Philosophy

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 person we discovered it needed a bunch more work. We're going to keep looking for the right place. For now the campground we're in with our travel trailer gets us the "away place" during the summer. However, while we stood outside the lonely neglected little cottage, I fell back in love with the peace, quiet, and serenity of the north woods. ...

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 old. Saturdays are usually filled with non-tech things like knitting, visiting with family and friends, bike rides and a ton of camping in the summer. :)

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

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

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: And lastly, the most important lesson I’ve learned? The pain reminds us that we’re alive. Without the pain we’d go through life not understanding what a gift it is to be able to relax without pain and distractions. That pain keeps me from being a sheep, tooling around life without knowing where I came from and where I want to go.Death sucks but it reminds us we're alive. Cherish the time you have with your living family and friends. Everything doesn't have to be a party - but ever so often have a moment of reflection and smile when you're having a good day. ...

I've been noodling some ideas lately and I sort of rediscovered an idea I remembered I had from the past. Most mobile app interactions are 20-30 seconds in length (at most!). It makes a lot of sense to design an experience around these types/lengths of interactions. Some interactions go beyond that length and their design should be completely different. You know you're hitting the right area in the users' brains when you find your app is the first thing they use in the morning and/or the last thing they use before sleep. This is an incredibly powerful place to exist in someone's life.

Today I was musing about company culture. Most tech job postings these days mention "our culture" and tend to interview for you to be a culture fit. Sometimes I really wonder if they're confusing culture vs. culture: culture |ˈkəlCHər| The arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively: 20th century popular culture.The cultivation of bacteria, tissue cells, etc., in an artificial medium containing nutrients.Source: Oxford Dictionaries Forcing a culture on new employees tends to lend itself to definition #2. Finding new employees that fit into what is perceived as the #1 definition actually means your culture is artificial. Exposing your human intellectual manifestations to your candidates and letting them determine if they want to contribute to that culture seems to be the right move. ...

Working for a 100% distributed company presents a number of benefits as well as challenges. One of those challenges is the fear of missing out or FoMO. It is a real thing. The Fear of Missing Out is the emotional stress we can experience when we feel like things that should be important to us are occurring without our observance or involvement. Social media plays an important role in this as we experience other people's involvement in activities that portray a perceived positive impact on their well-being. Even though we know that the world isn't as rosy as is portrayed through these sites, we feel a tinge of jealous a number of times. ...

I love photography. My love for taking photos is an ebb and flow. I'm not sure what exactly affects the arbitrary direction of those currents other than the nature of my brain. I still take a fair number of photos but sadly they're only with my iPhone 6 Plus as of late. I have a fair amount of camera gear, centered around my Canon 40D from a few years back. I was seriously proud when I bought that digital SLR. I also have a number of pieces of studio lighting equipment and related paraphernalia. I enjoy the whole concept of being a full time photographer - but for some reason I just peter out and lose interest. I've been pondering why lately and this is sort of my mental dump on the subject. ...

It's In Our NatureThe human body seems to have a natural instinct to burn itself out. We find something we like and want to continue receiving those brain signals so we keep on doing the thing. Eventually our brain grows weary and sometimes our body too. My scientific analysis has some gaps but you get the idea. We like to put blinders on until we feel pain that something is no longer fun. ...