Celebrating 37 years of marriage

jstek.io @johncongdon.bsky.social and myself for a complete breakdown of this year's PHP Tek 2026 (@phparch.com). We'll discuss the highs, the lows, and what's in the future, as well as our normal PHP rhetoric and tomfoolery. PHP Architect YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/live/iNn7wZVReBE

I recently had a random thought, and I might be crazy, but are the Golden State Warriors the only sports franchise that doesn't take on the geographical name of the city or state they play in? Technically, there's "New England", but that seems more grounded as a geographical region.

I feel so honored to be part of this @phparch.com team, and I am so proud of the hard work they put into PHP/JS Tek. It was a wild one, but I'll save that tea for the podcast this Thursday.

Thanks to Savio Resende (and his wife) for these awesome magnets he made for PHP Tek.

If you’re coming to #phptek and didn’t already know this, there is a minor league baseball team about 3 miles from the hotel venue. TheChicagoDogs baseball is worth the visit. Tickets and concessions are all reasonably priced.

Chicago bond. Looking forward to see you all at #phptek next week. Not too late to purchase a ticket at phptek.io

It's looking like rain in Chicago, so be sure to toss a raincoat or umbrella in your bag before you leave! ☔

MySQL 9's native VECTOR type lets PHP devs add semantic search & AI similarity to existing apps—no extra vector DB needed. Full-scan works great at small-to-medium scale. Full walkthrough with PHP & Laravel examples. https://shocm.me/posts/2026-04-30-mysql9-vector-semantic-search-php/

It was so awesome catching up with Sammy K again. It's been so long, and it was so much fun talking about old times and what he's been up to lately. That guy is such a treasure of the PHP Community. www.phparch.com/podcast/the-...

𝗣𝗛𝗣 𝗧𝗲𝗸 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗜𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵 — 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗕𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 https://shocm.me/posts/2026-04-13-php-tek-2026-chicago/

I’ve been thinking about this for a while. With the rise of AI, I’m spending more time in tools like Claude Code, then jumping into NVim when I need to tweak or track something down. So I finally did it. I’m stepping away from PhpStorm. At least for now. 1/5

Wife and I are having some adult beverage time.

Hockey night in San Diego with the family

For anyone looking for an awesome PHP / AI Developer, one of the best in the community is on the market. Check out @tjmiller.bsky.social post over on X x.com/heytjmiller/...

OK, I need to know if I know anyone who's ever had a "Farmers Coke". They mention it's drunk in North Carolina. I've never heard of this, and now I need to see if I have any peanuts in the house. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/geXCDahWqhs

PHP Tek / JS Tek, buy your ticket to either and attend both conferences. Full Story: https://www.phparch.com/podcast/community-corner-php-tek-and-js-tek-2026-with-eric-van-johnson/

Be sure to catch 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 Domain Driven PHP talk with MergePHP https://www.youtube.com/@MergePHP/streams

It's good to know someone with a good 3D printer. @johncongdon.bsky.social printed me this awesome stand for my HomePod mini.

Someone uploaded all the Jeffery Epstein documents to Gmail clone and it's awesome. JMail, JPhotos, there's a Drive, and JFlight section as well. Very well done. https://www.jmail.world/

End of an era. The Black in Ocean Beach is closing after 57 years. I lived in OB, and The Black was a landmark. A piece of San Diego counterculture that somehow survived all the changes around it. Gonna miss that place. https://bit.ly/3ZiQxrN

Check out my interview about this years PHP Tek and @jstek.io in Chicago. https://www.phparch.com/podcast/community-corner-php-tek-and-js-tek-2026-with-eric-van-johnson/

We’re live-streaming the @phparch.com PHP Podcast today at 𝟯 𝗣𝗠 𝗣𝗧. Bring your hot takes and your “it works on my machine” energy. 😄 Join us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4rn6O5GAh8

Hey, come and hang out with @johncongdon.bsky.social and me for today's live recording of the @phparch.com Podcast. We are kicking off in about an hour and a half. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kFJRTSYc5M

I talked about this on the last podcast but couldn't remember that is was called. Thanks to @johncongdon.bsky.social I now know it's called Pasabolo Tablón which is a traditional Spanish bowling sport popular in Cantabria, Vizcaya, Álava, and Burgos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvRppeCoEII

We were talking about @jetbrains.com @datagrip.bsky.social on the show last night, and I hadn't realized that they made DataGrip free for non-commercial use back in October https://blog.jetbrains.com/datagrip/2025/10/01/datagrip-is-now-free-for-non-commercial-use/

Today's PHP Podcast with @ericvanjohnson.bsky.social and @johncongdon.bsky.social will be starting early today, 2:30 PM PDT. Why you ask, you'll need to tune in to fine out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkCaXIZmzDE

Had a special "in studio guest" today. My kid brought her dog Ollie. She looked at us and said "You make Ollie look normal sized". For those who don't know me, I'm about 6'4.

