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Here's what keeps me busy at the moment. What?
🤙 Steady Pace
I’ve managed to pace myself quite well lately. While there’s a lot to do, both at work as well as in my personal life, I feel like I’m taking big swings without running myself into the ground. At work I’m focusing on growing the crew and fostering a healthy engineering organization. Privately I’m moving a few big things forward to support my family that are finally coming to fruition. After winter’s come to an end I feel like I finally have more energy to tackle whatever life is throwing my way.
After feeling overwhelmed and exhausted earlier this year this is a welcome change of pace.
🎨 Side Projects
I’ve wrapped up Root Loops’ support for vim
and neovim
(including Treesitter highlighting) and captured some of the things I’ve learned about vim theming in a blog post. Working on Root Loops continues to be a fun outlet. Lately I’ve had a few ideas for new side projects but I’ll keep the details to myself until they actually have a chance to become reality. Also, I’ve been thinking that this website could need a new coat of paint.
📚 Reading
The Mythical Man-Month by Frederic P. Brooks
It’s been more than a decade since I first read this classic series of essays on software engineering. We picked it for a book club at work. I’ve gotten some newfound appreciation for how well a lot of the essays held up even 50 years after being published — and how obsolete yet still insightful and thought-provoking others are. Even if you’ve read this one before, I recommend to pick it up again and revisit some of the classics. They’re classics for a good reason.
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
A thrilling and haunting story of an expedition making unsettling discoveries. The first book in the “Southern Reach Trilogy” got me hooked right away, tickling my fascination for atmospheric horror and mysteries.
Be Useful by Arnold Schwarzenegger
I got this one for free on Audible and listened to it on a long train ride. Schwarzenegger is without any doubt a fascinating character. Watching some of his most classic movies with my Dad as a kid make some of my most cherished memories. His contributions to the world of strength sport remain second-to-none to this day. While this type of book smells like toxic self-help for people who use words like “grindset” unironically I was pleasantly surprised by how inspiring and uplifting some of Schwarzenegger’s words have been. Part biography, part pep-talk this book gave me a lot to think about: From giving back and taking care of our communities and people around us in big and small ways to being persistent in our lives to being grateful for the people who shaped us on our journey, I found there were a lot of positive messages to take away from this book.
🏋 Working Out
Putting on some muscle right now while focusing on gaining weight and getting enough hypertrophy work in. It’s fascinating to see how well my body deals with the stress from all the volume while I’m eating and sleeping enough. Putting on extra bodyweight makes me more self-conscious than usual on bad days but I know that I can and will dial it back in once I’ve achieved my goal weight.