Weeknotes 20:12

June 16, 2020

Week of June 7 -13

  • I worked on a variety of different things last week. I am juggling several different projects and made progress on several of them.
  • I finished up a blog template for CalmHR and we launched that on Tuesday. I asked the client to try to create their first blog entry without any formal instructions and she found the interface intuitive enough to successfully create and publish their first post. It is always really satisfying when you can ship a project, even a short one like this one.
  • I finished up a search solution for Greater Washington Partnership’s new site.  I am really happy with how things turned out. I really enjoyed coming up with some creative PHP solutions to realize the concept that we had envisioned. It is a more robust search solution than anything I have built before. We were planning to launch the new site this month but it is now looking like it will happen later.
  • I was really tired last week. I did not sleep as well and I have been consistently waking up about an hour before my alarm so I just get back to sleep when it is time to get up. My allergies were also bothering me a lot last week–the kind that I feel physically drained. Emotionally, I hit a wall with dealing with the isolation and monotony of living in light of COVID-19. I miss physically interacting with people and the ‘normalcy’ of life. We continue to limit our contact with the outside world because my mother-in-law lives with us and she is very vulnerable. So life continues on as it has for the past 3 months with no end in sight for now.
  • Despite dragging physically last week, I was able to get in the groove and be productive in my work. Where it has affected me most was in my morning devotional time and at night when I wanted to read but was just too tired to read. I could not really concentrate. And that was frustrating because I enjoy reading and wanted to do more of it last week.
  • Last week marked the anniversary of the first website I created. I finally put it online again. And I also posted how it looks several months later. The first and only time I created a site in frames.

Online Reading

  • CUBE CSS – I am really interested in this methodology from Andy Bell. I have read about and tried some different CSS methodologies in the past but nothing has really stuck. I like Andy’s thinking is letting CSS do what it does best and working with it rather than against it. I am hoping Andy writes some more in-depth things about this approach.
  • The Monotony of the Wilderness – I enjoyed this perspective in light of how I was feeling the monotony strongly last week. God has called us to live in ordinary days and ordinary moments of life. This article helped encourage me not to give in to the emotional pull I was feeling last week.
  • When Our Own Understanding Fails – My understanding has failed a lot in these past three months. I enjoyed this meditation on Psalm 131. This article was a great compliment to the one I just mentioned above. One of the biggest lessons of this season of life is how important a constant posture of humility is.
  • Emerging From Groundhog Day – As I mentioned above, I am not emerging from Groundhog Day anytime soon. And I wonder if we really are emerging. I am not sure that I can list a bunch of things I have learned or how this season has “transformed me.” Still pondering and processing.

Books

  • Beyond Racial Gridlock – I finished this book last week. Not quite sure how to make an application on it right now. It is not surprising because there are no easy answers or solutions to solve this problem. To really make application means that I have to enter into new relationships and new environments. And because I am limiting my exposure outside my house, not sure how that is going to happen any time soon.
  • Between Me and The World – I started this one at the end of the week. My team is reading it for our next book club. Not sure what I think of it so far. It feels like a long journal entry that switches topics from time to time. Not organized like a lot of books that I read. Not bad, just different. It does draw me into the author’s world which is very different than my own. I am glad that I am reading the book and just “listening” and taking it in to gain some understanding.
  • All That’s Good – Another book that I started last week. It is a book about discernment and much needed. I am finding that I am having to make a lot of “wisdom” decisions these days. There is not necessarily right or wrong and it is hard to determine the best. These decisions affect my kids and we have to make decisions about my mother-in-law’s health. I feel a need to grow in my discernment skills.

Watching

  • Somebody Feed Phil – My wife and I are really enjoying this show on Netflix. Phil travels to different destinations and makes new friends over food. We had seen a couple of his shows on PBS and just feel in love with his quirkiness. It is just a feel-good show. And really enjoy seeing these different locations around the world. I enjoy his interactions with people and how excited he gets about food and new experiences. And love the facial expressions.
  • The West Wing – just finished season 2.

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