Note: This was written last Friday (5/1) and I haven’t been able to post it until now.
According to the navigation on the screen in the seatback in front of me, I am currently at 37,076 feet. I realized that I was far overdue for a blog post and since I refuse to pay for internet unless absolutely necessary, I am writing this in TextEdit. Word seemed too formal for this type of post and unfortunately I can’t write real drafts without internet since the original plan was some knitting updates with photos of things I’ve made recently.
I also can’t review past posts to see what I’ve written about so forgive me if things get repetitive.
Brief update on what’s been going on with me:
Spent the weekend with AJ in Petaluma a few weeks ago, it was great
Volunteered at Rails Girls two weeks ago and it was a lot of fun (will expand more shortly)
Knit a whole bunch of hats, slowly making progress on my stash
Currently, I am on a plane, flying to DC to see my sister dance with her “crew” (I don’t know if that’s the right word, they aren’t a team and they aren’t a troupe so I guess crew will have to do). I have done some Sudoku, read a book, worked on a scarf, watched Big Hero 6 and coded, there is still about an hour to go.
So Rails Girls, I went for a day last year and it was a little rough. It’s hard to plan and run an event no matter what and one that requires a good internet connection for over a 100 people is an even bigger challenge. This year was far smoother, the location was easier for me to get to and because it was Friday/Saturday instead of Saturday/Sunday, I was able to attend the entire time. Both days flew by. I got to work with two UCLA students on making their first Rails app and deploying it.
I had been really worried that I wasn’t going to be able to answer all their questions since it had been a while since I had worked on anything. Starting with the installs on Friday, the guide was a huge help and I realized that I knew more than I thought I did. I did run into the minor roadblock that Rails was busted on my machine and I didn’t find out until Saturday. Thanks to a friend, I was able to sort that out by Saturday night.
I miss making things happen on my machine, I keep saying it and the motivation is coming through to get back to making things. I think it’s time to start working on the goals I set for myself. This vacation seems like the right time to get a little more coding under my belt. I did update my portfolio which means that this blog will also be getting a facelift soon. The new portfolio feels more like me rather than me trying to be someone I’m not. I did borrow a template and then did a fair amount of work to customize it and update all sorts of things.
I have been working on some personal goals lately and seem to be making progress on at least one of them.
The first one is easier than the others. I have been attempting to eliminate the word “but” from my vocabulary. The past few weeks I have been much better about rewording sentences to exclude the word and I hope that it starts to come more naturally soon. Once it does, it should translate to my verbal expression as well. I didn’t think much about its use before until I read an article outlining how negative the connotation can switch to becoming just with the simple word regardless of intent.
Working with teens, I have to give constructive criticism fairly frequently and there is only so much bucket filling you can do to balance out the need to correct behaviors to allow them to grow. I realized that using “and” and rewording sentences could keep these sometimes tough conversations more positive. Rather than “you did this thing well but…” saying “you did this thing well and you could be even better by…” could change the frame of the conversation.
We all have to give feedback and it’s not always comfortable, I feel like changing the tone to sounds more inclusive means that people remember that you want to help and that you are both in this together.
Based on the distance to go and the ground speed, I think I am going to have to turn off the computer shortly so I am going to end this before I lose the writing. Next up, hopefully internet and pictures of objects I have knit recently.
