Category: Random
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All the Freeze Flavors
There is a tiny soft-serve ice cream shop not that far from my house called “The Freeze”. I believe that once upon a time it used to be a Tastee-Freez. It’s a lot like a Dairy Queen, if you’re not familiar with Tastee-Freez. They serve the soft-serve standards: cones, sundaes, splits, shakes, and most important…
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Jury Duty
Recently, for the first time in my life, I had to report to the county courthouse for jury duty1. I wasn’t selected for the final jury, but I still spent two days participating in the selection process. It may surprise you to know that movies and TV don’t dwell on the boring parts of jury…
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Flushing Away Time – A Toilet Story!
Once upon a time, my family decided our powder room1 needed some improvements. When we bought the house, we’d noticed the hardwood floor was discolored around the base of the toilet, like there had been condensation or maybe a few overflows. The toilet itself was prone to clogging. So, we hired a contractor friend2 to…
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Putting on the Hat
If you’ve been in the business world for any length of time, you’ve probably heard someone talking about “putting on my __ hat”. It’s helpful phrasing to signal that you’re taking a certain perspective on a discussion. Someone might say, “putting on my manager hat, we need to get this done in two weeks, but…
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“We’re ready for change!”
The team has just finished presenting their recommendations to their leadership. Leadership is happy about their plan for building the next part of the product. After a small adjustment, leadership is on-board with the sequencing, too. Before the meeting wraps up, the team points out the work would go more quickly, with less risk, more…
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Vizio TV Audio Issues – They’re (Mostly) Fixable!
My family has owned a Vizio TV (model V555-H11) for a while, keeping it disconnected from the internet and using as a dumb display for other devices. The picture has been fine. The audio has had some issues. We have experienced sound cutting out during quiet parts of movies, often accompanied by a quiet-but-perceptible-and-pretty-annoying-once-you-notice-it popping…
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Overloaded systems and how maintenance fails interestingly
I’m married and have three kids in the elementary and middle school age ranges. They’re doing things that normal kids do: growing, learning, being active, participating in sports and other activities. My wife and I both work. Our baseline level of “busy” is relatively high, as it is for any family with three kids at…
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State of Work Survey, October 2020
In the spirit of surveys like the DORA survey or Stack Overflow’s Developer Survey, it’s time for the next round of the State of Work survey. A lot of things have changed since June: kids have gone back to school, sports leagues have gone back to doing sports, offices have re-opened, and people have adapted.…
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State of Work Survey, June 2020 – Results!
After holding the survey open a bit longer than planned plus a few delays in data collection, I’m excited to share the results of the State of Work Survey for June 2020. To everyone who provided input, thank you. I’m not going to restate the entire report here. I’ll give a few topline findings. For…
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State of Work Survey, June 2020
As anyone reading this in real-time knows, the world has looked different to most of us for the past couple of months. I’m curious what that means to everyone. For me, I started working for a pure-remote company last August, so I had very few work-related changes. On the other hand, I experienced social and…