• Music from the 21st Century: How I Found Remembered Sound

    Music from the 21st Century: How I Found Remembered Sound

    Once upon a childhood, I sat in a living room and listened to a record. Decades later, I wanted to hear those mostly-forgotten sounds again. This is the story of my quest to find them. I remembered a heavily synthesized quality to the music. It made me think of science fiction. Part of the music…

  • Fonts & Feelings

    Fonts & Feelings

    In the 1980’s, a friend of mine had a Macintosh. It was the first time I got to play with a list of fonts. The fonts were named after cities, like Athens, Chicago, and Toronto. As a kid, I knew some of the city names. However, at the time, Toronto was just a word I…

  • Ghosts in the Sky

    Ghosts in the Sky

    Anything that burns was once alive.

  • Aggressive Transparency

    Aggressive Transparency

    When you work remotely, it is important that coworkers know you are present and involved.

  • Context Switching

    Context Switching

    Being focused and productive is a great feeling. When you switch tasks to something else, there is a delay before you reach maximum focus on the new thing. That delay is the cost of context switching.

  • Karma Tree

    Karma Tree

    The fruit of the karma tree can be startling.

  • Work Without Meetings

    Work Without Meetings

    Meetings and interruptions are two of the worst things about working in an office. When people work remotely, it becomes a little more difficult to interrupt people and start meetings. That is a good thing.

  • Remote Work and Family: Dealing With Interruptions

    Remote Work and Family: Dealing With Interruptions

    When you work from home, people are tempted to interrupt you. Here are a few tips on how to deal with that.

  • Remote Work Environment

    Setting up your own work environment is both an opportunity and a challenge. Here are some things that have worked for me.

  • I’m the Donut Tire

    A “donut tire” is the miniature spare wheel carried in many cars. It’s good enough to use in an emergency, but it looks funny and you would not want to use it for long.