There are easier games to play than D&D. Not sure there are better ones. I’ve never had games of chess, or Arkham Horror, and any other game that I also truly love inspire me to make better stories or more interesting choices.
I’d play for another 12 hours right now if I had the chance.
And tomorrow I will.
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Work-Life balance only seems to work when you zoom out. Any one day is unlikely to effectively balance all your priorities. But in a given week, month, or year, it’s easier to think that many different priorities and focuses can all improve in balance.
My team lead at Automattic, Simon, has described this to me as a ‘steady up-and-right.’ When we’re looking at my work, any one day doesn’t particularly matter. Some days, one issue takes many hours to resolve. Some days, you may crank out more work than five other people combined. Some days, you may have a doctor appointment that messes up your flow. Some days, you may you need to run a marathon. Those single days don’t matter so long as when you zoom out you see the overall growth.
It’s possible to watch that growth balance out in your work, your life, your health, or anything else you consider a priority.
Behavior over time means far more than achievement one day. Don’t seek balance today or tomorrow, look for balance this week, this month, or this year.
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Teddy continues to be everything a musician should be striving to be. He pushes for the new with great respect for the past. He shares and spreads his passion and knowledge instead of hiding it away for a select few. Dare I say, he’s the kind of musician that makes me want to get back into music.
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I’m not generally into winter or holidays. Rather ‘bah, humbug,’ I am. But I really do like the Snow setting on my WordPress.com blog. I will let it fall without end. Enjoy now until the beginning of January, the 4th I believe.
The Snowmads happened to be in town. It’s a rare thing that we Automatticians get to meetup, so when we do we do it right. Food and drink were had, stories were told, and blogging was sure to follow.
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Last fall I read this article from the New Yorker:
Stepping Out: Living the Fitbit Life by David Sedaris
I love Sedaris’ writing and I remember reading When You Are Engulfed in Flames in a single day. But this article seemed over the top even for him. How someone could get this obsessed over such a little nudge seemed definitely a work of fiction.
It may still be fictional in parts, I honestly don’t know, but I do now believe its possible to be truth. Automattic decided to give each Automattician a free fitbit this year, and I mine just arrived in the mail on Friday evening. All weekend it was at the front my mind.
A certain amount of this is just that it’s new, I’m sure. Gadgets that aren’t interesting when they’re new aren’t really marketable. But this feels different than when I got my Nexus 5 (that I still go on and on about how much I love it) or when I switched from Windows to Mac. Those are still tools to make me happy.
I want to make the fitbit happy. I drank water not because I felt thirst but because the fitbit said “Kinda thirsty over here!” Literally, that was a message on the app. Sure, once I started gulping down the water I realized how dehydrated I was, but the making the fitbit stats nicer was the trigger.
It’s a silly little game on my wrist, but I think I’m starting to like it.
The trilogy is complete. Waffles, then pancakes, now cookies. They are so, so good.
https://twitter.com/alexjgustafson/status/671076512595079169
You can make them too. Alton Brown’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is here.
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Another new resource I learned about at the November Louisville WordPress Meetup was a community that’s growing at Louisville.io. There you’ll find a directory of local tech conferences and meetup groups, and you can also become a member of the Louisville.io Slack team.
If you decide to join the Louisville.io Slack, feel free to ping me in the #front-end or #wordpress channels!
Alex "Gus" Gustafson 