Total Literacy
My father, concerned for the future prospects of his children, pushed literacy hard in our home. This push allowed us to enter kindergarten a full reading level or two ahead of our classmates. I’ve always enjoyed reading but took to it less and less over the years. This year I dove back into reading in way I have not since college; averaging about a book a week at my current pace. More importantly, I have devised a rewarding reading rotation that delivers more than just a good read out of each book. A type of reading pattern that I believe is what is missing from the information flood we get on our digital devices. It is a Pattern Language for reading.
Getaway Cabin Review
It is not unreasonable at first glance to consider Getaway just another form of glamping. Set up in purchased lands near natural preserves, each Getaway location serves as a nearby escape from many major cities. The sites are home to over 20 micro-habitats spaced evenly apart, across serene settings. Ours was located in Suches between Blue Ridge and Dahlonega. The positioning not so remote to draw on survivalist skills; but instead ideal for Turning Off and Tuning Out the everyday monotony. A humble experience lies inside of a small bubble all your own. You can go and not leave the same four walls or grounds for days. Or you may venture out and explore local areas and hike. But you will get to decompress at the very least.
Tribalism and Purpose
In the larger sense, I don't believe the world or at least individual nations have worked collectively to achieve a much larger purpose since the space race. Quarantine orders, though absolutely necessary, have only further isolated and deepened distrust between us. Belonging to a larger collective with a bigger vision is what we could use now. Unfortunately, our leaders and the news media talking heads fail to push an agenda that works to unite. This effort most likely has to start at the individual level. If there is one question we could all ask ourselves that could roll neatly into a greater mission is, "is what I am working at, in a purely objective and secular sense, leaving humanity and earth better than I found it?"
The Halfway Point
"Running to Stand Still" is the title of the 5th track on U2's 1980 Joshua Tree album. A song that I think aptly describes 2020 up to its midpoint, when I started to write this post. For the first time in a while, I felt the compounded weight of multiple crises stacked concurrently on one another. Each struggle equally demanding my full attention. I have on more than one occasion felt lost in the malaise of overwhelming tension and worry. Ryan Holiday's "The Daily Stoic" and meditation have been the release valves that have helped me maintain focus and peace. I have been lucky and fortunate to have not have been as impacted as others.
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.
90-Days of Fender Play
Sharing a short post that demonstrates some of the techniques and styles I learned after 90-days of practicing with Fender Play. Please forgive the audio quality. I don't have a proper amp, and attempted to record through GarageBand & QuickTime without adjusting the tuning. Also, keep in mind, I am a lazy musician and started from scratch.
Hobbies to Habits to Skills
A formal education is great. but it is not the only way to learn. So long as you can read and digest information, you can learn. So read what you are interested in and let those topics organically lead you from one subject to another. You will learn naturally without pressure to keep up with a curriculum. This approach is known as Interest Based Learning. Many home schoolers are familiar with this style of learning but it is atypical for all other styles of formal education. I wasn’t home schooled, but can see how this environment is great for picking up and diving deeper into new subjects.
BOSS Uncaged Podcast Episode
In each episode [of BOSS Uncaged], Guests come from a wide range of backgrounds and share diverse business insights. Learn how to release your primal success through the words of wisdom from inspirational entrepreneurs and industry experts. As they depict who they are, how they juggle their work-life with family life, their successful habits, business expertise, tools, and tips of their trade.
Brazil - Belo Horizonte
Brazil fills you with a type of lachrymose energy at the sheer awe and beauty of the world. A collective of millions breathing, moving, and prattling in densely packed cities flowing all around you but not suffocating. Not like New York, where everything is on top of you all at once. The experience here is like being in the water, a school of fish creating a cyclone of swimming bodies around your floating one, but none of it touching you at the same time. A wonderful cacophony of sounds, smells, colors, and vistas.