Weeknotes 22:19

July 26, 2022

Week of July 17-23

The Tempest

On Saturday, we got to see my youngest daughter perform as Miranda in The Tempest. It is always a highlight of her summer to participate in the Homeschooled Shakespeare Troupe. They meet about once a month in the spring and then come together for a week to prepare their performance. Everyone makes their own costume. My daughter enjoys the creative process of making her character come alive through the costume. I love to see her in her element. We really enjoyed this year’s performance.

Roadtrip Part 2

My son took a selfie in the cab of our rented U-Haul with me in the background concentrating on the road
My son grabbed a selfie while we were on the road to Nashville on Monday.

After taking a shorter road trip to Nashville with my daughter last week, my whole family made the trip in three different vehicles as we helped my oldest daughter to move into an apartment. I drove a 15′ U-Haul with her stuff along with my son. It has been over twenty years since I last drove a rented truck like this. I had figured out that we rented 6 different trucks (from U-Haul and Ryder) in the first six years of our marriage.

All packed and ready to roll.

We packed the truck on Sunday and drove to Nashville on Monday morning. My son and I spent most of the day unloading the truck and going up the 19 stairs to my daughter’s second-floor apartment. The piece of furniture (TV cabinet) that I dreaded getting up the stairs the most ended up being pretty easy after we removed the drawers and took off the hinged doors.

A cup from Culver's that reads 'This is me in my happy place,' which was very appropriate at that moment.

I got to visit Culver’s again as we took a lunch break on Monday. We also got to enjoy swimming at the pool at our hotel after a hard day of work helping my daughter move into her apartment. I enjoyed the time with my family, especially my son. We spent a lot of time together, riding in the U-Haul, and unloading the truck. We also installed a ceiling fan together on Tuesday. I cherish that time with him as he will be leaving home in a couple of weeks to start a new chapter as a student at Murray State University.

We headed back to Chattanooga on Tuesday night. I stopped again at a scenic overlook of the Sequatchie Valley. This time I was able to take some pictures on my phone.

Office Space

I read a couple of articles while on the road about office spaces. The author talked about a change in mindset from his workspace being what life revolves around to life happening around the workspace. I think a lot of us can have “office space envy” when we see others post about their spaces online. The author came appreciate the space that he has for now.

I connected with the thoughts in this article last week as I prepared to move back into my office space. My oldest daughter (the one we just moved up to Nashville) occupied my office space this summer and I worked out of my “summer office.”

That summer office was in the corner of our dining room in the front of the house next to the stairs which is the central traffic space in our house. It is a space without doors and privacy. It feels like it is in the middle of everything. But that has been my workspace off and on for the past three years.

Working in the “summer office” a year ago.

After we returned home on Tuesday night from Nashville, I started reclaiming my office space upstairs. It is a nice space that I have been able to curate and make my own over the past three years (that is when my daughter was not home and in need of a space for herself).

I have learned to adapt to different spaces over the years. I enjoy having my office space in our current house. But life has always happened around it. The kids come in from time to time with a question, a request, or sometimes just to say hi. My wife pops in almost every day and we have conversations. At times, guinea pigs have lived in the room or just had the run of it. But it is also nice to be able to shut the door and enjoy some more quiet introverted time.

I am glad to be back in my space. But it is also a bit strange. I find myself at times missing the space downstairs in the middle of everything.

What I worked on

  • Development is beginning to wind down on the Kauffman Foundation Real World Learning project that I have worked on most of the summer. Everything is on track. I finished work on the district detail pages that go with the district map that I mentioned last week.
  • I was able to rework a section on a page that I had built last month. I had not been happy with how that solution turned out and decided to try something a bit simpler. I built out the new component and then shared it with my teammates and got the thumbs up.
  • I started to play around with building a membership dashboard page that includes a membership directory and event listing. I decided to use Simple Membership after researching different plugin options. I ended up buying an add-on plugin for displaying a directory and profile pages. After looking through the plugin code, I decided I needed to modify it to display the information we want to display and refactor the code for the layout that I need to implement the design.
  • I had a 1:1 with a teammate and found out that she bought a D3 course that I had suggested to her back in the fall. I love to connect people with resources so I was thrilled she found my suggestion helpful.

Articles I read

Books I read

What I watched

  • MLB All-Star Game (Fox)
  • Explained: Fairy Tales (Netflix) – We were asked to pick an episode from this documentary to discuss at our LGND Campfire. Unfortunately, my internet connection on Zoom became unstable and I did not get to hear from my teammates about the different episodes they watched.
  • The Bernie Mack Show (Peacock)

What I played

  • MLB The Show 21 (Braves) – I won Game 3 of the NLDS against the Cardinals and avoided elimination.

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