From c120288bb1dcfff16506acfcd94bb1820c775f8c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dominic Serrano <dmsrojo@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2026 16:22:57 -0600
Subject: [PATCH 1/5] feat: add Projects page, drop placeholder About, update
 homepage bio

Projects lists real repos (safe-migrate, ALTER) via a new content
collection. About page is removed since it was still placeholder
content and the homepage bio + Projects page now cover it; nav/footer
updated accordingly.
---
 src/components/Footer.astro            |  2 +-
 src/components/Header.astro            |  2 +-
 src/components/ProjectCard.astro       | 21 +++++++++++++++++++++
 src/content.config.ts                  |  8 +++++++-
 src/content/pages/about.md             |  7 -------
 src/content/projects/alter-learning.md |  7 +++++++
 src/content/projects/safe-migrate.md   |  7 +++++++
 src/content/schema.ts                  |  9 +++++++++
 src/lib/site.ts                        |  3 ++-
 src/pages/projects/index.astro         | 19 +++++++++++++++++++
 10 files changed, 74 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 src/components/ProjectCard.astro
 delete mode 100644 src/content/pages/about.md
 create mode 100644 src/content/projects/alter-learning.md
 create mode 100644 src/content/projects/safe-migrate.md
 create mode 100644 src/pages/projects/index.astro

diff --git a/src/components/Footer.astro b/src/components/Footer.astro
index cedb805..f5d40c9 100644
--- a/src/components/Footer.astro
+++ b/src/components/Footer.astro
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import { siteConfig } from '../lib/site';
     <ul class="footer-links">
       <li><a href="/">Home</a></li>
       <li><a href="/blog/">Blog</a></li>
-      <li><a href="/about/">About</a></li>
+      <li><a href="/projects/">Projects</a></li>
     </ul>
     <ul class="footer-links">
       {Object.values(siteConfig.socials).map((s) => (
diff --git a/src/components/Header.astro b/src/components/Header.astro
index 223da38..82ce3ce 100644
--- a/src/components/Header.astro
+++ b/src/components/Header.astro
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import { siteConfig } from '../lib/site';
 const navLinks = [
   { href: '/', label: 'Home' },
   { href: '/blog/', label: 'Blog' },
-  { href: '/about/', label: 'About' },
+  { href: '/projects/', label: 'Projects' },
 ];
 ---
 
diff --git a/src/components/ProjectCard.astro b/src/components/ProjectCard.astro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..15e9a55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/components/ProjectCard.astro
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+---
+import type { CollectionEntry } from 'astro:content';
+
+interface Props {
+  project: CollectionEntry<'projects'>;
+}
+
+const { project } = Astro.props;
+---
+
+<article>
+  <a class="post-card" href={project.data.repoUrl} target="_blank" rel="noopener">
+    <h3>{project.data.title}</h3>
+    <p class="post-excerpt">{project.data.description}</p>
+    {project.data.stack.length > 0 && (
+      <div class="tag-list">
+        {project.data.stack.map((s) => <span class="tag">{s}</span>)}
+      </div>
+    )}
+  </a>
+</article>
diff --git a/src/content.config.ts b/src/content.config.ts
index 3434a34..f3cda41 100644
--- a/src/content.config.ts
+++ b/src/content.config.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { defineCollection } from 'astro:content';
 import { glob } from 'astro/loaders';
-import { pageSchema, postSchema } from './content/schema';
+import { pageSchema, postSchema, projectSchema } from './content/schema';
 
 const postsCollection = defineCollection({
   loader: glob({ pattern: '**/*.md', base: './src/content/posts' }),
@@ -12,7 +12,13 @@ const pagesCollection = defineCollection({
   schema: pageSchema,
 });
 
