Weeknotes 21:21

December 1, 2021

Week of November 14-27

November 14-20

  • I continued working on a photo gallery project that I started several weeks ago. I ran into some trouble implementing responsive images with the picture element and sources. Most of the time I just use low-resolution and high-resolution solutions. But I wanted to use WebP images for performance. I made a coding mistake and didn’t have enough parenthesis around my media query declaration. It was ironic because earlier in the morning I had seen a post from five years ago that day that I had encountered some problems with a responsive image solution using the picture element. In that project, I was using the srcset width descriptors solution. I learned that order is important when using that solution.
  • I started working on adding the second report for Achieving Cross-Border Government Innovation site that we launched in October.
  • At the end of the week, I started building out a site for the Energy Efficiency Hub. It was a simple one-page site built in WordPress.

November 21-27

This week was a short work week as I took off Wednesday to bring home my daughter from college and then had Thursday and Friday off for the holiday.

  • I continued work on the Energy Efficiency Hub. I decided to add animations using IntersectionObserver instead of using GreenSock ScrollTrigger to not add weight to this one-page site. I finished up the initial development on Tuesday and passed it off to one of my teammates to finish. The site launched on Monday, November 29.
  • On Monday, I built out the second report for the Achieving Cross-Border Government Innovation and we published the report on Tuesday morning.
  • Wednesday was a road trip day as I drove from Chattanooga to Nashville to pick up my daughter from Trevecca Nazarene University. It is possibly the last time I will do this sort of trip for her as she is graduating in the spring. We recently bought a used car for her. I drove the car up to Nashville and she drove back most of the way to Chattanooga. I listened to several “chapters” of Jay Hoffman’s Web History read by Jeremy Keith.
  • On the way home from Nashville, we took a detour to avoid traffic backup and were rewarded with some beautiful scenery as we drove a two-lane road past a lot of farms with cows. We also saw a rafter of turkeys, several horses, and some donkeys. We also enjoyed going up and down Suck Creek Mountain in the Prentice Cooper Forest. It was one of the more pleasant mountain roads that I have been on in this area. And then we were treated to the beauty of driving along the Tennessee River before turning onto Signal Mountain Road and taking Highway 27 to our home in Hixson.
  • On Friday, I started working on a “brag document” in preparation for my end-of-the-year review. A brag document is simply a list of what you have accomplished over the past year. It is a great tool to help your manager and leadership to remember all that you have contributed to the team as they consider bonuses and raises going into the new year. I found this to be an encouraging exercise as I recounted the different ways that I made contributions to the success of the LGND team in 2021. I would like to begin a new habit of adding to this type of document every week or every month instead of doing it all at once at the end of the year.
  • I admit that putting together a brag document is a bit uncomfortable for me. I am not one who feels comfortable tooting his own horn. But I have learned that it is healthy to do. Nobody else is going to do it for you. I have learned to become more comfortable with selling myself and taking the initiative to remind others of the value that I bring.

Articles I Read

Books

Watched

  • Manifest (Netflix) – I finished watching season 3. Glad to hear Netflix is making season 4.
  • The Great British Baking Show (Netflix)
  • The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies (Digital)
  • Hawkeye (Disney+) – I watched the first two episodes with my family.
  • Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone (Peacock)
  • Frasier (Peacock) – My wife and I have been rewatching this recently.
  • Kevin Powell’s Chrome DevFest North America talk, Flexbox vs. Grid, resource links
  • Rachel Andrew’s Chrome DevFest North America talk, What’s New in CSS, resource links

Listened To

  • Web History by Jay Hoffman – You can read Jay’s series on CSS Tricks or you can listen to Jeremy Keith read the chapters. I listened to chapters 1-3 and part of 5 on my way up to Nashville (I missed getting chapter 4 in my queue). Highly recommend this to anyone.

Played

  • MLB The Show 21 – I slowed down a bit over the past two weeks. I also hit a losing streak. Debating on whether to continue the season or take a break so that I can use this time to do other things like read or work through one of the many courses that I have bought and failed to get through yet.

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