philosophy - The Dangling Pointer

The Dangling Pointer

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philosophy

A collection of 33 posts

The Auditorium of Grief

The Auditorium of Grief

Each grief has a voice. Sometimes they speak at once. Sometimes they’re quiet, just sitting there with you. And for a while, you just let them.

Love the light and endure the darkness

I saw this quote on a friend's wall as I was leaving their house. I found the original and decided to share it here. I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars. Og

The Radio Effect

I listen to a lot of electronic and trance music to keep a part of my mind occupied while I focus on my work. What I've noticed over the years is using a playlist or a service like Pandora doesn't quite do it for me. I

The Impact of Sixty Seconds as a Kid

I have memories from my childhood but most of them are fragmented with how my ADHD brain works. There have been plenty of times talking with family about things that happened when I was young and I have no memory of it. I suppose my crappy attention & focus made

The Last Battle

The last few weeks have been hard for me getting over the loss of Burkley. Every day is a little bit easier. Things like this poem have been helpful. Grab a tissue, it's a good one. The Last Battle If it should be that I grow frail and

What is Your Definition of Success in Life?

What is Your Definition of Success in Life?

successful How do you define success or if you're successful in life? To some success is defined by their monetary reward or compensation. To others success is defined by the number of children they've raised. Success could also be defined simply as living a life you

Stop being a butthole about what tech you hate

I’m attending an awesome conference this week and I’ve been seeing a trend that I want to address. On more than one occasion I’ve noticed people bad-mouthing a particular technology they’ve deemed as being inferior. Specifically I’m addressing the number of speakers and panelists bad-mouthing

Being Mindful for 122 Days

It's been nearly four years since I started the journey of understanding how my attention & focus work. Along the way I've learned several things that have been key factors in developing tools to modify my behaviors to perform better. Most importantly any tools/habits you

Leadership, Awareness, and Fear

~ Aaron Douglas, sometime this week I've been a team lead for a couple years now at Automattic - a little over a year of that with the larger team (Go Slytherin!!). I've made several discoveries of what being a lead (team, project, technical) means. I'

Focus & The Non-Permanence of Pencils

I've been trying to brainstorm ideas on paper lately before committing to an approach on how to solve a problem. For some reason I wasn't getting a ton of satisfaction switching back to pen & paper - it wasn't helping my focus. Then I

Experience Life as a Beginner

I'm nearly four years into my challenge of hacking my brain to be successful at working remote with Attention Deficit Disorder. I've struggled with trying to understand my behaviors and challenge myself to change incrementely over time. There's one repeated concept that always comes

It's Funny What Kids Will Remember

Back in the mid 1980s there was a kids' TV Game Show called "Double Dare" on the Nickelodeon channel. We didn't have cable TV but at some point it started to air on regular television. Our local TV station even aired an episode early in

Stop Looking at the Past in One Year Chunks

We all do it - look back at the previous year somewhere around January 1st. We total up what we've accomplished in that one year and determine if it was a success or it sucked. Variables like births, deaths, accidents, career changes, friendships, personal health, and travel all

Bicycler's Quiet

Bicycling is my meditation. I use it as part of my toolset to calm my brain and to train my mind to take in a lot of input and focus on important things. I recently realized that there's a moment that doesn't happen very often when

Another Year Around the Sun

I turn 37 today. It's been an amazing journey through life so far and I can't wait to see where the next 37+ years lead me. In the past five years alone things have changed so much. I finished my master's degree, we got

I am a procrastinator.

I am a procrastinator.

I have always believed I was a procrastinator. I tend to put difficult tasks off until when they are due. I always believed it was the pressure of the deadline that forced me to complete the task. College gave me a series of structured deadlines to learn new things. Procrastination

Just Get Started

I tend to set myself up for defeat with how my brain works when trying to accomplish a task. I overthink things. When I pull a task from my list of things to do a process starts in my head. I visualize the task and then try to figure out

The Power of Five Minutes When Working Remote

The Power of Five Minutes When Working Remote

Minutes can make a difference. This is something I quickly discovered early on when I started working remote. The granularity of a usable block of time was much bigger when I worked in an office and had a 20 minute commute each way. Unconsciously I believe I felt 15 minutes

Teachers, Students, Learning

Teachers, Students, Learning

Sometimes the hardest part of being a teacher is figuring out what your students DON'T know. It's relatively easy to teach a subject to an entire group when you're following a prescribed curriculum. The problem comes when the teacher doesn't realize everyone

The lonely little cottage

My husband and I visited an area of northern Wisconsin today to look at a little cottage down the road from where my grandmother had a cottage growing up. The pictures online showed it needed some work, which we expected and planned ahead for. Sadly when we saw it in

Committing to a no-commit Saturday

I wasn't trying to accomplish this but it looks like I don't commit code on Saturdays all that often. I like it. I am a geek through and through but even I need days to switch gears. Always doing the same thing all the time gets

Reminder to Self

Breathe in, breathe out. https://www.doyogawithme.com/yoga_breathing

Live For Something

One of my favorite shots taken in Park City, Utah during a bike ride.

Death Is Much Like Chronic Pain

I had a moment of introspection today as I sat in a pew at a good friend's dad's funeral: Death is much like chronic pain. A few years back, on a different blog of mine, I made this statement regarding chronic pain with my cluster headaches: