It’s Okay to Abandon Things

In this blog post, I’ll share with you my methods for dealing with abandoning books, movies, and personal projects. You see, I have a bit of a perfectionist/completionist streak. That’s worked against me in these areas. I’m able to keep it in check in my work life. When writing code on a deadline, it’s good … Continue reading It’s Okay to Abandon Things

Dark Night: A Weekly Break From Distractions

For the past several months, I’ve been celebrating what I call Dark Night every Thursday, starting at dusk. I enjoyed it so much that I published a how-to website describing the framework I use for creating the night. My hope is that you can also have a night free from the distractions of the world. … Continue reading Dark Night: A Weekly Break From Distractions

Personalized Policing of Slack for Diversity and Inclusion

I work at a tech company that has great Diversity & Inclusion intentions, but — like many tech companies — faces occasional internal challenges. An idea that came up recently, sparked by a tweet, was to configure Slackbot, the friendly neighborhood Slack autoresponder, to gently poke at people if they used words that are problematic … Continue reading Personalized Policing of Slack for Diversity and Inclusion

Reduced Drinking with a Victorian Design

In day-to-day life, I drink a lot of water and a lot of tea. If there’s a drink in front of me, I go through it fairly quickly. Unfortunately, this mechanism also applies to alcoholic drinks. At happy hours and out at bars with friends, I can go through quite a number of drinks before … Continue reading Reduced Drinking with a Victorian Design

I found a different kind of egg on Easter

A few weeks ago, I was preparing to travel. I have two lists I perpetually maintain for trips. One is a packing list of everything I will need (clothing, toiletries, chargers), stuff I might need (swim trunks, sunscreen, Fire TV Stick), and a separate appendix for camping. Overall, it holds almost 200 items! The other list is full … Continue reading I found a different kind of egg on Easter

What’s in my [Protest] Bag?

I’ve always enjoyed articles that interview folks from different walks of life that cover “what’s in your bag?” and “everyday carry” topics. You get to see a little glimpse of that person’s life, their personality. On rare occasions, I’d find something clever to incorporate into my life. But I always avoided writing one for myself. … Continue reading What’s in my [Protest] Bag?

Generating a 2016 Word Cloud

Over the years, Netninja has shifted from a LiveJournal-era personal blog to a chronicle of DIY maker projects. I thought I’d generate a word cloud for a year-end 2016 post, but realized half-way through that it’d be even better if I were to show my work. But first, the word cloud! This year has been all about design, … Continue reading Generating a 2016 Word Cloud

On the Headache of Digital Movie Redemption

I own a lot of movies on physical media. A lot. Something like 300+ at last count.I downsized A few years ago, compressing several tall bookshelves of movies to three shoebox-equvalent boxes by ditching the packaging and placing the discs in sleeves. I like the format because I can extract movies into DRM-free files using Handbrake … Continue reading On the Headache of Digital Movie Redemption