General Assembly - Data Science Remote Course
I recently completed a Data Science course via General Assembly (GA). In that course, I learned all of the requisite skills to get started down a path in Data Science, be it for individual curiosity, career pursuits, or both. We were taught the techniques and the tools for everything from data gathering, to cleansing, model selection, feature tuning, and much more. I am grateful for that course and the baseline knowledge that GA gave me in Data Science. I wanted to pursue this course because too many models and algorithms are being created as black boxes with no transparency and lack the needed inclusion of minority voices in their design and feedback. I touch on the need for wide array of voices participating in Data Science in a panel I participated in at the Women Who Code CONNECT Conference.
Everyone Should Nudge More
As part of my simplifying down I've started reading just one book a month. I used to try and read as many as possible but that gave me no time to reflect and review what I read. The first book for 2018 was a carry over from 2017. Nudge, by Nobel Prize winners, Thaler and Sunstein. I discovered this book while listening to the Freakonomics Podcast. I loved it from page one. They describe their approach as "Libertarian Paternalism" and as a real "Third Way" option in our increasingly divided political landscape.
Spain - A Travel Guide
This post is a recap of a recent trip to Spain that I took with my wife. I've tried to put together a scrapbook and guide that catalogs and combines my own research before going, experiences during our stay, and recommendations from friends who've also visited Spain. I hope this list of places to stay, see, and dine at comes in handy to you if you are considering a trip to the Iberian peninsula. I am only going to cover the more popular areas of the country. I hope to make a return trip in the future to explore the Basque region, Canary Islands, and more. I would also love to come back and watch the Running of the Bulls in mid-summer.