Weeknotes 22:32

October 23, 2022

Week of October 16–22

• Not as expected
• Frustration with Magic Mouse
• What I wrote
• Articles I read
• What I watched
• Books I am reading
• What I listened to
• What I played

Not as expected

The week did not go quite as planned. I had planned to take the last two days of the week off. I knew that I needed a break after bringing two projects to the finish line recently. With our unlimited PTO policy, I have been trying to plan more breaks in my life between projects to catch my breath and step away from the work.

But some unexpected things happened on Monday and I ended up taking off on Tuesday and Wednesday as well. I appreciate that my team leadership puts people first and allowed me the space to unplug from the work. I did not have much left in the tank. It was really good to be able to take some extended time off and give attention to my family.

Frustration with Magic Mouse

On Monday, I spent the morning setting up a WordPress install for a new project and built a custom Gutenberg block. But my mouse kept disconnecting and (sometimes) reconnecting to my Mac. After about an hour of getting by with this, I searched around my house for another mouse. I found an old Dell mouse with a USB cable. But that was frustrating to work with as well because I could not gesture between Spaces on my Mac.

When I shared my frustration with my wife, she asked me if I had changed the batteries. I dismissed this idea because I had just replaced the batteries on Friday. But later in the day, I decided to take her suggestion.

The new batteries had ribbing/striping on them that gave them some texture. When doing research about Magic Mice disconnecting, one of the articles talked about bad connections with the terminal. It made me wonder if the ribbing was causing a bad connection.

I found some older unused batteries that were smooth and replaced them in the mouse. And I did not have any more trouble the rest of the day.

The takeaway is that I should always listen to my wife and try her ideas even when I have cause to question. I would have saved myself a couple of hours of frustration and could have gotten more work done.

What I wrote

The added space in my life afforded me the chance to spend some time writing. I ended up writing four other blog posts besides my weeknote from the previous week.

• The State of CSS 2022: Gauging my current CSS knowledge
• Why I am rooting for the Padres – I expanded some thoughts I had originally shared in my weeknote.
• Be a problem solver, not a problem adder – I use to do more posts like this where I would share my thoughts about something I had read elsewhere. I hope to get in a habit of writing more posts like this in the future.
• My history as a Web practitioner, Part One – I spent about 9 hours writing, editing, and rewriting this one. This was one that I had trouble letting go of. I finally got the courage to hit the publish button. And of course, in the days since, I have thought of other things I could have said. But it is probably fine the way that it is.

I also did a lot of journaling this week. It was refreshing to spend some time reflecting and processing on different things in my life. I need to make more time and space for this type of reflection. This is one of my biggest takeaways from the week.

Articles I read

• None of Your Business – I should have re-read this article on Friday or Saturday to help me have a perspective about publishing the very personal post about my history. This article contains some really good advice about letting go of our creations. You need to allow your things to exist.
• Why We’re Breaking Up with CSS-in-JS – I found this one interesting. As I mentioned in my post about the State of CSS 2022 survey, I have not been one to jump on the CSS-in-JS bandwagon. This is a very thoughtful post on the decision of one team to move away from CSS-in-JSS.
• Brad Frost’s Thoughts on Why We’re Breaking Up with CSS-in-JS – I read this article first and then the one above. I appreciated Brad’s perspective given that I am also in the progressive enhancement camp and think CSS and JS should be separate.
• JavaScript – Jeremy Keith clarifies that when he says “lay off the JavaScript,” he is referring to client-side, not the server.
• Create a Growth Culture, Not a Performance-Obsessed One – I enjoyed this article about a growth culture because one of our values at LGND is “bring a growth mindset.” This article has some important warnings to steer away from a performance culture.
• Day 19: the placeholder-shown pseudo-class
• Upgrading colors to HD on the web – I mentioned in my State of CSS 2022 post that I need to learn more about the new color spaces in CSS. This article is a good introduction.
• Intro To Why Accessibility is Important for Good SEO
• Proposed web and software accessibility legislation introduced in United States Congress – This is something that is good to be aware of.
• Why do Christians address sexuality and gender issues all the time?
• Expressive Individualism and Genghis Khan
• The Birth of Narnia and Why Tolkien Hated It – My takeaway from this article is to find a champion for your work. Sometimes those closest to you will not be that champion.
• How Is the Trinity Vital for My Christian Life?
• The Emperor’s New Tools?: pragmatism and the idolatry of the web – A post from 2018 that still has a lot of relevance today.
• Encouragement for the Trials We Face

What I watched

Kevin Powell’s take on this year’s State of CSS survey.

• Chiefs-Bills game (CBS)
• Andor (Disney+)
• The Great British Baking Show Collection 10 E5 (Netflix)
• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+)
• Blue Bloods (CBS)
• Bernie Mac (Peacock)
• Somebody Feed Phil (Netflix) – I watched all the episodes from America (Nashville, Austin, and Philadelphia) from the latest season
• Reacher (Prime) – I watched one episode of this new series and don’t think I am going to continue.

Books I am reading

• The Discerning Life
• The Coddling of the American Mind
• The Proverbs of Middle Earth – I jumped back into this one. It is my second time reading through this book.
• Twenty Bits I Have Learned about Making Websites – I was so excited to finally receive this one in the mail on Saturday. I read two of the bits and saving the rest for this coming week.

What I listened to

• Steven Curtis Chapman’s new album, Still. This is his first new pop album in almost ten years. Steven is one of my favorite artists and his songs have been important to my spiritual journey. His songs have challenged me, encouraged me, sustained me, and helped me to lift my ears toward God and the heavenly call to press on.
• Shop Talk Show #537

What I played

• FIFA23 (Manchester City)
• MLB The Show 20 (Padres) – I started a new franchise with the 2020 Padres (traded for Juan Soto). I am not sure if I will play the whole season but just enjoying playing baseball again for now.