I have always been prone to making self-deprecating jokes and comments. In the last couple of years, however, I’ve been working to wean myself off of this bad habit. It’s hard and slow-going, but I feel like I am making some progress.

I don’t believe in talent. But maybe that’s because I am mildly talented in a couple of ways, so it’s easy for me to say. School came easily to me, I didn’t have to bother with homework and could pull off solving things on the blackboard if I got called on. At least until high school — then I got a rude awakening in the form of my first failed test. Turns out high school math wasn’t nearly as easy anymore.

I forget which teacher I heard this from — could have been one of Pema Chodron’s talks, or perhaps Shaila Catherine. It’s a comment about how sometimes, when we’re meditating, we get easily distracted by anything that is going on around us.

Your first one-on-one (aka 1:1) with a new report is a great time to set the stage for your relationship. It is the perfect time to start building mutual understanding and, eventually, trust.

Git submodules are a useful tool when you need to work on two closely coupled source repositories. My current use case involves wanting to maintain a Hugo theme together with the actual site that is using the theme. These are my notes on the basics of working with submodules.

It is so much easier to work within a constraint. It doesn’t matter if it is a pattern for a scarf you’re knitting, a product spec for the software you’re building, or a prompt for the piece you’re writing.

I’ve heard the confused argument that, since autonomy is one of the core components of motivation, the fewer constraints you give your team or your employees, the better. That is, of course, bullshit.

I’ve been asked to define “Love”. To compare it to an essay. But I do not think this comparison fits.

When I hear “essay” I think of something intellectual, well though-out, planned. Perhaps over-thought or maybe even over-wrought. Brainy. Something my mom would be proud of.

The Power (Naomi Alderman, 2017) was not an easy read. It contains staggering violence, inhuman misogyny and misandry, unbearable suffering and loss. It did not end on a happy note. And yet, this novel sank its teeth in me and dragged me all the way to the last page almost against my will — I just couldn’t look away.

I’m a striver. I strive to be a better knitter, a better cat herder, a better writer, a better engineer, and a better human (among other things). I’m into setting goals, making lists, and practicing rituals for reflection, revision, and planning. (Hey, I never said I was fun.)