Archive

Hello hello!

This letter I’m musing on a work meetup in Chicago and some things I’ve learned from video games lately!

Real Life Meetups are Real Awesome 🏙

Last week I was lucky enough to meet some of my colleagues in real life for the first time since I started at Litmus in August of 2021. This meetup was for peeps working in the midwest and south of the US, so while it wasn’t a full company meetup, I got to meet so many friendly faces. Chicago was a super fun destination and it was incredible to get to know my teammates, eat great food, go on tours, and rock climb!

Hello friends and fam!

It hasn’t been much time since my last letter, but sometimes, just a few days of travel is enough to spark a burst of energy. New York City certainly did that for me last weekend.

I saw a Broadway show, took the ferry, saw Harlem, Williamsburg, Long Island City, and ate dollar pizza (if you know me, you know that this is a requirement for any trip to the city).

However, much of my time was spent catching up with friends new and old. It was everything I wanted and needed. And for the conversations I had, I wouldn’t trade a minute.

Hello friends and fam.

While I’d love to always share my wins on this newsletter, that would be disingenuous, and would make this no better than good ol’ Instagram.

This issue is one that describes some not-so-rosy times, and I think they’re important to honor.

Summer is over here in Austin, which by most measures, is a great thing. There’s a new crispness in the air. The pace is quickening. This August/September, I allowed myself to focus on my craft without any distraction. That’s led to some beautiful growth. But Fall beckons for more socialization, more sharing, and fuller days.

Hello hello,

Happy Fall. It’s that time of year when everything feels in transition, whether life is changing dramatically or not. It’s still nice and hot in Austin and feels like a warm New England summer (my favorite season).

Recently, I’ve been acutely aware of how infinitely deep every single topic goes. People spend lifetimes understanding, dissecting, reading, writing, watching, and building in one space, for one niche. When I’m exposed to stories about those people, I get an immediate jolt of energy. The infinity of learning is so motivating.

With that, I’ve noticed myself gravitating toward certain areas, certain aspects of web development, literature, and physical activity. When I was in college, I said yes to everything, burning myself out at times. But now, I’m finding myself saying “no” to the mediocre stuff, and “heck yeah” for the few things that bring me joy or that I’ve defined as a professional priority.

Heyyo! 👋

Welcome to my newsletter! Incase you’re curious about why I decided to start this thing, read on. If not, feel free to trash it. 😁

Over the past year, I’ve naturally strayed away from sharing on social media, for a variety of reasons that you’ve likely heard before. With a significantly reduced (but not eliminated) endless scroll, my life is more focused, productive, present, and full. Somewhere along the way (within the past year or so), I realized that I was missing an outlet to share my life developments with all of the people I care about (that’s you!)

So I decided to go sufficiently old-school – email. A newsletter is awesome because it’s easy to ignore incase you’re busy (unlike a text), but can also be distinctly personal (you can reply directly to an email). An email is a blank canvas and can be structured in almost any way. It doesn’t have any gamification like social media, and is understandable for anyone to use.