Weeknotes 23:44

December 24, 2023

Week of December 17–23

Celebrating my birthday

We celebrated my birthday on Sunday by attending the Chattanooga Symphony Happy Holidays concert. The concert also featured the Chattanooga Boys and Girls Choir and the Metropolitan Bells. It was over 2 hours of great music.

We enjoyed the 12 Days of Christmas with each verse in a different period style that started with a Gregorian chant and ended with John Phillip Souza’s Stars and Stripes Forever. We enjoyed the sing-along part of the concert near the end. It was an enjoyable afternoon and we intend to make an annual tradition.

We picked up Logan’s Roadhouse on the way home for dinner and enjoyed some chocolate cake for dessert. It was a very enjoyable birthday.

Post each day challenge

I am very excited. I have been able to meet the challenge every day so far and only have a week left.

• Happy birthday CSS (and me)
• Thank you to those who helped me to be the CSS developer I am today
• Weeknotes 23:43
• 101 Things I Learned as a Web Developer (okay it is only 53 at the moment)
• Becoming comfortable with my digital home
• Random thoughts about being a craftsman
• The Jayhawk

Highlights from the week

• I had several 1:1s with teammates this week. I enjoy getting to connect with them on more than just work.
• I had the opportunity to encourage a fellow Web professional. I was able to share how he had an impact on me through his appearance on a podcast. He mentioned that my comments were meaningful because he doesn’t always get much feedback when he speaks in public or on podcasts. It brought me a lot of joy to be able to brighten his day.
• I came up with a new solution for a grid layout of the Toyota Government Affairs team on their site. I changed the layout from Grid layout to Flexbox. This allows us to center the images on the last row if there are less than 8 on the desktop.
• I am taking PTO next week so my last day of work for 2023 was on Friday. Looking forward to the new opportunities awaiting LGND in the new year.
• I took an unplanned trip to Nashville on Wednesday. My wife was unable to drive so I took my son up to a doctor’s appointment on Thursday morning and brought back our daughter to spend time at home over the holidays. We ended up being in Nashville for 24 hours.
• I joined our LGND Campfire on Friday and watched several of my teammates make Christmas cookies. Even though I was not able to participate in the baking, I was glad that I joined the call and hung out with my teammates. It helped that I was not the only one in the peanut gallery.

Articles I read

• Adobe abandons $20 billion acquisition of Figma (The Verge)
• Web Components (12 Days of Web)
• Beyond The Spotlight: Michelle Barker – An interview focused on Michelle’s speaking engagements.
• The 20 Best Ads of 2023
• The road to HTMHell is paved with semantics (HTMHell Advent Calendar)
• The biggest trends in graphic design for 2024, as predicted by the creative industry
• align-content in block layout (Rachel Andrew) – You will be able to use this in block containers like you have in Flexbox or Grid.
• The personality of a personal website – I wrote a post this week to add to the conversation that this article and one by Robin Rendle wrote the week before started.
• Revisiting Fundamentals – Semantic lists for Improved Accessibility (HTMHell Advent Calendar)
• It depends, indeed.
• Accessibility-specific tech requirements? It depends! (Nicolas Steenhout)
• Why Love Is Love Doesn’t Square with Scripture (Rosaria Butterfield)
• Baseball’s Torey Lovullo likes to say ‘I love you.’ His boss won’t often say it back (The Athletic)
• Noah and the Curse of Ham
• God with Us on the Escalator
• The opposite of shame is vulnerability (Ana Rodrigues) – The story of a very difficult and challenging year. Hang in there Ana.
• Vibe Check #30 (Dave Rupert) – Dave has had a very challenging month.
• KU Interior Architecture students gain insights from local professionals
• Fading Glory and Permanent Things
• Defaults 2023 – Another listing of default apps that this person uses. I created mine a couple of weeks ago.

What I watched

Two important questions for Visual Thinkers (Verbal to Visual)

• Season 43 – The West Roxbury Victorian of This Old House
• Season Season 43 – Saratoga Legacy Restored of This Old House
• Project Runway Allstars Season 2 (Prime)
• Project Runway Season 9 (Prime)
• Bluey (Disney+)
• Gilmore Girls (Netflix)

Books I am reading

• Trusting God
• The One True Light
• Twenty Bits I Have Learned about Making Websites – I finished my second reading of this book on Tuesday.
• A Craftsman’s Legacy
• The Jayhawk
• Understanding Privacy – I picked this one back up at the end of the week and finished it.
• Tactics – I finished this one on Sunday.
• The Loveliest Place: The Beauty and Glory of the Church