Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋 - Happy Friday. It's the tail-end of a holiday week here in the U.S. I took the week off from client work and did some traveling with my fam. Taking part of next week off also. No matter if you work for an employer or work for yourself, I highly recommend giving yourself at least one "recovery day" to get caught up on life stuff before resuming work. This week, I have something a bit different for the newsletter. I started writing down a bunch of tips for travel /...
22 days ago • 2 min read
Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋 - Happy Wednesday. My part of the U.S. is experiencing sweltering heat right now — 95F (35C). I'm not a fan of heat in general, and this is way above my "comfortable" zone. When it's this hot, I love going to ultra-cold buildings like a museum or a movie. In fact, that's what I'm doing with my family today. It's a holiday in the U.S. (Juneteenth) and my kids' summer camp is closed, so we're headed to the James Bond exhibit at the Museum of Science & Industry. What are...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋 - Happy Wednesday. School's out for the summer. Which means my kids are in summer camp and, as a result, our schedule shifts a lot. 1) Reflection: If you're like me and summer throws you off from your "routine": I get it. I have a love / hate relationship with summer. Love doing stuff with my family and outside, but am always relieved when the school year starts again. I'm not really a go-with-the-flow person. I like plans and like to know what's happening....
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋 - Happy Wednesday. My kids only have 8 days left in the school year, which is wild to me. On top of that, my oldest will be in high school in the fall. 😠I've heard the saying, "The days are long, but the years are short" and it is TOTALLY true. If you're a parent with older kiddos, I'm sure you'd tell me that in another blink of an eye, my son will be graduating from high school. 1) Reflection: The more I think about my kids going off into the world, the more I think...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Hello fellow tinkerer 👋 - Happy Wednesday. My kids are counting down the days to the end of the school year (seventeen). We shift to a summer routine. My kids go to summer camp and my oldest son joined a running group in preparation for high school cross-country (which he will join in the fall). Transportation during the school year is easy because my kids take the bus. Summer involves a lot more driving. 1) Reflection: I go through different bouts with writing. Sometimes I move at a frenetic...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋 - Happy Wednesday. This morning, I came into my office and found that my 6-year-old had left a "scavenger hunt" of post-it notes around the room. One was stuck to the doorknob, instructing me to look for the rest. I found one on my keyboard, the floor, my chair, etc. All variations of the same thing: a heart and the words, "I love you." It was a perfect start to this newsletter issue I had planned anyway: things that make me smile. This, of course, looks different for...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Hello fellow tinkerer 👋 - Happy Wednesday. I saw the solar eclipse on Monday this week. Well, sort of. My area was 93% eclipsed which, as it turns out, is still a lot of sun. But the fun part was that I got a call from the middle school about 30 minutes before peak viewing time. My son had a sore throat and I needed to go pick him up. When I arrived at the school, about 800 middle schoolers were standing outside with their eclipse glasses on. My son and I stayed for a bit so we wouldn't miss...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋 - Happy Wednesday. HOW IS IT ALREADY APRIL NEXT WEEK? I've been running a tiny experiment over the course of Q1. I've never been a big fan of year-long goals and prefer to break things into smaller chunks. This year, I tried something new, stuck with it for the first three months of the year, and am pleased with the results. I'm excited to share more about this in the next newsletter! 1) Reflection: We all have to make time to consume the content we love. For me,...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Hello fellow tinkerer 👋 - Happy Wednesday. ICYMI, I'm creating a new course: 30 Days of Writing Online: Prompts to Spark Creative Ideas. I know a lot of people who want to start posting (mostly on LinkedIn) but don't know where to start. This 30-day email course will deliver one prompt per day to your inbox. General enough that they'll apply to any professional, but specific enough to get your creative juices flowing. You can sign up for the waitlist here and I'll let you know when it's...
5 months ago • 2 min read