+const projectsCollection = defineCollection({
+  loader: glob({ pattern: '**/*.md', base: './src/content/projects' }),
+  schema: projectSchema,
+});
+
 export const collections = {
   posts: postsCollection,
   pages: pagesCollection,
+  projects: projectsCollection,
 };
diff --git a/src/content/pages/about.md b/src/content/pages/about.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 991e0d6..0000000
--- a/src/content/pages/about.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
----
-title: About
-date: 2026-01-01
-description: Placeholder about page.
----
-
-Placeholder page content. Real portfolio content lands in a later chunk.
diff --git a/src/content/projects/alter-learning.md b/src/content/projects/alter-learning.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7098e5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/content/projects/alter-learning.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+title: ALTER
+description: A personal-university learning framework for Claude Code. Five coordinated AI roles — advisor, librarian, tutor, editor, roommate — turn any topic into a self-directed learning pathway with a plan, ranked sources, spaced-repetition drills, and milestone critiques.
+repoUrl: https://github.com/dmserrano/alter-learning
+stack: [Claude Code Plugin, Markdown]
+date: 2026-02-01
+---
diff --git a/src/content/projects/safe-migrate.md b/src/content/projects/safe-migrate.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..165a0de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/content/projects/safe-migrate.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+title: safe-migrate
+description: Verified characterization tests for JS apps facing breaking dependency upgrades. Generated tests are gated through static, green, stability, and mutation checks so only ones that actually catch real bugs survive — the verification harness is the product, not the agent.
+repoUrl: https://github.com/dmserrano/safe-migrate
+stack: [TypeScript, Node.js, Docker, Stryker]
+date: 2026-01-01
+---
diff --git a/src/content/schema.ts b/src/content/schema.ts
index cfd054a..4a1dbe9 100644
--- a/src/content/schema.ts
+++ b/src/content/schema.ts
@@ -16,3 +16,12 @@ export const pageSchema = z.object({
   draft: z.boolean().default(false),
   description: z.string(),
 });
+
+export const projectSchema = z.object({
+  title: z.string(),
+  description: z.string(),
+  repoUrl: z.string(),
+  stack: z.array(z.string()).default([]),
+  date: z.coerce.date(),
+  draft: z.boolean().default(false),
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/site.ts b/src/lib/site.ts
index 0fd63d9..d71912b 100644
--- a/src/lib/site.ts
+++ b/src/lib/site.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ export const siteConfig = {
   shortTitle: 'dmserrano',
   author: 'Dominic Serrano',
   url: 'https://dominicserrano.com',
-  description: 'Personal site of Dominic Serrano.',
+  description:
+    "Senior Full Stack / Frontend Engineer with 9+ years of experience, React and TypeScript at the core. Most recently spent 4 years at FortyAU shipping production features across the stack and building real AI agent workflows — engineering systems where LLMs are a dependable part of the architecture.",
   socials: {
     github: { url: 'https://github.com/dmserrano', label: 'GitHub', icon: 'github' },
     linkedin: { url: 'https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-serrano/', label: 'LinkedIn', icon: 'linkedin' },
diff --git a/src/pages/projects/index.astro b/src/pages/projects/index.astro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a43f3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pages/projects/index.astro
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+---
+import { getCollection } from 'astro:content';
+import BaseLayout from '../../layouts/BaseLayout.astro';
+import ProjectCard from '../../components/ProjectCard.astro';
+import { excludeDrafts } from '../../lib/drafts';
+
+const projects = excludeDrafts(await getCollection('projects')).sort(
+  (a, b) => b.data.date.valueOf() - a.data.date.valueOf()
+);
+---
+
+<BaseLayout title="Projects" description="Things I've built.">
+  <div class="container section">
+    <h1 class="section-heading">Projects</h1>
+    <div class="post-list">
+      {projects.map((project) => <ProjectCard project={project} />)}
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</BaseLayout>

From e4163ab893ad1c74fdf61ec676bb1b0a177f5cec Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dominic Serrano <dmsrojo@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2026 16:33:25 -0600
Subject: [PATCH 2/5] feat: add hero role title, punch up homepage bio copy

