homol.work
• Most of this was a back-and-forth with Cursor in my Memento Mori workspace ("is RevenueCat a website?" was a real question I asked)

What's next​

Submit 1.1 for review, then double-check Remove Ads and Restore on the store build. I'll post again when it's live.

Memento Mori on the App Store — 1.1 with the ads and the Remove Ads option arrives once Apple approves it.

Last week the Feud board ran live at ThreeWill's corporate QAD. This week I pulled it out into its own product: threewill/feud is now a public, MIT-licensed repo that anyone can use to run a Family Feud–style show for their own team.

The big change is that the board isn't tied to one event anymore. Questions load from a pack — one JSON file — so the next show is just a new pack.

What happened​

• Productized Feud as pack-driven boards: title, family names, live and backup boards, win rules and optional lightning questions all live in one JSON file
• Added a Microsoft Forms importer that clusters similar survey answers into a pack, with a review file of the raw strings so you can tidy labels before showtime
• Let the host set the win score and turn the lightning round on or off, and split showdown X's from the family's three strikes
• Added an MIT license, a README that walks through gameplay, and host and audience screenshots
• Added Feud to Creations on homol.work

Try it​

Clone threewill/feud, run npx serve ., open the host page, then pop out the audience board and share that window. It's not official Family Feud — no licensed logos, and the ding and buzzer are synthesized stand-ins.

A week of showing up in public. homol.work got reframed around curiosity and Creations, Barry got a whimsical new splash page and the start of an AI-assisted character library, Memento Mori 1.1 is headed to the App Store with banner ads and a $3.99 Remove Ads option, ThreeWill Feud went open source, and Homol Works finally has social accounts (TikTok had other ideas).

Highlights​

• homol.work: The site is reframed around curiosity and creating, with Creations, product heroes, a credentials page and social links.
• Barry: It has a whimsical new splash page, it's now on Kindle, and an AI-assisted character library is underway.
• Memento Mori: Version 1.1 adds banner ads and a $3.99 Remove Ads option, and it's headed to the App Store.
• Backseat Games: The 1.5 holiday themes are live, with a skeleton, a pilgrim and a snowman in Hangman.
• ThreeWill Feud: It's now a public, MIT-licensed repo with configurable games.
• Automation: Homol Works has its own social accounts and a weekly content routine, and a couple of Grok Bots are helping run my work week.

Learn More​

• homol.work Makeover — Builds Became Creations — curiosity framing, three product heroes, a credentials page, social links
• Barry's New Splash Page — A Teaser, Not a Spoiler — text-free story crops, handwritten type, ages 2–6, Kindle
• Building a Barry Character Library with AI — turnaround, expressions, six outfits, Astronaut Barry, and the rules that keep him Barry
• Memento Mori 1.1 — Banner Ads and a $3.99 Remove Ads — RevenueCat, AdMob, app-ads.txt, headed to the App Store
• ThreeWill Feud Goes Open Source — pack-driven boards, a Forms importer, configurable endings, MIT
• Homol Works Goes Social with an AI Marketing Assistant — X, Facebook, Instagram, a weekly content batch, and a very short TikTok career
• Bots Running the Work Week — a roadmap bot that opens docs-only PRs, and a bot for timesheets and retention scoring

SHIP LOG: Backseat Games · App Store 1.5 · Built with Cursor

Backseat Games 1.5 is live on the App Store — Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas looks you can buy separately, plus Hangman that finally matches the rest of the doodled roadside.

Right after 1.4.0 went live, the next train was seasonal: families should be able to buy a full holiday look before travel. Classic stays free. Each season is its own one-time IAP — preview in the Store, buy once, apply anytime in Settings.

What’s new in 1.5​

• Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas theme packs — home heroes, sky bleeds, seasonal logo beats, critters, and holiday bingo icons
• Each pack is a separate IAP; Classic remains the original road-trip look
• Hangman moved off formula line draws onto doodled sprites, so misses feel playful and the figure can wear the season (hitchhiker, skeleton, pilgrim, snowman)

Holiday looks​

Hangman that can wear a season​

Go play​

Backseat Games on the App Store

Free to download and join. Classic theme is always free. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are optional one-time unlocks. More on the Backseat Games home, privacy, and support pages.

For ThreeWill’s corporate Feud at QAD I needed more than a slide deck: a live board the room can watch, scoring that feels like Family Feud, and a host surface I can drive without stealing the share. This week that board ran live — one tab shared with everyone in the meeting, another tab on my machine that updates the shared experience.

The QAD rounds came from survey results we imported for that event. The board itself is not tied to those questions: any answer bank can be loaded, so the same host + audience split is reusable for the next Feud (or anything that wants a two-window live board).

What happened​

• Built a live Feud host + audience board (HTML/JS/CSS) with ding/buzzer sounds and board state for multi-select answers
• Ran it live at October QAD: share the audience tab with the meeting; keep the host tab private so reveals, strikes, and scoring stay on the operator
• Rescaled multi-select boards to a 100-point pie and added an audience clock so pacing stays visible
• Kept the audience window painting correctly in Edge and made hopping between host and board reliable
• Documented the Feud End game host button and a clustered QAD runbook so setup is repeatable