Category: Navel Gazing

  • Why are you here?

    Why are you here?

    In 2013, I spoke at CSSConf in Berlin about attending conferences, following your heart in your work, and generally embracing the unknown to fully flourish. With CSSConf in Melbourne Australia just around the corner, it seemed like a good time to publish this talk. Photo Credit: Mr. iMaax.

  • Multitasking is killing me (and probably you too)

    Multitasking has been stressing me, robbing me of my focus, my productivity, and my appreciation of the beauty of the exact moment I’m experiencing right now, and dammit, I want my brain back! Once upon a time, I was assigned 21 projects in my first month on a job. Distinct projects, working with different groups…

  • The two devils — how the right will beat Obama

    without ever supporting McCain. “There is no difference between the two devils, except family values.” We were talking about politics over lunch. After some prodding I was able to understand that he meant that Obama and McCain were equally bad. By family values, he meant that the definition of marriage would change to include homosexual…

  • Cake for breakfast

    And why not? I spent years eating french pastry, but I still love cake. This comic rocks, I finally found it again. And at the same time discovered that the artist drew from personal experience.

  • Immigrant meta-culture

    Anyone that has lived abroad for more than a few years, understands fundamentally not fitting. When I moved to Paris, I expected it to be a culture shock, to really change my ideas. It’s natural, I had to learn the language, and more than that, figure out how to make my way in a culture…

  • Another paradigm: Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic

    I like paradigms, the way they encourage new ideas and reflection, but also how they are inherently flawed, as any simplification or generalization is, by nature, flawed. They are interesting because of the diversity they are capable and not capable of encompassing. This test was very simple, and a little biased perhaps, because it was…

  • Learning: theoretic, reflective, pragmatic, or active?

    How do I learn? It seems six in one half dozen in the other. Split almost down the middle between theoretic, reflective, pragmatic, and active. Results like these are only really interesting if you are more skewed one way or the other. Perhaps this means I’m balanced in some kind of zen of learning. ;)…

  • Battling the healthcare insanity.

    While filling out the forms and waiting for the doctor, an hour and ten minutes total, not one, two or three drug reps stopped by, but four. Four drug reps in an hour. These salesmen, essentially marketing experts (read prostitutes) for different drug companies deliver free medicines, pens, and clipboards in an attempt to influence…

  • Why I love my husband.

    … because he puts up with me the night before a big exam and a first forray into Javascript (the day before the project was due). He did the laundry, walked the dog, made me dinner, and encouraged me not to pull my hair out. I’ll post the code as soon as the project is…

  • How could I have forgotten…

    Sinéad O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U, my list of favorite 80’s hits could not be complete without it.