About Justin
Hi, my name is Justin Watt. This is my personal blog. I write about whatever interests me. Recurring topics include saving, cooking, traveling, and hiking. I also enjoy photography, so many of my posts are illustrated with photos I’ve taken.
I’m presently on a sabbatical. Most recently, I was the senior director of engineering at Sincerely, where I worked for 6 years. In 2010 I took a year off to travel the world. Before that I spent 4 years at Federated Media as a software engineer (and later, engineering director). You can find my resume here.

Contact Me
I really enjoy getting email: justincwatt at gmail dot com…
Not Me
I am not the Mahmudiyah killings whistleblower. For more info on Pfc. Justin Watt, see: The NY Times, USA Today, and Reddit.
About Justinsomnia
The name, a clever contraction of “justin” and “insomnia” randomly occurred to me in the instant I created the blog in the wee hours of the morning back in June 2002. I do not suffer from insomnia, but I do have a tendency to stay up late on the computer. Justinsomnia is powered by WordPress, hosted by Dreamhost, and has been redesigned repeatedly by yours truly.
QR Code Confusion
If you scanned a QR Code and don’t understand why you ended up on my blog, please read: Why does that QR Code take me to justinsomnia.org? You can still email me about it, but please read that first.
Proudest Posts
Every once in a while I write a post that I’m really proud of. Sometimes it captures the popular attention, sometimes not. Here’s a few from my archives that stand out.
- The making of PANAMAX
- San Francisco artist Eric Rewitzer used some of the photos I took while traveling by container ship as the basis for several large scale paintings.
- Melt-in-the-Mouth Cookies, a brief history
- I chased down the origin of a Christmas cookie recipe that I presumed my Grandmother had created from whole cloth.
- Golden Gate Bridge at night
- My “color-accented” photo of the Golden Gate Bridge attracts far more interest than any other photo I’ve taken.
- A Response to Liberty
- I received a cease and desist letter for a parody image I posted to my blog. With legal support from the ACLU, we responded en force, eventually receiving coverage in the New York Times and USA Today.
Proto-Justinsomnia
In the early days before I began blogging, I manually updated my webspace at UNC with photos and other doodads to keep in touch with family and friends. Each year I gave it an overhaul, but kept an archive for posterity.
- Freshman (1998-1999)
- Sophomore (1999-2000)
- Junior (2000-2001)
- Senior (2001-2002)
- Grad School (2002-2004)