---
 src/components/Hero.astro | 1 +
 src/lib/site.ts           | 3 ++-
 src/styles/global.css     | 9 ++++++++-
 3 files changed, 11 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/components/Hero.astro b/src/components/Hero.astro
index 10c70fb..5d5e208 100644
--- a/src/components/Hero.astro
+++ b/src/components/Hero.astro
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ const { avatar } = Astro.props;
     <div>
       <p class="hero-greeting">Hi, I'm</p>
       <h1>{siteConfig.author}</h1>
+      <p class="hero-role">{siteConfig.role}</p>
       <p class="hero-bio">{siteConfig.description}</p>
       <div class="social-row">
         {Object.values(siteConfig.socials).map((s) => (
diff --git a/src/lib/site.ts b/src/lib/site.ts
index d71912b..c792df1 100644
--- a/src/lib/site.ts
+++ b/src/lib/site.ts
@@ -8,9 +8,10 @@ export const siteConfig = {
   title: 'Dominic Serrano',
   shortTitle: 'dmserrano',
   author: 'Dominic Serrano',
+  role: 'software developer',
   url: 'https://dominicserrano.com',
   description:
-    "Senior Full Stack / Frontend Engineer with 9+ years of experience, React and TypeScript at the core. Most recently spent 4 years at FortyAU shipping production features across the stack and building real AI agent workflows — engineering systems where LLMs are a dependable part of the architecture.",
+    '9+ years shipping production software, React and TypeScript at the core — 4 of them at FortyAU, most recently building real AI agent workflows. Now focused on engineering systems where LLMs are a dependable part of the architecture.',
   socials: {
     github: { url: 'https://github.com/dmserrano', label: 'GitHub', icon: 'github' },
     linkedin: { url: 'https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-serrano/', label: 'LinkedIn', icon: 'linkedin' },
diff --git a/src/styles/global.css b/src/styles/global.css
index 6c56bff..ff7ca49 100644
--- a/src/styles/global.css
+++ b/src/styles/global.css
@@ -293,7 +293,14 @@ th {
 
 .hero h1 {
   font-size: clamp(2.2rem, 5vw, 3rem);
-  margin-bottom: 0.75rem;
+  margin-bottom: 0.35rem;
+}
+
+.hero-role {
+  font-family: var(--font-mono);
+  color: var(--accent);
+  font-size: 0.95rem;
+  margin: 0 0 1.1rem;
 }
 
 .hero-bio {

From c95a3e98150244e1a4f1a4a0b302d2ec7c0f35c8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dominic Serrano <dmsrojo@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2026 16:56:39 -0600
Subject: [PATCH 3/5] feat: fun hero tagline/bio and a clickable header easter
 egg

Bio and role line get a lighter, more personal tone; clicking the
blinking terminal cursor in the header brand pops a random one-liner.
---
 src/components/Header.astro | 32 +++++++++++++++++++---
 src/lib/site.ts             |  4 +--
 src/styles/global.css       | 54 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 84 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/components/Header.astro b/src/components/Header.astro
index 82ce3ce..d739871 100644
--- a/src/components/Header.astro
+++ b/src/components/Header.astro
@@ -11,10 +11,13 @@ const navLinks = [
 
 <header class="site-header">
   <div class="container nav">
-    <a class="brand" href="/">
-      <span aria-hidden="true">&gt;</span> {siteConfig.shortTitle}
-      <span>_</span>
-    </a>
+    <div class="brand-wrap">
+      <a class="brand" href="/">
+        <span aria-hidden="true">&gt;</span> {siteConfig.shortTitle}
+      </a>
+      <button class="brand-cursor" type="button" aria-label="psst">_</button>
+      <span class="brand-egg" id="brand-egg"></span>
+    </div>
     <nav aria-label="Main">
       <ul class="nav-links">
         {
@@ -33,3 +36,24 @@ const navLinks = [
     </nav>
   </div>
 </header>
+
+<script>
+  const lines = [
+    'still compiling dad jokes...',
+    'fueled by coffee ☕',
+    'good boy detected 🐕',
+    '99 bugs in the code, 99 bugs...',
+    'now pushing boundaries (and belly rubs)',
+  ];
+  const btn = document.querySelector<HTMLButtonElement>('.brand-cursor');
+  const egg = document.getElementById('brand-egg');
+  let hideTimer: ReturnType<typeof setTimeout>;
+
+  btn?.addEventListener('click', () => {
+    if (!egg) return;
+    egg.textContent = lines[Math.floor(Math.random() * lines.length)];
+    egg.classList.add('show');
+    clearTimeout(hideTimer);
+    hideTimer = setTimeout(() => egg.classList.remove('show'), 2400);
+  });
+</script>
diff --git a/src/lib/site.ts b/src/lib/site.ts
index c792df1..22edb23 100644
--- a/src/lib/site.ts
+++ b/src/lib/site.ts
@@ -8,10 +8,10 @@ export const siteConfig = {
   title: 'Dominic Serrano',
   shortTitle: 'dmserrano',
   author: 'Dominic Serrano',
-  role: 'software developer',
+  role: 'software developer / dog lover / coffee enthusiast',
   url: 'https://dominicserrano.com',
   description:
-    '9+ years shipping production software, React and TypeScript at the core — 4 of them at FortyAU, most recently building real AI agent workflows. Now focused on engineering systems where LLMs are a dependable part of the architecture.',
+    "I'm a curious builder who first fell in love with JavaScript. Now I'm pushing the boundaries of what I can build.",
   socials: {
     github: { url: 'https://github.com/dmserrano', label: 'GitHub', icon: 'github' },
     linkedin: { url: 'https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-serrano/', label: 'LinkedIn', icon: 'linkedin' },
diff --git a/src/styles/global.css b/src/styles/global.css
index ff7ca49..d6c0a6b 100644
--- a/src/styles/global.css
+++ b/src/styles/global.css
@@ -224,6 +224,12 @@ th {
   height: var(--nav-h);
 }
 
