sketchy blog

Each day in September I wrote an essay about software product management. The resulting 30 essays are aimed at a broad audience potentially interested in understanding software product management. People considering a career in software, or PMs newish to the the job. I try to mix very practical advice about the day-to-day of doing the work successfully, with more philosophical thoughts on software as a medium and how to think about the craft of product managing software.

Go here to read them all on Jiko Kanri dot Org

I finished the final version The Quartered Tales website. In addition to the story and some appendices, it includes an SVG map with layers you can toggle on and off. This allowed me to learn about how JS+SVG stuff works, and I think the terrain and other layers of the map are my best digital map effort so far.

This playlist was my soundtrack for this period of building. It includes mostly new songs, including some released and added in July and August. Most of the work you see posted during this time was done listening to these songs.

It was really hot, so we went to the beach.

One of my union city style downtown maps, dedicated and gifted to Thuy and Stanley. Also created a visitors guide brochure of the area based around the subway system.

Sangulakti Central City Visitor’s Guide

I made a shitty triptych based on the Way of the Pattern on some big cardboard. The scale is hard to see, but it was about 5 ft high.

The three panels represent 1 (unity), 7 and 3 (patterns) from the 11-chain.

I wrote a sort-of-memoir of my 20’s in the form of a multi-part prose poem. Yeah, I’m that kind of guy.

Read it or download the pdf here.

In memory of a weird red muse, and brother in words, Benjamin Alden. Special thanks to Alex Szabo for his notes, and particularly for the word “ecotone”.

I started writing musical pieces based on old song forms for my father’s 60th birthday. 5 years later I finally finished the Estampie.

Started work on an update for my iPhone word game based on slang from Urban Dictionary:

Fill in the Lulz

This version adds support for iPhone X and high resolution devices, removes the ads and more than doubles the number of questions included in the game. And still FREE…

I also updated the website for it.

I built this lego diorama on my mantel. Each year the castle and village hold a procession celebrating the uniquely republican political arrangements which have brought peace and prosperity to the region for hundreds of years. This annual event, known as The Procession of the Equals it is a highly ritualized parade, in which each part has a symbolic political meaning, and the order and appearance of the participants is strictly dictated by tradition.

A guide to the participants in the procession.

you’re always getting another chance to build yourself

From 7/7/17 through 11/7/17, I ran a self improvement and creative marathon. During this time I completed old projects, updated my apps, moved this blog, got long dangling personal to-dos done, and a lot more. It was also a unique time in the world. The hottest day ever recorded in my hometown of San Francisco, a rare total solar eclipse, and a record setting hurricane hit my home town of Houston. To the north of our home, California’s deadliest ever wildfires burned, turning the sky a hazy orange and reigning ash on us. Also my grandmother, who I love deeply, suffered a stroke early in this period and died not long after it ended. So yeah, a lot happened.

The next 20 blog posts document the creative work I did.

Some other things that happened:

• 7/9 – Grandma has a stroke
• 7/14 – Promotion at work
• 8/21 – Total solar eclipse
• 8/24 – My birthday
• 8/26 – Hurricane Harvey dumps the largest single day amount of rain ever recorded, catastrophic floods follow for a week.
• 9/1 – Hottest day ever recorded in San Francisco (104˚)
• 9/10 – Attend an A’s vs. Astros game, where the A’s beat the Astros
• 9/11 – Freak lightning and thunderstorm in SF. More lightning in one night than in entire previous year.
• 10/9-10/15 – deadliest wildfires in California history rage in wine country, making the days hazy.
• 10/25 – Astros vs Dodgers World Series begins with the hottest World Series game on record.
• 11/1 – After a record setting game 5 the Astros win the World Series, their first championship ever.
• 11/7  Election Day – One year since Trump elected