gardening A busy Memorial Day weekend, playing and working This weekend was a great one for getting things done. I took Thursday and Friday off, so the fam got a chance to do some stuff together, and I even got a couple
#30DaysOfBlogging Forget the fitness apps, charts, wearables... just get out and have fun My first instinct is to overanalyze whenever possible. I'm pretty sure.. I mean... maybe I should think about that more. If I can't plan something out beforehand, track it during, imagine the final
pairing A few random thoughts after a year of pair programming At work we do quite a bit of pair programming. Not 100% of the time, but a lot. I once had a manager who told a member of our team he wouldn't bother
communication We get paid to sweat the details The cool part about being a developer is getting to solve new and interesting problems. I feel extremely lucky, in a world full of mundane jobs that quickly fall into repetitive routine, that
parenting One-on-one time with my kids means a recharge for both of us I was talking to one of my coworkers yesterday, about how much better our kids seem to be when they get some one-on-one time with mom or dad. It's like a recharge for
#30DaysOfBlogging Committing to #30DaysOfBlogging I'm committing to 30 days of blogging. Every day for a month I'm going to write something about my life, as a developer, father, husband, whatever. I hope they're all fantastic and riveting
quoting Quotes 'n Notes #6 Just a few of the inspirational and thoughtful stories and quotes I ran across this week. Come across any of your own that you'd like to share? I'm always looking for something interesting
books Book Review: Spaceman by Mike Massimino Everyone needs a job. For many of us, it's a means to an end, something to pay the bills. For some, it's a career path that challenges us and helps us grow. I
stirtrek Notes from StirTrek 2017 This is just a collection of my notes from the sessions I attended at StirTrek on Friday. If you're anywhere near Columbus Ohio (or even if you're not), check it out. It's typically
quoting Quotes 'n Notes #5 Need a little inspiration for the weekend? Here are a few thoughtful quotes I ran across earlier this week. Risk "A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are
erlang Concurrent Programming in Erlang - Scaling Up (week three) The concurrent programming in Erlang course ended this week. It's been informative. There's been a ton of resources shared (both in the course itself and in the comments), but wow I was spending
erlang Concurrent Programming in Erlang - Winning by Failing (week two) No one wants to fail. We'd like to succeed in life, to pass our exams, advance in our jobs, achieve our goals. And when we become bored with the usual challenges, we see
erlang Concurrent Programming in Erlang - You've Got Mail (week one) This past weekend was great weather-wise. Sunny and 70. Summer's around the corner but in Ohio there are never any guarantees... the weekend before it snowed 4 inches. We had places to go
ghost 5 Quick Hacks for Your Ghost Theme I'm using the default "Casper" theme that installs with Ghost (read more about my migration from WordPress to Ghost), but these hacks should be usable in any theme (with adjustments). Using these requires
ghost Migrating my blog from WordPress to Ghost About a week ago I decided to migrate my blog to the Ghost platform. I'd been thinking about it for awhile - even installed it once or twice to play around with it
erlang How to evaluate a string of code in Erlang at runtime Erlang has the ability to read in a string, representing a line of code to execute, at runtime. It can parse it out, evaluate it and return the value. Evaluating Simple Expressions At
android 5 Ways to Reclaim Space on Your Android Phone I have a Moto E smartphone, which has pretty minimal specs (including internal memory), so I’m regularly looking for ways to make the most of limited resources. It’s barebones, but it
charlieplexing What is "charlieplexing"? (a short demo using the Raspberry Pi) While I was reading Raspberry Pi Cookbook, I came across a few things that looked interesting to demo. One of them was the concept of “charlieplexing“. On past projects, when I needed multiple
diy Creating Your Own Indoor Vegetable Garden Since building my first raised garden bed a couple years ago (there’s a second one next to it now), I’ve really enjoyed growing our own veggies. It’s a fun project
books Cooking with Simon Monk - Raspberry Pi Cookbook It’s been too long since I messed with the Raspberry Pi. It started with Hacktoberfest a few months ago, then we had a baby, and then I got it in my head
git What is a Git alias, and how do I use it? If you're unfamiliar with Git's "alias" feature, it provides a way to create shortcuts for other Git commands, which can save you a lot of time. They’re easy to setup and maintain
books Book Review: Getting Things Done, Part 1 Do you ever get exhausted, thinking of everything that needs to be done? I do. I always have this feeling that there’s tons of “stuff” to do – some that needs to get
api 5 Things You Can Do With a Locally Cloned GitHub Wiki If you’ve been developing software for any length of time you’ve probably used GitHub, whether as free hosting for your own personal project, or searching for a library to use, or
browser Creating My First Google Chrome Extension – Part 3 PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 I was looking forward to wrapping this extension up within the first couple days of xmas break (my workplace shuts its doors between Christmas and New Year’
browser Creating My First Google Chrome Extension - Part 2 PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 I started writing my first browser extension a couple weeks ago, and though my spare time has been pretty limited I've made some (never as much I'd