Weeknotes 24:18

May 14, 2024

Week of May 5–11

Home

My son and I flew home on Sunday from Barcelona. The best decision made during the whole trip was to have the front desk order a taxi to take us to the airport. We had originally planned to take the subway but then realized the challenge it would be with the two heavy bags my son was taking home.

We had a nice flight. We each watched 4 different movies on the flight. Going through customs was a breeze. The most difficult part was walking to where we needed to go. Since our final destination was in Atlanta, they had a separate area where we had to go down some stairs and walk about 10-15 minutes to arrive at the customs station.

We did not have to wait long for our bags and caught a shuttle to transport us to the domestic travel center right away. We got there in time to catch the shuttle back to Chattanooga an hour earlier than I had scheduled. I was not sure how long it would take to go through customs and collect our bags so I had given us more time than we needed. I am glad we didn’t have to wait another hour to get home.

Reengage the job search

I took time on Monday and Tuesday to catch my breath and adjust to being home. I re-engaged the job search on Wednesday. I am glad that I was able to take my trip to Europe. I had been a bit discouraged and stressed before I left. I came home in a different state of mind with more peace.

I realized while in Budapest how much I needed that break and how good it was for me to return to Hungary and reconnect with a part of myself that I had forgotten. I am still uncomfortable with the uncertainty about the future but I came home with a renewed perspective and a desire to trust God with the process.

Dinner with my small group

One of the blessings of this past year was joining a small group at our church. This group of guys gave me a community that I was sorely lacking. I enjoyed studying the Word and challenging one another as we engaged with our curriculum. It was great to have these Godly men to ask for prayer and know that they had my back.

On Wednesday, we met together for dinner. The church we attend takes a break in small groups over the summer and our group finished our last lesson the day before I left on my trip. It was so much fun to share a meal and fellowship. The guys were excited to ask me about my trip. And I enjoyed hearing answers to prayers in their lives. I am going to miss this community over the summer.

This is my small group minus one member who was recently deployed with the U.S. military. I am grateful for this community of men that I found this year.

The Joy of React

I had mentioned in September that I had considered buying Josh W. Comeau’s course on React, The Joy of React when it was released and had special pricing. At the time, I decided to wait off. But I started thinking about it again once I reentered the job market. There are fewer jobs for someone like me who does not know React or have experience with JavaScript frameworks. I determined that it would be wise to add this skill to my toolbelt for the future. And I thought the best way of doing it would be through Josh’s course.

Josh is a great teacher and I had looked at his open house to get a sense of his teaching style. I determined that my best chance of learning React well would be through this course. I contacted Josh in April and he told me he planned to have a sale on the course in May. That worked out well for me due to my trip to Europe at the end of April. I bought the course at the end of the week and plan to start working through it this week.

Writing about my trip

Inspired by some of Chris Coyier’s posts about his trips to Portland and Alaska, I started writing about my travels in Barcelona and Budapest. Each post is a blend of what we did, photographs, and stories about some of my past trips to Hungary. Instead of one long post, I write about each day of our trip. And since I decided long ago that the main audience of the site is me, I will have these reflections to enjoy in the future. I finished the first three days and have six more to complete my trip.

I also published a post about all of my trips to Europe. I wrote most of it in March. I wanted to add some photos but did not find the time to put them together. I made some time last week to scan the ones that were not digital.

Articles I read

Favorites

  • Modern WordPress – Yikes! (David Bushell) – Dave has shared his thoughts and feelings about Modern WordPress development several times in the last year. I have observed the same things about WordPress and like the many other developers he knows, I don’t build WordPress sites that way. I still use templates, PHP, and avoid many of the things he talks about including the theme JSON file. David wrote a follow-up this week that I look forward to reading. He received several corrections to things he wrote by members of the WP team.
  • Manifesto for a Humane Web (Michelle Barker) – A follow-up to an article I shared last week, The perfect site doesn’t exist. I can get behind this.
  • I want it all but, it is impossible (Ana Rodrigues) – I think this resonates with all of us.

What I watched

Five Habits for Achieving Personal Excellence

God’s Architect: Antoni Gaudi’s glorious vision (2017) – I enjoyed watching a couple of videos after visiting the Sagrada Familia while in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago.

The World’s Oldest Construction Project | Sagrada Familia

Write About Things You’ve Learned • Rachel Andrew – I listened to this as an audio podcast while on my afternoon walk on Wednesday. But I decided to share the video of the conversation. I appreciate Rachel so much for sharing all the things she has learned and being a champion for CSS Grid. Thanks, Rachel.

Become an accessibility champion! (Nicolas Steenhout) – This concept of being a champion versus an expert changed my life. It is good to see this message in this form.

  • The Avengers (Disney+) – I had to watch this after seeing part of the movie in Spanish while in Barcelona.
  • The Bad Batch Season 3 (Disney+) – I thought this last season was great. I was happy with how they wrapped this one up.
  • White Collar (Netflix)
  • The Creator – I watched this on the flight home. It was not quite what I expected.
  • Spiderman: No Way Home (on the flight home)
  • Big (on the flight home)
  • Top Gun: Maverick (on the flight home)

Books I am reading

Walking

  • Monday morning – 3.05 miles in 54 minutes
  • Wednesday afternoon – 3.2 miles in 56 minutes – I heard the cicadas and saw one alive on the sidewalk.
  • Thursday afternoon – 2.72 miles in 49 minutes
  • Friday evening – 3.34 miles in 62 minutes

1 Comment

  1. Weekly Links 05.13–05.19 – ntdln

    May 21st, 2024

    […] Weeknotes 24:18 (Jeff Bridgforth) […]

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