Learning Log, Aug/Sep 2022
Life has been super busy this past couple months, hence the double feature this time around. This is also a special Learning Log because it is dedicated to my friend Saili, whose wedding I traveled to Monterrey, CA to attend in August!!
Saili is my number one hype queen, always quick to jump in with a supportive word. I am pretty sure she is the only person who reads all my fiber crafts posts. Spend an hour with Saili and you will feel capable of punching through brick walls.
Congratulations Saili and Billy, and thank you for having all of us share in your day. đź’ž
Hawaii
Had the opportunity to go to Maui, Hawaii in September! Unlike most Seattleites it seems, I’d never been to the islands and I extremely get the hype now. Kapalua Coastal Trail in particular was a beautiful afternoon walk:
I’m realizing I’m a big fan of cool rock formations in or near the sea (looking at you, Giant’s Causeway).
My fiancé and I have not taken a real vacation for the better part of 3 years. Our first afternoon in Maui we were just floating happily in the sea, wondering why that felt so MIND BLOWINGLY nice. Turns out when you don’t take time to relax, away from the details of your mid-pandemic life, you end up a little more tightly wound?
Blogging
- What does a product manager do?
- Task Management Tools
- On Netlify: Branch-specific environment variable values from the Netlify UI, CLI, or API
- On Netlify: Automated deploy cleanup and new deploy retention policies starting late October 2022
Sketching
Started a new sketchbook, the Stillman & Birn Epsilon.
I’m enjoying it so far: the paper is smooth enough that Posca pens don’t tear up the surface, but it’s thick enough for wet media. The pages do wave a little bit with wet media, but I don’t mind it (kind of enjoy that, if I’m honest).
Lately I’ve been exploring how I do/don’t like to use Neocolor II water-soluable crayons.
Fiber arts
Working on a zipper pouch for an A5 sketchbook! Here’s the top (mostly) pieced together. Bright colors have been giving me so much dopamine lately.
More learning and doing
- Found a fountain pen that actually works for me and now am extremely into fountain pens and inks! They look so pretty, especially on the Tomoe River Paper in my Hobonichi journal.
- Worked for a hot minute on a redesign for my website (which is not yet live). I don’t have a much color on the site right now, and this redesign is definitely swinging towards the “ALL OF THE COLOR” end of the pendulum.
- Learned the term asterism, and also that “dinkus” is a technical term. 🤨
- Used my Mode Intermediate SQL tutorial chops from earlier in the summer to write a new query for a dashboard at work! Huzzah!
On the Internet
- Secular Buddism Podcast episode 3: Seeing With I’s of Wisdom: I enjoyed the parable on “who knows what is good and what is bad?” Note, unfortunately I couldn’t find a transcript for this episode.
- The creative process
Reading
- Codifying the product discovery process
- The Research Is Clear: Long Hours Backfire for People and for Companies: I need to keep reading these until it sinks in. (Note: a few ableist terms scattered in this article)
- Remotely Interesting: The Commute Reimagined
- Doppelgängers Don’t Just Look Alike—They Also Share DNA
