Weeknotes 25:26

June 30, 2025

Week of June 22–28

My mother-in-law passed away early Tuesday morning. She had been moved to a hospice care center late on Monday. My wife and I went to see her Monday night. It was a much quieter environment than the hospital and the staff were better trained in helping to make her last hours as comfortable as possible. We think she waited for her son, who came in last Sunday and saw her on Monday.

Six state roadtrip

We rented a mini-van and set out for Louisiana on Friday. We traveled through 6 different states–Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. We ended up staying in Crossett, Arkansas just over the border. We had first looked at Monroe but were unable to find rooms to accomodate our family. We found out later that there was a state baseball tournament over the weekend.

The last gift that my mother-in-law gave to us was time together as a family. My oldest was down from Nashville for two weeks and we had an unplanned roadtrip. I enjoyed getting to spend this unexpected time with my family. I also enjoyed seeing my wife’s family who attended the funeral on Saturday. My kids had never seen where their grandmother grew up. We went out by the house she grew up in and drove through the small town of Mer Rouge, stopping at several different places and getting a history lesson from my wife. At the end of the day, we got some ice cream at Country Cream.

We originally had considered a graveside service but with the heat, decided to stay inside. My wife and I shared stories, memories, and thoughts about what my mother-in-law meant to each of us. Each of my kids were able to share fond memories of their grandmother and what she meant to them. A few other family members blessed us with their thoughts. It was a beautiful time of remembrance.

State of CSS 2025

I took the State of CSS 2025 survey on Monday in the lobby of the hospital. I just barely got it in before I was needed to help my wife.

I had taken the survey several times in the past but did not last year when I was unemployed. It was just too painful to take at the time as I was not getting any interviews and was wondering if I had a future in Web development.

I had heard or used 87% of the features mentioned in the survey which was a little bit better than the 84% in 2023, the last time I took it. I have been able to stay pretty well informed through my RSS feeds, but also by things like Smashing Meets Modern CSS.

I would like to write an article about the survey and my takeaways much like I did in 2022 and 2023.

State of Devs

I mentioned back in May that I took the State of Devs 2025 survey. Instead of focusing on tools or technologies, this survey was about us, the people behind the work. The survey is done by Devographics, the same group that does State of CSS, JS, and others. They just released part 1 of the results of this year’s survey. I have not had a chance to dive into it yet. I saw that Josh Comeau is sharing his thoughts in his newsletter. I look forward to reading his perspective and looking through the data myself.

Articles I read

• The Idol of Popularity (Tim Challies)
• CSS Color Functions Guide (CSS Tricks)
• Hallelujah! (Paul David Tripp)
• Support Piccalilli on Open Collective (Piccalilli) – This is a very interesting approach that Set Studio is taking. I am very interested to see how this works out. I am cheering for them to be successful.
• Average (Jonathan Snook)
• You’re not an accessibility specialist until you’ve… (Bogdan Cerovac) – A variation of Nic’s post that I referenced the week before.
• UA+ (Piccalilli) -Shout out to the resource below.
• UA+ (Manuel Matuzovi?) – A Different type of reset style sheet.
• What Is Developer Advocacy? (2025 Edition) (Chris Coyier, Frontend Masters Blog)
• The Setting Sun (Jonathan Snook)
• If Aslan Is Shaking His Mane Again, Why Not Enjoy the Feast? (Stephen McAlpine)
• Link bug. (Ethan Marcotte)
• Almost Human, Entirely Helpful (Tracy Goodhue) – I don’t agree with all of Tracy’s conclusions. I am not a fun of people relying on AI for companionship. I think it is dehumanizing and gives our society one more reason to forget about the elderly.
• The Death Culture of the UK (Stephen McAlpine)
• calc-size() (HTML & CSS Tip of the Week, Kevin Powell) – I am still fuzzy on this CSS feature even after reading this tip.
• View transitions for changing themes (Stuart Langridge) – I like this idea. I played around with putting a transition on the color so they would appear in more a fade. I didn’t implement it but had played around with it in Dev Tools before reading this article.
• Quality is a trap (Eric Bailey) – Some very interesting thoughts on quality by Eric. I think I should reread this in a couple of weeks and think about it some more.
• Pray for Our Brothers and Sisters in Israel and Iran and Across the Middle East (Randy Alcorn)
• I listened to every version of Seasons in the Sun, so you don’t have to (Andy Clarke)
• The Quiet Judgement on the UK (The Weeflea)
• Pray Through! Pray Through! (Tim Challies)
• We Rehearse the Acts of the Lord (Mitch Case)
• Death By A Thousand Cuts: Gen Z and That Quiet Revival (Stephen McAlpine)
• Studio Notes #38 (Dan Cederholm)

What I watched

The Rebecca Purple Story (YouTube, CSS is Emotional)

Getting Started with CSS Style Queries (Kevin Powell, YouTube)

• Pacers vs. Thunder, Game 7 of NBA Finals (ABC) – We were disappointed that the Pacers lost. We hated seeing Tyrese Haliburton’s injury played over and over. Sorry that his finals ended that way. Pacers put up a good fight but Thunder were just too good for them on that night. Congratulations on your first title in Oklahoma.

Books I am reading

• Sunday Matters (Paul David Tripp) – I read one devotional a week.
• Everyday Gospel (Paul David Tripp) – Reading through the Bible this year with this devotional.
• Universal Principles of UX Design (Irene Pereyra) – I have not read it in a couple of weeks.
• The Basketball 100 (David Aldridge & John Hollinger)
• Ruthless Trust (Brennan Manning) – I started rereading this one on Sunday.
• On Tyranny (Timothy Synder)
• All That Jesus Commanded (John Piper) – I started this on Saturday.
• Five Mere Christians (Jordan Raynor) – I read through 2 of the biographies in this one. I really enjoyed reading about Ole Kirk Christiansen, the founder of LEGO.
• Keep Going (Austin Kleon) – I just started reading this one while hanging out in my son’s room (I bought it for him several years ago).

Walking

I didn’t get out and do any walking this past week.

What I played

MLB The Show 20 (Twins) – I played 3 games with the Twins and won all three of them.