Ris Adams

Surviving Remote Work​

I have been a developer for almost 20 years. During that time I've wandered through countless office environments—from sterile corporate skyscrapers to chaotic startup lofts. I've navigated cubicle labyrinths that would make Daedalus proud and fought for "hot-desks" like they were the last lifeboat on a sinking ship. But starting in December 2019, I began a new chapter—100% remote work. Not by choice, but by necessity. And sometimes, the most profound changes in our lives come from circumstances we never anticipated.

Every few years, life forces you to confront a fundamental question: what principles actually guide your decisions when everything else falls away?

For me, that moment came during a particularly challenging period when I was juggling a demanding tech career, a medically complex child, and the growing realization that the standard advice about success and happiness wasn't working for my actual life. The motivational quotes and productivity hacks felt hollow when faced with real complexity.

That's when I started distilling my approach to decision-making into something more fundamental - not rules imposed from outside, but principles that emerged from honest reflection about what actually mattered when the stakes were real.

These five tenets aren't revolutionary or unique. They're not meant to be. They're simply the operating system I've developed for navigating both professional challenges and personal growth, refined through years of testing against actual problems rather than hypothetical scenarios.

Where have I been lately​

It's been quite a while since my last update. I haven't stopped writing, and I haven't given up on the site (again). Life has a way of throwing curveballs, and I've had quite a few things going on—some too personal to share. But I want you to know that I plan on being more present moving forward.

How to Clear Your NuGet Caches​

NuGet caches downloaded packages to avoid lengthy update times. While this is generally helpful, it can sometimes lead to issues, especially when restoring packages in environments like CI servers. Below is a guide to clearing your NuGet caches to help debug and resolve restore problems.

Publishing a page is easy, but ensuring that you have quality content is not. How do you make sure that you balance your content so that it is easily consumable by your readers, as well as making your content easy to find by search engines? This guide will provide a few basic elements that you can review to make sure your articles have the highest possible impact and reach.

SEO is a common term for website administration and Digital Marketing which stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is the practice of organizing your site content, meta-data, and link relationships in order to reach higher ranked positions in a search result list. SEO is a basic strategy in any marketing plan and should be part of your standard practices.

You walk into Monday morning, grab your coffee, and stare at your repository. Three weeks of vacation bliss, but now you need to figure out what chaos your team unleashed while you were gone. Sound familiar?

There's nothing quite like that Monday morning dread when you realize you have zero clue what happened to your codebase. Maybe it was a sprint that went sideways, or perhaps someone decided to "refactor a few things" while you were out. Either way, you need answers fast.

You don't have to be a superhero​

Do you have what it takes to fight a dragon? Probably not, but that's okay. Most princesses these days are in very little need of rescue. Courage isn't something that you have. It is the choice to stand up and act on your beliefs.

How to Checkout a Branch at a Specific Date​

Sometimes, you need to grab a snapshot of your source repository as it existed at a specific point in time. This can be useful for debugging, historical analysis, or simply revisiting a previous state of your project. Here’s how you can do it.

How to Clear Your ASP.NET Cache​

When you compile a web application, the compiled code is stored in the Temporary ASP.NET Files folder. This folder is a subdirectory of the .NET framework installation directory. While this setup is efficient, it can sometimes lead to strange caching behavior, especially in the Console or WebAccess. If an IIS reset doesn’t resolve the issue, clearing the Temporary ASP.NET Files might just do the trick.

A simple guide to modern Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Why do you need to optimize?​

So, you've decided to write an article. Great. Now what? Whether you are selling a product, leaving a review, passing your knowledge, experiences, or skills to others, or promoting your brand—you need an audience.

This series will focus on answering direct questions. I do not promise to answer every question received, but I do promise that every answer will be honest, sometimes brutally so. When applicable, I will provide links to resources, but most of the responses will be derived directly from past experiences, and stories.

If you wish to ask a question, feel free to reach out via e-mail.

This Isn't for You​

After years of silence, I’m back. But let me be clear: this isn’t for you. This site will have typos. It will have grammatical quirks and moments where tense shifts like a poorly edited movie. And you know what? I don’t care. This space is my playground, my canvas, my therapy. Sometimes, you might stumble upon something profound. Other times, it might just be a fleeting thought or a random curiosity. If you find value here, great. If not, remember: I’m not doing this for you.