My Weekend Token Utilisation Report #Week 1

A lighthearted confession of how I spent my weekend feeding tokens to my local AI ecosystem instead of doing normal human things.

Takeaway

I spent my weekend tinkering with three open‑source AI tools — OpenWebUI, OpenCode, and OpenDesign — and accidentally built a tiny personal AI studio on my machine.

This is my “Weekend Token Utilisation Report,” because saying “I played with AI toys all weekend” doesn’t sound respectable enough for LinkedIn.

Saturday Morning: OpenWebUI — My AI Café

I started with OpenWebUI, which feels like a cozy café where your local LLM hangs out, waiting for you to ask questions ranging from “Explain quantum physics like Rajinikanth” to “Write me a grocery list.”

What it is

• A local-first AI chat interface

• Works with Ollama, LM Studio, remote APIs

• Supports agents, workflows, RAG, voice, extensions

• Lets you build your own mini AI tools

Why it’s fun

Because it doesn’t judge your prompts.
Ask it nonsense, ask it philosophy, ask it code — it just vibes.

Setup

• Install Ollama

• Install OpenWebUI

• Connect your models

• Start chatting like it’s Yahoo Messenger in 2004

Saturday Afternoon: OpenCode — My Coding Partner Who Never Sleeps

Then came OpenCode, which is basically VS Code after a spiritual awakening.

What it is

• A local AI coding environment

• Chat + code completion + debugging

• Works with local or cloud models

• Clean, distraction-free UI

Why it’s awesome

Because it feels like pair programming with a calm, polite engineer who never says, “Bro, you missed a semicolon.”

Setup

• Install the app

• Connect your model

• Start coding with AI whispering helpful suggestions

Sunday Morning: OpenDesign — The AI Design Studio That Actually Ships Real Output

OpenDesign is NOT an image generator. It’s a local-first design workspace that works with your coding agent to produce real, runnable design artifacts.

What it actually does

OpenDesign helps your AI agent generate:

• Landing pages (HTML/CSS you can deploy)

• Dashboards (responsive, styled layouts)

• Slide decks (HTML or PPTX)

• Social cards (HTML → PNG)

• Short videos (HTML → MP4)

• Design systems (brand styles in Markdown)

Think of it as giving your coding agent a full design department.

Why it’s addictive

Because you ask for a “Stripe-like landing page,” and it gives you real HTML you can host.
Ask for a “dashboard with a dark theme,” and it generates the layout.
Ask for a “slide deck summarizing my weekend token usage,” and it builds the slides.

Setup

• Install OpenDesign

• Connect it to your coding agent (OpenCode, Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini, etc.)

• Start generating real design output

Sunday Afternoon: Making All Three Work Together

This is where the magic happened — the three tools formed a local AI production pipeline.

The Trio

• OpenWebUI → Brainstorming, chatting, planning

• OpenCode → Coding, debugging, refining

• OpenDesign → Turning ideas into real design artifacts

Example workflow

1. Brainstorm landing page ideas in OpenWebUI

2. Build the backend logic in OpenCode

3. Generate the frontend layout in OpenDesign

4. Publish to Blogger/Substack/Hashnode

5. Feel proud of your weekend token utilisation

Why this matters

You’re not “using AI tools.”
You’re running a local AI studio — private, fast, flexible, and subscription-free.

Benefits (The Serious Part of the Naughty Title)

• Privacy — everything runs locally

• Speed — no cloud latency

• Creativity — chat + code + design in one loop

• Control — choose your models, workflows, extensions

• Zero subscription guilt — your wallet is safe

• Token utilisation bragging rights — you earned this

The Twist

“My Weekend Token Utilisation Report” sounds like something you’d present to your CFO.

But really, it’s just me saying:

“I spent my weekend feeding tokens to AI models instead of doing laundry.”

And honestly, I regret nothing.

~Mohan Krishnamurthy

www.leomohan.net 

From LDL & HDL to LLD & HLD: A Project Manager's Guide to Reading Blood Test Reports

Yesterday, during a customer meeting, the discussion unexpectedly moved from project documentation to health checkups.

The customer was reviewing his blood test report and confidently said:

"Doctor says my LLD is high, but HLD is also improving."

For a moment, my project management instincts kicked in.

LLD? Low-Level Design?

HLD? High-Level Design?

Then reality returned. He meant LDL and HDL.

But the accidental terminology crossover sparked an interesting thought: what if we interpreted a blood test report the way IT professionals interpret a project report?

Let's explore.

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HDL (Good Cholesterol) = HLD (High-Level Design)

Every successful project starts with a strong High-Level Design.

It provides direction, structure, governance, and strategic clarity.

Similarly, HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein) is the "good cholesterol." It helps remove excess cholesterol from the bloodstream and keeps things running smoothly.

Health World	Project World
HDL	HLD
Provides protection	Provides direction
Higher is generally better	Better HLD means fewer surprises
Prevents future problems	Prevents future rework

Conclusion: A project with a solid HLD and a body with healthy HDL are both set up for long-term success.

---

LDL (Bad Cholesterol) = LLD Gone Wrong

Low-Level Design is essential.

However, excessive documentation, over-engineering, and unnecessary complexity can become project cholesterol.

LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) tends to accumulate where it shouldn't.

