# Welcome! My name is Corey, and this is the published side of my personal knowledgebase. > "The difference between screwing around and science is writing it down." - [Adam Savage](https://old.reddit.com/r/mythbusters/comments/3wgqgv/the_origin_of_the_remember_kids_the_only/ "Actually Alex Jason, as attributed by Adam Savage himself") #### About Me I work as a control systems engineer in the United States. I program PLCs and SCADA systems; details can be found on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreynaas/). My professional experience includes building automation systems, data center infrastructure management, and general industrial control system integration: airport baggage handling systems, water and wastewater treatment plants, and beverage co-packing plants. For field-specific on-the-job professional development, I fix stuff[^0] and document what I did, how I did it, and what I considered in working through and solving the problem, referencing vendor documentation and industry best practices when possible. For general professional development and 'interesting gap'[^1] exploration, I read about topics at the intersections of computer science, human factors, neuroscience, and linguistics, building my knowledge of each in a slow and structured way. For personal development, I combine my professional experience and professional development with my personal hobbies, interests, and experiences, and document the interesting parts with a "systems engineering" approach. Outside of that, I listen to podcasts and audiobooks and I play some games. I can be reached by email at the address listed [here](https://coreynaas.com/aboutme). #### About My Notes Notes I publish are those I feel are particularly novel or potentially useful outside my own head. Publishing my notes forces me to develop the ideas and express them clearly to myself for others. I don't use spell-check in my notes; spelling errors may exist. I try to write about a variety of things within a finite and manageable sphere of interests. I try to avoid large swaths of quoted or exerpted text, preferring to link to sources and restate what I find notable in my own words, or include contextual links or tags. If a header is followed by "Source: {link}", the contents under the header *may* be an extended excerpt without quotation marks or indentation; compare with the source if unsure. Statements of fact without a source are generally understood to be my 'working understanding', and are open to correction and refinement. There is some AI-generated content in my notes, but every generated/inhuman word is sequestered in pairs of ==highlighted blocks== per my personal [[Guidelines for Including AI-generated Content in Personal Writing|guidelines]]. Nothing within "AI Content" blocks is taken as factual or true, even if the prompt text implies that they were; all 'interactions' are non-deterministic computational outputs from a unique input, and the perceived truthfulness in any given output is co-incidental with reality. #### About My Knowledge Organization I organize my notes using the PARA method[^2], which organizes information into four categories: *Projects*, *Areas* (of responsibility), *Resources*, and *Archives*. I have used PARA since May 2023, and its ease and simplicity cannot be overstated. I use it at home and at work, and I have found over time that my organization between the two is largely similar despite evolving apart, providing a common "path" for similar resources between the two. For example, I have programming files on my work computer and on my personal computer, and the path for both ended up being `PARA/03 Resources/Programming/`. My git folder for both is `/03 Resources/Programming/Git/`. Both have `/02 Areas/Daily Notes/`, `/03 Resources/Screenshots/`, and `/03 Resources/Engineering/`. And so on, keeping "mental look-up" overhead to a minimum and consistent wherever I go and on whatever platform I use. I have my personal files split between my laptop and my NAS, organized in "best-guess" identical fashion, and one could easily be merged into the other with little reorganization required afterward. My laptop's `PARA/` is my syncing Obsidian vault with markdown notes and associated media, and my NAS `/PARA/` holds larger files that do not need to be accessed as often. "Cleaning up" is moving a file to where I thought it was from where I found it, if I think I will look there first the next time. Even if the files are apart, the knowledge is in the same hierarchy. The less time I spend "organizing", the better; the system should be invisible, instinctual. If something is where I expected to find it when I need it, or if it is discoverable when I'm looking for something similar, then the system has done its job. --- Last Updated: 2026-08-19 [^0]: If I tried to go into any more detail here than "I fix stuff", you would probably stop reading, and I wouldn't blame you. [^1]: Graham, Paul. “How to Do Great Work.” Paulgraham.Com, July 2023, [paulgraham.com/greatwork.html](https://paulgraham.com/greatwork.html). [^2]: Forte, Tiago. “The Para Method: The Simple System for Organizing Your Digital Life in Seconds.” Forte Labs, 22 Aug. 2023, [fortelabs.com/blog/para/](https://fortelabs.com/blog/para/).