+.brand-wrap {
+  position: relative;
+  display: flex;
+  align-items: baseline;
+}
+
 .brand {
   font-weight: 700;
   color: var(--text-strong);
@@ -234,6 +240,54 @@ th {
   color: var(--accent);
 }
 
+.brand-cursor {
+  background: none;
+  border: none;
+  padding: 0;
+  margin-left: 1px;
+  font: inherit;
+  font-weight: 700;
+  color: var(--accent);
+  cursor: pointer;
+  animation: brand-blink 1.1s steps(1) infinite;
+}
+
+.brand-cursor:hover,
+.brand-cursor:focus-visible {
+  animation-play-state: paused;
+}
+
+@keyframes brand-blink {
+  50% {
+    opacity: 0;
+  }
+}
+
+.brand-egg {
+  position: absolute;
+  top: 100%;
+  left: 0;
+  margin-top: 0.5rem;
+  white-space: nowrap;
+  font-family: var(--font-mono);
+  font-size: 0.78rem;
+  color: var(--muted);
+  background: var(--surface);
+  border: 1px solid var(--border);
+  border-radius: var(--radius-sm);
+  padding: 0.35rem 0.6rem;
+  box-shadow: var(--shadow-sm);
+  opacity: 0;
+  transform: translateY(-4px);
+  transition: opacity 0.18s ease, transform 0.18s ease;
+  pointer-events: none;
+}
+
+.brand-egg.show {
+  opacity: 1;
+  transform: translateY(0);
+}
+
 .nav-links {
   display: flex;
   align-items: center;

From e4d4ec08fc27f121bea09d55e6d1974583315c16 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dominic Serrano <dmsrojo@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2026 17:13:05 -0600
Subject: [PATCH 4/5] fix: add current year to footer copyright

---
 src/components/Footer.astro | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/src/components/Footer.astro b/src/components/Footer.astro
index f5d40c9..0fb8859 100644
--- a/src/components/Footer.astro
+++ b/src/components/Footer.astro
@@ -16,6 +16,6 @@ import { siteConfig } from '../lib/site';
         </li>
       ))}
     </ul>
-    <p>&copy; {siteConfig.author}</p>
+    <p>&copy; {new Date().getFullYear()} {siteConfig.author}</p>
   </div>
 </footer>

From e00d391b1a5162bc4a111354245ec736ff3902a7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dominic Serrano <dmsrojo@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2026 17:36:36 -0600
Subject: [PATCH 5/5] feat: add /now page to nav, simplify footer to socials
 only

Now page content filled in; footer page-links list dropped since
it duplicated the header nav.
---
 src/components/Footer.astro |  5 -----
 src/components/Header.astro |  1 +
 src/lib/site.ts             |  4 ++--
 src/pages/now.astro         | 29 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 src/styles/global.css       | 40 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 5 files changed, 72 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 src/pages/now.astro

diff --git a/src/components/Footer.astro b/src/components/Footer.astro
index 0fb8859..54de895 100644
--- a/src/components/Footer.astro
+++ b/src/components/Footer.astro
@@ -4,11 +4,6 @@ import { siteConfig } from '../lib/site';
 
