D&F 3/19/23
This week felt like a month. Monday through Friday comprised two separate management offsets with nonstop meetings and social activities. I’m beat. While seeing old friends and coworkers again for the first time in years was nice, seeing them all day for a week was too much. We planned, we strategized, and we did karaoke. We woke up early to ride bikes, and stayed awake by chugging coffee. I’m glad to be home for at least a week solid again, and Snorri is pretty happy to have me too.
The real surprise of the week was the weather—once projected to be rainy and cold, it was pleasantly sunny. The Bay Area continues to have more grey and rainy days than I’ve ever seen, but supposedly we’ll get more sun in the next month. I’m hoping! Bike rides and just life in general are more challenging when the weather is awful, and even with therapy and anti-depressants the lack of blue skies and sun feels like a weight invisibly pressing down on everyone I know.
Links
- A tiny copy of “I Have Two Dads” just appeared in the mouse library. I always hope when I see this kind of innovation that we’ll benefit from it, and not end-up in a future hell wherein endless cloning creates a race of super soldiers.
- In a similar cautionary tale, Robin Rendle’s new post on skepticism with new tech is required reading whether you work with technology or also consume it. I can’t tell if folks’ bright-eyed enthusiasm about every overhyped technology comes from a genuine interest in new things, or a desire to strip-mine the planet of every resource and complete the extraction of wealth from all but the vanishingly small percentage of humans. If it’s the former, then a good dose of history and a little more caution goes a long way. If it’s the latter, well, the French have had solutions for that in the past.
- Drew is not only a great friend, but he’s a very thoughtful and experienced engineer who passionately looks for ways to improve his world, and encourage and grow his fellows. In his latest post, he talks about an all-to-common issue with doing the kind of consistently great problem-solving and cleanup he seeks out. Someone recently asked me how I make time for tech debt and cleanup with my teams as a manager, and since I’ve had the very issue Drew discusses too many times, I make it a priority. We fix broken things first, before any feature. I work in infrastructure, so that’s a little easier to prioritize for me than someone in product, but I dream of a tech world like Japan with underground power-lines and human-first streets.
- Speaking of friends of the newsletter, Soleil has completed their transformation from the best food critic I’ve ever read to an excellent opinion writer tacking the realities of inequality in California. Can a professional chef live on less money than it costs to buy a pizza a month? No. Should anyone be asked to? No. A society that fails to feed, house, and heal its populace isn’t a society at all.
- While reading this at one of my aforementioned offsites, a coworker saw the name Tom Sachs over my shoulder and said, “I hope this isn’t something bad that will make me sad about Tom Sachs.” A minute later, I broke the news to him: Tom Sachs? More like Sach of shit.
Closing
It’s F1 race weekend yet again, and my least favorite driver couldn’t get the job done in qualifying due to a drive shaft failure. I’m still in full hermit mode today; nibbling lemon pepper hot wings, sipping coffee and reading a book. Whether it’s gray where you are or nice out, I hope you get to take a long walk or sit in the fresh air and revel in the fact that you don’t have to be at SXSW right now. Choose chill over grind every day, space cowgirls~