Revisiting Minimalism
I find I have to constantly explain the idea of Minimalism to everyone I discuss it with because their first idea is some Monk like existence, barren of joy or material belongings, wasting away alone in some empty white walled room. That’s the double entendre in the naming this philosophy, Minimalism. In reality, Minimalism should be equated with Essentialism. An essentialist philosophy that is reinforced by mindfulness. The two fuel the thoughtful consideration of everything we bring into our lives and how we allot our time and attention.
Optimizing a Home Office
Work From Home has become what my wife calls, live at work. Each one of us adapting in our own way to a semi-permanent remote worker status. Dining room tables, closets, garages, and empty guest rooms have transformed into make shift offices and classrooms. My experience in working remotely for extended periods of time is not new. Having worked from home in some capacity since 2008. During that time it became clear to us the value of planning office space in your home in some capacity up front.
Gut Health & Stress
Right around the turning point of summer, I started to feel out of it. Tired, grumpy, and more importantly, gripped with intestinal pain. I have had an ulcer in the past and immediately went to the conclusion it was the same now. The byproduct of the 2020 news cycle, along with home & social confinement we have all endured. Fast forward to later in the year, after a series of doctor visits and tests, I did confirm that stress had wrecked my gut health but not how I assumed.
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.
Never Forget
Never forget the nearly 200,000 plus lives lost because of an incompetent, greedy, and hateful administration that was elected and allowed to run unchecked. Remember daily the names of all those slain under bigotry. Breonna, George, Ahmaud, and too many others; our collective soul fracturing with every loss. Consider how justice goes unserved in the face of all the compelling evidence.
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.