Huge bear statue in Park City, UT. I saw it last week on a bike ride around town.
Big Bear
Many Milestones Met
Valentina has always been a strong baby. The moment she was born she started holding her head up. So it’s not really a surprise that she’s 7 months old and already able to sit up on her own and pull up to standing. I bet she’ll be walking by Thanksgiving.
She also learned how to clap:
Standing Desk – Falling Monitor
Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as the title implies. It’s more like “drooping monitor”, but that’s not as catchy.
I recently ordered a Jarvis sit/stand desk, and finally had time to assemble it this week. It’s great; I love it so far. But I also ordered a monitor arm attachment to go with it, so I could reposition my large Thunderbolt monitor as I transition between sitting and standing. I attached that piece this morning, and it can’t hold the monitor upright…no matter how hard I tighten the screw it just immediately tilts down. I’ve opened a warranty ticket with Ergo Depot, and they should get back to me soon. There are different versions of the arm based on how heavy the monitor is, so I’m hoping they just sent me the wrong one and can replace it quickly.
For now I have it propped up on a few Loot Crate boxes. Good thing I don’t throw those away! And note the awesome Doc Brown/hoverboard picture at the top of the post. Those came in this month’s crate, and they’re fantastic.
You can see the desk in action here:
Tragedy
I forgot to mention yesterday, but there was a fairly significant casualty at the Grand Meetup. Since last December I’ve been studying Danish via Duolingo, and I had a 292 day streak of practicing every day. There’s a power-up you can buy using the in-app currency called Lingots which gives you a “Streak Freeze” and lets you miss a single day without penalty, and I’ve used that a few times, but for the most part I’ve actually done it every day.
Except I somehow missed both Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. Sunday was an unusual day, and I was completely off my schedule, but I have no idea how I managed to miss Saturday.
No sense beating myself up, though. What’s done is done, and I’m just going to have to start over. I’ll get back up there eventually.
Automattic Grand Meetup – All Done!
I’m finally home from Utah. Like I said yesterday, I went to bed at 3:30 and woke up before 5, so I could catch the early shuttle to the airport. Everything went smoothly getting in through security (although Alex’s Google Glass apparently looks pretty bad on the x-ray and he had his carryon searched), but there were mechanical problems on the plane that delayed us from leaving for at least half an hour. Could’ve been worse, it wasn’t anything that made us change planes or anything. But it meant landing in Houston after they’d already started boarding my next flight. By the time I got off the plane I had about 10 minutes until the “final boarding” call, and I had to sprint from the B to C terminal, which included waiting for a train. I barely made it…I watched them close the door as I was running down the hallway, but luckily they opened it back up for me. It’s always good to start a flight all out of breath and sweaty. But I made it, and my luggage did too, which might be more impressive.
Now it’s time to get back into the rhythm of daily life. No more piles of bacon on my plate for breakfast, or starting every conversation with “So how long have you worked at Automattic?” It was an amazing week. I had a ton of fun doing all the activities (escape the room, bike tour of Park City, bowling), but it was the ad-hoc activities (hiking, hot springs) and just hanging out that was way more important. I originally scheduled more things than I ended up doing, and I’m glad I bailed on a few of them. I feel like I made some real friends, and I have a better working relationship with a lot of people from having interacted with them in person. That’s the whole idea of the meetup, and I can’t wait until next year. Saying goodbye to people felt like leaving summer camp, except when you say “we’ll keep in touch” you really mean it, because we’re all going to be in the same Slack channels all year.
But as amazing as it was, I’m extremely happy to get home. A 7 day trip away from home and family is really tough. Gia was really excited to see me when my cab pulled up, which was a good feeling. Today my plan is mostly busywork and housekeeping. I have a few e-mails to return, and I’d like to finally get my new standing desk set up. Once I have everything configured I’ll post some pictures.
Automattic Grand Meetup 2015 – Day 7
The grand meetup is finally over. Last night was an amazing wrap party featuring The Jane Doze. Incredible…I’ll write more about it later after I’ve had some sleep and time to collect my thoughts, but that might have been the best party I’ve ever been to.
I went to bed at 3:30, and got up before 5…my phone didn’t even have time yo charge back to 50%. Here’s hoping I sleep on the plane.
Automattic Grand Meetup 2015 – Day 6
Yesterday I went on an 11.7 mile bike ride around Park City. We took a few big hills that wore me out, and it started to rain towards the end, but it was a lot of fun. Last night I hung out in the party suite until 4am just talking to people. It’s been great getting to connect with folks.
This morning a few of us went to Homestead Crater, a hot spring inside a cave. The water was 95°F, and 65′ deep. It was awesome. I took a couple pictures inside, but it was dark and there wasn’t really a good way to capture it. But here’s a picture of the waterfall outside:
Tonight we’ve got the wrap up (and 10th anniversary) party, and then tomorrow morning I catch the shuttle to the airport at 5:45am. So I probably won’t be up til 4am tonight.
Automattic Grand Meetup 2015 – Day 5
Finally made it to the weekend, but the GM isn’t quite winding down yet. Yesterday I went with a few folks to the High West Distillery in Park City, and it was fantastic. I sampled a few delicious whiskeys, and got a tour of their operation. Very cool.
Then afterward I came back to the resort and went on a hike with a few of my teammates. It was perfect weather, and a great chance to get to know them a little more.
Today I’ve got one more Escape the Room session (hopefully it turns out a little better, we didn’t quite make it out in time yesterday), and then a guided bike tour. It’s supposed to rain this afternoon, but as long as it’s not a torrential downpour we’ll still go out. I’m more bummed that the scenery will be grey and boring in the rain rather than having to ride in the rain itself.
Automattic Grand Meetup 2015 – Day 4
This week has absolutely flown by. I can’t believe it’s already Friday morning. Although at the same time that means there are still three full days before I fly home Monday morning. This is a long trip.
All I have planned for today is an Escape the Room puzzle solving adventure. Yesterday I didn’t end up doing the alpine park/play thing, so I might give that a go today.
Otherwise it should be a pretty low key day just hanging out getting to know people.
Skit Skat Skoodle Doot 