Similarly, poorly controlled LLDs tend to generate:

• Excessive dependencies

• Complicated workflows

• Technical debt

• Endless review meetings

Health World	Project World
High LDL creates blockages	Excessive complexity creates bottlenecks
Restricts flow	Restricts progress
Requires intervention	Requires redesign

Conclusion: Some LDL is necessary. Some LLD is necessary. Too much of either creates operational challenges.

---

Triglycerides = Pending Action Items

Every project has them.

Open tickets.

Pending approvals.

Unresolved risks.

Deferred decisions.

Individually harmless.

Collectively dangerous.

Just as elevated triglycerides indicate excess stored energy, a project overloaded with pending actions stores unfinished work that eventually slows delivery.

---

Blood Pressure = Project Pressure

A little pressure keeps things moving.

Too much pressure causes damage.

In medicine, sustained high blood pressure strains critical systems.

In projects, sustained management pressure leads to:

• Burnout

• Escalations

• Quality issues

• Resignations

Both doctors and project managers should remember:

Pressure is a metric, not a strategy.

---

Hemoglobin = Team Productivity

Hemoglobin carries oxygen.

Productive teams carry projects.

When hemoglobin levels are low, fatigue follows.

When team productivity is low, deadlines begin to drift.

In both cases, management's first reaction is usually the same:

"Let's investigate the root cause."

---

Vitamin D = Stakeholder Support

Everyone ignores it until it becomes a problem.

Projects with inadequate stakeholder support resemble people with Vitamin D deficiency:

• Progress slows

• Morale drops

• Unexpected symptoms appear

• Everyone wonders why things feel difficult

The prescription is remarkably similar:

Get more exposure.

---

HbA1c = Technical Debt Index

HbA1c doesn't tell you what happened yesterday.

It tells you what has been happening for months.

Technical debt behaves exactly the same way.

A project may appear healthy during a sprint review, but accumulated shortcuts eventually show up in architecture assessments just as HbA1c reveals long-term sugar management.

---

ECG = Project Audit

Nobody schedules one because they're excited.

They schedule one because they want assurance that everything is functioning correctly.

The findings are also similar:

• Normal

• Minor observations

• Needs monitoring

• Please come back immediately

---

Final Diagnosis

A healthy professional should monitor:

• HDL

• LDL

• Blood Pressure

• HbA1c

A healthy project should monitor:

• HLD

• LLD

• Team Pressure

• Technical Debt

And if a customer ever tells you that his LLD is high and HLD is improving, don't correct him immediately.

First ask:

"Are we discussing your health report or your project status report?"

Because in today's world, either answer could be correct.

Presenting Without Borders: How I Delivered a Seamless English–Arabic Hybrid Presentation

 

Most presentations are judged by their content, design, or delivery. But occasionally, the true test lies in something deeper: can every person in the room understand you?

When I recently presented to an Arabic-speaking audience, I decided to treat the language barrier not as an obstacle, but as a design challenge. What followed was a surprisingly elegant, fully hybrid workflow that blended Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple’s accessibility features, AI translation, and two smartphones into a single, frictionless experience.

This is the story of how that system came together — and why it worked.

Designing the Foundation: A Presentation Built for Two Languages

The process began in familiar territory: Microsoft PowerPoint. I created the full English deck and then wrote detailed speaker notes for every slide. These notes would become the backbone of the entire multilingual experience.

But instead of relying on human interpreters or last‑minute translation, I took a different route: I fed the speaker notes into an AI translator to generate a clean, modern Arabic script. This gave me a precise, consistent version of my narration — something that human interpreters often struggle to maintain across long presentations.

Turning Text Into Voice: A DIY Arabic Narration Studio

With the Arabic script ready, I moved to my MacBook.

• I pasted the Arabic text into TextEdit.

• I enabled Spoken Content, Apple’s built‑in text‑to‑speech feature.

• I opened QuickTime Player and started a new audio recording.

• Then, with a simple Option + Esc, the Mac began reading the Arabic script aloud.

The result? A clear, natural-sounding Arabic narration — recorded in one continuous flow.

Once exported, I inserted the audio file into PowerPoint and set it to Play Across Slides. Suddenly, my English presentation had a synchronized Arabic voiceover, ready to guide the audience through every idea.

Creating a Live Translation Loop: English ↔ Arabic in Real Time

The real magic happened during the Q&A.

On the right side of my MacBook, I placed my iPhone running Apple Translate. On the left, my Android phone running Google Translate.

This created a two-way translation loop:

• When the audience asked questions in Arabic, Apple Translate instantly converted them into English for me.

• When I responded in English, Google Translate spoke my answer aloud in Arabic.

I simply paused after each English sentence and let the phone “speak” on my behalf. The audience heard their language. I heard mine. And the conversation flowed without a single moment of confusion.

The Outcome: A Room Without Language Barriers

What could have been a fragmented, awkward multilingual session became a smooth, inclusive experience. Every participant — regardless of language — felt heard, understood, and respected.

The setup was simple. The tools were everyday devices. But the impact was profound.

This experience reminded me that technology, when orchestrated thoughtfully, can dissolve barriers that once felt immovable. It can turn a multilingual challenge into a moment of connection. And it can empower a presenter to speak confidently, knowing that every voice in the room can follow along.

~Mohan Krishnamurthy