Fresh Code

We’ve been hosting a dinner night at our house for at least ten years now. We hosted it in Arizona and now in Oregon. It was a fantastic way to really get to know our neighbors and to kind of bring us all together. We love the way we get to reconnect each week. The attendance varies from week to week but our friends, Spencer and John (who also packed up their lives and moved here to be close to us), are here every week. Alice and Jason are here just about every week as well.

Today, Jason had to go to Florence for a meeting so couldn’t join us and our house is a mess due to some remodeling for a tv in the living room/dining room so Alice was nice enough to have it at her house. Everyone showed up for this one! We had Alice, Wayne, Andrew, Natale, Jayde, me, Taylor, Delaney, Randy, Roger, Barbara, Joanne, Leonard, Miri, and Dale. Glenn even stopped by before dinner to say hello. It was also Sean’s birthday so between Wayne, Joanne and I we made a couple of delicious apple jalapeño pies. This may sound like a strange pie but it’s amazing.

I worked with Shanna this afternoon before I drove Joanne out to Sauvie Island for produce and before all of the cooking happened. We made more progress on our IOS tutorial and it’s pretty fun and interesting. We are hoping to get through the tutorial in a week or so and then develop our own app that we can release in the app store.

Today I learned that there is a method to making an incredible pie crust. I just don’t know what it is but Joanne does!

Today my friend Shanna and I worked on some IOS tutorials. At first things were kind of confusing and we both ran into some issues. She was able to help me through mine and I was able to help her through hers and then we both learned enough to work through other issues on our own. All in all it is pretty easy and I think we can have our own app built in a couple of weeks.

Our living room wall is all torn up because the guys are installing a tv mount that vanishes into the arch between the living and dining rooms. Wayne worked on it all day and then the two of them got the mount semi-installed tonight. This house is going to be one big construction zone for years to come.

Today I learned that the word blanch also means “make white or pale by extracting color; bleach” and “(of a person) grow pale from shock, fear, or a similar emotion”. Alice was referring to what needs to be done to grow celery so it doesn’t turn dark green like parsley leaves. I had no idea!

I had my best run in a very long time which is saying a lot because I really dislike running and I don’t really think I’m cut out for it. I usually run for a bit and then feel like I might die, walk a bit and repeat over and over until I finally get to stop. Running has never felt good. I’ve never, ever experienced a runner’s high. I typically experience a stopper’s high though! Nothing feels better than stopping except maybe not starting in the first place. Anyway, I had a really great run today. I still had to walk but I ran a fairly long distance before that happened and the thing that was different about it was that I was talking to Andrew while we were running. I wasn’t distracted because I definitely thought about how far I was going and how good I still felt so I am guessing my breathing is possibly part of the issue. We also ran some hills at Overlook Park and did some stairs at Beach Elementary and then I realized I wasn’t wearing my Fitbit. Goddammit! Andrew offered to do the entire thing all over with me but that sounded like the worst idea ever so here I sit, well below my daily step goal, knowing I really exceeded it. Boo!

I’m guessing there are those that think gadgets like the Fitbit are ridiculous and a waste. Everything seems to be gamified these days and I’m not saying it’s all good but the Fitbit really does seem to motivate me to move a bit more than usual. I’m also trying to work out some sort of schedule so that I can fit in various things I should be doing (practicing drums, yoga, vitamins…) or want to be doing (juicing, blogging…) but I’ve historically been just awful with any sort of schedule. I’m going to give it a shot though and see if I can form some new habits.

Today I learned that Taskwarrior allows for recurring tasks.

I was able to attend some talks at Tech Fest Northwest today. The founder of Dollar Shave Club spoke first and while his talk was quite funny and engaging it was really just a long advertisement for his company. Justin Ferrell gave a great talk about Stanford’s d.school and referenced the book Make Space which I ordered while he was still talking. I think it might provide some great kitchen ideas and general use of space ideas for the house. Tad McGeer spoke about his company and the drones they are developing. He touched on privacy and danger related to drones and strongly feels they pose no danger at all. He mentioned that we have had piloted aircraft with cameras on them for a very long time so doesn’t understand the uproar over unmanned aircraft having them. Genevieve Bell from Intel gave the final, very interesting, talk about the prehistory of robots. She covered a lot of stuff but one thing that stood out was the fact that up to the 1980’s only one African American and only three women robots were made. The rest were modeled after white men. It’s just another example of the people running things modeling the things they make to look just like themselves.

Today I learned that in 1914 The Colorado National Guard massacred men, women and children because of a miner’s strike over unfair wages and an unsafe workplace. http://www.umwa.org/?q=content/ludlow-massacre

Tech Fest North West is going on in Portland. I love that I live in a city that hosts so many tech conferences. I don’t like that I still feel so out of place at some events. I loved OS Bridge and enjoyed volunteering at OSCON but I feel so out of place at TFNW. A few of us decided to check out an after party so we wandered downtown,  got our wristbands and into the venue we went.
Awkward! Totally not my crowd at all. I’m having a bit of trouble navigating this new community but I’m hoping I’ll have more skills or insight once I complete the Ascend Project.

What I learned today. Silverware was used because it didn’t impart any flavors into the food.