Testing & Movies & Stuff

Lots about writing and blogging this week in my reading. I found some good articles with writing guidelines I think could help lots of folks move towards professional writing, and help improve things for those of us that write on a regular basis. One call out to the TLJ article about the baby boomer mentality. I enjoyed it. I don't know if the movie is meant to be that heavy, but it's a good thought piece on the dynamics between generations and what it has cost in the relationship between them. Happy reading!

This week we have some good picks from the news and from the industry at large. I've also added a few CFPs in the list to highlight that it's go time for those of us that want to submit conference papers for various conferences. I'm partial to TestBash'es, but mention KCDC since it's my home town as well. An FYI - The cinnamon roll story could be triggering for some. There are not a lot of graphic details about certain things, but the very creative way she describes how she makes and eats the cinnamon rolls could give those of us that have strange relationships with food a bit of a pause. The shutdown happened. We are all waiting for the collective of the White House and Congress to pull their heads out of their butts and figure it out. NASA and a number of science initiatives are affected, along with millions of kids and DREAMers. It's disgusting how being decent humans somehow doesn't figure into the picture for anyone in D.C. - that's a blanket...

While I was looking for a better application to sync all my bookmarks up, I discovered Notion and I've been playing around with it ever since. I've also moved most of my bookmarks to this app and created some new things, like a weekly reading list. I read a lot. I like keeping track of what I've been reading so maybe at some point, I can go back and reference something if I need to. I was tweeting my readings each Sunday, but that seemed like a lot of spam as it was around 10 or so separate tweets. This tool allows me to aggregate my readings and even comment on them inline. Additionally, if anyone has comments on the readings, they can comment on each link individually. I'm not sure if you can do that without a Notion account, but we'll see soon enough.

"Stop a minute, right where you are. Relax your shoulders, shake your head and spine like a dog shaking off cold water. Tell that imperious voice in your head to be still." - Barbara Kingsolver A list of things I've learned from my dogs and from working in the tech industry. Sensitive creatures are sensitive. Dogs are extremely sensitive to their environment, so are teams and companies, whether they admit to it or not. If they've been abused, they become wary of someone trying to help them. You HAVE to earn their trust, even for things that seem pretty easy and have very little risk. The counter to that is understanding when you might not be the best option for the dog, or the client. Some groups are never going to be comfortable with some consultant types, very much like some dogs who pick the people they think they can associate with the best. Don't try to force a client, or group, to like you. Show you can be trusted first, but don't be surpris...