March 30, 2018: Recap

This week I’ve felt the urge to move in more creative directions, but have been hit with barriers that feel similar to a writers block. The blank page with nothing coming to mind (when you stare into the blank page it also stares back into you).

My response has been a return to fundamentals. I’ve been working on improving my sleep and exercise. I’ve been reminding myself that “Perfect is the enemy of done” and have pushed myself to produce work and content that originally felt wouldn’t come. Once on the blank page (who are you looking at now, eh!?)  I refined and explored it. This gave way to newer ideas and easier paths which I’m now trying out.

This weeks reading has been:

• An intriguing tale on how the CIA stole space technology from the Soviets during the space race without them ever knowing.
• Here is an interesting piece about an early self-help author about being noble as you pursue greatness. It resonated with me as I found in my own career that sharing credit, asking questions, and pushing for time with those I respected has helped me grow and succeed further than I could have imagined.
• Lastly I want to share an amazing technique for outlining a novel that I found in the writing subreddit the week.

3/23/2018: Recap

Adventure by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images

This week was full of adventure!

I rescued a damsel in distress from two ice monsters (I shoveled the snow off the driveway and dusted off two cars for my wife.)

I quested for supplies (milk run as the latest Nor’Easter was starting up.)

And I looted treasure (taxes are done.)

Additionally I read several good books. These were Seconds by Bryan Lee O’Malley and Beacon 23 by Hugh Howey.

Seconds is graphic novel following a chef after she discovers a means for repairing mistakes she had previously made. I loved the artwork and the plot easily hooked me for the wild ride that followed. Which was a charming and deep exploration on what it means to correct our regrets.

Beacon 23 is the story of a damaged man running a lighthouse in outer space for interstellar craft so they can maneuver through the nearby asteroid field. Mr Howey builds a very interesting universe over the course of the book. The characters feel real, with side characters that are as interesting as the main character. Once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down until I wrapped it up.

I wish you happy adventuring!

 

3/9/2018: Recap

Two Nor’Easters in one week. Two. My area got hit rather hard, old growth trees down, power knocked out, and homes damaged. I was lucky, we got through with only a short power

Photo credit: R. Gould

But seriously, two.

Despite that I was able to get to the Philadelphia Flower Show with my charming wife. The show is put on yearly by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and it is always a fun event. This year’s Wonders of Water theme was beautifully created. If you get a chance you should definitely check it out.

Articles

Vox discusses the flattening power consumption curve and why this is a problem when utilities need to plan out power plant construction years or even decades out.

This Guardian article on the oldest message in a bottle made me sing The Police song for a day.

The New Yorker reports on the Gravity Blanket, and Jia Tolentino has practically sold me one.

The New York Times suggests: Check-in Time Hours Away? How to Ditch Those Annoying Bags – Yeah it is called leaving them at your hotel.

Whoa! The Nor’Easters did some cool archeology.

 

3/2/2018: Recap

Updates

Some weeks are marked by how much you get done. Other weeks are simply getting through.

This was a rainy and doldrums kind of week. So it was perfect for spending my free time finishing up Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage. The plight of the men in this true tale of Antarctic exploration turned fight for survival made me thankful that I had some wonderful leftover Tom Kha Soup to go with cuddling under a blanket.

Articles

• Om Malik clearly states exactly why I felt the need to start this blog.
• The Atlantic’s look at life without retirement savings is an eye opening and slightly terrifying look at how many elderly Americans are living.

Things I’ve Tried

• TiddlyWiki – An easy to use spin your own wiki was a lot of fun to play with this week.  I’ll talk more about this later.

2/23/2018 Recap

Updates

This week was spent getting my feet back under me with exercising and getting some first drafts for future posts on here.

Then I found time to play around with Progressive Web Apps (PWA). Microsoft is betting big on this and Google is working with them in implementing it. There is a great start up and explanation here if you are interested in where Apps are going .

In addition, here are some interesting articles I read this week.

Podcasts

• The video game site Rock Paper Shotgun’s podcast, The Electronic Wireless Show, tackled morality in games – Wherein comedy ensued.

Articles

• How crazy expensive is NASA’a new Space Launch System (SLS)? Well Ars Technica estimates that NASA could buy 86 Space X Falcon Heavy Launches!
• Stratechery discussed how Google is quickly beginning to be the defacto online publishing framework. And discussion on where site ad revenue is heading.
• Never make your dreams wait
• Ars Technica also reports on a Farmer that found a mysterious camera on his property, so he took it down and got in hot water with the Fed’s.

Things Tried

• I attempted this Tom Kha Soup Instant Pot recipe and it was quite successful for a first effort (and, as a bonus, I finally had an excuse to go to the local Asian market.)
• I just set up a 3 node Google WiFi mesh network and I’m very impressed so far. I’ll write more about it after I’ve had it for awhile.

2/16/2018 Week in Review

A Week in Review

It has been a busy week here. Besides setting up this website and blog posts I’ve been spending a good amount of time learning and growing my technical skills, specifically in regards to Data Science and playing with a little Machine Learning this week.

I’ve been enjoying the Olympics. Big fan of the sledding events (bobsled, luge, and the terrifying skeleton) and… curling. I can’t explain it. But I find it fun to watch. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Lastly, here are some interesting articles I’ve read, podcasts I’ve heard, and things I’ve tried out.

Interesting Reads of the Week:

• The Verge: These built-in dongle headphones are the horrifying end to removing the headphone jack – Again we see the falacy of removing a universally used connection port. I wonder what Android Phones will follow Apple off this cliff.
• Thurrott.com: “How I Write” – A great article on Just sitting down and writing (and a main motivator to getting this blog off the ground)
• Gizmodo: “10 Actually Cool Uses for a USB Drive” – I’ve done several of these, but I’m always interested in more.
• Lifehacker: “Stop Asking Your Kid About Their Day” – I started doing this and the conversations have been much better with my son. A simple “I’m happy to see you.” brings a smile to his face and conversation.
• Business Insider: “Living in Tiny Homes was much harder than these people realized” – I admit that I’ve thought about running away to a small house for a material good reduced living. This post talks about several reasons why people left their Tiny Homes.

Podcasts

• Hanselminutes: Machine Learning 101 with Paige Bailey – Paige Bailey gives a great intro to the basics of Machine Learning.
• Planet Money ep 576: When Women Stopped Coding – A really interesting piece about what may have caused a steep drop in women in software development in the 1980’s.
• Planet Money #508: A Bet On The Future Of Humanity – A report on a famous scientific bet on if humanity was heading towards its doom, or if things would be fine.

Things I’ve tried/Learned

• Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin – This was good, but the times were WAY off. I think this would be fine if the cook time was either 3-4 hours or the temp was brought WAY up. But after those adjustments. It was really good.
• Cocktail: The Bees Knees – I’m a Bluecoat Gin fan, but this recipe left me wishing it was a little sweeter.
• Pluralsight – I’ve been using Pluralsight to learn more about Data Science and the programming language R. I’ve been enjoying it so far and think I may spring for the subscription.