This one is for my broader FLOSS/OSS people out there. Especially those in and around SoCal. Clock is ticking to submit talks to SCaLE 23X. Share your solutions, project, and general knowledge on all this Open Source. bsky.app/profile/soca...

@johncongdon.bsky.social and I will be doing our PHP Podcasting thing in about an hour. Not sure what we are going to talk about this week. Obvious PHP Tek and JS Tek. SOC 2 might come up. 🎙️ Join us live on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlcZ5K51NmE

🐘💡 Ever wish you could write PHP extensions in Go instead of C? Myles Hyson will show you how with FrankenPHP! Wed, Nov 19 @ NEST CoWork. RSVP now ➡️ https://www.meetup.com/sandiegophp/events/311910789

⌛ 20 MINUTES! Estelle Gaits is about to drop knowledge on PHP, Symfony, building with Sylius and contributing to major open-source frameworks - this conversation will be 🔥 Don't miss it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlUZQAd49fo #PHP #OpenSource

Locked and loaded. Going live in about 10 minutes. Come and hang out with us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNCyf9-LnHA

Just a reminder to my friends out there, this is happening today. 3 PM PT on the @phparch YouTube channel youtube.com/@phparch You can also be part of the show by joining the PHP Architect Discord: discord.phparch.com

I'm really excited to catch up with Nuno tomorrow. He's one of the brightest minds in the Laravel/PHP World, and he's always building. He might be the only person who gets more excited about PHP packages than I do.

Got a preview of @mattstauffer.com of @tighten.com recorded interview with @mikepagedev.bsky.social and @ccmiller2018.bsky.social on PHP Alive and Kicking, which will air on Friday this week. One of my favorite people in the PHP world. I highly recommend checking it out when it's released.

Join me and @johncongdon.bsky.social in about 20 minutes for this week's live stream of the @phparch.com Podcast, where we talk about PHP, the PHP Community, and cool projects. See if this week is the week I totally lose it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh3zuLPRCg4

Join @johncongdon.bsky.social and me in about 15 minutes for this weeks The PHP Podcast on the @phparch.com YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iiUUj9TQKs

I am not sure who needs to hear this, but if you are an @ohmyz.sh user and you are not using the `take` command, you are doing yourself a disservice. Next time you need to clone a repo, do a `take `. I'll wait.... and you're welcome.

We are having another one of our "Mystery Guest" episodes for this week's @phparch.com Podcast. The mystery is how we let this person talk us into letting them on the show. Come check it and hang out with us at 3 PM PST (about 35 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlNXoKdH8jQ

In 15 minutes, I’ll be talking PHP, tech, and who knows what else… join the chaos on the @phparch.com : 📺 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCFNDyz8Z8M

Wouldn't it be nice if you could just stop your reality and var_dump() it? Look at your life, figure out where you are making mistakes, and fix them before they get out of hand.

Today’s vibe: talk PHP, drink coffee, hit “Go Live.” Catch the PHP Podcast in about 5 minutes streaming on YouTube. 🎧 Jump in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDvdjhnA2BM

Hey San Diego PHP friends! 👋 Ever wish you could build mobile apps without leaving PHP? Tomorrow I’m talking all about NativePHP Mobile —yes, mobile apps in PHP! 📱🍕 Come hang out at the @phpxsan.com Meetup. Be sure to RSVP: www.meetup.com/sandi...

💥 Mics are going hot, and the takes are hotter, in 15 minutes for this week's live stream of The PHP Podcast. Come hang out with us and the PHP community on our Youtube channel. 🎙️ www.youtube.com/watc...

So DHH thanks PHP for taking him down the path he went in development, and we have DHH to thank for things in the PHP world like Laravel. I don't think Laravel would be what it is today if Taylor Otwell weren't inspired by RAILS. www.youtube.com/watc...

So, last week @johncongdon.bsky.social and I went pretty long on the stream, and looking at the Trello board for this week, there is no shortage of things to talk about. Come and hang out with us in about 15 minutes on the @phparch.com YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/watc...

Today's PHP Podcast Livestream is kicking off in about 30 minutes. We'll probably share our thoughts on things we saw at Laracon this year, as well as other PHP topics. Wow, that sounded AI-generated, but I promise you I am typing this. Or am I? I honestly don't know anymore

You have to know I’m not going to a new place and not catch a ballgame