 <footer class="site-footer">
   <div class="container footer-inner">
-    <ul class="footer-links">
-      <li><a href="/">Home</a></li>
-      <li><a href="/blog/">Blog</a></li>
-      <li><a href="/projects/">Projects</a></li>
-    </ul>
     <ul class="footer-links">
       {Object.values(siteConfig.socials).map((s) => (
         <li>
diff --git a/src/components/Header.astro b/src/components/Header.astro
index d739871..22fa8e4 100644
--- a/src/components/Header.astro
+++ b/src/components/Header.astro
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ const navLinks = [
   { href: '/', label: 'Home' },
   { href: '/blog/', label: 'Blog' },
   { href: '/projects/', label: 'Projects' },
+  { href: '/now/', label: 'Now' },
 ];
 ---
 
diff --git a/src/lib/site.ts b/src/lib/site.ts
index 22edb23..ffeff0c 100644
--- a/src/lib/site.ts
+++ b/src/lib/site.ts
@@ -8,10 +8,10 @@ export const siteConfig = {
   title: 'Dominic Serrano',
   shortTitle: 'dmserrano',
   author: 'Dominic Serrano',
-  role: 'software developer / dog lover / coffee enthusiast',
+  role: 'software developer / dog lover / coffee snob in denial',
   url: 'https://dominicserrano.com',
   description:
-    "I'm a curious builder who first fell in love with JavaScript. Now I'm pushing the boundaries of what I can build.",
+    "I get curious about something, build a small version of it, and usually learn more than I planned to.",
   socials: {
     github: { url: 'https://github.com/dmserrano', label: 'GitHub', icon: 'github' },
     linkedin: { url: 'https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-serrano/', label: 'LinkedIn', icon: 'linkedin' },
diff --git a/src/pages/now.astro b/src/pages/now.astro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8dbae60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pages/now.astro
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+---
+import BaseLayout from '../layouts/BaseLayout.astro';
+
+const updated = 'sep 08 2026';
+
+const status = [
+  { key: 'reading', value: 'the fifth season by n. k. jemisin' },
+  { key: 'watching', value: 'silo and jack reacher' },
+  { key: 'building', value: 'studying the claude certified architect track and bulding agentic workflows' },
+  { key: 'outside', value: 'walking the doggo daily and some occasional pickleball' },
+];
+---
+
+<BaseLayout title="Now" description="What I'm up to right now.">
+  <div class="container section now-page">
+    <h1 class="section-heading">Now</h1>
+    <p class="now-updated">last updated: {updated}</p>
+    <div class="now-block">
+      {
+        status.map((s) => (
+          <div class="now-line">
+            <span class="now-key">{s.key}:</span> <span class="now-value">{s.value}</span>
+          </div>
+        ))
+      }
+      <div class="now-line now-cursor" aria-hidden="true">&gt; <span>_</span></div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</BaseLayout>
diff --git a/src/styles/global.css b/src/styles/global.css
index d6c0a6b..c180c1c 100644
--- a/src/styles/global.css
+++ b/src/styles/global.css
@@ -538,6 +538,46 @@ th {
    Responsive
    ========================================================================== */
 
+/* ==========================================================================
+   Now page: terminal-style status block
+   ========================================================================== */
+
+.now-updated {
+  font-family: var(--font-mono);
+  font-size: 0.85rem;
+  color: var(--muted);
+  margin: -1rem 0 1.5rem;
+}
+
+.now-block {
+  background: var(--surface);
+  border: 1px solid var(--border);
+  border-radius: var(--radius-lg);
+  box-shadow: var(--shadow-sm);
+  padding: 1.5rem 1.75rem;
+  font-family: var(--font-mono);
+  font-size: 0.95rem;
+  line-height: 2;
+}
+
+.now-key {
+  color: var(--accent);
+  font-weight: 600;
+}
+
+.now-value {
+  color: var(--text-strong);
+}
+
+.now-cursor {
+  color: var(--muted);
+  margin-top: 0.4rem;
+}
+
+.now-cursor span {
+  animation: brand-blink 1.1s steps(1) infinite;
+}
+
 @media (max-width: 720px) {
   .hero-inner {
     grid-template-columns: 1fr;