Weeknotes 21:05

February 15, 2021

Week of February 7 -13

  • The week started out on a disappointing note as my Kansas City Chiefs (my hometown team) lost the Super Bowl. Not only did they lose but they never were able to get their offense going. I was hoping to see them repeat but it was not to be. I was hoping it would at least be a close game but did not get that wish either.
  • I started a new project this week. I have been working on a lot of things here and there on different sites so it was nice to have a focused project to give my attention to. It is a one-pager and I am trying some new techniques with responsive layouts. I really enjoyed getting into the flow late in the day at the end of the week and working a little bit later as things came together.
  • My son turned 17. I can’t believe it has gone by so fast.
  • I continue to give time to review candidates for two positions LGND is hiring for. Overall, I have been disappointed that we have come across few people with the skill level we are hoping to add to our team. We had been really excited about a candidate we talked to 3 weeks ago. It was a cold sourced contact and the person turned down our offer because their career goals differ in the type of work that we are doing. We were really disappointed because we were very impressed with their skills. We also lost a teammate over the past 3 weeks who realized that the type of agency work that we do is not a good fit.
  • I worked on a user guide for a WordPress site that I had built last summer. It is one of those projects that has dragged on due to the client. It is hard work to try to explain how to use something you have built. I ended up recoded a couple of things to make it much easier for the client to manage the content. Another thing that made it difficult was the fact that so much time has elapsed since I built the site. I spent a lot of time just reacquainting myself to what I had done so that I could explain it to the client. To be honest, writing documentation is hard and I would much rather be writing CSS or JavaScript than trying to write a guide on how to use the site. It is such an important piece because the client needs it to be successful. It is just a different kind of work that I find more mentally exhausting. I was glad to be able to switch gears later in the week to work on the new project I mentioned above.

Articles I Read

  • I don’t want to do front-end anymore – The story of one developer who is tired of how complicated front-end development has become and to keep up with the latest tools.
  • The web didn’t change, you did – A counterpoint article by Remy Sharp who argues that the simple tools of front-end still get the job done.
  • Why Developers Hate PHP – Sparked by an internal Slack conversation, I was curious to know. BTW, I don’t hate PHP and use it quite a bit in WordPress development.
  • Associative Trails – Another encouragement, this time by Jeremy Keith, to consider myself as my primary audience for this site.
  • Unsolicited Rejection – Some good thoughts from Ana Rodrigues. By the way, I did start following her after reading her article.
  • Dearest Martha – Dave Rupert shares about his experience moving back to Mac from Windows in the form of a fictitious letter.
  • The Dreaded Homepage Design – Robin Rendle reflects on the difficulties of designing a homepage (especially for your own personal site).

Books Currently Reading

Watched

  • WandaVision on Disney +
  • The Brooklyn Saints on Netflix – enjoyed watching this short documentary series last week about youth football tea in inner-city Brooklyn.
  • Always Be My Maybe on Netflix – Overall I enjoyed this movie but could have done without some of the vulgarity and language. I just don’t think it needed it and added to the story.

Played

  • MLB The Show – I passed the All-Star break and have less than 60 games left in my season with the Tampa Bay Rays. I continue to enjoy playing and have won 10 out of the last 11 games.
  • FIFA 20 – I am continuing a season with the Rangers in the Scottish Premier League.

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