Learning out Loud in Milwaukee, WI
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Five years at Automattic: A sabbatical
Every employee earns a sabbatical at Automattic after they have five years tenure under their belt. It’s a benefit that was almost unbelievable when I started there five and a half years ago, and continued to be even as I saw team member after team member before me start and return from theirs. I think…
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Radio Player: Alexa without all the skills
“Hey Siri, play Radio Milwaukee.” “Hey Alexa, play WUWM.” It may be hard for some folks to remember what it was like to play a web stream before these home assistants existed. For people who own such a device they close the cumbersome gaps involved with finding and playing your favorite radio station on decent…
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Year of Desktop Linux part two
I wrote previously about how, as part of prepping for my sabbatical, I’m converting a Raspberry Pi 4 with 1GB of RAM to use as my primary computer for at least the three months I’m off. If it goes well, I’ll probably continue using it to further separate work and life. I wanted to upgrade…
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WordPress at 20
It’s a little wild that I’ve been using WordPress longer than I’ve been in the (professional) workforce. Something I think about a lot is how impactful WordPress has been on not only my life, but the life of the new web, and how the early decision to empower creators with the four freedoms of the…
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Sabbatical prep
I hit five years with Automattic on January 20th 2023 and with that milestone I became eligible for a special benefit: A sabbatical. It’s a bittersweet timing, a little, because we’re in the middle of an exciting growth opportunity for the public sector, and especially the federal marketplace. Still, I’m extremely excited for June 19th…
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A small act of accessibility
I keep a small office in a building in my neighborhood. It works out nicely that my employer defrays the cost a bit because unlike apparently everybody else with a remote job I can’t seem to get any work done while sharing a small home office with another person and with wild animals pets, and…
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Four years of Christmas quinzhees
A quinzhee is a temporary snow shelter made by piling up snow, letting it set, and then hollowing it out. Temperatures inside a well-made quinzhee can exceed 45º once people are inside, and if the door is blocked or positioned opposite the wind, it can also be a significant wind block, which is handy when…
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Getting back into Goodreads
I know I’m late to the party here but I’ve been having fun starting up my Goodreads account again. Based on the books I was in-progress on, I’m guessing I stopped using it back in 2012 or ‘13. Safe to say I’m not going to be able to backfill all my books since then, but…
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Open source payphones in Philly and Portland
Where I work, we have a creed and in it we say that open source is one of the most powerful ideas of our generation. The Philtel program and Futel in Portland seem to exemplify that idea. The pay phone was an important part of connectivity infrastructure when I was a kid and long before.…