Author: Joshua

The Books I Would Read

I learned to read at a later age than most. For me that came around 8 years old, when I picked up basic books and began to understand the core concepts of reading from my mother. At 9 I was fully in it, so to speak, and reading books on my own. I have vivid […]

Nexstand Laptop Stand vs Roost Laptop Stand

This has been a long time coming. Years ago someone asked me to compare the Roost versus Nexstand. I ignored the request, and went about my life. Since then I’ve had numerous occasions where the comparison came up. Since I have often worked in coffee shops, co-working spaces, or client onsite, there are opportunities for […]

My first novel

I’ve been exploring a number of writing methods for fiction over the past year. My learning has been part doing, and part knowledge input. This has included diving into a number of non-fiction books, tons of great podcasts, articles, courses, and more. In addition, I’ve continued to read works of fiction. All of this input […]

Writing and living

Since September 2019 I’ve been engaged in the process of daily writing. This writing has been for offline projects, which someday will see the light online. It’s been long enough, so this is an update on a few fronts. Work – 2020 was a crazy year for many of us, and despite all the chaos […]

On Writing Daily

In September, 2019 I began writing a novel. One thousand words per day, six days per week. By Thanksgiving the manuscript was complete. The next day I started a second novel, and completed the manuscript this week. I stuck to a plan suggested by Stephen King in On Writing, and have found it works well […]

Default third-party apps for iOS

Bloomberg today shared a report that Apple may be considering opening up third party apps as the default options on the iPhone. This would be a welcome change. There are a number of instances where I switch between the default Apple app and a competitor: Pandora vs Apple Music vs Shopify Google Maps vs Apple […]

On Writing

Writing for me has become a creative outflow to process my thoughts. Sometimes it means taking the time to write something out in order to better understand a thing and process it. At other times it means spending that time to write out the thing I wish I could read, that I wish someone else […]

Capisco Chair by HÅG

My process for buying a new product is, from an outsider’s perspective, rather slow and uncertain. I often spend months thinking about a product and trying to figure out the best way to incorporate it into my personal or work life. My new office chair was no exception. For six months I researched chair options, […]

Sharing your story

I had a lovely chat today with Brian from WPSessions.com. While chatting we got on the topic of knowledge sharing, as that’s a large part of what he does each day. One thing that strikes me, time and again, is how much insight each of us have on specific areas of interest. Over a lifetime […]

A demand to create

I believe inside all of us exists a desire to create. Most of the time we’re merely consumers, passively or actively. For those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to make time and space, we have an opportunity to use our abilities to add something to the world. The more I slow […]

On writing online

With the recent news about Automattic acquiring Tumblr, it’s got me thinking again on where and how I like sharing my thoughts online. On Twitter I am happy to retweet, share links, and write short thoughts. In times past I used Facebook for personal messages to friends and for posting pictures. I’ve mostly stopped now […]

Life with two kids

Amidst all the chaos of life, it’s important to remember that kids really do grow up incredibly fast. My son is six, and my daughter is two. I love watching them interact together as they hang. Even with the age difference they love being around each other. I’m reminded that they have an opportunity to […]

News

I’ve been trying to figure out how to consume data that’s more ephemeral in nature. Headlines and social media sites are one of the worst ways to do this. My ideal would be a weekly cycle with a brush if articles that inform me on things that are happening around the world. The challenge is […]

Remote office

Some random thoughts on my experiences working remotely recently. Most of the time I work from home, in an actual office room. We built this house a year ago, and I made sure to have a room set aside for work. Recently though I’ve been having a hard time just being in my office. I […]

GORUCK GR2 and travel ergonomics

Backpack After much debate I finally settled on buying the GORUCK GR2 34L in black. My goal has been to find one bag I could travel with, one that would fit my electronic gear, clothes, and other travel stuff. I sold my GR1 21L and swapped up for the GR2. So far I’m not quite […]

When a design discussion needs a sketch

Earlier today I was following up on a ticket from a colleague. He asked some clarifying questions on what was needed for the design. At first I thought of responding directly to the question with a written answer. However, experience has taught me that a sketch often helps me with understanding the question better, helping […]

Show what you mean

Earlier today I was following up on a design related task. After writing up the paragraph response, I decided to take five minutes and sketch up a drawing of what I wrote. I then included that. In the work I’ve done with design and development teams over the years I’ve found that a sketch will […]