What do software development principles have to do with writing?
Rather a lot, actually! I’m finding the parallels fascinating, and I thought I’d bring you along on this learning journey.
(Bear with me here. I started a different post about how Lean UX principles and ideas can be applied to writing … and then I went off on a TamiTangent and my very first vocabulary word is long enough for its own blog post.) (more…)
I recently finished reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo.
Amazon describes it thusly …
Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again.
… and now that I’ve had time to ruminate upon it, I have thoughts. (more…)
I’ve been waffling about adding “read more” breakpoints in my longer blog posts.
When I’m READING a blog post, I hate them. They require another click to finish the content and they’re not always user-friendly.
However, when I’m scanning a blog to try and find a previous blog post, these super long ramble-fests of mine get REALLY tedious.
Do YOU, oh-readers, have opinions on them? Do you care, do you not care, and why?
If I don’t get a “please do not do this thing” from at least one person, I’ll be adding them, so … fair warning. 😉
I promised a follow up to my Emergency Freezer Burrito post, and you shall have it forthwith!
I’m a fan.
(temptation to hit the publish button rising. riiiisssiiiinngg….)
In all seriousness, I tried two sizes of tortillas. The larger “burrito” size, and the one-size smaller family-pack that I got from Costco. (Sorry I can’t give a more useful size description than that — costco’s website doesn’t list them and apparently tortillas come in a lot more sizes than I expected).
The “burrito” size was the recommended size and although I can see why (it was MUCH easier to roll a full burrito with the extra inch or so around the edges) the convenience of buying a crapton of inexpensive tortillas outweighs that in my mind.
Because I am incapable of creating a burrito with the recommended amount of stuffing, you guys. (more…)
I just saw this on tumblr and I need to share it with you.
It’s an infographic someone developed to help you plot. And it’s absolutely, mind-bogglingly amazing.
Thing is? I’m not going to show it to you here because the original creator deserves the credit and blog traffic.
So please. Click through to see this wonderful graphic. It is absolutely well-worth your time.
So I recently picked up Starbound.
I’m playing it via steam on my little mac laptop (not … really recommended because of the keyboard and mouse situation, but beggars and choosers and all that) though I know it’s available via a variety of different gaming platforms.
Like Minecraft, Only Not
Starbound is Yet-Another-Minecraft-Clone-Only-Different. It’s a pixel-based art style and you break up blocks of different materials in order to build things.
That’s where it departs from Minecraft, though. The art in Starbound is a bright, professional-looking 2D side-scrolling style. It has an innate storyline, sending you off into the cosmos on your ship just as earth is demolished by some sort of tentacle monster.
And, of course, you get to create and customize your character. (more…)
I think I’m going to try making some freezer burritos this weekend during my weekly leftover generation session.
Emergency Freezer Burritos (or EFBs, as they are affectionately called) are something one of my coworkers does regularly, and something that came up during a recap from this year’s THAT Conference attendees.
Looks like they’re good even as breakfast burritos, too!
And you know me, I do love food wrapped in a tortilla. So clean. So tidy.
The general idea is that you make a large batch of various fillings (beans, rice, eggs, meats or tofu, squash, peppers ….) and create a boatload of burritos all in one go. Wrap them in tinfoil, label them, and freeze them.
Then you can grab one from the freezer for lunches (microwave in a napkin to reheat) and have a variety of healthy, inexpensive homemade delights.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
If you’ve already tried these, hit me up in the comments with how it went for you or any tips and tricks!
To my Potterhead friends (read that twice to make sure you got the right connotation /wink) please answer me this question:
So.
Turns out I am VERY susceptible to intangible rewards.
My last post was all about Habitica. This post is EVEN MORE ABOUT HABITICA.
Because I’m gonna be honest, folks. I feel more like myself than I have in a long time, and it’s because I found a reason to get off my arse and do more than just rewatch baking shows and read books.
(Not that there’s anything wrong with EITHER of those, but moderation, dear friends. Moderation.)
Now that I’ve been using Habitica for a while, I’ve found ways to use it that really work for me. YMMV. (more…)
I’m trying something new.
This is a common theme for me. I become unhappy with some aspect (or aspects) of my life and I try something.
Sometimes it works, and it sticks around. Sometimes it only lasts for a little while. Sometimes it gets chucked right outside the flippin’ window the next time I look at it.
I like to think of it as Livin’ the Scrum Life — cycles of effort and work and experiments, followed by evaluation and change. Gotta love agile.
This week’s big experiment is a new app/website called Habitica.
You tell it what you want to get credit for doing.
You do the thing.
You tell Habitica that you did the thing.
That’s all pretty standard in the zillions of todo list apps out there. But here’s the difference.
Habitica rewards you. (more…)