The Column
A post not about goals, productivity, tools, and technology!1
Vacation in a Word: Excellence
Melissa and I did our first “no kids” vacation since becoming parents. It was a moderately good time.2 The best part about it was the friends I went there with (my wife included!). I’ve had an experience like this one on my bucket list since college. It absolutely did not disappoint. It’s so cool to be walking around enjoying the atmosphere and then go “oh hey there’s so-and-so, let’s go hang out”.
It's great having a group of people you enjoy spending time with. It's what life is about.
The people is what made this trip the best… the beautiful resort, scenery, weather, and all the fantastic food and drinks didn’t hurt, either.
I’m not sharing pictures of my friends because I didn’t get their permission. It’s really a shame for you, reader, because dang we’re a good looking group of people.3
It was our first all-inclusive resort. 10/10 experience, would recommend. It’s not so much the “all you can consume” aspect of it (although let’s be honest that’s great), it’s mostly the don’t worry about handling transactions piece. You don’t have to grab your wallet, hand cards or cash back and forth. You want a thing. You grab the thing. It’s the best.
It’s been probably almost a decade since I was able to truly and utterly relax and live in the moment. Not worrying about managing this or that, accomplishing tasks before deadlines, minding the kids, making plans, and all the other stuff that goes through your head all of the waking hours of the day — and some of the sleeping ones too. Tell you what - man it’s good.
Oh also I made a little before-and-after movie mashup game. Sometime later this year I hope to make a new page on aaronspuzzles.com to host one-off things like that. It will be there.
Last Push
Today I turned in my final paper for my Data Visualization class. My favorite I made in that class wasn’t made with a data viz tool at all:
Completing the Data Visualizations class puts me 80% done with my degree. In one week I start the last two classes. On April 24th I’ll sing that one Alice Cooper song. My capstone project is going to start of with some ambitious goals. See the Top 5 for more.
🚴 + 📕 + 🎧 + 🗣️ + 📝
Lately I’ve stumbled on a highly effective habit - I ride my bike on the trails around Overland Park, listening to audio books with my AirPods in transparency mode. Whenever I hear something I want to remember, I use Siri to make a reminder in my inbox. This practice rules. It checks so many boxes.
- Get outdoors
- Zone 2 cardio for 45+ minutes
- Explore your surroundings
- Consume more books
- Think about what you’re reading
- Make notes
The weather is already getting warmer here. I’ve ridden 21+ miles in the past 3 days.
Dear Microsoft Excel Developers
ctrl + shift + v should paste values on Excel’s computer app. Your web app does it. Google Sheets does it. Why do you make me use my mouse for this thing I do constantly?
Dear Obsidian Developers
Continue being great.
Top 5: Ambitions for My Capstone Project
I cannot yet see what the requirements of my senior capstone Data Analytics project will be, but I hope to be able to jam some long-held goals into the class.
5. Re-build a Google Sheets-less Data Journal
Leaving Google Sheets was a lesson in complexity. I don’t plan to actually leave Google Sheets this time, I just want to enable a locally-hosted data-reception microservice. I’d like the option to send little tracking updates to a Raspberry Pi in my closet rather than a server somewhere in Google’s cloud.
4. Create a Really Satisfying Set of Architectural Diagrams
I’ve made versions of these before… but I want an excuse to really go hard on producing the best possible one. This doesn’t necessarily mean “the most complicated, perfectly valid UML diagram”… it means the best possible representation of what the thing is in its various aspects and how it relates to best practices.
3. Building Additional Data Pipelines
For my Data Visualizations class I learned how to create a CSV full of latitudes and longitudes out of a folder full of images. I have other ideas for data streams that are currently not incorporated with the Data Journal in any way. One of the hundred-plus things the Data Journal has taught me is that hoarding useless data isn’t worth any effort… but little utility functions to obtain, transform, or present data as desired are really nice to have.
2. Publishing a “Getting Started” Guide (or Wiki)
I’ve written extensively about the Data Journal. Many many years ago, around Version 3, I had a working “jumpstart your own!” template. It’s now on Version 11. I’d like to make a litany of resources available for more people to be able to do this sort of thing for themselves. I think it’s the single best, most impactful creative concept I’ve ever had; and I’d like to make it easier for others to make their own. There’s a very good chance I’ll be adding to my collection of domain names in the near future.
1. Publish a “Data Journal Explained” Video
A sub-goal of #2 - I’ve had “Create a Data Journal Video” on my literal Project List backlog for over a year now. A wiki full of “you should do this and how” materials is great, but a simple well-produced video is what I really want to do.
Quote:
As beautiful as a horse can be. - Derek F. The other one.