I don’t know that I fully understand why. I have made some observations and had some insights (such as my being an introvert). I think part of the story is that I became an “expert” and then I decided to change my focus away from my expertise. Lots of what I do these days involves learning new things. I’m often working on things where I am not the “expert”. That was intentional and I love it. One unintentional consequence, however, was that I stopped talking about what I am doing.
Ironically, as an “expert” I have often told people to write and share their experiences. I’ve said things like, “Anytime you figure something out, that puts you one step ahead of a ton of people that can learn from your experience.” I’ve explained how valuable a “fresh perspective” can be, and how documenting things has all kinds of positive consequences (both personally and professionally). Do as I say…
I don’t remember how it came across my radar, but this article was in my “to read” pile over the weekend:
“Do things, write about it”.
It’s good advice. I think I’ll take it.
]]>What I have been doing over the past week or two (aside from overeating) is thinking about 2012. The world didn’t end (which I’m okay with - I’m not done here yet), but that wasn’t the only thing that didn’t happen last year. I found myself often frustrated and unsettled. Truth is, I had a good year - my kids are happy and healthy, work is going well, etc. But, I had big expectations for 2012. It was going to be a year when I was going to make big life changes: buy a house, make some significant career moves, etc. None of those things on my list of “big things for 2012” happened. Not one.
It’s an interesting experience: nothing I expected to happen did and life is good.
In fact, sitting here post-2012, I am not even sure if I even want many of the things I was so attached to expecting. Or worse (better?): they may even still happen, but not in 2012 and not the way I had envisioned.
Life goals and aspirations and working hard towards them are all great things. Getting emotionally attached to the desired outcome on a set timeline (particularly one you don’t fully control) is hardly a recipe for guaranteed happiness. I suppose I knew that intellectually, but 2012 gave me the experience to help it hit home.
Starting 2013 without any of that feels good. Time to enjoy the good year as it happens!
]]>This morning, there was a notification of a “tweet” on my phone claiming that today is my 6th “birthday” on Twitter. After eating some cake to celebrate, I realized that I hadn’t posted anything to Twitter (apart from a few replies - mostly on my actual birthday) since the end of May. Facebook - even longer. Photos (Instagram or Flickr) - longer still. Ironic for a guy who spent a while trying to make social networking better, but it happened.
Some people have heard me romanticize the “infosuicide” of _why. This wasn’t that.
The reality is, I’m just an introvert.
I don’t remember when or where this idea was first suggested to me (I kinda feel like it was Earl in IRC … with the candlestick), so I’ll resort to Wikipedia:
Some popular writers have characterized introverts as people whose energy tends to expand through reflection and dwindle during interaction.
Effectively, I took the summer off from “interaction”. It wasn’t something I planned to do explicitly. It happened organically. I kept my workload light (lighter than it’s been for 15+ years), stayed off social networks, did 0 public speaking and only interacted with a handful of people.
The result of this accidental experiment is that I feel more calm, relaxed and happy than I can remember. If you feel unhappy, overwhelmed or exhausted (and judging from Twitter, so many of you do) - try it. Unplug for a bit. Especially you, future me.
]]>This has long been one of my most dreaded “light social” questions. Ironically, I found myself tossing it out at a recent event, perhaps in some passive aggressive sort of revenge. It’s always been difficult to explain what I do, particularly in in non-technical company. For many years “I work on Drupal” was an answer that got the most amusing blank stares. Of course, these days that tends to be less baffling to people, so naturally I’ve stepped out and been doing lots of non-Drupal things.
For those playing along at home, StatusNet Inc. and I parted ways last November. I actually consciously did not post about it publicly because this blog was starting to feel a little more than a broadcast space for my shuffling between companies. While I don’t have an official involvement these days, it looks like I will be doing some Summer of Code mentoring and am still very interested in the Federated Social Web and the protocol, OStatus that we developed.
No longer having a full-time job means that, yes, I am doing freelance work (hire me!). It has also meant that I’m getting back involved in the Drupal community again a bit more. Some folks noticed that I’ve been to the past two DrupalCon’s (after taking a few off) and have been working with a few Drupal-based clients.
The thing that I’m probably enjoying most these days is the freedom from focusing or specializing. For the past few months, I’ve been working with the Mozilla Foundation on the platform that runs the Drumbeat website (implemented using Django). I’ve followed and tinkered with Django for a long time and it feels great to have a “real” excuse to spend more time with it!
While a lack of real “focus” (at least amongst open source projects or even programming languages) has really appealed to my inner tinkerer, it’s made answering “what are you up to” a far more involved conversation; some days it’s consulting, some it’s teaching/training, and some days I just hack on code. I also fully expect the answer to change and evolve over the course of this year and moving forward.
Doing more (and different) things also means I’m learning a lot these days, and I feel compelled to share, because that’s the way I am. However, writing has always been challenging for me. I work really well verbally (preferrably face to face, though I’ve done alright talking to a camera). I have always wanted to be a prolific writer, though. For the past few months, I’ve been trying to practice more. I started with a paper journal, but after losing one and finding that my handwriting no longer keeps up with my brain well, I decided to try writing on my computer. Ultimately, though, I found it hard to establish a good routine and stick with it.
A few months ago, though, I gave 750words.com a try and I love it. After a few false starts, I now have a daily 750 word routine that I’m finding helps get me writing (and thinking) for the day. I highly recommend the service (and the practice of writing regularly). The practice has already translated into an article for the Linux Journal and will hopefully result in more!
At the very least, I’m hoping to make better use of this space. Welcome back, me.
]]>If I owe you an email - it’s coming, I promise. If you like pictures - here they are.
]]>When I look back at my 20s, I usually have a hard time believing it was all one decade... so much happened and so much changed. In hindsight, perhaps, it was clear going in that things would be intense: two months after my 20th birthday my son, Andrew, was born.
The fast-forward version of the ten years that followed goes something like this: I got married, finished my Computer Science degree at UofT, became a Canadian permanent resident, started my career, bought a house, had a second child - my beautiful daughter, Camryn, co-founded a company, bought an SUV,bought a new, bigger house... then I hit what all my astrologically-inclined friends tell me was my Saturn return... I got separated, moved out, sold the house, tried to learn to cook, lost my father (and all the unanswered questions he took with him), started wearing glasses, rethought my career and tried to figure out 'dating'.
There are certainly days where I feel like an entire adult life was crammed into my first decade as an adult...
So, here I sit at 30... everything feels new, terrifying and exhilarating. Things feel entirely up in the air, in constant flux and on a clear, intentional path. I'm an old man with my whole life ahead of me.
One thing is clear, the change is on. I've marked that here with a bit of a 'relaunch' of this site, such as it is, but the real action is offline. So...
Happy Birthday, me. Here's to the next 10.
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